[ Hanging Up ] (2000)


This movie comes loaded with big names: directed by Diane Keaton, a script by Delia Ephron (sister of director Nora Ephron, who produced this movie) from her own book, and starring Diane Keaton, Walther Matthau, Meg Ryan, and Lisa Kudrow, among many others.


The Landseer Newfoundland in this movie, "Pappy" (Starrs Papillon), owned by Les and Erlene Whitehead, is not credited, nor is there any animal handler credit. Which is almost a surprise given that this Newf gets more screen time than most other "movie Newfs."


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The Newf with his owner, played by Lisa Kudrow



The Newf first appears onscreen, for a few seconds, near the end of the opening credits, then again about 8 minutes in when he shares a bite of food being held in the mouth of his owner, the character played by Lisa Kudrow. Interestingly, that moment takes place as the dog's owner is talking by phone with her sister (played by Meg Ryan), and right after we see the dog-and-food moment the scene cuts to Meg Ryan walking down some exterior stairs just a she is being passed by a young couple carrying .... a huge black-and-white dog stuffie!

One of the subplots involve the dog suffering from the side effects of Lyme disease, including temporary partial paralysis, and a brief scene about 17 minutes in shows him on the couch as his panicked owner calls Meg Ryan to ask for advice.

We next see the Newf arriving at the Meg Ryan character's house, and when he greets her by jumping up and knocking her down, we know he's ok. He is being brought to Ryan's house because his owner, an actress, is too busy to give him his four-times-per-day Lyme medication, which leads to several comic scenes as the dog gets into mischief while staying with Ryan and her family. There are also several scenes in which Ryan is trying to pill the dog, with little to no success. As she puts it, "it's like feeding a pillow to a whale."

The dog is onscreen quite a bit shortly after being given over to Ryan's character. For about 3 or so minutes (beginning about 40 minutes into the movie), he all but takes over the movie, being featured in a number of scenes as Ryan's character struggles to cope with the demands of her own family, her sisters, her job, and her hospitalized father.

The Landseer is not seen again until about 1 hour 7 minutes in, when Ryan comes home to find him chewing on a phone handset. (As the title of this movie implies, telephones and telephone conversations are a major symbol in this film.) She takes the phone from him, but then recalls the advice she's recently been given about the need to disconnect, upon which she returns the phone to the dog and proceeds to disconnect all of the phones and answering machines in her home.


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Getting serious about "disconnecting"!



That is the last scene featuring the Newfoundland, but you can read more about "Pappy" and his participation in this movie in the chapter entitled "Star of Starr's" in Ninety-Nine Newfies, edited by Pat Seawell (2001).




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