A Boy and His Dog

Plot synopsis:
Opening: World War IV lasted five days. In the post-apocalyptic world of 2024, rover Vic (Don Johnson) hears a voice from his dog and communicates with him telepathically. The dog is called Blood (voiced by Tim McIntire), and he calls Vic "Albert". Blood is trying to find a female by scent for Vic, and Vic scavenges for food. Only Vic can hear the voice of Blood.As they travel, Blood recounts history and quizzes Vic on various topics in history including the four world wars, from World War I (1914-1918), World War II (1939-1945), World War III (1950-1983), which were a series of wars, also called the Cold War, between the free and unfree world (Korea, Vietnam, Indochina, Congo were among them), to World War IV, also called the Five-Day War, or the Nuclear War of 2007. The setting is what was once the ruins in and around Phoenix, Arizona. The area is a desert wasteland, populated by marauders and rovers who battle for food found in the tops of buildings that was once "civilization" where the desert sands have consumed most of the buildings. There are rumors that what civilization exists now is below ground for the past several years since the nuclear war. The people of these underground civilizations are called "downunders". Neither Vic nor Blood want to venture below to live. Blood finds women for Vic to rape, and Vic supplies Blood with food since he cannot hunt on his own.We learn Blood is a former police dog, and wants to find the "promised land", where farming is possible and several above-ground utopias are said to exist. Blood sniffs out a woman, but rovers have reached her first and have killed her after gang raping her. Vic begins to argue with Blood about his inability to find women. Blood wants to go "over the hill" to paradise. Vic promises that they'll go once Blood finds him another woman for Vic to have sex with.Some time later, Vic and Blood view a small group of scavengers, led by a brutal gang leader, a self-proclaimed "king" named Fellini (Ron Feinberg), who orders his group to dig up a stash of crates containing canned food. Temped by the food, Vic runs forward when Fellini and his men are all in the hole digging and steals some of the bags of canned food, shooting a few of Fellini's men who chase after him. However, Fellini orders his men to let Vic go, impressed by the young man's courage and ablity. As Vic and Blood run away, they are watched from a distance by a small group of mysterious men (unseen from the waist up), where one of whom comments that he just might do. They decide to "put out the cheese" to trap Vic.That evening, Vic and Blood go to an outdoor makeshift movie theater in a shantytown camp to watch some vintage stag films, and Blood smells a female. She is in attendance at the stag film, but in disguise as a male solo. Vic follows the girl to an underground building which is an abandoned YMCA, and he watches her dress. He attacks her and orders her to undress so he can rape her. While she undresses for him, she tells him her name is Quilla June Holmes (Susanne Benton). Blood interrupts them to advise of mauraders nearby. Quilla realizes Blood can talk to Vic telepathicaly. She attempts to communicate with the dog, but Blood just barks at her. Meanwhile, Vic ambushes the mauraders and Blood joins in, killing some of them. Vic imitates the "screamers" (radiation victims) and Blood battles another dog. Vic is about to be shot from behind, and Quilla saves him. The rest of the mauraders run off, but Blood is hurt. Then, the real screamers show up, forcing Vic and Quilla to hide and wait in a storage tank. Vic and Quilla make love repeatedly.Later when morning arrives, Blood goes off to see if the screamers have left, and Quilla tries to convince Vic to go "down under". Blood wants Vic to leave her, and they argue. When Vic goes back to see Quilla, she knocks him out and flees. Vic decides to track her down, but Blood thinks (rightly) that it's a trap. After following Quilla's footprints throught the desert, Vic and Blood come across a small steel obsticle standing in the middle of the desert which leads "down under". Using a key card that Quilla left behind, Vic uses it to open the steel door to the underground. Vic goes down under, leaving Blood alone and injured.Vic climbs down several long ladders through what appears to be an abandoned missle silo, past mysterious machinery, then opens a metal door to find an underground cemetery. He is captured and washed by a clown-faced robot dressed in farmer's garb called Michael (Hal Baylor) with several strangers looking on. After given clean farmer clothes, Vic is dragged by Michael through a local park, walking past picnicers, giggling young girls, a marching band playing Stars and Stripes, and barbershop quartets, all wearing clown face makeup. What we get a glimpse of is a surreal, bizarre re-creation of life in the rural Midwest during the early 20th century with a populace of robotic conformists. Vic stops to talk to a dog similar to Blood, but the dog does not respond. The bizzare underground community wear white clown-faces to distingish themselves from above-grounders that dare to tresspass in their community. Loudspeakers continuously blare announcements, pontificate morals for daily living, and down home recipes.In a church/town hall