A Boy & His Dog
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Movie Reviews of A Boy & His Dog
Movie Review: Nothing Is More Important to a Boy than His Dog
Summary: 5 Stars
It's the year 2024, and most of the Earth's nations have been demolished by yet another world war (the latest being WWIV). In this postapocalyptic world, slow-witted survivor Vic (Don Johnson) forages through the ruins for food and women with the help of his faithful dog, Blood (voiced by Tim McIntire), with whom he is able to communicate telepathically. Blood, more intelligent and more cultured than his young "master," often gets impatient with Vic's immature behavior and lack of interest in his attempts to educate the boy, but he nonetheless loves Vic and sticks with him to help him survive. And after several minor adventures and one huge misadventure, Vic does learn one incontestable actuality: Nothing is more important to a boy than his dog.Based on an award-winning novella by the curmudgeonly SF writer Harlan Ellison, A BOY AND HIS DOG was adapted and directed by character actor L.Q. Jones and co-produced by Jones and Alvy Moore (the latter probably best known for his portrayal of scatterbrained Hank Kimball on TV's GREEN ACRES). While Ellison has said many times publicly that the film is the most faithful adaptation of any of his works, he has nonetheless complained vehemently about some of Jones' "adjustments"--most notably the minor addition of some gross or vulgar dialogue--and tried unsuccessfully to get them changed. Whether or not Ellison's complaints have merit, A BOY AND HIS DOG has come to be regarded as a science-fiction classic, its popularity undoubtedly due to its likeable characters who, despite their constant bickering and individual quirks, are redeemed by their committed friendship and their sarcastically humorous approach to survival.
The performances in A BOY AND HIS DOG are top-notch. Johnson convincingly portrays Vic as a filthy scavenger who, in spite of his dire situation, still manages to remain a decent human being at the core. Tim McIntire's vocal characterization of Blood embodies Ellison's original concept of a mutant pooch with a caustic ego that is balanced with just the right amount of off-beat humanity, and this portrayal is enhanced further by the outstanding on-screen performance of Tiger, the canine thespian that portrayed the family pet on TV's THE BRADY BUNCH. In his supporting role as the governor of a subterranean dystopia, Jason Robards is delightfully smarmy. And when beautiful Susanne Benton bares her ample "talents" on the screen, that's a lot of fun watch, too.
With A BOY AND HIS DOG, Jones' intention is not to make deep socio-political innuendos or to meet the average action-fan's prosaic expectations, and sentimentality is obviously far from his mind. Instead of serving up a dull postapocalyptic survival-of-the-fittest thriller or a cliché love-among-the-ruins drama, Jones gives us a wry black comedy that doesn't take itself too seriously. His direction is tight, his staging often inventive, and the dialogue--while MOSTLY lifted directly from Ellison's story--is often sharply sardonic and frequently witty. With this AND the outstanding performances he elicits from his cast, Jones creates a realistic world of future desolation, but he peoples it with central characters that learn to deal with the nightmare while still maintaining their humanity...and a sense of humor.
Several DVD editions of A BOY AND HIS DOG have been available over the past few years, and all have delivered good letterbox widescreen digital transfers. The current offering from First Run Features is an anamorphic widescreen version, and it also contains an interesting feature commentary and theatrical trailers.
All in all, A BOY AND HIS DOG is a wonderful interpretation of a classic SF novella, and this DVD will make a great entry in the film collections of SF fans who love quirky non-mainstream films.
Movie Review: I can see why this is a cult classic!
Summary: 5 Stars
Imagine you never ever heard of this movie. If someone were to ask "Have you ever seen A Boy And His Dog?", what image would come to your mind? You imagine a little boy playing with his faithful dog, right?
Well, whether you would or not, that was definitely me. All I heard about this movie was that it was set during a time when the Earth was ravaged and that the movie was about a hungry/horny boy with his faithful dog who complains about his libido all the time.
What came to my mind was an image of a 13-14 year old boy and a dog wandering around the desert looking for something to do. Of course, if I had known this movie got an "R" rating, a more accurate image would have come to my head.
I was very surprised by this movie. Aside from the fact that the movie shows pornography and rape, it also portrayed the main character as some kind of a sex addict. Since I had originally thought the movie had a "PG" rating, I didn't even think it had any of these.
