Eddie (Byron Mabe, "The Defilers") is a career criminal who's frustrated because he knows that human error can always derail otherwise well-planned heists. Then one night he witnesses some guard dogs in action, and is impressed by their intelligence and intimidation factor. Now he's got an ingenious plan: stage a bank robbery using Dobermans as the participants! He enlists the services of a veteran animal handler (Hal Reed, "The Zodiac Killer") soon to muster out of military service. Of course, the handler has more scruples than anybody else in the gang.At first, this viewer thought that this might make for pretty good, agreeably ridiculous family fare, but that's hampered somewhat by some violence and gore (and unpleasantness) near the end, not to mention the disagreeable attitude of Eddie, who's really a major league prick. The human cast deliver good performances; Julie Parrish ('Good Morning, World'), Simmy Bow ("Beetlejuice"), and JoJo D'Amore ("Alligator") round out the main cast. But it's the four legged cast members - given names like Pretty Boy Floyd, Dillinger, and Bonnie & Clyde - that win your hearts as they steal the loot.As with any heist movie, the story (concocted by Frank Ray Perilli ("Dracula's Dog") and Louis Garfinkle ("The Deer Hunter")) devotes much time to the intense preparation, and the viewer will marvel at the first-rate animal action, supervised by Karl Lewis Miller and Lou Schumacher, old hands at that sort of thing for many years. It's also noteworthy for being the earliest screen credit for the great film composer Alan Silvestri, who wrote the score (and songs) with Bradford Craig. Yes, this being a 70s flick, there is the standard inclusion of theme songs. But that ditty "Dog Honest Gang" is pretty catchy.Followed by three sequels.Seven out of 10.

You may have seen the hilarious trailer for this movie online. If not, simply search "doberman gang" on YouTube. I advise you to do this, then skip the movie entirely.I am not exaggerating when I say that the trailer has everything worth watching. "The Doberman Gang" is not a "so bad it's good" film. Worse than that-- the movie is painfully dull. Nothing happens, and I mean NOTHING for an entire hour. It is only in the last twenty minutes do we see the dogs in action. And again, it's everything you see in the trailer, only edited horribly to stretch out the scene. Think about it---dogs robbing a friggin' bank, and they somehow managed to make it boring! See instead "Daring Dobermans" the superior sequel. It picks up immediately where this film leaves off (the dogs succeed in robbing the bank, but then run away to the woods). A new band of criminals capture the dogs and train them for another heist. "Daring Dobermans" is truly enjoyable with a better story, more interesting characters including a cute kid, more doberman action and this time, the heist is exciting and fun.

This really choice and pleasingly idiosyncratic early 70's low-budget canine crime caper winner delivers the quirky low-key nickel'n'dime junk movie goods with mucho gusto and a welcome dearth of pretense. Irascible criminal mastermind Eddie, fed up with the gross constant ineptitude of his hopelessly fallible human cohorts, kidnaps and trains a sextet of non-error prone super-sharp Doberman pinchers to pull off an intricate bank heist. This funky little number hits all the necessary bases: we've got a speedy steady pace, competent, assured direction by Bryon Ross Chudnow, nifty gritty lowlife characters, solid pro acting, a crankin' soulful heavy on the brass score by Bradford Craig and Alan Silvestri, exquisite crystal clear cinematography by Robert Caramico, a terrifically tense heist set piece, cheesy montages set to marvelously mawkish light FM tunes, and even a slight mild sprinkling of good old fashioned gratuitous sex and violence. Bonus points are in order for both the fabulously corny country-and-western theme song ("They were the dog gonest gang that man did ever see") and the fact that each dobie is named after a notorious 30's Depression era criminal (Ma Parker, Dillinger, Bonnie, Clyde, etc.). In short, this fun flick overall rates as the totally authentic gnarly article.

Considering that the main cast are primarily television bit actors, they gel together very well. Even director Byron Chudnow's primary work was producing and editing in television, which probably goes a long way to explain why the film is so economically paced. Julie Parrish was most recognized for appearing opposite Elvis Presley in "Paradise, Hawaiian Style", and briefly in Star Trek's "The Menagerie" (part 1).The film is notable especially for being composer Alan Sylvestri's first motion picture score (alternating between dramatic and humorous), with absolutely no prior composing experience, and a two week deadline. He would eventually be linked regularly to director Robert Zemeckis, enjoying a working relationship similar to Steven Spielberg and John Williams.Extremely entertaining and generally a well paced film, rated GP on original theatrical prints (re-classified PG) for a couple of bloody sequences.