building, residents may attend the "awards and punishments" at their own discretion. It is led by Lou Craddock (Jason Robards) who reviews blueprints for buildings to be built and passes judgements on transgressors, assisted by Mez Smith (Helene Winston) and Doctor Moore (Alvy Moore), the clownish but cold-hearted rulers of this underground town. Severe judgement (death) is called "farming out" or "going to 3". We learn the underground town is called Topeka. Quilla arrives, and she asks to be put on the committee having served her purpose of luring Vic to their underground community. Lou refuses by claiming that she is too young to rule and arranges for her to get married instead. Quilla leaves and vents her anger to her boyfriend Gary (Michael Rupert) and makes plans to overthrow the ruthless committee, but in the meantime be a good girl and play it safe. At the same time, the dog is brought into the church where he is interrogated by Lou asking if he told Vic anything. But when the dog does not respond, Lou orders the dog to be sent to the farm.Vic is brought before Lou, and Doctor Moore reads his medical statistics. Lou tells the unruly Vic that he and the members of the Topeka Committee have been watching him on the surface for days now, and that Vic has been chosen to help re-populate Topeka, as its male residents are sterile and/or impotent due to their ridiculously wholesome, clean, and subterranean living. Vic laughs hysterically, thinking he'll get to sleep with dozens of women. The sinister Topeka Committee member Mez laughs back hysterically indicating to Vic that sleeping with dozens of women is not what they have in mind.In the next scene, a couple is married in a hospital room, and Vic is in attendance (strapped to a gurney) to provide semen. Quilla arrives and rescues him, subduing the doctors. She tells him he is only going to be allowed to impregnate 35 girls, then will be put to death. They rush out of the hospital with the help of Gary, and find Vic's guns, then Vic starts to leave. Quilla tries to stop him to help her overthrow the dictatorship of Topeka, but Vic wants to return to Blood. The Committee convenes at the town square and begins broadcasting the sentence on Quilla and her friends - the farm. Gary and all of his rebel friends are attacked and killed by Michael. Vic fires at Michael, but the bullets have no effect. One of Vic's gunshots disables "Michael", who is a robot. Vic and Quilla flee firing gunshots at Michael while the committee remains indifferent and begins planning for its next "donor". Lou also orders that another Michael security robot be exhumed from the storage warehouse, with his clowish smile wipped off.Vic and Quilla return to the surface where it is now night. Relieved that the Topeka citizens are not chasing after them, they look around and they find Blood nearby, who is dying. But conditions on the surface have become worse with Fellini and his gang have taken over for the most part. He hasen't eaten for days and will die soon unless Vic provides him with food. Quilla tells Vic that it's too late to save Blood and Vic should come away with her far away if he really loves her. Vic must choose... he looks at Blood, then looks back at Quilla.In the final shot, Vic and Blood are putting out a campfire near the steel dome. Having eaten, Blood feels better and he and Vic walk away from their campfire into the sunrise of dawn. Quilla is nowhere to be seen, but pieces of her wedding gown are seen strewn around the dying campfire. Vic and Blood talk about how Vic was touched by the fact that Quilla June picked him to be with instead of the dictatorship committee of Topeka. Blood remarks, "She had marvelous judgement... if not a particularly good taste (!)" The boy and his dog laugh at the pun and they both walk away "over the hill" toward paradise.

Tags: comedy, murder, cult, alternate reality, psychedelic, satire, alternate history

Review:
The dog is the most sympathetic character in the movie, and is brilliantly voiced by Tim McIntire.If you are able to wrap your head around the bizarre moral construct, this film is a nihilistic hoot..
It has a genuinely original plot involving telepathic dogs that are more literate than their human masters,gunfights wherein the dogs direct their human masters, an entire society underground that discerns who is apart of them or not by wearing clownface at all times, and other crazy things.It's a wild, crazy, tasteless, sex-obsessed adventure that affords the viewer one of the greatest luxuries of the movies, one that is rarely completely fulfilled, which is unpredictability.
A Boy and His Dog is not a great film, but it's worth watching repeatedly and showing our friends.
Johnson was, surprisingly, dead perfect as Vic. Tiger was great:) Benton also is pretty good and Jason Robards pops up late in the proceedings.Not a perfect film but an interesting one.
Based upon a novel by Harlan Ellison, the premise follows that of a young loner Vic (splendidly performed by Don Johnson) and his telepathic pooch Blood (exceptionally voiced by Tim McIntire) travelling the desert landscapes caused by the after-effects of WWIV in the search of food, shelter and women.What goes on to make this film is the biting conversations and budding rapport and dependable friendship between Vic and Blood.
