Hounddog (2007)

Also known as: The Dakota Fanning Rape Movie. The rape scene is the only thing that I knew about this movie before going into it. It’s always interesting to state your preconceived notions about a film and then how it actually came together. As I was watching it, I kept wondering to myself, “which one of these characters is going to rape her?” it’s like a who done it, but with rape. Is it going to be the abusive father? Is it going to be the boy she kisses all the time? Is it going to be the milk man? Is it going to be her black neighbor? It kept me guessing the whole time. It’s interesting to enter a movie knowing what the most memorable scene is, but no other details.

If anyone didn’t know this was the Dakota Fanning rape movie, I apologize. I think by this point, that fact has leaked into the pop culture swimming pool and everyone knows about it. The same way everyone knew TITANIC showed Kate Winslet’s boobs before they saw it. Those scenes tend to create much more controversy than others. Why is nudity such a big deal? Or rather, why are naked famous people so interesting? It’s the equivalent of wanting to watch a sex tape that your friend is in. You see them all the time (with clothes on) and you wonder what they look like naked. People have a strange familiarity with celebrities and want to see them in a more vulnerable or attractive state.

There is a lot of hoopla about this movie because of the rape scene. Traditionally, rape scenes are never very pleasant to watch on film. I have yet to see a rape scene that was particularly easy to digest, until now. The scene in HOUNDDOG is not graphic at all. It shows a close up of her face as it’s happened (which is really intense), but the scene doesn’t linger. You get the idea, then it cuts. It’s a PG-13 version of a rape scene. Now, I’m not saying it was a lighthearted scene and I felt nothing, there just wasn’t that much focus on it while it was happening. From the hype of this movie, you would think it would be a terrible scene to watch. Something that would make you want to throw up or chop off your penis, but it was not. If you want to see terrible rape scenes, then you should check out I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE or IRREVERSIBLE. I have seen ISOYG and it made me sick to watch. I have not seen IRREVERSIBLE, but I hear it’s very difficult to watch as well. I guess the best word to describe the scene in HOUNDDOG is mild. I am not trying to downplay rape, I am just saying, the movie didn’t deserve as much controversy based on what is actually shown on screen.

Now that we got that out of the way, we can look at the rest of film and analyze it. I was very into this movie as it started, but then my enthusiasm slowly waned. I really liked the first scene and thought it was very well written. It made me think the movie was going to go in a different direction, but it didn’t. Dakota Fanning’s character (Lewellen) says something about how she is going to kill her abusive Daddy and that was a very interesting set up to me. She doesn’t do anything to push that agenda forward though. Sad Face.

Lewellen is obsessed with Elvis Presley and sings his songs all the time. The one she likes to sing the most is Hounddog. This movie is really interesting because it’s an Elvis movie, but it is also an anti-Elvis movie. Lewellen’s black neighbor is always talking about how Elvis is singing other people’s songs that were originally written by black people. That he has hijacked the blues and turned it into something white. He always tells Lewellen to listen to the original and that Elvis doesn’t do an accurate job at representing the blues. To me, this translates as Deborah Kampmeier (writer and director of this project) talking shit on the King. I personally, don’t mind a little shit talk on Elvis. I never saw what the big deal was. He does have good moves though (for a white guy).

There is a deleted scene in PULP FICTION were Mia Wallace asks Vincent Vega whither he is an Elvis man or a Beatles man. Vincent says Elvis. I say Beatles.

HOUNDDOG is not a particularly good film and I think most people want to watch it because of the infamous rape scene (this is what I did). I wanted to be an authority on the movie rather than just hearing about it off hand.

The ending is pretty weak. There is a plot twist that involves a lightning bolt and it is completely farfetched. I would say, see it if you want to be an authority on the rape scene instead of saying, “I can’t say, I’ve never seen it” at parties when the topic of rape films comes up. This conversation has come up with my group of friends. I look forward to having it again, so I can drop some HOUNDDOG knowledge.

Dakota Fanning is impressively good in it though. She has come a long way since UPTOWN GIRLS.