Inspiration for Runnig Over a Dog (without actually running it over)

May 6, 2011 8:22 PM

Can you think of any movies with scenes in which the characters accidentally hit an animal while driving? Bonus points if at night time.

I'm looking to see how these scenes have been filmed, for a project I'm working on at the moment in which a dog is run over. Thanks for your help!

posted by atmosphere to media & arts (39 answers total)

A Fish Called Wanda.
posted by Melismata at 8:24 PM on May 6, 2011

Royal Tenenbaums.
posted by kataclysm at 8:25 PM on May 6, 2011

The Straight Story features a woman who's run over a lot of deer.

Wendigo features the deer-hitting of a car as a central element.
posted by Sticherbeast at 8:26 PM on May 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

The Long Kiss Goodnight
posted by The otter lady at 8:27 PM on May 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

Tommy Boy
posted by Think_Long at 8:29 PM on May 6, 2011

Does Harry and the Hendersons count?
posted by Sassyfras at 8:29 PM on May 6, 2011 [2 favorites]

Sam Fuller's "White Dog."
posted by hermitosis at 8:53 PM on May 6, 2011

This is obscure, but in the Icelandic movie Brúðguminn (White Night Wedding) (2008), a woman hits a swan with her car while driving across a bridge during the daytime.
posted by matildaben at 9:00 PM on May 6, 2011

A lot of stuff, including a cow, gets run down in Raising Arizona.
posted by effluvia at 9:17 PM on May 6, 2011

in the first vacation, they lose their dog to a car, right?
posted by skepticallypleased at 9:35 PM on May 6, 2011

This is kind of cheating, but in "Freddie Got Fingered" Tom Green is wearing the carcass of a dead deer when he is struck and dragged by a truck.
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 9:44 PM on May 6, 2011

I think there was Wolf, with Jack Nicholson and Michelle Pfeiffer.
posted by CancerMan at 9:48 PM on May 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

Probably not exactly what you are thinking of, but Open Season the children's movie. Link is to a website that describes the deer being hit by the truck, I did a quick search on the site under "animals hit by car" and had over 20 responses.
posted by banannafish at 9:51 PM on May 6, 2011

And thought of another one, with Kids-In-Mind backup, Underworld has a werewolf being hit by a car. That sorta counts as a dog, right?
posted by banannafish at 9:53 PM on May 6, 2011

Well, there's an episode of Gilmore Girls where Rory's Jeep gets hit by a deer.
posted by thejoshu at 10:07 PM on May 6, 2011

Three Kings has an exploding cow, IIRC, but I'm not sure if it was hit or not.
posted by SLC Mom at 10:07 PM on May 6, 2011

There's a pretty intense scene right before this clip in the movie Jesus's Son where Jack Black and Billy Crudup run over a (formerly pregnant but now dead) rabbit with their truck. JB saves the babies initially... but...
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 10:21 PM on May 6, 2011

Peter Greenaway' 1986 film A Zed and Two Noughts opens with the sound of a car crashing into a swan. The film is loosely based on the story of the animators the Brothers Quay, who used stop-motion photography to depict decaying meat.
posted by doncoyote at 11:11 PM on May 6, 2011

Local Hero ('We have an injured rabbit also.')
posted by rjs at 11:28 PM on May 6, 2011 [2 favorites]

Three colours red
posted by Crane Shot at 12:41 AM on May 7, 2011

In "Rango", an armadillo gets hit really early on in the movie.
posted by cleverevans at 12:46 AM on May 7, 2011

O brother where art thou - a car hits a cow
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 1:54 AM on May 7, 2011

Silkwood. Deer, twice. First incident, deer killed, car totalled, Silkwood injured but alive. Second, car totalled, Silkwood dead, deer invisible.
posted by likeso at 3:33 AM on May 7, 2011 [1 favorite]

The War of the Roses. Michael Douglas hits and kills his wife's cat in the middle of their ugly divorce. She does not respond well to this. And that's why dog people shouldn't marry cat people.
posted by saffry at 4:01 AM on May 7, 2011

A Prophet
posted by vincele at 4:36 AM on May 7, 2011 [1 favorite]

Love Happens (2009) ... I'm not sure whether the dog is actually hit, but a key death in the film is the result of a driver swerving to avoid hitting a dog.
posted by jayder at 4:45 AM on May 7, 2011

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning has an extremely graphic scene of a truck hitting a cow (warning: EXTREMELY GRAPHIC!).
posted by item at 4:54 AM on May 7, 2011

Less Than Zero
posted by Francolin at 5:50 AM on May 7, 2011

In Dawn of the Dead, 2nd version, there is a Zombie that is hit by a car, another couple by a truck backing up...
posted by tomswift at 6:04 AM on May 7, 2011 [1 favorite]

In Congorama, the guy hits an emu with his car.
posted by andreapandrea at 6:27 AM on May 7, 2011

Poison Ivy includes a scene where a previously-hit dog is put out of its misery by Drew Barrymore. I can't remember if you actually see the collision.
posted by hnnrs at 6:32 AM on May 7, 2011

In The Last King of Scotland, Dr. Garrigan meets Idi Amin during the aftermath of a collision between a car and a water buffalo. It takes place in broad daylight, and I think the collision takes place off-screen.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 6:43 AM on May 7, 2011

Wendigo
posted by Artw at 8:22 AM on May 7, 2011

Local Hero ('We have an injured rabbit also.')

rjs - beautiful movie. Here's the moment. Note that the whole film is on YouTube. I can't recommend it enough to those who haven't had the pleasure of seeing it.
posted by Decani at 12:14 PM on May 7, 2011

Love Happens (2009) ... I'm not sure whether the dog is actually hit, but a key death in the film is the result of a driver swerving to avoid hitting a dog.

crap - I can;t believe I forgot that one - I actually worked on that sequence. As far as I recall, the dog isn't hit, and the view of the dog is farily blurry, dark and rained out.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 12:30 PM on May 7, 2011

There's a very memorable scene in Cabin Fever in which one of the characters hits a deer…
posted by Houyhnhnm at 1:56 PM on May 7, 2011

The Private Lives of Pippa Lee has a (daylight) scene where a dog is hit by a car.
posted by Coaticass at 7:12 PM on May 7, 2011

If television scenes count, there's a scene in Freaks and Geeks (episode: "Dead Dogs and Gym Teachers" where two of the characters run over a third character's dog, at night.

and what do you know, the episode is on youtube. The dog incident happens around the 8 minute mark.
posted by namewithoutwords at 7:53 PM on May 7, 2011

In Roddy Doyle's book "The Van," the guys run over a Jack Russell Terrier which becomes a recurring theme. Pretty funny, but not a movie as such.
posted by wenestvedt at 11:32 AM on May 9, 2011