Man’s Best Friend
Imagine a dog which can climb trees, swallow a cat whole and blend into the background like a chameleon. That’s Max, a genetically modified canine, the star in the movie Man’s Best Friend.
As his creator, Dr. Jarret, said such an animal would make a great friend and be a formidable weapon in the right hands. However, what happens when it gets out of control? See the movie to find out the chilling truth.
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Released in 1993, Man’s Best Friend was produced by Robert Engelman with support from New Line Cinema and Roven-Cavallo Entertainment. John Lafia, who wrote the story and screenplay, was also the director. Lance Henriksen played Dr. Jarret, the man responsible for genetically re-engineered Max, the product of spliced genes from the DNA of a leopard, python and chameleon plus other assorted animals. Ally Sheedy played Lori Tanner, the reporter who released Max from Dr. Jarret’s Emax Lab. Her unfortunate boyfriend, Perry, who had to compete, at a total disadvantage, with Max for Lori’s attention and affection, was played by Fredric Lehne. Robert Costanzo was Detective Kovacs, the man assigned to bring Max back into custody. Frank Welker gave voice to Max.
Max was played by a Tibetan Mastiff, a breed originally from Tibet, variously called Do-Khyi, Tsang-Khyi, in Nepali, the Tibetan language, and Zang Ao, in Chinese. It is an ancient breed developed by the nomadic tribes of Central Asia. The name Do-Khyi can be translated, loosely, as “home guard” which was its original purpose, that is, looking after herds, flocks and sundry domiciles of its human companions. Do-Khyi can also mean “dog which may be tied” but that would be a, probably intentional, misnomer because it was normally let loose at night to take care of uninvited guests who come in the dark.
Nowadays, Tibetan Mastiffs are classified into the Do-Khyi and the Tsang-Khyi. The Do-Khyi is taller, heavier and has a more wrinkled face than the Tsang-Khyi. Interestingly, both types can be found in the same litter. Unlike other domesticated dog breeds, the Tibetan Mastiff only comes into heat just once a year, usually late fall. Ideally, a male Tibetan Mastiff would be about 25 to 28 inches at the withers but they have been bred to be bigger and heavier with weights up to 180 pounds.
The Tibetan Mastiff has a long double coat in a wide range of colors from solid black all the way to solid white. A snow-white Tibetan Mastiff is very rare, though. The good news for potential owners is that the coat, despite its length and thickness, does not smell. The bad news is that it sheds the whole year long even more so in late summer or early fall, perhaps, to get a new winter coat.
Temperament-wise, the Tibetan Mastiff is not standardized. Depending on its training, it can be very obedient and loyal or aggressively ferocious. This may be because, being bred as a free-ranging guard dog, it possesses higher than average intelligence and, therefore, does not take kindly to being ordered around by, in its view, lesser beings. It has been reported that even tigers are not a match for some members of this breed. Prices paid for fine specimens have also been unmatched. In December 2010, a wealthy dog-fancier from Dalian paid 16 million Yuan for a Tibet Mastiff puppy hardly one year old. That’s nearly 2.5 million in US dollars.
In the movie Man’s Best Friend, Max, the genetically-modified Tibetan Mastiff, was definitely heads and shoulders above the rest of the cast. After being released from its cage in Emax, by a well-meaning Lori, who unwittingly misunderstood the surgery marks on its body as scars caused by torturous experiments, Max soon became a catastrophe running loose. He chased Lori’s boyfriend, Perry, out of the house so that he could have Lori all to himself. Then he seduced, or perhaps raped, Heidi, a Collie, made short work of the dog’s perennial enemy, a mailman, plus cutting short, permanently, the careers of a few detectives assigned to his case.
Can Dr. Jarret, his creator, bring him back under control? The answer in the Man’s Best Friend movie was not totally unexpected but there was a very nice touch in the final scene.
Hint: Max II, anyone?
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