Only a handful of breeds can claim the star power of the Doberman Pinscher. Indeed, when it comes to sheer diversity and film fame in every imaginable role (from war hero and horror flick killer to police dog and child’s best friend) only the German Shepherd Dog has achieved more than the Doberman Pinscher in Hollywood.
Thank you to Dobermann Pedigrees Finland for leading me to a few dozen of the films below that I would not otherwise have known!
There are so many Doberman films, they are broken into a few categories by decades below.
Doberman Pinscher Movies up to 1979
The Amazing Dobermans
AKA: Lucky
Year: 1976
Country: USA
Doberman content: ✯ ✯ ✯
Third of the Doberman Gang series.
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Azit Hakalba Hatzanhanit
AKA: Azit, the Paratrooper Dog
Year: 1972
Country: Israel
Doberman content: ✯
At the military dog training school that Azit (a GSD) attends.
Azit Hakalba Hatzanhanit
AKA: Azit, the Paratrooper Dog
Year: 1972
Country: Israel
Doberman content: ✯
At the military dog training school that Azit (a GSD) attends.
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Bestialità
AKA: Dog Lay Afternoon
Year: 1976
Country: Italy
Bestialità
AKA: Dog Lay Afternoon
Year: 1976
Country: Italy
A Boy and His Dog
Year: 1975
Country: USA
Doberman content: ✯
Just a glimpse. Main dog is a mixed breed. Also a black Labrador Retriever and a West Highland White Terrier.
The Daring Dobermans
Year: 1973
Country: USA
Doberman content: ✯ ✯ ✯
Second of the Doberman Gang series.
Der Hund von Blackwood
AKA: The Dog Of Blackwood Castle
Year: 1968
Country: West Germany
Doberman content: ✯ ✯
The Doberman Gang
Year: 1972
Country: USA
Doberman content: ✯ ✯ ✯
The most iconic Doberman Pinscher movie ever, about a pack of Dobermans being trained to rob banks, and a cult classic launching the Doberman Gang series.
Embryo
Year: 1976
Country: USA
Doberman content: ✯ ✯ ✯
A doctor hits a pregnant Doberman Pinscher one night with his car. When he tries to save her life, he instead begins experiments accelerating the growth of her unborn pups. A Dobie has a starring role throughout.
It Shouldn’t Happen to a Dog
Year: 1946
Country: USA
Doberman content: ✯ ✯ ✯
Possibly the first starring role for a Doberman. Though they can be seen in small parts before the 1940s, the breed was popularized to American audiences with Dogs for Defense propaganda during WWII. Not to mention films like this, which is still fun viewing today.
I’ve Gotta Horse
Year: 1966
Country: UK
Doberman content: ✯
Dobie appears among the pack of dogs belonging to English singer/songwriter Billy Fury and playing themselves in the film. More prominently seen are a Chihuahua, Great Dane, and plush-coated German Shepherd Dog.
Manos: The Hands of Fate
Year: 1966
Country: USA
Doberman content: ✯ ✯
A supposedly savage dog in a couple of scenes who only stands there and looks bewildered.
The Other
Year: 1972
Country: USA
Doberman content: ✯
Right at the end with some other dogs getting out of a truck.
Police Dog Story
Year: 1961
Country: USA
Doberman content: ✯
Nearly all the police K-9s are German Shepherd Dogs.
To Kill a Clown
Year: 1972
Country: USA
Doberman content: ✯ ✯
Antagonist uses two Dobies to help him terrorize trapped human victims.
Trapped
AKA: Doberman Patrol
Year: 1973
Country: USA
Doberman content: ✯ ✯
Made-for-TV film about a man trapped by mistake after-hours in a mall with several killer guard dogs running loose. Also German Shepherd Dogs. Link is to a poster only. Never released on DVD.
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Vaaksa vaaraa
Year: 1965
Country: Finland
Vaaksa vaaraa
Year: 1965
Country: Finland
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Vitaphone Internationals
Year: 1936
Country: USA
An old Warner Bros. short film.
Vitaphone Internationals
Year: 1936
Country: USA
An old Warner Bros. short film.
War Dogs
Year: 1943
Country: USA
Doberman content: ✯
Only a glimpse of a Dobie in the Dogs for Defense kennels. The star is famed acting German Shepherd Dog of the late 1930s and early 1940s, Ace.
Zoltan: Hound of Dracula
AKA: Dracula’s Dog
Year: 1977
Country: Italy/USA
Doberman content: ✯ ✯ ✯
One of the most classic and quintessential Doberman films—with a Doberman vampire. Also starring multiple German Shepherd Dogs and a mixed breed pointer type.
