Short Film: Brown Dog by Andrew Ward

Logline – Four men rob a bank and kill a man, so will they stay together? – some friends are loyal, others roll over

Brown Dog is a feature-length film about four men who rob a bank and kill a man who tried to stop them escaping with the cash.

With the extra heat of a murder hanging over their heads, will the gang band together, or will they roll over?

The group are brought together by THE MAN who plans the operation. He recruits career criminal MARK and small time/occasional crook DAVID.

When DAVID’s brother SIMON overhears the ploy, they are forced to include him too. SIMON has autism which impacts his speech slightly and other functions. He is easily wound up
and make very poor decisions easily.

When the robbery happens, it goes relatively smoothly, until the last member of the group THE MAN is grabbed by an elderly have-a-go hero. SIMON returns to help and after a brief tussle and threats, he shoots the old man and the pair flee with the rest of the team.

Because of the heightened gravitas of the situation and increased Police pressure, the criminal unit begin to fall apart and tensions run high.

Blame is banded around and threats of turning people in
arises. The group calm and agree not to snitch on their fellow outlaws or reveal the location of the cash.

It appears that MARK calls the Police and names SIMON as the murderer. SIMON is about to be arrested, when DAVID confesses to the killing, much to the distress of SIMON. DAVID is arrested
for the crime and SIMON discovers that MARK made the call, so kills him in an act of revenge.

SIMON is arrested for the murder of MARK. It is then apparent that this was all part of THE MAN’s plan, as he has a sly smile on his face. He made the call, impersonating MARK and predicted the sequence of events to follow.

The film ends with THE MAN going to recover the hidden loot from within the seat of his car, having never been implicated with any part of the criminal activity.

He is seen leaving some of the cash in a bag outside a house and knocking at the door, before leaving.

When we see it open, it is the family of the old man (we see them in court earlier) and a flash back shows him agreeing to the deal with THE MAN who is an Occupational Health worker, as he is dying anyway and wants to help his family.

THE MAN drives away with shades and a smile.