00:00
/
00:00
Sleeping Dogs
Film (Trailer and Excerpts) – 1977
...don't you ever worry about killing the wrong man?
– Smith (Sam Neill)
[Sleeping Dogs] almost single-handedly created a climate of acceptance within the country for a Kiwi film industry.
– Jonathan Dowling looks back at the film's impact, The Evening Post, 27 February 1988
For a debut, Sleeping Dogs is precociously accomplished ... like Hitchcock's Saboteur, Sleeping Dogs is suffused with paranoia, mistaken identity and breathless chase. Unconventionally and convincingly, Donaldson makes the case that there is no such thing as existentialism, no personal gains to flying solo.
– American reviewer Carrie Rickey in Village Voice, 9 March 1982
A lot of people after the novel came out said it was some kind of prediction or forecast [of] where New Zealand was going. But I saw it just as an exercise of 'what If? Let's imagine there was that kind of divide in New Zealand that turned into a civil war, where would you stand? What would you do? How would you feel?
– Author CK Stead talks about Smith's Dream, the novel which inspired Sleeping Dogs, late in episode 11 of the first season of The Good Word
If you liked this, you might also like...
Best of the 70s
This collection celebrates the best of 1970s television,...
NZ Book Collection
This collection features screen adaptations from New...
The Geoff Murphy Collection
This collection pays tribute to filmmaker Geoff Murphy —...
The Sam Neill Collection
Actor, director, makes the odd bottle of pinot noir: a...
The Roger Donaldson Collection
A collection devoted to the career of director Roger...
The NZ Film Commission turns 40
A collection celebrating 40 years of the NZ Film...
The Making of Sleeping Dogs
Documentary on the making of Sleeping Dogs
Dream in the Making - The Making of Sleeping Dogs
Behind the scenes of Sleeping Dogs
The Good Word - Series One
The original book is discussed in episode 11
The Life of Ian
Documentary in which Ian Mune discusses Sleeping Dogs
Kaleidoscope - CK Stead
A profile of CK Stead, who wrote the original book
Cowboys of Culture
Documentary on NZ's film renaissance, including this movie
Book to Box Office
This adaptation of CK Stead's novel is discussed
Kaleidoscope - NZ Cinema, the Past Decade
Sleeping Dogs features in this survey of NZ film
Smash Palace
Roger Donaldson's next feature film
Coming Home - Roger Donaldson & Steve Millen
Director Roger Donaldson features in this
Kaleidoscope - Roger Donaldson in Hollywood
Interview with director Roger Donaldson
The City of No
Early TV performance from Sam Neill
Undercover
More drama involving authority written by Arthur Baysting
Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Another film featuring Sam Neill on the run
Kaleidoscope - Ian Mune
Interview with actor Ian Mune
Gordon Bennett
Co-star Nevan Rowe directed this short film
Landfall - A Film about Ourselves
Another early Sam Neill performance
Winners & Losers: The Woman at the Store
A TV film that paved the way for Sleeping Dogs
Frontseat - Series One, Episode 14
Interview with Sleeping Dogs cinematographer Michael Seresin
The Silent One
Another Ian Mune adaptation of a classic NZ novel
The World's Fastest Indian
A music video directed by Roger Donaldson
The Neville Purvis Family Show - Episode
Co-writer Arthur Baysting stars in this
The God Boy
Another pioneering drama written by Ian Mune
Patu!
A film about the Springbok protests
The Making of Smash Palace
Documentary on Roger Donaldson's second movie
NZ Film Commission turns 40 - Past Memories
Roger Donaldson on taking a strange phone call about this...
Shaker Run
More dodgy NZ government forces
Start Again
Roger Donaldson documentary on NZ hippy culture
Sheba (She Sha She Shoo)
Composer Murray Grindlay had a pop career too
Flare - A Ski Trip
Short film directed by Sam Neill
The Book Show - Series Two
Author CK Stead appears in this series
Winners & Losers: Shining with the Shiner
Another Roger Mune and Ian Donaldson collaboration
Moynihan - You Can't Win 'Em All (Episode Two)
Ian Mune stars as union organiser Leo Moynihan
Pheno was Here
More chaffing against the system
Nutcase
Also directed by Roger Donaldson
Cow
Also starring Ian Mune
The Governor 1 - The Reverend Traitor (First Episode)
Historical TV drama released the same year as Sleeping Dogs
Carnival Coast
Also Stars Ian Mune
The Maintenance of Silence
Another film about state power and protesst
The Water Cycle
Sam Neill cameos in this 1972 NFU documentary
Dean Spanley
Sam Neill stars alongside Peter O'Toole
Harry - This is Personal (First Episode)
Sam Neill on the other side of the law
The Sealhunters
Sam Neill edited this short
For Art's Sake - A Century of Cinema
NZ Film Commission's Lindsay Shelton discusses Kiwi films
The Grass is Greener - Sam Neill
Documentary about Sam Neill's Australian acting career
Geoff Perry
Early Roger Donaldson documentary about a Kiwi racer
Holmes - Roger Donaldson
Interview with Roger Donaldson in Queenstown
Derek
Another screen breakthrough by Roger Donaldson & Ian Mune
Cape Horn for the Hell of It - Around Cape Horn
Early documentary from Roger Donaldson
Perfect Strangers
Sam Neill playing another isolated character
Top Half - Dancing Cows
More behind the scenes with cinematographer Michael Seresin
Tuned Out
Short film about the traumas of war