Retro Film Review: A Boy and His Dog (1975)

When people hear the phrase "post-apocalyptic" films, they usually think about extremely violent low-budget action films set in deserts that are supposed to represent modern civilisation turned into wasteland. Most of these films were made in the late 1970s and early 1980s, inspired by the success of George Miller's Mad Max 2 and newborn fears of nuclear annihilation during Reagan's years. However, post-apocalyptic films were made before the late 1970s, and they didn't always belong to the action genre. One such example is A Boy and His Dog, a 1975 black comedy directed by L.Q. Jones and based on the award-winning novella by well-known science fiction author Harlan Ellison.

The plot of this film is set in Arizona in the year 2024 A.D. The world had been devastated by a nuclear war seventeen years earlier, and the surface of the Earth has been turned into desert, roamed by various drifters in search of food, drink and shelter. One of them is Vic (played by Don Johnson), an eighteen-year-old boy whose only companion is Blood (voiced by Tim McIntire), a dog with whom he has a telepathic connection. Blood's instincts, wisdom, knowledge and experience help Vic in his everyday search for food, but so far Vic can't find the only thing on his mind – a girl. Finally, the two stumble upon a girl in the form of young Quilla June Holmes (played by Susan Benton) and rescue her from homicidal rapists and mutants. After a night of passionate love, Quilla disappears and Vic, against Blood's better judgement, goes looking for her underground, where some remnants of civilisation have survived and turned into a grotesque version of ultra-conservative America. The underground men are sterile, and Vic finds out that he has been lured down in order to impregnate the underground women, but this task turns out to be anything but pleasant.

After the opening scenes of A Boy and His Dog, where scenes of nuclear explosions serve as a backdrop for the authors' commentary on the contemporary world, viewers instantly know that they are going to watch a black comedy, but hardly anything can prepare them for the surprise and macabre twist at the end – probably one of the best finales in the history of cult movies. Between those two points, we have an opportunity to watch Don Johnson of Miami Vice fame in his early days, when he very believably plays a young, horny teenager. However, the best thing about the whole film is his interaction with the dog and Tim McIntire, whose voice always spews critical and right-on-target comments on the boy's mundane and irresponsible behaviour. The dialogue is extremely funny and very entertaining, and Susan Benton also adds an additional dimension when she enters the picture. Unfortunately, in the segments that deal with the underground society, writer and director L.Q. Jones goes overboard with his attempt at satire of conformist and semi-totalitarian tendencies in small-town America. Those segments provide an opportunity for the great Jason Robards Jr. to give quite an effective portrayal of a soulless bureaucrat, but that performance doesn't improve the general impression. Another problem with this film is the obvious lack of budget, which forced filmmakers to shoot many scenes underground or at night; inadequate lighting makes many happenings on the screen incomprehensible to the viewer. Those who are patient and forgiving enough are going to be rewarded with good acting, sharp dialogue and effective black humour, so the cult reputation of A Boy and His Dog is well deserved.

RATING: 6/10 (++)

(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on June 5th 2001)

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Movie URL: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/11046-where-eagles-dare?language=en-US
Critic: AA