A Clean Freak Reluctantly Takes in a Massive Drooling Dog

“Turner and Hooch” is a delightful twist on the classic cop-buddy movie. Officer Scott Turner is the clean freak played by Tom Hanks, and Hooch is a huge drooling French Mastiff who happens to be be the only witness to the murder of its master. Turner reluctantly must take in and team up with the over-sized dog to solve the murder. A lot of adventure and a lot of laughs follow in this great 1989 release.

Turner’s first encounter with Hooch, before the murder, gets the relationship off to a hilarious start. As he answers a noise complaint the gigantic dog energetically runs to greet him. Turner’s fear is displayed on the screen with the dog’s slobbering approach played out like a nightmare in super slow motion set to music that sounds a lot like the eerie theme music from “Jaws.” 

That night Hooch’s human is killed. We watch the dog howl in the night, grief stricken. The next morning, Turner is called to the scene of the crime. When animal control tries to take Hooch away, he barks, lunges, and drags them around. They label the dog “nuts” and decide they have to shoot him. Turner objects because Hooch is the only witness to the crime. 

Turner struggles to get the massive Mastiff into his police car but the dog doesn’t want to leave his owner’s body. When he can’t get him inside, he drives with the dog outside the car on a control bar running along to the vet where Turner hopes to leave the dog. Hooch looks like he’s having the time of his life. 

Of course, the vet becomes a love interest (for Turner not Hooch) who scolds Turner for how dirty and unhealthy “his dog” is. He tries to explain he’s never had a dog and can’t possibly care for this one and tries unsuccessfully to butter her up so she’ll take the dog off his hands. Unfortunately for him she sees right through him and refuses. Now they are stuck with each other.  

I love the slapstick in this movie. As they are entering the vet’s office, Hooch drags Turner, who is holding him with a control bar, through the dog door, making Turner repeatedly slam his head against the door.

That night, Hooch barks outside through the night, and when Turner finally relents and lets him inside, he accidentally locks himself out of the house. Later, Turner yells at the dog for “eating the car.” Of course, Hooch ends up making an enormous mess of Turner’s entire formerly neat house.

Here is a fun fact: in order to get Tom Hanks to take the iconic role of Woody in “Toy Story,” the Pixar animators created a scene with Woody using Tom Hank’s voice from “Turner and Hooch” saying “Oh no! You’re eating the car! Don’t eat the car! You stupid dog!” Once Hanks saw it, he agreed to take the part. Here’s a link to the actual clip: https://youtu.be/HKCErXqdiI4

My favorite part of the movie is when Turner notices that Hooch isn’t eating because he misses Amos his owner. To cheer him up Turner starts talking to him, petting him, and even starts running around the house, playing tug of war with him. The reason I love this scene so much is because you start to see the softer side of both these characters, and this is, in my opinion, is where they begin to really let their guards down and connect with each other.

I won’t spoil the movie for you, but, trust me, Turner and Hooch end up making quite a team. At one point, on a stake out while they’re waiting, Turner gives Hooch a Milk Bone, the same kind of dog treat I give Sunny. Out of boredom, Turner takes a bite of one and says flatly that it tastes like health food. As funny as the scene is, I was grossed out! I smelled one once out of curiosity, but I’ve never thought to eat one!

I highly recommend “Turner and Hooch,” full of laughs, adventure, and surprises. 

Without giving away the ending, a dog learns to love a man, a man learns to love a dog, and the dog helps the man find and fall for the love of his life. 

I am ecstatic to find out that “Turner and Hootch” is now being made into a TV series starring Josh Peck (from “Drake and Josh” and “Max’s Keeble’s Big Move”)! Did you know about it? Are you just hearing about it now? Do you want to hear my thoughts on the episodes when they come out?