The Plague Dogs (1982)

Actors: Dandy Nichols (actress), Warren Mitchell (actor), John Hurt (actor), Warren Mitchell (actor), Patrick Stewart (actor), Nigel Hawthorne (actor), Rosemary Leach (actress), James Bolam (actor), Anthony Valentine (actor), Bill Maynard (actor), Judy Geeson (actress), John Franklyn-Robbins (actor), Philip Locke (actor), Christopher Benjamin (actor), Bernard Hepton (actor),

Plot: An animated adaptation of Richard Adams' novel, about a pair of dogs (Snitter and Rowf) who escape from a research laboratory and try to survive in the wild with the help of a cunning fox (The Tod). The lab director tries to keep the escape quiet, but as an increasing number of sheep are found killed, word leaks out, together with rumours that the dogs might be plague carriers...

Keywords: animal-abuse, animal-experimentation, animal-in-title, animal-name-in-title, animal-rights, anthrax, based-on-novel, beach, blood, cartoon-dog
Genres: Adventure, Animation, Drama,
Taglines: Escape to a different World...And share the adventure of a lifetime.

Quotes:

Rowf: I can't stand the water anymore. When I shut my eyes, the water comes back.::Snitter: How do you get out? Do you drink it? Or does the sun dry it out? Or what?::Rowf: I don't know. I hate it, Snitter. The water's terrible.::Snitter: The wire's loose here, along the bottom. If I put my nose under it, I might be able to get through...::Rowf: Why do they do it, Snitter? I'm not a bad dog.::Snitter: I don't think they do it because they think you're bad.

Snitter: Have you ever thought, Rowf... that we won't need food when we're dead? Or names for that matter... I wonder who the buzzards will like best... You, or me... I hope you make sure we're properly dead before you start, old rip-beak!

[first lines]::Stephen Powell: I think he's starting to pack it in.

Snitter: Rowf. Rowf! Come back.::Rowf: [half-conscious] Can't do it. I'll fight! I'll tear them white-coats... damn white-coats...::Snitter: It's not the white-coats, Rowf. It's me - Snitter. Listen - the door's not a wall anymore.

Snitter: They're not masters, Rowf. I had a master once, and I know. Whatever the White-coats are, they're not masters.

Rowf: Something's been burnt in there. It's a death place. Bones, hair...::Snitter: They must burn creatures in there, Rowf. [sniffing] Sheep... rain... I can smell it underneath the ashes.::Rowf: In there? Smells come through the cracks. Dogs don't.

Snitter: They've taken everything away! The houses and roads, cars, pavement, the lot! How did they do it, Rowf?::Rowf: The white-coats must have changed it so they could do something or other to animals.::Snitter: But my master never used to do anything to me...::Rowf: I don't want to hear about your master.::Snitter: When I was at home, my master...::Rowf: Aren't you listening to me?::Snitter: Masters are different, Rowf! You'll see what I mean when we've found one.::Rowf: Supposing there aren't any masters left?

Snitter: The flies in my head... they keep buzzing.

Snitter: Rowf, if we don't find food soon, we'll die.::Rowf: I'm not going to die. Not without a fight.::Snitter: Who are you going to fight? There's no one here.::Rowf: I'll fight this. But we have to change.::Snitter: Change? Change to what?::Rowf: To what we used to be. Real animals. Wild animals.

The Tod: Where'd ye get that crack on the head, bonny lad?::Snitter: The world was black and white... and then the truck came, and lightning shot down my head.