Hachi: A Dog's Tale

2009

Action / Biography / Drama / Family

262
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 64% · 28 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 84% · 10K ratings
IMDb Rating 8.1/10 10 309601 309.6K

Please enable your VPN when downloading torrents

If you torrent without a VPN, your ISP can see that you're torrenting and may throttle your connection and get fined by legal action!

Get Hide VPN

Plot summary

A drama based on the true story of a college professor's bond with the abandoned dog he takes into his home.


Uploaded by: OTTO
November 05, 2021 at 05:45 AM

Top cast

Richard Gere as Parker Wilson
Sarah Roemer as Andy
Joan Allen as Cate Wilson
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
547.83 MB
1280*720
English 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
1 hr 33 min
Seeds 35
1.72 GB
1920*1024
English 5.1
NR
23.976 fps
1 hr 33 min
Seeds 100

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by classicsoncall 8 / 10

"You want to wait for him, don't you?"

Oh my, hold everything. You want to be prepared to watch this movie with plenty of Kleenex on hand. It really does resonate for viewers who have a special bond with their pets, but I think it probably moves a few hearts of those who don't share hearth and home with a favorite canine. It's a bit ironic actually, to think about the picture's impact on a person, when a dog's reaction to it's missing owner invites more sympathy than one feels for the owner himself, who died of a heart attack.

Well, not to get too morbid, this was a sensitively told tale that one finds astonishingly hard to believe when it's revealed that Hachi celebrated his master for ten years after the man's death by showing up daily at a train station at the end of the work day to greet him. Based on an actual event that occurred in Japan in the 1920's, the film has been Westernized for an American audience with Richard Gere in the lead role as a university professor who adopts a wayward Akita puppy found wandering around a train station. But the real star is the pup who matures into the adult Hachi and takes full possession of the viewer's emotions on the way to a heart tugging finish. It's a family friendly film that you're not likely to forget for a long time once you've seen it.

Reviewed by SnoopyStyle 7 / 10

A real tear jerker from a simple premise

Based on a real dog, Parker Wilson (Richard Gere) is a music professor. One night, he finds a stray puppy at the train station. Despite his wife (Joan Allen)'s objections, they take him in and name him Hachi. The dog loyally waits for Parker every day at the train station even when Parker passes away and the family has to move away. He becomes a staple at the station.

It's the thinnest of premise. Based on a Japanese film based on a real dog in Japan, it takes that premise to its simple tear jerker conclusion. Dog lovers will love this movie. The story is very simple done with a very light touch. Nevertheless the movie is very effective.

Reviewed by MartinHafer 7 / 10

It's hard to hate a cute doggy film...

"Hachi: A Dog's Tale" is a remake of a Japanese film, "Hachi-Ko" (1987). Oddly, however, this American version keeps SOME of the original Japanese story (such as the breed of dog, the dog's name and SOME of the events in the dog's life) and completely changes so much--especially since "Hachi-Ko" is based on a real life Japanese occurrence, not in America.

Back in the 1920s and 30s, the real Hachi was a dog owned by a Japanese professor. One thing that set him apart from most dogs was that Hachi would meet the professor at the train station after work each day! But, even more unusual is that after the professor's death, Hachi CONTINUED this routine--waiting patiently for his master every day! In many ways, the story is like that of the very famous Scottish dog, Greyfriars Bobby--who is memorialized in Edinburgh outside the pub and church where the do would do its daily ritual (lying at his master's grave and then visiting the pub). In fact, I did some reading and found several other similar accounts throughout the world. This leads me to wonder WHY the film did a semi-remake. Why not just make a fictionalized story? Why keep a few details and change others--especially when this Japanese dog inexplicably shows up in Rhode Island!

So does this lack of attention to detail mean I hate the film? Even as a retired history teacher, I cannot, as I must confess that I've owned dogs for years and currently have two massive hairy beasts who adore me (in addition to my two cats who alternate between adoration and ambivalence). I am a sucker for a film about a cute dog--and the Hachi in the movie is one of the cutest Akita's ever (much cuter, by the way, than the original Hachi). You cannot help but like the dog and enjoy seeing him interact with his owner (Richard Gere). But, there needs to be more than a cute dog to make a really good film--and currently this fame has an astonishingly high score of 8.2! Is this number, at least in part, less about the quality of the production and more a vote to signify that most everyone loves cute dogs? Well, yes. Objectively speaking, the film is a remake--and that's one strike against it at the onset. And, I just cannot imagine a pleasant doggy film making it to the IMDb's Top 250 List--but it did and it's currently #190--giving it a slightly higher rating than films like "The Best Years of Our Lives" (one of the greatest films of the 1940s), "Rocky" (the first one was very nice), "A Fistful of Dollars" and "The Celebration"--as well as the original Japanese film!! Overall, it's a nice doggy film that is VERY family-friendly at that and with a lovely and evocative piano soundtrack. By all means watch it-- but don't be surprised if you like it but don't love it.

A few final notes: First, I noticed that AFTER the master died in this American adaptation, it ALWAYS seemed to be snowing in this town--for years and years after the death! Second, what's with the professor's wife?! Her husband dies and she finds Hachi at the end years later at the train station and is surprised to see him?! Where was she at the time...off-world or taking a very long nap?! Didn't someone bother to tell her about HER dog or didn't she ask about how old Hachi was doing?! This seems to be a missing plot thread. Third, if you are curious, Hachi's actual remains were stuffed after his death and he is on display at National Science Museum of Japan in Ueno, Tokyo. And, there is a statue to him as well as annual celebrations in this country. How these people view an American film company 'appropriating' their story is something I would love to know.

Read more IMDb reviews

33 Comments

Be the first to leave a comment