Life
is full of choices, especially for the young and restless,
who are not always delivered from temptations. Such is the
moral of Dead Dogs, a film noir directed by
Clay Eide that enjoyed a screening at the American Cinematheque
on July 22, 1999. The tagline of the film asks, "What would
you kill for?" Tom Kale (played by Joe Reynolds), who lost
his girlfriend three years ago to his brother Derek Kale,
is a security guard at Driftwood Inn (actually Holiday Inn
in Grand Forks, North Dakota). Tom has regular sex with Diane,
a married hotel maid (played by Suzanne Carney), but still
misses his former girlfriend Carmen (played by Margot Demeter).
Tom plays chess with faggy front desk clerk Gordon (played
by John Durbin, who was also in charge of casting). Suddenly,
Carmen drift back to town with Derek (played by Jay Underwood),
a pint-sized Bonnie & Clyde team. Tom lets Carmen and Derek
stay with him, but they plot to hold up the hotel, and they
persuade Tom to help. The plan for the robbery goes awry,
however, as Gordon is nearly killed, Tom shoots Derek fatally,
also by accident, Diane absconds with the stolen cash, and
Tom (under suspicion for the murder and robbery) is shot dead
by Carmen. Tom, the naïve hero of the story, pays for his
Faustian pact. In black and white, Dead Dogs won the American
Independent Award for best American independent film at the
1999 Seattle Film Festival. MH
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