Surely those who were looking for nothing more than what Hollywood usually delivers when they invoke the words "science fiction" were disappointed, because this movie resembles the usual horror or action film masquerading as sci-fi very little.
But when Vic (or as the dog calls him, Albert) is lured into a surreal society living in a large bomb shelter, their friendship is threatened and Vic is almost forced to become a sort of sexual machine for the good of the State.Just to run through some of the aspects of the film that I enjoyed, I really liked Tim McIntire's voice work as the dog, perfectly crisp like a cranky old man.
Like all good sci-fi the idea is vaguely proposed but never explained.Don Johnson did pretty good work here, I mean it doesn't strike you as all that impressive at first but when you think about the fact that he had to do so many scenes with just this dog as his co-star it's a pretty tough act to pull off as well as he did.
In the opening scene we learn that the boy (Don Johnson) is looking for female survivors so he can rape them.If you can swallow that highly disturbing premise, which the director makes no bones in presenting at the outset, then the rest should be an unsettlingly fun joyride all the way to the film's very memorable punchline.
Things get really trippy in the 2nd half, and even though there's minimal nudity, certain things happen which would make D.H. Lawrence blush (particularly involving a certain mechanical device attached to the male anatomy).Definitely NOT a date movie, nor any sort of movie you'd watch with your parents or kids, "A Boy and His Dog" is really like a lost cousin of "A Clockwork Orange" or "Dr. Strangelove".
Who ever would've thought that this sarcastic gem would come to light through the directing talents of L.Q. Jones, the ubiquitous guest star on many a 70s TV show like "Charlie's Angels", "Columbo", "Gunsmoke" and "Vega$" but whose only other directing credit is an episode of "The Incredible Hulk" (one which I'm going to re-watch immediately).Unfortunately with the somewhat bland & grainy video quality of the existing print, we don't get the full eye-boggling power of this film the way one could imagine it.
This movie was well ahead of its time and you can definitely see how it influenced Mad Max. If you're a fan of post apocalyptic films, you can't go without seeing this any longer..
The main character's life as a nomadic rapist is hardly any better then the socially and sexually repressed underground society.I also could not buy the idea that the relationship between the boy and the dog was a friendly one.
A boy (Don Johnson) communicates telepathically with his dog as they scavenge for food and sex, and they stumble into an underground society where the old society is preserved.I like that all presidents since Ford have been a member of the Kennedy family...
The story comes in three parts:Part 1 ) Vic and his telepathic dog struggle for survival in a post apocalypse world Part 2 ) Vic meets airhead blonde Part 3 ) Vic and airhead blonde find a civilisation that isn`t all it appears to be Oh and the film finishes on a grotesque joke that makes it more memorable than it possibly deserved to be , so you`ve got three themes , one of survival but is miles away from the convincing scenarios seen in the works of John Christopher and John Wyndham , one of trying to find a woman which does seem strange since Vic seems to be well nourished and I`d have thought many women would have no hesitation in prostituting them selves for food , and one of a utopian sanctury not being what it seems , something I`ve seen and read in a hundred different SF stories like the BLAKE`S 7  episode Powerplay .
At least one other commentator has mentioned that this is a movie that shouldn`t be taken seriously and with hindsight I can see what my mistake was - I took this film far too seriously and by the time I`d lightened up it was already too late which meant I couldn`t appreciate the funny scene where Vic is tied to the table .
A BOY AND HIS DOG isn`t the worst movie I`ve seen today but it`s probably a film that made an impression because it finishes far , far better than how it started  and if you`ve never seen it and get the chance to then make sure you don`t take it at all seriously or you`ll be disappointed.
Based on a short story by novelist Harlan Ellison, the film belongs in the Sci-Fi sub category of post-apocalyptic movies, but there's far more than meets the eye.
Still with the beautiful and young Don Johnson and Susanne Benton in the leads the viewing experience isn't all bad.I'm willing to bet that more than a few people got lured into this film with the title thinking it was going to be some nice family picture with some Benji like dog in the lead.
That would have been some shock to someone expecting that.Don Johnson and his dog live in the 2024 in a post apocalyptic world by themselves and scavenging constantly for food and sex.
Needless to say he's got the best lines the film.A Boy And His Dog is a good faith effort at an underground classic which has succeeded with many.
