In one of his lesser seen performances, George Segal is well cast here as unemployed Canadian living off welfare checks with only a faithful dog for companionship. Conflict arises when the intoxicated young drug dealers next door feed his dog dope and inadvertently kill it; this leads to Segal accidentally murdering one of them in a fit of rage and then fleeing with the drug dealer's money - something that causes the police to suspect the other drug dealers of committing the homicide. Irene Cara plays the girlfriend of the drug pusher who ends up being arrested over the murder (his alibi - that he was making love with her - is laughed off by the police) with the film to come revolving around Cara beginning to suspect Segal and trying to set him up before eventually befriending him. If this sounds like an odd premise for a movie, it is because it certainly is; with Cara and Segal both playing sympathetic characters with understandable motives, the point of the film (if anything) is the ability of adversities to bring people closer together. This does not quite excuse the extremely abrupt ending (which leaves a lot unresolved) though, and the film contains some very clichéd supporting characters, but both Segal and Cara are reasonably compelling. Cara also has a chance to sing a catchy ditty called "City of Nights", which makes an appearance over the end credits too.
Review of Killing 'em Softly