Doberman Pinscher Movies 1980–1999
✯
Alex and the Doberman Gang
Year: 1980
Country: USA
Doberman content: ✯ ✯ ✯
A made-for-TV movie spinoff of the cult classic Doberman Gang series.
Alex and the Doberman Gang
Year: 1980
Country: USA
Doberman content: ✯ ✯ ✯
A made-for-TV movie spinoff of the cult classic Doberman Gang series.
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Askal
AKA: Askal: Asong Kalye
Year: 1997
Country: Philippines
Askal
AKA: Askal: Asong Kalye
Year: 1997
Country: Philippines
Babe 2: Pig in the City
Year: 1998
Country: Australia
Doberman content: ✯
Dozens of dogs in this, including a Dobie with natural ears.
✯
C’era un castello con 40 cani
AKA: There Was a Castle with Forty Dogs
Year: 1990
Country: Belgium/France/Italy/Spain
Doberman content: ✯ ✯
A stellar dog movie. Simply nothing else live action like this film. Although White God (listed below) beat them in sheer numbers of free-roaming dogs used in a single shot, There Was a Castle with Forty Dogs remains in a class of its own for uniqueness.
C’era un castello con 40 cani
AKA: There Was a Castle with Forty Dogs
Year: 1990
Country: Belgium/France/Italy/Spain
Doberman content: ✯ ✯
A stellar dog movie. Simply nothing else live action like this film. Although White God (listed below) beat them in sheer numbers of free-roaming dogs used in a single shot, There Was a Castle with Forty Dogs remains in a class of its own for uniqueness.
✯
Dobermann
Year: 1999
Country: Germany
A German short film.
Dobermann
Year: 1999
Country: Germany
A German short film.
Eyes of an Angel
AKA: The Tender
Year: 1991
Country: USA
Doberman content: ✯ ✯ ✯
Without a doubt the greatest Doberman movie ever made. Tripoli, in the starring role, ranks up there with Benji, Comet (“Fluke”), Jed, and other canine film legends.
First Blood
AKA: Rambo: First Blood
Year: 1982
Country: USA
Doberman content: ✯
A few Dobies brought in to pursue Rambo, only seen briefly.
K-911
Year: 1999
Country: USA
Doberman content: ✯ ✯
Sequel to K-9 (1989) in which Doberman “Zeus” pairs with German Shepherd Dog “Jerry Lee.”
Long xiong hu di
AKA: Armour of God
Year: 1986
Country: Hong Kong/Yugoslavia
Doberman content: ✯
Great scene with probably the largest group of Dobermans ever to appear in one shot in a feature film.
Los placeres ocultos
AKA: Playback
Year: 1989
Country: Spain
Doberman content: ✯ ✯
“Washington” is a Doberman brutalized by his villain master and finally killed by a woman defending herself from them both.
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Marskin poika
Year: 1994
Country: Finland
A Finnish made-for-TV movie.
Marskin poika
Year: 1994
Country: Finland
A Finnish made-for-TV movie.
The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear
Year: 1991
Country: USA
Doberman content: ✯
Brief but memorable scene with guard dogs late in the film.
✯
Nick and the Dobermans
Year: 1980
Country: USA
Actually a TV pilot which came to nothing. A revised version of Alec and the Doberman Gang, in turn a spinoff from the Doberman Gang movies. Featuring “Duke,” “Erskine,” and “Pee Wee” as crime-fighting Dobies working with a New York City P.I.
Nick and the Dobermans
Year: 1980
Country: USA
Actually a TV pilot which came to nothing. A revised version of Alec and the Doberman Gang, in turn a spinoff from the Doberman Gang movies. Featuring “Duke,” “Erskine,” and “Pee Wee” as crime-fighting Dobies working with a New York City P.I.
✯
Tuhlaajapoika
AKA: The Prodigal Son
Year: 1992
Country: Finland
Tuhlaajapoika
AKA: The Prodigal Son
Year: 1992
Country: Finland
✯
Ye dian
AKA: Amazing Stories
Year: 1993
Country: Hong Kong/Taiwan
Ye dian
AKA: Amazing Stories
Year: 1993
Country: Hong Kong/Taiwan
Doberman Pinscher Movies 2000–present
Beverly Hills Chihuahua
Year: 2008
Country: USA
Doberman content: ✯ ✯ ✯
“El Diablo” was played by Vice Versa Baron Brayton.
