Director Robert Clouse showed himself to be fairly versatile when it came to his projects. After having already made one bona fide classic with the martial arts actioner "Enter the Dragon" and the similarly fun "Black Belt Jones", he went on to do the futuristic sci-fi saga "The Ultimate Warrior". Here he tackles the "nature strikes back" sub genre with very enjoyable results. It takes place on a resort island where the year round residents, and some visitors, now have to deal with the problem of a ferocious dog pack that is the result of vacationers having adopted these dogs for the summer and then abandoned them. Yeah, there's a real message in here about mankind's callousness towards his fellow animals that gives this movie some appreciated (and not overdone) subtext in addition to its thrills. There's no filler here, just a good, straightforward story (based on a novel by David Fisher) that moves forward at a decent pace. The rural scenery is, not unexpectedly, very nicely photographed and the booming music by Lee Holdridge is perfect accompaniment. The animal action is first rate - the principal trainer is Karl Lewis Miller, an old hand at that kind of thing for many years, and he gets utterly convincing performances from the canine stars, especially the primary antagonist, a mangy mongrel, and the pathetic straggler of the group who we see abandoned near the beginning of the movie. The human cast does not fare badly, either, with the ever solid Joe Don Baker, playing a marine biologist, as the kind of hero you can root for. (Of course, there are also the standard characters in this thing who you pretty much *hope* are going to come to a bad end.) Hope Alexander-Willis is his appealing leading lady, and the supporting cast features such reliable performers as Richard B. Shull and R.G. Armstrong. It never gets too graphic, preferring to leave some things to the imagination, but doesn't skimp on the thrills, being genuinely exciting at times, especially in the last half hour. Overall it's more effective than the movie "Dogs" which was also released in that busy period, post-"Jaws", when a number of movies like this were coming out. It's entertaining all the way; that final sequence will just melt your heart. Clouse returned to animal horror five years later with "The Rats", a.k.a. "Deadly Eyes". Eight out of 10.
Review of The Pack
