Footrot Flats: The Dog's Tale (1986) on Netflix
Wal Footrot farms at Footrot Flats with his sheepdog Dog. Wal courts hairdresser Cheeky Hobson while the Murphy family next door scheme to take Cooch Windgrass's deer and stag.
- Watch on NetflixThis title is not on Netflix right now. Please check back later for updates.
- Watch on NordVPN
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb7.0/101,127 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Trailer
Plot summary
On his farm at Footrot Flats, near the town of Raupo, Wal Footrot runs sheep and cattle with help from his neighbor Cooch Windgrass, local boy Rangi Jones and his niece Pongo, while his border collie Dog keeps watch over the place. Wal has two other things on his mind: Cheeky Hobson, the local hairdresser he is courting, and a chance to impress a selector for the All Blacks at Saturday's rugby match. Dog has his own hopes, fixed on a dog named Jess. Across the boundary live the Murphys, Irish and his sons Spit and Hunk, who want Cooch's deer and stag for themselves and buzz Wal's shearing shed with a helicopter.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Footrot Flats: The Dog's Tale (1986)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Co-writer Tom Scott, who has a fear of drowning, suggested the storm and flooding in the film as well as the climactic scene in which Dog and Horse are washed out to sea; Murray Ball created Vernon the Vermin, King of the Rats, to give the film a new villain.
- Producers John Barnett and Pat Cox raised the film's entire NZ$5 million budget in 10 days from 600 investors, with newspaper group INL holding a 20% stake.
- Producer Pat Cox, an early fan of the Footrot Flats strip, contacted cartoonist Murray Ball in 1981 to suggest a feature film; Ball initially rejected the idea before being persuaded.
- It surpassed Goodbye Pork Pie to become New Zealand's top-grossing local film until The Piano in 1993, and in Australia it was the most successful animated film until Disney's The Lion King in 1994.
- The animation took 15 months and comprised 100,000 individually hand-drawn and painted frames, with about 200 animators working on it in Sydney.
- Because of the film's success, Leisureland, a theme park in Te Atatū, West Auckland, was rebranded as the Footrot Flats Fun Park.
