Dog Eat Dog! (1964)

From my favorite movies..

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

A Masterpiece!

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

This film had all the elements of a film gone wrong:an international cast,standard heist plot,Euro pop/jazz soundtrack,ham handed action and Jayne Mansfield. Could any film project have been more predestined to be awful?I was expecting so much worse. Imagine the surprise of discovering how much fun this movie was with all of it's sorry bits working together in some sort of obtuse harmony.The dialog is over the top outrageous. Check these three prizes just from the trailer:"Crackers, it's just mad money"...."You are rude dirty and ugly. We do not cater to rude,dirty,ugly men. Get out."Or better yet: Madame Benoit:"Where did you get this stuff? It's dishwater." Bartender: "It's the prunes, Madame.Since Socialism they don't let the peasants crush them with their feet any more. It impairs the flavor." Madame Benoit: "It's still dishwater."And those are just a few of a beginning to end feast of howlers. How could one not love dialog like this ? It's so absurd it's almost genius.To think Arthur Miller worked so hard on "The Misfits".I will have to watch the film again just to catch all the gems.And yet: Jayne Mansfield was never again more natural, seeming to have dispensed with the "Divoon" Marilyn parody and almost playing it straight. It could be the dubbing that made her seem more part of an ensemble rather than a running gag. Someone else dubbed her voice.It works and the dubbing is very well done for a 60s Euro film, everything is in harmony.It's an awful film on so many levels, but consistently awful from plot to soundtrack, to dialog. It's a package deal that works on all those levels because of it's awfulness. It's what makes "Dog Eat Dog" fun.The cast is interesting and watchable, the heavy breathing dialog worthy of John Waters, the euro artiness of it gives it an air of sophistication, even legitimacy that was probably never intended.An accident of a film: accidentally entertaining. One of those "so bad it's good" films. Perfect for a double bill with Elizabeth Taylor's "The Driver's Seat".Such a surprise to find it so entertaining as I was definitely expecting to feel depressed after watching Jayne Mansfield in it,as I did with "Las Vegas Hillbillies", "The Fat Spy" and "Single Room Furnished". Maybe this one was Jayne's last great film. Like Marilyn's "The Misfits".Would definitely watch it again.Not a waste of time at all. Definitely worth seeing.

This film begins with Jayne Mansfield rolling about in bed with money all over her. This seems to go on and on and on, as the only reason for the scene is to see this starlet in various states of undress. The film doesn't even pretend to be anything other than an exploitation film at the beginning--and it's obvious they only two things going for the film are hidden under Ms. Mansfield's towel.This is the story, believe it or not, of "Mr. and Mrs. Smithopolous" staying in a resort in the Mediterranean. Of course these are aliases, as it's Mansfield and her boyfriend. While she rolls in the dough, her man is busy laughing like a hyena while he's killing off his partner in crime. It seems that they have just robbed a shipment of old US dollars that are being returned to the States to be burned and Mansfield's beau doesn't want to split it with his partner. Eventually, the three end up on a supposedly deserted island--which turns out to have several people waiting. There, they wait until the coast clears...and one by one, people in this group start dying off mysteriously.The plot and action is VERY claustrophobic, as they spend almost all the film on this tiny island and this is bad because the actors are left trying to support the weight of the film. And, considering how bad the actors are, this is a chore they simply aren't up to. Cameron Mitchell basically spends the movie threatening and screaming while Ms. Mansfield does a great imitation of a brain-damaged bimbo (inexplicably, she claimed in real life to be a genius--this film will surely erase all doubts as to her intelligence or lack thereof).A skimpy plot and lousy acting--it's pretty obvious that this is a grade-C project from start to finish. Why some of the reviewers here on IMDb scored this one so high is beyond me. Stupid and dull.

While Darlene (Jayne Mansfield) writhes orgasmically on a bed of cash, her lover is pushing Corbett (Cameron Mitchell) over a cliff. All three have just stolen a million dollars bound for the States to be destroyed and a European manhunt has begun because they kill a guard. The manager of the hotel they're staying at and his lover, the hotel proprietress (Isa Miranda), find out and hatch a plan to murder the two and take the money for themselves right under the nose of the police. Darlene and her man soon hide out on a deserted Aegean island that once housed Europe's most famous bordello with the manager and his sister in hot pursuit. But Corbett isn't dead and the island isn't deserted: the deranged brothel owner and her manservant have come home for the old lady to die. The money goes missing, the cast go after it and it's dog-eat-dog as a killer picks them off one by one... Here's another link between the Film Noir and the Giallo. There's "giallo" written all over it although there's no color and the killings aren't exactly set pieces. The stark B&W photography and crime caper plot give the proceedings a noir "feel" and the denouement is the perfect blend of THE KILLING (1956) and Mario Bava's BAY OF BLOOD (1971). This den-of-thieves whodunit contains many future staples of the giallo genre: sunglasses, leather gloves, strange sibling relationships, nymphomania, greed and death by various gruesome means including defenestration, garrote, gun, knife, fire, water and painting. DOG EAT DOG also pays tribute to at least two dark films of the Golden Age: the mad madame and her bald manservant living in the abandoned villa hark back to SUNSET BLVD and one murder mirrors THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY. This film is more than highly recommended; it's important in the evolution of the "Golden Age Of The Giallo" and there's more than enough noir to satisfy those desiring the dark. The bitterly cynical world-view outdoes even Monogram's DECOY in its ending and, like that film, there isn't one incorruptible character in the whole motley crew. The lusty Mansfield spends much of the time in various states of undress while crying out for clean panties, exclaiming "Crackers!" a lot, and spouting wisdom like "I've got a pash for the cash." There's even a knock-down, drag-out cat-fight between Jayne and the hotel manager's sister (Dody Heath). International actress Isa Miranda had a small but pivotal part in Mario Bava's masterpiece: BAY OF BLOOD and DOG EAT DOG was long rumored to have been directed by schlockmeister Albert Zugsmith but this is incorrect. The project was begun by Zugsmith & Co. two years earlier but was abandoned before filming began; it was later resumed by a German/European conglomerate. Based on the novel by Robert Bloomfield.See it ASAP!

This movie was okay. I saw it about a year ago real late at night. I only watched it because "THE JAYNE MANSFIELD" was in it. She is so beautiful. The kind of person you just want to have sit in front of you and stare at all day to study each feature. The movie lacked interest though. If you are a Jayne fan, see it. If you are looking for a good movie to watch, don't see it. 1-10 (4) Jayne 1-10 (10) Z.