Black Dog (film)

Black Dog
Directed by	Kevin Hooks
Produced by	Raffaella De Laurentiis Michael Ilitch Jr. Mark W. Koch Peter Saphier
Written by	William Mickelberry Dan Vining
Starring	Patrick Swayze Randy Travis Meat Loaf Graham Beckel Brenda Strong Charles S. Dutton Lorraine Toussaint Stephen Tobolowsky
Production company	Mutual Film Company Prelude Pictures
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release dates	May 1, 1998 (1998-05-01)
Running time	89 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$12,951,088

Black Dog is a 1998 action film directed by Kevin Hooks and starring Patrick Swayze. The film tells the story of a trucker and ex-con who is manipulated into transporting illegal arms. The film co-stars musicians Randy Travis and Meat Loaf.

Plot

The movie first starts out with FBI and ATF agents on a pursuit to stop a truck carrying illegal guns as part of an illegal arms operation. The result is the death of the driver, which leads to a disagreement with FBI and ATF agents on involvement with the case.

Jack Crews (Patrick Swayze) is a truck driver who has just been released from jail for vehicular manslaughter, for accidentally hitting and killing a motorist and his passenger on the side of the road during a trip in which he experienced a Black Dog hallucination. Along with his imprisonment, he also lost his Commercial driver's license. Following his release, he attempts to get back to a normal life, but this time holds a job as a truck mechanic for a local repair shop in New Jersey, unable to drive himself. He is then offered a job by his manager, Cutler (Graham Beckel) to drive a load of toilets from Atlanta to New Jersey for $10,000. Crews initially declines the offer, but then finds out that his house will be repossessed unless he pays off his debt. He then changes his mind and takes the job where he flies down to Atlanta to meet up with Red (Meat Loaf), who runs the trucking yard.

Red initially gives Crews a brand-new truck to haul the load, but Crews chooses a older Peterbilt 379 in order to not draw too much attention. He is accompanied on the trip by Earl (Randy Travis) riding shotgun, and Sonny (Gabriel Casseus) and Wes (Brian Vincent) following in Sonny's Chevrolet Camaro for policy protection. As they make their way to New Jersey, Crews and the guys experience several run-ins with Red and his crew as they attempt to hijack the load, in retaliation for the failed negotiations with Cutler about money. During the trip, Crews finds out that his load also contains illegal guns (over $3,000,000 worth, according to ATF), and that Wes has been informing Red of their whereabouts throughout the trip. Crews also discovers that Sonny is an FBI agent when he is shot and killed by Red during another hijack attempt, and that the FBI has been tracking their whereabouts as well.

Things take a turn for the worse when Cutler takes Crews' wife Melanie and daughter Tracy hostage to ensure that Crews will complete the job and finish the entire trip. Despite the numerous attempts from Red to hijack the load, Crews manages to survive each attempt. When they make it to Maryland, Crews now officially knows what the whole plot is and formulates a plan to turn over the guns to the FBI and to get his family back. Wes, at this point has gone his separate way, while Earl decides to stay on until the end. Crews puts the FBI tracking device on the truck that Wes is leaving on and eventually the FBI pulls over the truck to realize it is the wrong one. However, Crews calls Agent Allen Ford (Charles Dutton) who is leading the case on Wes' cell phone. He tells him his plan which is to meet him at a loading dock in Jersey, where he will be meeting with Cutler to exchange the guns for his family.

Eventually when the meeting occurs, the FBI shows up and a shootout occurs with Cutler's men. Crews is able to catch Cutler before he can escape and then turns him over to the FBI. As a token of gratitude, the FBI gives Crews his commercial driver's license back, and also tells Crews that his house won't be foreclosed, in return for his assistance during the operation and they thank him for bringing Sonny's body back. He is also given the key to drive the truck one last time to the impound lot. Also, Crews thanks Earl, who was wounded in the shootout between the FBI and Cutler's men, for staying, and in return Earl tells Crews to take care of his dog, Tiny (a pit bull riding in the trailer as a guard), until he heals and everything is sorted out.

As Crews and his family leave the docks for the impound lot, they are intercepted by Red who makes one last attempt at Crews' life, but ultimately their slamming into each other causes Red to lose control of his truck, which then flips over numerous times before getting hit by a Fairbanks-Morse H-12-44 Switching Locomotive and exploding.

Cast

• Patrick Swayze as Jack Crews
• Randy Travis as Earl
• Meat Loaf as Red
• Gabriel Casseus as Sonny
• Brian Vincent as Wes
• Graham Beckel as Frank Cutler
• Brenda Strong as Melanie Crews
• Rusty DeWees as Junior
• Cyril O'Reilly as Vince
• Erin Broderick as Tracy Crews
• Charles S. Dutton as FBI Agent Allen Ford
• Stephen Tobolowsky as ATF Agent McClaren
• Lorraine Toussaint as FBI Agent Avery

Soundtrack

Black Dog
File:Black dog ost.jpg
Soundtrack album by Various artists
Released	April 1998 (1998-04)
Genre	Country
Length	44:07
Label	Decca
Producer	Various original producers; compilation produced by Ken Downie, Ed Handley, Andy Turner

A soundtrack album for the film, featuring various country music artists, was released in April 1998 via Decca Records Nashville. It peaked at number 30 on Top Country Albums.

Content and reception

Thom Owens gave the soundtrack a mixed review in Allmusic, praising the performances of Randy Travis, David Lee Murphy, and Rhett Akins.

Among the cuts on the soundtrack, Rhett Akins' "Drivin' My Life Away" (a cover of Eddie Rabbitt) and Linda Davis's "I Wanna Remember This" were both released as singles. Patty Loveless' "On Down the Line" was previously a single from her 1990 album of the same name, and Steve Earle's "Nowhere Road" a single from his 1987 album Exit 0. David Lee Murphy's "We Can't All Be Angels" also appeared on his 1997 album of the same name, Lee Ann Womack's "A Man with 18 Wheels" previously appeared on her 1997 self-titled debut, Big House's "Road Man" previously appeared on their 1997 self-titled debut, and Chris Knight's "The Hammer Going Down" appeared on his 1998 self-titled debut. "Highway Junkie", recorded here by Gary Allan, was previously recorded by Randy Travis on his 1996 album Full Circle.

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Performer	Length
1.	"A Man with 18 Wheels"	Bobby Carmichael, Leslie Satcher	Lee Ann Womack	3:20
2.	"Drivin' My Life Away"	David Malloy, Eddie Rabbitt, Even Stevens	Rhett Akins	3:44
3.	"Road Man"	Monty Byrom, Scott Hutchison, David Kaffinetti, Ira Walker	Big House	6:08
4.	"Highway Junkie"	Chris Knight, Annie Tate, Sam Tate	Gary Allan	3:25
5.	"The Hammer Going Down"	Knight, Dean Miller	Chris Knight	5:30
6.	"We Can't All Be Angels"	David Lee Murphy, Danny Tate	David Lee Murphy	4:18
7.	"My Greatest Fear"	Randy Travis, Brian Vincent	Randy Travis	3:13
8.	"On Down the Line"	Kostas	Patty Loveless	3:09
9.	"Nowhere Road"	Steve Earle, Reno Kling	Steve Earle	2:49
10.	"Drivin' All Night Long"	Bruce Robison	Jack Ingram	4:38
11.	"I Wanna Remember This"	Jennifer Kimball, Annie Roboff	Linda Davis	3:53
Total length:				44:07

External links

• Black Dog at IMDb
• Black Dog at Rotten Tomatoes
• Black Dog at Box Office Mojo