Birddog(1999)

A story of greed, friendship, and the Kiwanis.

Birddog follows Harv Beckman, a used car salesman working the seedier side of Portland, Oregon, who stumbles upon a rare 1948 Kaiser automobile. The discovery sets off a chain of events that unearths dark truths about the 1948 Vanport flood—a catastrophic event that obliterated an entire city. As Beckman digs deeper, the film peels back layers of racism, greed, and corruption embedded in Portland's social fabric, with the local Kiwanis Club playing an unexpectedly pivotal role. Birddog is an unpredictable, oddball noir that uses a vintage car as the entry point to examine systemic inequality and the hidden histories that shape communities.