In the world of "A Boy and His Dog" a Vic and Quilla June relationship was destined to fail for many obvious reasons.Nevertheless, the original story does a much better job of exploring Vic's ambivalence in making the final decision.
Now I know why they say "don't believe everything you read." I rented it solely on this basis, and I feel as though Harlan Ellison (who wrote the original story) must be crying head-in-hands somewhere.Don Johnson (AKA the "boy," though he was 26 at the time playing a tender 18) gives a dreary performance, foreshadowing the lifeless screeching that passed as acting on "Miami Vice" a decade later.
Jones, an excellent character actor probably best known for his work with Sam Peckinpah, previously scripted the underrated horror movie 'The Brotherhood Of Satan', and also directed this time around.
Future 80s TV heartthrob Don Johnson is actually pretty good as "the boy" Vic, and Tim McIntire is even better as the voice of Blood.
When Blood sniffs out Susanne it leads to a terrifying journey to the underground where Vic finds himself trapped for sinister means.This is a very basic that sticks to post-apocalypse movie rules - desert conditions, everyone searching for basic needs, loner warrior etc.
G. Welles' "The Time Machine." Don Johnson as Vic (the Boy) is adequately dense; Tim MacIntyre as the voice of Blood (the Dog) is ruefully sarcastic; and Jason Robards as Lou, Dictator of the underground civilization, is an arbitrary, disgusted H.
It takes a huge twist to the post apocalyptic genre.A teenage boy (Vic) and his telepathic dog (Blood) work together as a team in order to survive in the dangerous post-apocalyptic wasteland of the Southwestern United States.
Interesting post-apocalyptic movie about a young man (Don Johnson) roaming around with his telepathic dog looking for food and sex.
A young man by the name Vic (Don Johnson) and his super intelligent, telepathic dog Blood (Voice Tim McIntire) have an interesting and unusual arrangement.
Blood distrust Quilla and warns Vic, but Vic doesn't listen I don't want to give more away, but the end is quite disturbing and at the same time, necessary, making it one of the best ending in sci-fi.This movie features a very young Don Johnson, which you might remember him from the 80s crime series "Miami Vice." He plays the naïve and sexually aroused teenager, Vic. This movie is bizarre, kinky, dark, funny, and the picture is literally grainy, giving it that B-movie look.
I crawled under that bed and stayed there until I cried myself to sleep.A BOY AND HIS DOG reminds me of the depth of true love, and I nod and understand when Harlan Ellison mentions his dissatisfaction with the last line of this movie.
I couldn't really recall much of the film but a few things really stuck in my memory: the scary idea that women would be pretty vulnerable in an apocalyptic future, and those scenes underground with the pancake makeup on the citizens of Topeka and the ubiquitous voice on the PA system giving out recipes and tips for good living...
In an era when $200 million science fiction movies, done with absurd excess of high tech special effects combined with zero story and zero character development --- then along comes a memory of this 30 year old 1975 extremely low budget post-apocalyptic gem.
This movie contains everything that a cult sci-fi movie fan could ever want: symphatetic but politically incorrect characters, a visually nightmaristic world, a post-apocalyptic society and a dog who talks from his mind and who is way smarter than his human "master".
After the end of the world, the only thing that is on the mind of the main characters is food and sex and in a lot of ways, that is exactly what I would except from a very chaotic world, it's represented this way intentionally and paints a great example of what could happen when the world goes to hell.Am I saying this world is a good film, not really.
There wouldn't be any education on land, they are just like animals in this world with the only intention to eat and reproduce.In that way it's an essential Post-Dystopian film even in the many flaws such as several really strange underground sections which aren't as fleshed out as the relationship with him and his dog and their journey for survival.The film's context is extremely dark and unsettling especially at the end of the film where it just leaves you to imagine what happened to one of the characters.
Vic (a very young Don Johnson, who any of child of the 80's knows instantly) and Blood (voiced by Tim McIntire, who was George Jones in the 1981 TV movie Stand By Your Man) are a human and dog team traveling through the post-apocalyptic fallout after World War 4.
Unlike the way my dog just barks and barks until I wake up, Blood can speak telepathically.That telepathy comes at the expense of his ability to search for food, so the incredibly intelligent, human-hating mutt uses Vic to help him.
A boy loves his dog."If you've ever played the video game Fallout, then you'll be delighted to learn how much comes from this film.Vic and Blood would have further adventures, even one tale where Ellison tried to off the pair due to either his dislike of the film's ending or being sick of fans asking for more stories about the duo.
