Middle of the Pack Dog: A Look at Turner and Hooch
Tom Hanks and a Cute Mastiff Raise an Uneven Film to The Height of Mediocrity
I’m adding a new section. It’s going to go under the heading of occasional features, where I take a look at some old bit of pop culture and offer my thoughts. This is a fun release from the world of politics, which will return to as needed. For now, time to take a look at a film made more than thirty years ago:
Turner and Hooch was one of those films I wasn’t really allowed to watch growing up for reasons I really couldn’t fathom. Seeing that it was on Disney Plus, I decided to give it a spin.
The result left me with decided mixed feelings.
The basic plot is that Investigator Scott Turner (Tom Hanks) about to be transferred from his job as a small town investigator to the Sacramento PD finds himself with a murder case when a local crank is murdered and his dog, an unruly French Mastiff named Hooch is the only witness. Turner, a borderline OCD neat freak, has to take in the dog until he solves the murder and hijinks ensue as the dog makes a shambles of his home.
Tom Hanks shows his star power by making this movie watchable. He has quite a few laugh lines with spot on delivery that sells them. In addition, there are a few really good bits of physical comedy which you don’t typically see much in Hanks’ more modern films.
Hooch (Beasley the Dog) was well-trained and managed to reflect both the potential menace that an angry dog of his breed presented, but also playfulness, and even had a few moments that pulled on the heartstrings.
Reginald VelJohnson (Die Hard and Family Matters) plays to type as a fellow cop to Turner whose expected to take his job when he moves to Sacramento.
The film’s great weakness is its poor writing. Things happen because the plot needs them to happen not because they actually make sense or because what happens fits the story we’ve been told so far. Turner goes from threatening the dog with a gun and a knife to being absolutely in love with him, making peace with the destruction wrought on his home, which is all cleaned up off-stage.
The vet examines Hooch, finds he was neglected to the point of abuse by his prior owner and she just sends him home with the clueless cop (because the vet doesn’t have facilities to house pets that require care) without any instructions. Turner and the vet fall in love because that’s what the script wants. Turner is an experienced investigator heading to Sacramento and believes that Hooch will be able to identify the perpetrator by looking at books of mug shots. Turner takes Hooch down to the police station, no one knows how to handle or deal with a dog. Turner shows himself an expert detective throughout the fil, but assumes that dogs can identify killers by staring at mugshot books.
The best defense of the film is that it’s a stupid comedy. It doesn’t make sense. It was made for kids. It doesn’t have to make sense, just watch the cute dog and the funny man.
That holds up until the third act where they go for a bittersweet, semi-tragic ending that just doesn’t work. You can’t do that in a film that’s so disconnected from reality and how any aspect of life actually works. It’s a tonal shift so severe that it gives you whiplash.
In addition, it sometimes hard to figure out who this film’s intended audience is. On one hand, the goofy dog antics and total lack of logic make this seem like a kids flick in the vein of the Beethoven films. On the other hand, the film throws in some very dark and/or adult moments that seem to cut against that. Thus the result is too silly for adults and has too much envelope-pushing content for most kids who can look past all the glaring plot issues. Perhaps the film’s uneven tonal quality was caused by it changing directors in the middle of filming.
Ultimately, Tom Hanks is the shining light of the film. This was just a few years before he established himself as the best actor of his generation. That talent’s on full display as he turns what would have been an awful movie with an unlikable lead character one that’s sympathetic if not completely likable.
There was not a sequel. I had to chuckle at the way the movie’s wikipedia page phrased this information, “No plans were made for a sequel despite its revived popularity following Hanks' rise to success.” Hanks’ success meant make he didn’t have to think about doing a sequel to this. Could you imagine Hanks saying no to something like Castaway or Saving Private Ryan so he could make Turner and Hooch II?
Overall, I’ll give the film a 2.5 out of 5.0. It’s not a horrible movie, but I can only recommend it to completists either of Tom Hanks films or dog comedies of the late 1980s and 1990s.
Of Note:
Disney Plus is releasing a Turner and Hooch TV series in Jully starring Josh Peck as Scott Turner, Jr. The series will have Reginal VelJohnson returns playing the character he played in the film who is now the Mayor.
If the idea of a nutty detective with OCD taking a dog into his apartment and having his life totally disrupted appeals to you, you may enjoy the Monk episode “Mr. Monk and the Dog. While it feels like a retread of the episode, “Mr. Monk and the Kid,” It definitely does a better job telling the sort of story in Turner and Hooch.