A Boy and His Dog
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| A Boy and His Dog | |
|---|---|
 Film poster |
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| Directed by | L.Q. Jones |
| Produced by | L.Q. Jones Alvy Moore |
| Written by | Harlan Ellison (story) L.Q. Jones (screenplay) Wayne Cruseturner (uncredited) |
| Starring | Don Johnson Susanne Benton Tiger Charles McGraw Jason Robards |
| Music by | Tim McIntire Jaime Mendoza-Nava (underground segment) |
| Cinematography | John Arthur Morrill |
| Distributed by | LQJaf Productions |
| Release date(s) | 1975 |
| Running time | 91 min. |
| Country | US |
| Language | English |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
A Boy and His Dog is a 1975 post-apocalyptic science fiction film directed by L. Q. Jones and based on the Harlan Ellison short story of the same title, which originally appeared in 1969. A revised and expanded version was printed in Ellison's 1976 story collection The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World. There is also a graphic novel on the story titled Vic and Blood. The film version was a direct inspiration for Mad Max.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
This is a post-apocalyptic tale in which the earth's surface is devastated by nuclear war, and the few survivors who stayed above ground must forage and fight for food, ammo, and women. Of these necessities, women are the rarest finds; as explained in the movie, most survivors are male because while the males were off fighting the war, their leaders bombed their enemies' cities and destroyed their homes.
The main character, Vic, played by Don Johnson in a notable early role, is an 18-year-old boy mainly concerned with fulfilling his sexual needs, e.g. with Quilla June (played by Susanne Benton). He is accompanied by a well-read and wise-cracking telepathic dog named Blood, played by the dog Tiger, --an "experienced female provider."
In addition to locating women for Vic to rape, Blood also has the unenviable task of trying to educate Vic and keep him safe from harm. Blood is the result of human genetic experimentation, which resulted in an intelligent canine mutation with telepathic abilities. However, the only human Blood can communicate with is Vic, whom Blood refers to as "Albert" as a sort of "term of endearment"; "Albert" being a reference to Albert Einstein, whose intelligence Blood sees as a far cry from what Vic tends to demonstrate without and despite Blood's guidance.
Blood's opinion of the Human Race is not essentially a positive one. As Blood notes, with characteristic form, "human sex is an ugly thing."
Most of civilization has gone into the "downunder" (i.e. underground). One underground city, "Topeka", fashioned in a disturbing mockery of 1950s rural innocence and brave-new-worldian madness, solves its need for exogamous reproduction by forcibly extracting fluids from their sperm donors. But they are running low on viable donors.
Quilla June, the daughter of one of the committee leaders, is sent to the surface to bait Vic into "service." Vic takes leave of his lifelong friend Blood, and pursues the young lady into the underground. He soon learns the harsh reality of the authoritarian committee, and of their need for his reproductive fluids.
Quilla June, along with a few other rebellious teenagers, have other plans for Vic. They free him from captivity, and beg him to kill the committee members and their android enforcer Michael, thus leaving Quilla June in power. Vic, however, has no interest in politics or remaining underground. The rebellious teenagers are all sentenced to death (or sent to "the farm"). Quilla June and Vic manage to kill Michael, and escape to the surface.
Above ground, they find that Blood is near death. Vic faces a difficult situation, and in a surprise ending, sacrifices his new love to save Blood. Both the movie and the short story end here.
[edit] Criticism
On the film's DVD audio commentary, L.Q. Jones states that Harlan Ellison was generally pleased with the movie, with the exception of the final line of dialogue. Ellison criticized the film's "moronic, hateful chauvinist last line, which I despise" [1].
The final line, the one that so angered Ellison, has Vic choosing between saving the life of his faithful guide or running off with Quilla June. A shot of cooking meat followed by the line from Blood, "Well, I'd say she certainly had marvellous judgement, Albert, if not particularly good taste", ends the movie.
This movie and original short story are widely attacked for being misogynistic. Ellison himself has been quoted as saying he did not intend it this way. Ellison himself has argued that the character of Quilla June was much more sympathetic in the original story than in the movie.
[edit] Graphic Novel
Ellison has also been heavily criticize by fans of Vic and Blood for killing off Vic in a sequel Graphic Novel. The reasons given by Ellison for this abrupt ending have differed over the years. One reason given relates to his anger over the L.Q. Jones ending of the film, as detailed above. The other is, according to Ellison, essentially a desire to stop his fans from requesting more stories about the two characters. Ellison claimed at the time of the film's release that he had said all he wanted to say about Vic and Blood, and that there would be no more sequels. Either way, the Graphic Novel appears to have resolved the story of Vic and Blood in such a way that further adventures are highly unlikely.
The graphic novel, written by Ellison, ends the story of Vic and Blood. After a retelling of the first story, the final chapter deals with the events immediately afterward. Although Blood is now back on his feet, the pair's situation deteriorates as Vic begins having guilt-ridden hallucinations as a result of an awakening of conscience following the death and feast of Quilla June. Due to his preoccupation, Vic stumbles into a near-fatal encounter with rover gangs occurs, resulting in Vic getting separated from Blood once again. After the two reunite, Blood finds Vic in a hopeless, almost catatonic state. Despite Blood's appeals and attempts to reawaken Vic's sanity, Vic allows himself to be captured by a giant, mutated spider. Cocooned, poisoned by venom, and beyond any hope of saving, Vic accepts his fate as Blood is left to fend for himself.
[edit] Sequel
On the film's DVD audio commentary, L.Q. Jones states that he had started to write a script sequel to the film that would have picked up right where the first film ended and would have featured a female warrior named Spike. Jones and Ellison collaborated on this short-lived effort. Ellison, however, has denied that development went beyond a short "what if?" conversation, and that any efforts were solely that of Jones.
[edit] References
- ^ Ellison, Harlan. Ellison Webderland Bulletin Board Archives (HTM). Retrieved on 2006-09-04.
