Not to be underestimated, this French black comedy of sorts stars Marvin in one of his last film roles as a fugitive bank robber, but he's really more of a plot device to showcase the crazy antics of his French co-stars, each with their own offbeat characterisation proving more dangerous than Marvin himself.

Lovely Miou-Miou is the film's leading lady, a captive farming wife of an abusive husband (Lanoux) who sees Marvin as her opportunity for emancipation. Man-child Bennent is a highlight playing a smart-mouthed inbred kid, himself a victim of the Lanoux character's rough handedness who clues onto Marvin's gambit from the outset, setting himself up as the hero of the ensuing farce making for a satisfying climax.

Also grabbing the attention is Bernadette Lafont playing one of the toothless farmhouse occupants with a comically lubricious lust for carnality. Virtually the entire cast play a whacky assortment of oddballs, offset (ironically) by Marvin as the only predictable character in the plot. Apart from Marvin, the only other native English-speaker in the cast is Tina Louise in a small supporting role as one of Marvin's accomplices during the opening heist.

Well photographed with sharp dialogue, a catchy bass guitar sound and overall sympathetic characters, 'Dog Day' might be an unknown quantity for most casual Marvin fans, but is surely worth a look if you're open-minded to a bit of depraved French farmhouse farce.

***SPOILERS*** After a blotched robbery with half a dozen people, including an eight year old boy, getting killed American gangster Jimmy Cobb, Lee Marvin, is on the run, with the French Police hot on his tail, in the French countryside with the couple of million dollars he heisted.

Burying the money in a nearby wheat field Jimmy doesn't realize that he's been spotted by 13 year-old Chim,David Bennent, who's got big plans for himself in becoming the towns next Godfather. Drgging up the money when Jimmy was still on the run Chim replaces it with a bag full of rocks and uses most of it to party around town, like drinking booze smoking cigars and carousing around with hookers, thus throwing suspicion on himself. Back at Chim's family's farm where Jimmys hiding out the man of the house, I'm not quite sure what relationship he has to Chim, the piggish and coarse Horace-Victor Lanoux-is busy abusing, whom I assume is Chim's older sister, his wife Jessica,Miou-Miou. It's in this strange and dangerous environment that the fugitive Jimmy Cobb finds himself in.

It doesn't take that long for Horace's family that includes his always drunk brother Socrate, Jean Carmet, and nymphomaniac sister Segolene, Bernadette Lafont, to discover Jimmy and hold him hostage until the police arrive with them getting a fat reward for his capture. It's later when the greedy Horace decides to get Jimmy to tell him where he hid the millions of dollars he stole, and keep it all for himself, that things begin to get a bit crazy at the Horace Farm. Crazy enough to have Jimmy want not only to be capture but even end up dead in order to avoid being stuck with the Horace crew! Which to Jimmy would be a fate far worse then death itself!

A number of side plots in the movie have to do with Horace and his wife Jessica trying to use Jimmy as a scapegoat in crimes that they themselves plan and end up committing. This in both Horace & Jessica knowing that that the fugitive from the law Jimmy, not them, will end up being blamed for them. There's also the tragic domestic, or house maid, Gusta-Marguerite Muni-who's always being threaten by Horace to be sent to a nursing home. This in Horace knowing perfectly well that she's terrified of being sent there and would end up killing herself if she was.

The movie soon get completely out of hand with Jimmy, the man on the spot, getting romantically involved with Jessica who's using him as a pasty or fall guy in the planned murder of her abusive husband Horace. This all leads to Jimmy ending up murdering, as well as being framed for murdering, at least another half dozen, not including those killed in the bank holdup, persons by the time the movie is finally over!

***SPOILER ALERT*** With the money gone and him having no hope for escaping the police dragnet Jimmy's only hope now is to get himself killed and finally be put out of is misery. Even that wish on Jimmys part is in jeopardy with the Al Capone or John Gottie wannabe Chim, now calling himself Aniro De La Crouchie, wanting to capture Jimmy alive and become famous for doing it!

As it turned jimmy did deny, by personally blowing his own brains out, Chim from taking him alive but it was fun loving Doudo Doudo, Joseph Mono, the grease monkey and all around handyman at the Horace Fram who ended up with all the stolen cash. The perpetually lucky Doudo Doudo came across the stolen money, after Chim dug it up and reburied it, and thus ended up not only leaving the crazy Horace place but moving into a swanky penthouse in Paris and ended up living happily ever after.

This is essentially a trash film that luckily does not take itself too seriously. It is well aware of its nature as entertainment and uses themes familiar from such films as "Deliverance" and "The Hills Have Eyes" in a sort of parodic context.

It features a family living in rural France where the father is a brutal and violent pervert, his brother is same but worse, the son (about 10) is following on the same track and the father's sister is a nympho. Key in lots of tasteless moments (the clubbering to death of two Swedish (topless) campers, the suicide of the grandmother when they threaten to take her to old folks' home, the spending spree of the 10 year old kid in a cathouse and so on)and what you have is a fairly entertaining exploitation picture with a European touch.

You know whether you'll like it or not! Definitely not for the fans of Lee Marvin...