Today I finally got a DVD of "Sleeping Dogs" and got to watch it in a wide-screen version for the first time. As a big fan of Warren Oates, I was first interested in this film because of his character. His film "Dillinger" is frequently mentioned, and I also recall his excellent work in "Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia", "Black Thunder" and "Badlands".In "Sleeping Dogs", it's impossible to ignore Sam Neill as he struggles to survive forces outside his control.I don't know if it's his first film or not, however it's the first one I recall ever seeing him.Coincidentally, I'm also watching the new DVD release of "Max Headroom", and it's hard to keep the two films from intermixing.Repressive governments, random violence, all the things that make films like both of these fun to watch again and again.In this genre, I would also add "Brazil"."1984" goes without saying.

In one of the most acclaimed films coming from New Zealand, Sam Neill plays Smith, a simple man turned into a dangerous one after being confused as a rebel from a resistance group that fights against the new government. Now he has the run from the police and the army to save his life and the only ones who can help him are the same members of the resistance that caused him trouble, including Bullen (Ian Mune), who had an affair with Smith's wife. There's a few gaps in the narrative, some things are half explained and others don't get any explanation at all, also a lack of idealism or reasons to explain why there's a conflict between the rebels and the government, and all that made the film less appealing, and very confusing. Both sides of the political tensions are presented equally distant from us, so we can't decide which one is right and which one is wrong; our empathy must stay at all time with Neill's character, who is an enigma to us, we don't know what was his occupation before his life gets shattered, and he got framed as terrorist because someone planted guns in his boat. But the story tells us this guy's very smart, he knows combative techniques, some tricks under the sleeve (his escape from the police car by forcing a vomit was incredible). In his first film director Roger Donaldson makes a very good thriller, effectively tense, and with good moments and great performances (includes a special appearance from Warren Oates as an American military who is following the rebels). A higher focus on the political aspects and placing the characters motivations more on the surface would make this film perfect. 9/10

I recall being confused the first time I saw this film, not long after it was first released, probably due to being young and naive at the time. Having revisited the film 30 years later I find that I have been able to follow the subtleties of the plot more easily.The movie is a commentary on life's challenges and how one young man - Smith (Sam Neill) - responds to some of these challenges.I like this movie now because not only does it show something of New Zealand's past and the possibilities the film-makers foresaw (some of which later came to pass as part of NZ history) but because it is an early vehicle for several New Zealand film-maker's craft.

Based on the novel Smith's Dream by academic C. K. Stead, Sleeping Dogs is set in a totalitarian New Zealand. Smith moves to the country to escape trouble but is framed by the state as a terrorist.The rest of the film involves his attempts to avoid arrest and his eventual fate.Released in 1977, the film possessed a poignancy for New Zealanders, who at the time viewed the then Muldoon National Government with some suspicion. A scene involving riot police in an Auckland street was a chilling portent of events during the 1981 Springbok rugby tour to New Zealand, and indeed on its release in the USA, some Americans confused the film's images with media reports of the tour protests.Notable for Sam Neill's role as Smith, the movie started a late 1970s revival in the New Zealand film industry, including movies such as The Scarecrow, Skin Deep, and Smash Palace.