English Setters have appeared in a wide range of films, including many major and starring roles. Most notably of all, an English Setter is the star of the only epic dog movie, the three-hour Soviet melodrama White Bim, Black Ear.

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Across the Bridge * Year: 1957 * Country: US * Breed content: Medium

Not about a dog, but the dog has a main role.

Banjo * Year: 1947 * Country: US * Breed content: High

“Banjo” is an English Setter teamed up with child star of the 1940s, Sharyn Moffett, who also appeared with a famous German Shepherd Dog in My Pal Wolf (1944).

Belyy Bim, Chyornoe ukho AKA: White Bim, Black Ear * Year: 1977 * Country: Soviet Union * Breed content: High

Not only the preeminent English Setter film, but a classic in all canine movies and the only epic live-action theatrical dog film with a runtime of three hours. Based on the novel by Gavriil Troyepolsky, which was actually about a Gordon Setter who was born white.

The Biscuit Eater * Year: 1972 * Country: US * Breed content: Medium

The main dog is a Wirehaired Pointing Griffon. Based on the novel by James Street, also the author of Good-bye, My Lady.

Camille * Year: 1936 * Country: US * Breed content: Low

Only a glimpse in one scene.

A Dog Named Palma * Year: 2021 * Country: Russia * Breed content: Low

The starring dog is a GSD.

The Egg and I * Year: 1947 * Country: US * Breed content: Medium

Not a main dog, but in a few scenes.

Git! * Year: 1965 * Country: US * Breed content: High

One of the starring ES roles, featuring “Rock”. This movie is painful to watch due to the aggressive strategies used by the characters on screen in an effort to train gundogs and the distressed body language of the dogs on camera.

Good-bye, My Lady AKA: The Boy and the Laughing Dog * Year: 1956 * Country: US * Breed content: Low

Several hunting dogs have background roles to the starring Basenji.

Home from the Hill * Year: 1960 * Country: US * Breed content: Low

A few hounds and setters can be seen.

Lassie Come Home * Year: 1943 * Country: US * Breed content: Low

Only a glimpse of English Setters at the kennel.

Midnight Cowboy * Year: 1969 * Country: US * Breed content: Low

Quick shot of a NYC dog-walker with several big dogs, including an Irish Setter and English Setter.

The Miracle Worker * Year: 1962 * Country: US * Breed content: Low

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town * Year: 1936 * Country: US * Breed content: Unconfirmed

The Pirates of Penzance * Year: 1983 * Country: UK/US * Breed content: Low

Totò terzo uomo AKA: Toto the Third Man * Year: 1951 * Country: Italy * Breed content: Low

Know more English Setter movies? Please send info to moviedogs@gmail.com. Thank you!

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During the rise of canine performers like Luke, Teddy, and Strongheart in silent-era Hollywood, Jack Hoxie was a noted rodeo-cowboy-turned-actor in westerns, gaining his first feature-film credit in 1919 after many shorts. In 1923 Hoxie sent away to Australia for a pregnant Australian Shepherd with the goal of raising the pups to be performing dogs. Only one survived in the litter: Bunk.

Bunk, a stocky, rather short-legged blue merle, was Hoxie’s dog from the start, making their partnership as a screen cowboy and his dog naturally convincing. For all the specialty performance skills, Hoxie hired Bert de Marc as Bunk’s personal trainer.

Through his career, which launched in 1924 when Bunk was still a juvenile, he tracked down bad guys, wrangled livestock, and served as a cowboy’s best friend in a score of westerns with Hoxie. Bunk became renowned enough that he even appeared in movies without Hoxie, such as Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come in 1928. He performed into the early 1930s and lived to eighteen years old.

There is an excellent article about Bunk on the website Herding on the Web.

It’s hard to trace all Bunk films since most are lost and his publicity was misleading. Jack Hoxie claimed that Bunk was in most of his (Hoxie’s) feature films, but even if you watch those that survive, Bunk is seldom in evidence. In at least one film (Gold), he was featured in publicity, but only one dog in the distance, who may or may not be Bunk, is ever seen.

Here is his filmography to the best of our knowledge, nearly all of which are lost. The dog in his supposed final film, Law and the Lawless (1932), is tricolored, maybe Bunk’s son, which was not uncommon for canine actors in Hollywood at the time.

Ridgeway of Montana (1924) (first film, for which he received much publicity)

Fighting Fury (1924)

Hidden Loot (1925) 

The White Outlaw (1925) (one of Bunk’s only surviving films)

The Demon (1926)

The Fighting Peacemaker (1926)

The Wild Horse Stampede (1926) (surviving only in a film archive in Moscow)

Red Hot Leather (1926)

The Fighting Three (1927)

Grinning Guns (1927)

Heroes of the Wild (1927) (possibly Bunk, billed as “Tornado”)

The Rambling Ranger (1927)

Rough and Ready (1927)

The Western Whirlwind (1927)

Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come (1928)

Shepherd of the Hills (1928)

Gold (1932) (surviving, but does not appear to show Bunk at all—see notes)

Law and Lawless (1932) (surviving with a different dog, unless Bunk was dyed for the part or the lighting made his coat look black instead of merle)

The post Bunk appeared first on Reel Dogs.

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The title links will take you to Amazon movie pages (Reel Dogs earns a referral fee at no cost to you) or, for rarer titles, alternative sources for the films.

The Wizard of Oz * Year: 1939 * Country: US * Breed content: Medium

Most iconic of all Cairn films, with the immortal Terry playing “Toto”.

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You can send new dog movie info to moviedogs@gmail.com. Thank you!

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