All of the different parts work together in an interesting and weird way, and it fits perfectly for a cult film (like it has become).The movie is a bleak&black "comedy" about a post-apocalyptic USA, where a boy has some sort of telepathic connection with a dog.
So, honourable mentions go to; Don Johnson as Vic, Susanne Benton as Quilla June Holmes, Jason Robards as Lou Craddock and Tim McIntire as the voice of Blood.I can see why this film is played as a comedy, the whole situation in the scenes 'Down Under' are particularly ludicrous.
Sure, the premise sounds intriguing: a young man and his dog, who can communicate with each other, roam the barren landscape, in search of food and, well, women in a post-WWIV world.
It makes me feel that in the post-apocalyptical world of 2024, a boy and his dog will be partners for life.Try to see it..
don't want to spoil,so will just say it puts everything in perspective.having read a fair amount of these reviews it is very evident that satire,humor and Ellison's biting wit are misunderstood.probably by the under 40 crowd who have been mind-wiped by their (mostly)crappy superhero/spoofs(no fangs like true satire)and their electronic umbilical cords.the screamers are mostly women,by their screen UN.this is so much a sign of the times.granted Vic is a horrible young man,but he honestly doesn't know any better and blood is trying to re=educate him.on the other hand in the event of a dystopian world this is to be expected.
Finally after many years watched the cult sci-fi fantasy classic from 1975 "A Boy and his Dog", and I must say wow it's clearly a different kind of picture really probably one that would not be made in today's market.
Aside from that the movie is strange and crazy with a world that seems like something right out of a "Twilight Zone" episode only it's more crazier and bizarre even it seems your watching something abnormal.The story involves World War IV and it has just ended in 2024 lasting only five days and most of earth has been destroyed and ravaged as survivors struggle to find the basic things like food, shelter and friends.
And the lead character is a young man named Vic(Don Johnson 10 years before his breakout "Miami Vice" fame!)who has with him a talking and telepathic dog called Blood and both wonder the hot dirt like roads in search of food and ladies.
Along the way Vic and Blood meet several strange people who show them a new world which may not be for the better.The movie is based on a novella from sci-fi author Harlan Ellison this picture is clearly dark in nature still it's blended with funny moments as it's a search trip and adventure thru a world of hunt and seek with the friendship between a boy and his dog taking over matters as that's the only plan to help both find the basics of food and companionship from the other sex.
With the premise of a post-apocalyptic future where a young adult looking for women to have sex with (with or without their consent) helped by his talking dog, this movie is most bizarre.
This boy, Vic, who is played by a very young Don Johnson, communicates telepathically with his dog, Blood, voiced by Tim McIntire.
I got into the much of the 70s and 80s science fiction films about post-apocalyptic living: Logans Run, A Boy and His Dog, the Mad Max trilogy, and so forth.
It is, quite simply, the story of a rabidly horny young man and his talking dog wandering a post-apocalyptic setting where they stumble upon things even more bizarre than our main characters.
This low-budget gem of a science-fiction film was the ultimate inspiration to post-apocalyptic science-fiction movies including Mad Max and many that came after that.
While it sometimes seems that the SF movies of the 70's were just build up to Star Wars, stops like A Boy and his Dog make the journey almost more interesting than the destination.Scripted by perennial SF bad-boy Harlan Ellison from his own novel, the story has a young Don Johnson (although he hardly seems a "boy") as Vic, scurrying through the near-future blasted remains of a post-nuclear landscape looking for his next meal, and sexual conquest, assisted by his canine pal Blood whom he can communicate with telepathically.
The back lists it as an inspiration for Mad Max.A Boy and His Dog is the story of Vic/Albert, and his dog Blood as they eke out their living in the Southwest wastelands of post World War IV.
ALl in all  A boy and his dog...I think wasn't the best movie but it wasn't that bad!
And it is such a tale, nothing like I usually get out of seeing a movie, this story of greed and loyalty and morality and how to survive in a post-apocalyptic society...I had read about the ending and how much of a shock it was...
It didn't work and along with the treatment of women sucked, there goes that word again, most of the enjoyment out of what was otherwise a decent little character driven post apocalyptic sci-fi movie.I've nothing against cruel and mean spirited movies, even if they aren't witty like this film is, as long as they have something to say.
I never cried when Old Yeller got shot, but I still get moist-eyed when Blood and Vic part ways at the entrance to Topeka."A Boy And His Dog" regularly shows up on most lists of the Top 10 Science Fiction Films Of All Time, and I certainly rank it alongside another independent S.F. marvels like "Dark Star" and "THX 1138".