"This is a thriller, and it's also a complete metaphor," said Sam Fuller of his controversial feature which went unreleased theatrically for ten years. Loosely based on a story by Romain Gary, White Dog concerns a dog trained to attack blacks. Paul Winfield portrays a trainer who takes on the task of deprogramming the animal on behalf of its new owner (Kristy McNichol). With frequent point-of-view shots from the dog's perspective, Fuller makes a case for his thesis, which is that racism is "a disease created by man" and that infecting the animal is itself a form of violence. The idea of a "white dog" is dehumanizing, but accusations of racism toward Fuller were perhaps derived from a misunderstanding of the film's content, as well as intent. In Gary's story, the dog is retrained to attack whites, perpetuating the cycle of racism; Fuller's version has Winfield (in a fine performance) attempting to cure the dog. Overlooking Fuller's history of anti-racist films, the NAACP urged a boycott, inspiring the studio to shelve the finished film.