The Plague Dogs

1982

Snitter: Have you ever thought, Rowf... that we won't need food when we're dead? Or names for that matter... I wonder who the buzzards will like best... You, or me... I hope you make sure we're properly dead before you start, old rip-beak!

(first lines) Stephen Powell: I think he's starting to pack it in.

Snitter: Rowf. Rowf! Come back. Rowf: (half-conscious) Can't do it. I'll fight! I'll tear them white-coats... damn white-coats... Snitter: It's not the white-coats, Rowf. It's me - Snitter. Listen - the door's not a wall anymore.

Rowf: I can't stand the water anymore. When I shut my eyes, the water comes back. Snitter: How do you get out? Do you drink it? Or does the sun dry it out? Or what? Rowf: I don't know. I hate it, Snitter. The water's terrible. Snitter: The wire's loose here, along the bottom. If I put my nose under it, I might be able to get through... Rowf: Why do they do it, Snitter? I'm not a bad dog. Snitter: I don't think they do it because they think you're bad.

Snitter: They're not masters, Rowf. I had a master once, and I know. Whatever the White-coats are, they're not masters.

Rowf: Something's been burnt in there. It's a death place. Bones, hair... Snitter: They must burn creatures in there, Rowf. (sniffing) Sheep... rain... I can smell it underneath the ashes. Rowf: In there? Smells come through the cracks. Dogs don't.

Snitter: They've taken everything away! The houses and roads, cars, pavement, the lot! How did they do it, Rowf? Rowf: The white-coats must have changed it so they could do something or other to animals. Snitter: But my master never used to do anything to me... Rowf: I don't want to hear about your master. Snitter: When I was at home, my master... Rowf: Aren't you listening to me? Snitter: Masters are different, Rowf! You'll see what I mean when we've found one. Rowf: Supposing there aren't any masters left?

Snitter: The flies in my head... they keep buzzing.

Snitter: Rowf, if we don't find food soon, we'll die. Rowf: I'm not going to die. Not without a fight. Snitter: Who are you going to fight? There's no one here. Rowf: I'll fight this. But we have to change. Snitter: Change? Change to what? Rowf: To what we used to be. Real animals. Wild animals.

Snitter: The world was black and white... and then the truck came, and lightning shot down my head.

Rowf: We're not about to die! The Tod: No? Why, hinny, ye've got no chance at all. I've bin watchin' ye the last two days, ye'll not last hollerin' yer heads off, racin' about the fell. Snitter: What do you mean? What are you saying? The Tod: Just a proposition, bonny lads. If ye'll hunt with me, I'll keep ye right, and ye'll have yer meath, we'll run through the night and follow me feet... Rowf: I don't understand a word he's saying.

Snitter: He'll show us how to live out here if we let him share what we kill. The Tod: Aye, laddie, that's it. Why, ye'll have no bother with me, I'm a delicate eater. I don't aught but pick at me meat. Rowf: He'll cheat us and run away when it suits him. Bloody thief, that's what he is. Snitter: Well, we've nothing to lose. He's a sharp one, Rowf. Rowf: If you're still here when it's light, we'll decide what to do then. The Tod: Ah, now yer talkin' sense. Keep a tight hold of yer mate, and a good look over ye. Rowf: What do you call yourself? The Tod: I'm the Tod. Tod, ye know? Canniest Tod on Mossen Moore.

Rowf: What's happened to you? Snitter: What do you mean? Rowf: Your head... Snitter: It's just a hole. It's not that strange, not really. Holes.

The Tod: The farmers are down in the valley, headin' this way, dogs all over the place. An' they've got guns! Rowf: How is it going to end, running all over these mountains? Snitter: We've got to go, Rowf, Tod's right. Rowf: Maybe what they're doing to us is right. I'm a good dog, Snitter! The Tod: Ye're no dog at all, now. Ye're a sheep killer.

Snitter: I was coming back, and all the grass and stones in my head were very loud, like a strong wind. And I was on a road, like last time. He called to me and smiled, and I went to him... and everything smashed to pieces. I smashed it like I did the other time! It all comes from me, Rowf! Out of my head... I killed that man, like I killed my master! That's why we're here now, like this. We'll be punished, Rowf... Rowf: They cant' do anything worse than they've done already... Snitter: Everything bad comes out of my head! Don't you see? Perhaps dying... even dying doesn't stop it. Rowf: I don't know what you're talking about. But as for dying, I'll fight before I'm killed. Snitter: They'll shoot you, Rowf, when they come with guns. The noise breaks the world to bits!

(Snitter, trapped in a garage, is hallucinating about his old home) Rowf: Snitter! Can you hear me? Snitter: I'm inside my head now. And it's where I should be. Snitter: This is no time for one of your turns! The Tod: Come on out, ya great fool! Sharp with ye, now, before we're all caught! Snitter: I can't come out. If I do, I'll go mad again.

Snitter: I've only got to drown, or jump under a truck, and the sky will fall down and all the men will die.

Snitter: Far off, Tod. Look... The Tod: That's the sea. Have ye never seen it before? Salt and the weeds. It's all water there. Snitter: If only I could have stayed inside my head this morning. I might have been able to decide how to get there. How to reach it...

(about the Tod) Rowf: We don't need him to help us, we never dead. Snitter: He can't help what he is. Anyway, I admire him. He's... natural.

(seeing a helicopter) Snitter: The flies are out of my head... look... they've grown huge!

Rowf: We've never been very good at being wild, have we? Snitter: We just started too late.

The Tod: Whatever happens, don't stop. Remember, keep moving.

Soldier: It's a fox, sir! They've got a bloody fox!

Snitter: Look out there! It's our island. Don't you see it? That's where we have to go. We can be free.

Dr Robert Boycott: (on phone) Boycott, here. The Under-Secretary? Yes, of course I'll speak to him. Good afternoon, sir. It has been inconvenient, I've taken steps to ensure it doesn't happen again. (pause) Suspend work completely, sir? Couldnt' we... no of course not. I understand completely.

(last lines) Snitter: I can't swim anymore, Rowf... Rowf: We must... be near the island... Snitter: If... there is... any island, Rowf... Rowf: There is. There. Can't you see it? Our island...

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