Hounddog is a 2007 American drama film written, directed, and produced by Deborah Kampmeier and starring Dakota Fanning, Robin Wright Penn, and Piper Laurie, among others. Robin Wright Penn also serves as an executive producer. The film was produced by Raye Dowell, Jen Gatien, and Terry Leonard. It premiered in competition at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, and was given a limited release in 11 North American theaters on September 19, 2008.
Shot near Wilmington, North Carolina and taking place in the late 1950s American South, the film stars Fanning as Lewellen, "a troubled 12-year-old girl who finds solace from an abusive life through blues music."[1]
Plot
Innocence of a Southern farm girl's last summer of pre-teen childhood.
Lewellen (Dakota Fanning) lives with her stern, religious grandmother, Grammie (Piper Laurie), who has taken it upon herself to raise the girl, as neither of Lewellen's parents can provide her a stable home. Her father (David Morse) loves her and tries to please her, giving her gifts such as Elvis Presley records. Although he battles with alcoholism, he tries his best to give Lewellen a stable home. He even tries to provide a motherly figure in Lewellen's life by dating a mysterious girlfriend, Ellen (Robin Wright Penn), who promised one night to rescue Lewellen from life in the rural South should the relationship falter. We later learn that Ellen is in fact Lewellen's aunt from her mother's side.
Lewellen is able to maintain her innocence by finding consolation in playing with her best friend Buddy (Cody Hanford), engaging in typical outdoor rural pastimes such as swimming in the pond and exploring the woods, meeting a new friend, Grasshopper (Isabelle Fuhrman), while spending the summer with her grandparents. Lewellen is enchanted by her idol Elvis Presley, who is making a homecoming tour in the South. Her town is one of the venue stops. Lewellen finds that singing Elvis' music is a way to channel her trauma into something constructive and creative. Charles (Afemo Omilami) acts as a mentor, imparting aspects of his snake handler religion to explain this emotional channeling to her; i.e., how to create something positive out of something venomous and deadly.
Lewellen is challenged by many problems besides living in a "broken home". Ellen leaves one day and breaks Lewellen's heart, burdening her with a responsibility to be a "mother" despite not having one herself. Her father suffers a terrible accident, and is handicapped to the point of infantile retardation, but the thought of Elvis coming to town gives her the resolve to carry on despite this newest of many traumatic circumstances. Buddy tells Lewellen that Wooden's Boy (Christoph Sanders) has an Elvis ticket and is willing to give it to her if she impersonates Elvis for his father naked. She agrees before Wodden rapes her. This causes pain which slowly builds up like venomous poison, represented by nightmares of poisonous snakes that are slowly killing Lewellen and manifesting physical symptoms, such as vomiting during church. Her caregivers, Charles and Grammy, are stressed by her sudden slide from a once happy girl to a paralyzed, and dying, bedridden girl.
Enraged by hearing the cause of Lewellen's descent into figurative hell, Charles resolves to rescue his young friend from the depths of despair and tries to help her reclaim her stolen voice. He nurses her back to life. Ellen soon returns to the town to keep her promise to Lewellen. Lewellen bids farewell to her father and departs for a better life with her new mother.
Cast
Reaction
The film garnered a great deal of attention, and generated intense controversy, due to the use of such a young actress in the lead role. The controversy was ignited by a number of blogs who were concerned for Fanning because the screenplay called for her to appear in a rape scene.[2] The scene only showed Fanning's face and her character's reaction to the trauma.[3] The outrage spread when the subject matter became widely known.
Because of the outcry over Hounddog, North Carolina State Senator and majority leader Phil Berger called for all future films made in North Carolina to have their scripts approved in advance if they are to get the normal production subsidy from the state. Berger says that he has not seen the film but is acting in response to what he has read about it.[4]
Reviews from the Sundance Film Festival were mixed, with reviewers calling the movie plodding and heavy-handed. On the other hand, Fanning was praised for her performance, which Roger Ebert compared to Jodie Foster's in Taxi Driver.[5]
As of February 24, 2008, the movie has 44 reviews on RottenTomatoes.com and rates at 17 percent.[6]
Box office
In its opening weekend of September 19-21, 2008, the film took in $13,744. As of October 27, after 38 days in release, the box office receipts were $94,951.[7]
Elvis-related Anachronisms
- The 45 rpm record that Lewellen's father gave her in the truck (supposedly by Elvis on RCA) is apparently a reissue of an original which did not exist at the time.
- Elvis Presley's appearance singing "Houndog" on the Milton Berle Show took place on June 5, 1956. Several of the vehicles used in the movie were newer than this. The pink Desoto (or Dodge) was probably a 1956, but it's not likely that a rural Alabama woman would be driving a new car. The tow truck used to tow the Desoto was a 1957 at the oldest, and it was quite beat up. The red Pontiac at the Elvis concert was a 1959.
- In the scene in which Dakota Fanning (Lewellen) is lying in the bed, the character played by Robin Wright Penn asks her to sing her an Elvis song. She sings part of "Can't Help Falling In Love" which was not recorded until 1961 for the movie "Blue Hawaii".
- The audio clip used for the concert scene sounds like something Elvis did in the 1970s or late-1960s.
See also
References
External links
