White Wall Cinema: DOGFIGHT

Nancy Savoca’s criminally underseen 1991 film is an ineffably bittersweet portrait of youth in the 1960s, starring two of cinema’s brightest and most underserved talents in the late great River Phoenix (Stand By Me, My Own Private Idaho) and the wonderful Lili Taylor (Mystic Pizza, Six Feet Under). 

When hot headed, Vietnam-bound marine Eddie Birdlace (River Phoenix), brings aspiring San Francisco folk singer Rose (Lili Taylor) as his date to a pre-shipping out to war ‘Dogfight’ party (a cruelly misogynistic party where men compete to bring the most unattractive dates they can find), things seem destined for disaster. But what begins as a night to forget unexpectedly develops into something far more meaningful.

Featuring music by folk legends Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, and Pete Seeger, Dogfight captures the miracle of human connection whilst gently prodding at notions of societal roles and the assumptions we make about others, all played out between two vividly drawn and beautifully acted characters (critics have argued Taylor more than deserved an Oscar nomination here). The film also gracefully subverts ideas surrounding machismo, patriotic duty, and the very meaning of America itself.

Finally seeing a renaissance in recent years Nancy Savoca’s Dogfight is a forgotten gem that deserves its new status as an undiscovered classic, that, whilst imbued with a light touch by its director, will non the less stay with you long after the credits roll.

• DOORS: 6.40pm*
• START TIME: 7.10pm*
• RUN TIME: 93 mins
• CERT: 15 (under 16s must be accompanied by an adult)