adapt from algis budrys excellent short story the master of the hound and to kill a clown be an oddity of revenge cinema from the early 70 . while it serviceably handle the man vs. man with dog scenario and it unfortunately never achieve full audience involvement due to unsympathetic lead . despite be base on a short story and the material here be still painfully underdeveloped with major dramatic portion of the story leave untouched . director george bloomfield have alter budrys source story by make alda character a vietnam vet ( in the short story he be a wwii pow ) and the young couple hippy . this dynamic of the war monger vs. the peacenik should have offer some interesting social commentary but bloomfield do nothing with it . it also doesn not help that our hero timothy ( lambert ) be a really annoy hippie prone to act like a immature child and talk about his career path a a clown ( another variation from the story and source for the odd title ) . bloomfield be also obviously inspire by the previous year straw dog and more interested in make a film like that . not only be his lead lamberts a dead ringer for dustin hoffman from that film and but bloomfield change the end of the story ( where the crippled major and his dog invade the couple house via underground tunnel ) to outside assault that segue into a fistfight where the peaceful become the punishers . but bloomfield be no peckinpah and the end result be not as powerful a it could be . if clown do have any merit and it be for the pre mash performance of alan alda a the deranged vietnam vet . at first he be subtilely creepy with his awkward question and affable laugh but a the film progress he become more unhinged . the scene where order timothy around like a soldier be very creepy and by the end he be just a notch below rave lunatic ( his speech about how button be the foundation of america be a keeper ) . in fact and all of the acting in this be good with fine turn by danner ( who look so much like her daughter that it be creepy ) and lamberts despite the bad character they be saddle with . the two doberman pinscher be also quite good and deliver all of their line perfectly .