I found myself stumbling upon a very strange movie, indeed. You could clearly see that this is from a non-PC time because aside from the fact that it shows women as sex objects, it also shows the main character choosing his dog over a woman that claims "she loves him". Now, aside from that, he does something that women today would consider VERY sexist. I thought it was cool as hell, but hey, that's me.
Anyway, a number of things got me confused about this movie. Now, of course there would be very little people, but why are there so much less women? Did the men have some sort of gene that allowed them to survive nuclear war better? Aside from that, why did they kill women so frivolously if women were in short supply? None of it seems to make any sense to me. The thing that really hit me, though, was the lack of commitment in EVERYONE. Considering the human race seemed to be on the verge of extinction if something wasn't done fast, why were so little committed to having children? Food didn't seem to be a factor since one scene showed them giving away food in order to see a pornography movie. Was wondering the desert with your pals digging up old cans of food so much fun that you didn't want to bother having children to make sure your species don't go extinct?
Of course, that is just the gist of it. There seems to be A LOT of unexplained or unplausible stuff in this movie, but then again, you're probably not watching this movie for the plausibility.
Despite the strangeness, I actually like this movie. It was fun seeing the teen kid argue with his dog about women. It certainly was touching to see how loyal they are to each other. How many guys today would give up a woman for their dog? Even if the woman was a conniving wench and the dog was loyal beyoung belief? Not many, I bet.
Overall, I consider this movie to be excellent! Pick it up if you can. It's very good.
Movie Review: Ah 70s movies
Summary: 5 Stars
It's a damn shame people can't make movies like this any more. Not necessarily Don Johnson movies, or ones with Harlan Ellison screenplays (though the latter are probably few); ones which are actually controversial. Sure, it suffers from the usual urban screenwriter paranoia about middle America (can't we make a dystopia where the masses are oppressed by the nightmare world of urban screenwriters? that sounds a lot closer to the truth than making middle American life, which doesn't even exist any more, look sinister). Sure it's going to offend the deeply politically correct, who think that women are all snowflakes and bunny rabbits and nature's aristocrats. It will also offend people who think Science Fiction means lots of dumb special effects. Probably, this is why such movies don't get made any more; no constituency.
This movie is arguably one of the most important in science fiction, mostly because Mad Max stole the aesthetics from this film. Yet, nobody has heard of it, and it remains obscure and unloved, for the crime of making demands of the viewer.
I agree with other reviewers that the pacing leaves something to be desired, and, well, it does resemble "the cat from outer space" at times, but if you enjoy thinking about movies, and bleak visions of the future: this one is about as good as it gets.
Movie Review: Still trying to figure this film out
Summary: 5 Stars
Alright, I'm going to go ahead and give this film 5 stars... but the stars are for incomprehensibility, rather than anything else which can make a sci-fi film truly great. Harlan Ellison must have one really twisted mind, if he wrote stuff like this. He is one old geezer who seriously needs to be picked up and put in a rest home.
OK, yeah, all of us guys are motivated by sex and food, as Don Johnson and his canine sidekick have reminded us throughout the picture... and being a red-blooded straight male myself, I of course had the hots for the nuclear-survivor girl who had the big doe eyes and the white mime makeup on her face.
To this day, however, I can't figure out what was supposed to have happened at the end, and I watched the picture 5 times. Did Vic leave the girl as she went back underground with the rest of her bizarre tribe, or (gasp!), did he kill her and cook her for dinner, as food for himself and the psychic dog? The film doesn't tell us.
Seems like such a stupid shame, to have sex with a beautiful young woman, only to cut her up and roast her later. Not a film for the uninitiated.
Movie Review: This movie...NOT MAD MAX...Is the start of a genre and the spawn of 100's of knockoffs!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
This amazing cult-classic won Don Johnson his first acting award of his career. He won a Golden Scroll for best-actor and the movie was nominated for the best science fiction film of the year. This movie was made in 1975, a full 4 years before Mad Max and it's amazing how few Mad Max fans even know about it or have seen it...
The setting is the same, a post-apocalyptic wasteland where commodities are few and far between and the rule of law is every man for himself...
Mad Max starts off with his girl being off'd by outlaw bikers...It continues with The Road Warrior where Max fights for fuel and ends with Beyond Thunderdome where Max finds civilization and helps free the oppressed...
A Boy and His Dog is all three of these movies in one. This film spawned the genre of post-apocalyptic films. Don Johnson is good and the dialogue is really amusing...Penned by award winning author Harlan Ellison, this movie defines the category that it created.
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