THE POWER OF THE DOG

THE POWER OF THE DOG is an adult drama about a mean, latent homosexual rancher who’s jealous of his brother’s wife, deliberately drives her to drink and pours salt into her wounds by befriending her tinhorn, slightly effeminate son. THE POWER OF THE DOG tells a disturbing, politically correct tale of jealousy, homosexual perversion and murder with some foul language, explicit nudity and unnecessary meanness.

The movie opens by introducing two brothers, Phil and George Burbank, who own a large ranch in Montana in 1925. They’ve owned the ranch since 1900. Although he’s Ivy League educated, Phil is a rough and tough cowboy while George is the more shy, better dressed rancher and somewhat of a social climber. Phil often calls his brother “Fatso,” and likes to talk about their late mentor, Bronco Henry, who taught them everything they know about ranching.

George takes a liking to a widow named Rose Gordon, who runs a restaurant and inn. Her son, Peter, is about to go to college, to become a doctor. Peter is a bookworm with a talent for drawing. He likes to make paper flowers for his mother to put on the restaurant tables. Phil, however, mocks Peter for his “sissy” ways. This makes Rose cry, and George comforts her, which leads to a romance.

Of course, Phil doesn’t like the idea of his brother getting married to Rose. Apparently jealous, he thinks Rose is just a goldigger, and he tells George his opinion. George pays no mind to Phil, and suddenly Phil must confront the fact that George and Rose have married, and Rose and Peter are moving into the ranch house. Almost right away, Phil tells Rose that he thinks she just married George for his money. He mocks her every chance he gets and doesn’t refrain from picking occasionally on Peter. Meanwhile, the ranch hands under Phil also start mocking Peter, sometimes even calling him a homosexual slur. The tension drives Rose to drink, and Phil soon finds out about it, which only increases his derisive attitude toward her.

One day, however, Peter finds out a big secret Phil’s been hiding from everyone, and Phil knows that Peter knows about it. Phil starts treating Peter more kindly, taking the young man under his wing. Knowledge of Phil’s big vulnerability allows Peter to stop fearing Phil. Peter begins soaking up all of Phil’s knowledge about horses, cattle ranching and life. However, the situation eventually leads to murder.

[Spoilers follow] Well acted but slow moving, THE POWER OF THE DOG tells a disturbing, politically correct tale of jealousy, homosexual perversion and murder. The movie depicts a social environment where homosexuality is totally repressed. The movie suggests that Phil’s mean, bigoted attitudes toward other people, including effeminate boys like Peter, is the result of his own latent homosexuality. Thus, by the end of the movie, the filmmakers turn him into a kind of victim of the oppressive society around him instead of concluding that Phil’s sexual perversion is the root cause of his hatred of other people. It turns out, however, that an incident in Phil’s early life probably was the cause of his latent homosexuality, a fact that undercuts the movie’s politically correct elements. Peter’s mother, Rose, comes across as a very weak person, which doesn’t quite ring true.

THE POWER OF THE DOG also contains some foul language, violence, excessive male nudity, and unnecessary meanness. MOVIEGUIDE® rates this movie abhorrent.