Life is full of choices, especially for the young and restless, who are not always delivered from temptations. Such is the moral of Dead Dogs, a film noir directed by Clay Eide that enjoyed a screening at the American Cinematheque on July 22, 1999. The tagline of the film asks, “What would you kill for?” Tom Kale (played by Joe Reynolds), who lost his girlfriend three years ago to his brother Derek Kale, is a security guard at Driftwood Inn (actually Holiday Inn in Grand Forks, North Dakota). Tom has regular sex with Diane, a married hotel maid (played by Suzanne Carney), but still misses his former girlfriend Carmen (played by Margot Demeter). Tom plays chess with faggy front desk clerk Gordon (played by John Durbin, who was also in charge of casting). Suddenly, Carmen drift back to town with Derek (played by Jay Underwood), a pint-sized Bonnie & Clyde team. Tom lets Carmen and Derek stay with him, but they plot to hold up the hotel, and they persuade Tom to help. The plan for the robbery goes awry, however, as Gordon is nearly killed, Tom shoots Derek fatally, also by accident, Diane absconds with the stolen cash, and Tom (under suspicion for the murder and robbery) is shot dead by Carmen. Tom, the naïve hero of the story, pays for his Faustian pact. In black and white, Dead Dogs won the American Independent Award for best American independent film at the 1999 Seattle Film Festival. MH