Poco
(aka POCO, LITTLE DOG LOST)
With: Chill Wills (Gold Prospector), Michelle Ashburn (Kim), Sherry Bain (Kim’s Mother), Clint Richie (Kim’s Father), John Steadman (Gas Station Owner)
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Plot Outline: A mother, daughter, and their lovable mongrel, Poco, are traveling in a station wagon in the California desert when one of the vehicle’s tires blows, which results in an accident. The film opens with police and rescue workers assisting the injured mother and daughter. At first, Poco growls at the workers attending to the injured, but she soon lets one of the rescuers handle her. As the ambulance carrying her owner, Kim, and her mother leaves down the lonesome highway, Poco escapes from the leash and dashes into the desert. The remainder of the film involves her determination to be reunited with Kim, but it also involves coming into contact with a caring old man who owns a rundown gas station, an unemployed man who gives Poco back to the gas station owner for a couple bucks worth of fuel and a debt repayment, a gold prospector who puts hope back into Poco’s life, and a Yosemite National Park Ranger who ultimately leads to the dog’s reuniting with Kim during the film’s finale. Meanwhile, during the second half of the film, Kim, as well as her mother and father, takes several trips to the desert in search of Poco, but do not find her until she escapes with the help of a chimpanzee from a kennel at the Sacramento Airport, where she was bound on a United Airlines flight for Los Angeles. The park ranger, however, finds the misplaced mutt in the water at Yosemite, and brings Poco to a picnic table where he and his girlfriend fall in love with the cuddly canine. He has to give her up, but lo and behold, his girlfriend knows Kim and her family and Poco’s reuniting with her owner is just around the corner...or is it? A woman purchases the mongrel at the pound for a gift for her relative in Los Angeles. Nevertheless, Poco never leaves on the jet plane thanks to a pesky primate, and instead runs to the loving arms of Kim who never gave up hope!
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POCO is a feel-good children’s film that will have you on the edge of your seat for 89 minutes. The photography is a bit grainy, but who cares when the backdrop is the beautiful California desert and Yosemite National Park! I adored this movie from start to finish. I am a sucker for mutt movies, and Poco has now claimed the title as my favorite. Here’s why. The film opens at an accident scene in the desert where police and other rescue workers attend to Kim and her mother. Both are injured, and their faithful pooch Poco does not want to leave their side. A rescuer befriends the dog, but as the ambulance carrying Kim and her mom hits the highway to the hospital, Poco bolts from the leash in pursuit.
Poco ends up spending the night in the desert, but keeps trying to persuade motorists to stop and give her a new home. Kim’s dad, played by soap opera actor Clint Ritchie, reunites with his family at a local hospital, but all he hears about is the need to find Poco.
A sheriff’s officer and a group of young motorcyclists then chase Poco throughout the desert, but cannot catch her. As Kim leaves the hospital to nurse her broken leg and heart at home, she is determined to find Poco. The pet love of her life, however, ends up finding someone to give her a brief home. A local gas station owner picks up the canine at the roadside and takes his new friend with him to work. Poco helps him nab a robber at the gas station, and now, the mongrel means much to the old man. He then takes Poco home, but his wife nags and nags him, and at nightfall, Poco heads back to the highway. During the next day, another motorist stops for Poco and like the day before, he too brings Poco home. Like instant replay, the unemployed man’s wife sees no value in the dog. Poco gets back in the car with the man who stops at the gas station for fuel. The owner seeing his friend from yesterday barters with the driver for the mongrel. Price paid for Poco: two bucks worth of gas and a debt repayment. The old man, however, takes a nap, and once again, Poco heads for the desert.
Poco wanders for days through the sands and cactus, and at one point, she encounters a rattlesnake, but the determined dog that she is, she pushes on.
Tom McIntosh does a nice job with providing a soundtrack that seems plagiarized from Isaac Hayes’ great score from SHAFT, as well as something you would hear on the three 1970s television series "The Love Boat", "Fantasy Island", and "CHiPS". It is pure kitsch, but it fits this film well. Also, Rev Woods’ song during the final third of the movie, with lyrics by Maestro McIntosh, is not a Top 40 pop hit, but it will bring joy to your ears!
Back to the dog in the desert. After several days of no food and likely no water, it is not looking good for poor Poco. She lays down on the desert floor to call it quits, but fate is on her side. A cockatiel belonging to an old prospector, played by veteran western actor Chill Wills, guides the old geezer to the dying dog just in the nick of time. A vulture is waiting for the prospective carcass, but life is for living, and Poco is nursed back to health by the loving elderly man.
Kim and her parents begin their five trips to the California desert to look for Poco, who has found a caring, temporary home with the prospector. The desert dweller introduces the mutt to his sidekicks Senator, a mule, and Congressman, the cockatiel, who saved her life. Well, the prospector has to go find his pot of gold, and leaves Poco behind under the protective wings of the Congressman. A rattlesnake suddenly shows up, and the roped dog breaks free to escape the poisonous reptile.
The prospector returns home to Poco, and although upset, he begins to speak loving words about his former friend while the film shows the dog continuing his desert journey. The adventure in the heat, however, is short lived, as Poco makes it to the high altitude pine forests of Yosemite National Park where she has a stinky run in with a skunk, but enjoys swimming in the creeks and streams to be found in the lush landscape.
A park ranger crosses paths with the cute canine and brings her to his girlfriend who is preparing a picnic. Then, the film has the ranger giving the dog away to the pound, but stating Poco will find a good home. Her home is with Kim, and she is shown praying to the Lord asking for Poco’s safety and to be reunited with him. That will happen...shortly.
The park ranger’s girlfriend happens to be a friend of Kim’s mother, and while she is visiting them, she hears from Kim about her little dog lost, Poco. Bingo...she gets on the horn to her honey who shares the dog has gone to the pound. It is now a race against time, as an elderly woman has purchased Poco to bring to her family in Los Angeles. Can Kim and her family get Poco in the nick of the time? Thanks to a chimp, they do. At the Sacramento Airport, Poco is in her kennel ready to be loaded on the United Airlines jet, but so is the pesky primate. He escapes from his cage, and assists Poco in doing the same. The two now have the run of the airport, and as Kim and her family arrive, the mutt sees her former owner, and happy days are here again!
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A search for POCO on the Internet showed various sites claiming that the noted comic director and actor Mel Brooks directed Poco, but I have found no evidence supporting this claim. Dwight Brooks directed and produced the movie, and he also directed the 1975 televison show "Remember Me", as well as acted in the 1959 film THE COSMIC MAN.
Actor Clint Ritchie, who played Kim’s father, starred as Clint Buchanan on the ABC-TV soap opera, "One Life to Live", from 1979-1999, 2000 and 2003.
Actress Sherry Bain, who portrayed Kim’s mother, starred in several B movies and television shows in the 1970s, including "Pipe Dreams" (starring Gladys Knight), "Wild Riders", and "Emergency".
- Michael P. Kleiman
VHS/DVD Availability: VHS (Prism, OOP), DVD (ProActive Entertainment, August 2004; POCO is one of four animal-themed films on this two-DVD set. The three remaining movies are Bill & Coo; The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin; and Lassie in The Painted Hills); (Brentwood Entertainment: Ten Animal Movies for Kids)
(1977, U.S.) color 89 minutes
A Delta Films Production
Distributed by Cinema Shares International Distribution Corporation
Screenplay: William E. Carville
Music and Lyrics by Tom McIntosh
Produced by Dwight Brooks
Directed by Dwight Brooks