✯
Big Game
Year: 2014
Country: UK/Finland/Germany
Big Game
Year: 2014
Country: UK/Finland/Germany
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Daddy’s Boy
Year: 2004
Country: USA
A short film.
Daddy’s Boy
Year: 2004
Country: USA
A short film.
Dnevnoy dozor
AKA: Day Watch
Year: 2006
Country: Russia
Ten Dobermans were trained for Dnevnoy dozor, including Irinland Josefine Jose. Info on the trainers from Irinland Kennels here.
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The Doberman Gang
Year: 2017
Country: USA
After years of planning, The Doberman Gang remake is in the works and slotted for release in 2017.
The Doberman Gang
Year: 2017
Country: USA
After years of planning, The Doberman Gang remake is in the works and slotted for release in 2017.
Entertainment
AKA: It’s Entertainment
Year: 2014
Country: India
Doberman content: ✯
About a Golden Retriever named “Entertainment”. Dobie in a crowd of CGI replicated real dogs.
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Expermenas
Year: 2012
Country: USA
A short film.
Expermenas
Year: 2012
Country: USA
A short film.
Fehér istenw
AKA: White God
Year: 2014
Country: Hungary/Germany/Sweden
Doberman content: ✯
Dobies amongst the pack.
Flags of Our Fathers
Year: 2006
Country: USA
Doberman content: ✯
Dobermans played by CH Fanta di Altobello and CH Rainbow di Altobello.
Garden State
Year: 2004
Country: USA
Doberman content: ✯
German Shepherd Dog, English Bulldog, and others also seen.
Garfield: the Movie
Year: 2004
Country: USA
Doberman content: ✯
Stars are a CGI cat and a terrier/Dachshund mix who must interact extensively with the nonexistent feline. Dozens of other dogs are seen late in the film at a dog show.
The Golden Compass
Year: 2007
Country: UK/USA
Doberman content: ✯
Mostly only CGI animals used in this film.
✯
Macherovgaltis
AKA: Knifer
Year: 2010
Country: Cyprus/Greece
Macherovgaltis
AKA: Knifer
Year: 2010
Country: Cyprus/Greece
✯
Ma mha 4 khaa khrap
AKA: Mid Road Gang
Year: 2007
Country: Thailand
Doberman content: ✯
Fun foreign film, starring a Thai Ridgeback, with a huge cast of dogs and little human content. Difficult to find on DVD. I was lucky enough to be given a copy by a friend who visited Thailand several years ago.
Ma mha 4 khaa khrap
AKA: Mid Road Gang
Year: 2007
Country: Thailand
Doberman content: ✯
Fun foreign film, starring a Thai Ridgeback, with a huge cast of dogs and little human content. Difficult to find on DVD. I was lucky enough to be given a copy by a friend who visited Thailand several years ago.
Marley & Me
Year: 2008
Country: USA
Doberman content: ✯
Dobie and many others seen in the obedience class and on the dog beach.
Mein Bruder ist ein Hund
AKA: My Brother is a Dog
Year: 2004
Country: Germany/UK/Netherlands
Doberman content: ✯
Cute German film with a talented mixed breed in the leading role.
AKA: My Brother is a Dog
Year: 2004
Country: Germany/UK/Netherlands
Doberman content: ✯
Cute German film with a talented mixed breed in the leading role.
✯
My Wrongs 8245-8249 and 117
AKA: My Wrongs
Year: 2002
Country: UK
Doberman content: ✯ ✯ ✯
A short film and black comedy featuring talking Doberman “Rothko” in a starring role. He tells his petsitting man that he is the man’s lawyer.
My Wrongs 8245-8249 and 117
AKA: My Wrongs
Year: 2002
Country: UK
Doberman content: ✯ ✯ ✯
A short film and black comedy featuring talking Doberman “Rothko” in a starring role. He tells his petsitting man that he is the man’s lawyer.
Nacho Chihuahua
Year: 2001
Country: USA
Doberman content: ✯
This rare, no-budget, independent film which looks as homemade as it is, has never been released on DVD.
✯
Tabu
Year: 2012
Country: Portugal/Germany/Brazil/France/Spain
Tabu
Year: 2012
Country: Portugal/Germany/Brazil/France/Spain
✯
Without
Year: 2009
Country: UK
A British short film about a woman trapped in a room by a Doberman.
Without
Year: 2009
Country: UK
A British short film about a woman trapped in a room by a Doberman.
Know additional films that should be here? Please let us know!
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