The Plague Dogs (film)

The Plague Dogs
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Martin Rosen
Written by	Martin Rosen
Based on	The Plague Dogs by Richard Adams
Produced by	Martin Rosen
Starring	John Hurt Christopher Benjamin James Bolam
Edited by	Richard Harkness
Music by	Patrick Gleeson
Production companies	United Artists Nepenthe Productions Goldcrest Films
Distributed by	MGM/UA Entertainment Co. (United Kingdom; through United International Pictures[1]) Embassy Pictures (United States)
Release dates	21 October 1982 (1982-10-21) (United Kingdom) 9 January 1985 (1985-01-09) (United States)
Running time	103 minutes
Countries	United Kingdom United States
Language	English
Budget	£900,000 (US$1.2 million)
Box office	£308,000 (US$423,281)

The Plague Dogs is a 1982 animated adventure drama film, based on the 1977 novel of the same name by Richard Adams. It was written, directed and produced by Martin Rosen, who also directed Watership Down, the film adaptation of another novel by Adams, with animation direction by Tony Guy. The Plague Dogs was produced by Nepenthe Productions; it was released by Embassy Pictures in the United States and by United Artists in the United Kingdom. The film was originally released unrated in the United States, but for its DVD release, was later re-rated PG-13 by the MPAA for mature themes such as animal cruelty, violent imagery, and emotionally distressing scenes. The Plague Dogs is the first non-family-oriented MGM animated film, and the first adult animated feature by the studio.

The film's story is centered on two dogs named Rowf and Snitter, who escape from a research laboratory in Great Britain. In the process of telling the story, the film highlights the cruelty of performing vivisection and animal research for its own sake (though Rosen said that this was not an anti-vivisection film, but an adventure).