A Boy and His Dog (1975) Movie Review, Trailer, Film Still and Poster

USA 1975
Director: L.Q. Jones
Cast: Don Johnson, Susanne Benton, Tiger (the dog), Tim McIntire, Charles McGraw, Jason Robards
Rating: R
Release Date: November 1975
Running Time: 1 hour 31 minutes

The Movie Review

A Boy and His Dog film still 1


A BOY And HIS DOG
Storyline:
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Ending:
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It's the end of the world, and you had to choose only one necessity, what will it be? Food, clothes or women? Tough call, but don't sweat it, at least Don Johnson (of Miami Vice fame) has taught us one thing... Get a talking pet! And boy that fluffy four-legged creature sure knows how to locate the master's primal need, women. Sounds kinky enough? At least that's what the tagline promises its audience. 'A rather kinky tale of survival' it says. Is it...?

The year is 2024, the technologies are very advanced but world war IV was inevitably happened in 2007. It only lasted 5 days, but enough for the nuclear weapons to destroy the world. Leaving a desolate, barren, radiated wasteland. Enter... Vic (Don Johnson) an 18-year old boy who is on constant need of 'mating' with women. On pursuing his desire, Vic's helped by his loyal dog, Blood. A dog that could telepathically talk with Vic and has the special ability of sensing a woman's presence. In return Vic has to locate food for them.

Vic gets the food by stealing or buying it from other survivors. He is quite content with the condition thinking that this is what's left of the world anyway. But Blood (voiced by Tim McIntire) convinces him and nags him about a place of beauty, where the sun is warm and there are plenty of foods in a land called 'Over the Hill'. One day Blood finally could locate a woman and with excitement Vic approaches her. But the encounter with this woman, Quilla June (Susanne Benton), will change the life of Vic and Blood. What will Vic do to her? Could Vic and Blood reach their destination?

A Boy and His Dog was based on a novella written by Harlan Ellison in 1969. A rather kinky tale of survival proves to be rather 'over-the-top' to describe the overall atmosphere of this science fiction movie. Yes the premise if intriguing and we got three nude scenes, but one brief scene is disturbing, one scene is unclear and all the kinkiness that we really got is when Susanne Benton is seen wearing her clothes peeped by Vic. She had a hot figure, yes, but that alone doesn't justify that A Boy and His Dog lives up to the expectation. Some could say the movie is pushing the boundaries, some say it's much tamer than gridnhouse ones and some it's pure misogynistic, I humbly say the movie is simply tiring.

There are not too many actors in this sci-fi film. And the main focus is on Don Johnson, and although I don't get memorable impression from the overall movie, but at least Don was very good as Vic. He had to talk to a dog throughout the movie, which could've been extremely ridiculous to see, but his performance and the voice of Tim McIntire makes us believe that they're really communicating. A Boy and His Dog really needs to be trimmed more, because sometimes the story is dragging. It doesn't offer many excitements or interesting sides of post-nuclear era. Somehow I'm pretty sure the novella is better than the movie. Another flaw is probably, for some people, the set and the costumes are too surreal and far far different with the likes of other post-apocalyptic feature films in the 80s. However, the biggest one is probably the ending which is too abrupt. Besides the ending clearly needs a sequel which is not exist.

All things considered, even renting it with a cheap price would probably leave you feeling disappointed.

> Fancy the premise of searching for women in the doomsday era? Time travel to Hell Comes to Frogtown (1987) and the Italian 2019: After the Fall of New York (1983).