A Boy and his Dog (film): At least they tried but it's not really worth seeing

A Boy and his Dog is a short story that was written by Harlan Ellison that despite its very short length, was really impactful for anyone that read it. It won some pretty important awards in 1970 and I suppose it was only a matter of time before someone turned this into a film. I was actually unaware there was a film based on the book but loved the short-story as it kind of haunts you and sticks with you long after you are finished reading it. Since this film was made in the 70's with not much of a budget I didn't really expect very much of it. There were some nice surprises but I think if you are going to spend 90 minutes on this story, read the book instead of watching the film.

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There are going to be spoilers ahead so if you want to see this film, which I don't really recommend that you do, then maybe skip this review.

The first surprise that I discovered in this film because I went into it completely blind was the fact that the main character was played by Don Johnson and since that guy really didn't do a great deal in his life other than Miami Vice and some great supporting roles such as in Tin Cup and a few Tarantino movies, I don't know if he was considered a big star at the time. Just as a side note I think that Don Johnson is probably one of the most recognizable names in showbiz that never really took off as a respected actor. Correct me if I am wrong.

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Basically the story here is that the world has ended because of world wars and the few remaining people scrape by and life is really brutal on the surface world and it is all presented in a rather Mad Max type way, which is fine.

Another thing that surprised me is that the year that the film and I think the novella takes place in is 2024 and this is always interesting to me when the "distant future" portrayed in films and books happens to actually be in the past for those of us living today. This little surprise is nice to me because I find it really interesting to see what people 40-50 years ago imagined that the future would be like.

Don Jonson plays "Vic" and he wanders the badlands or whatever with his dog companion "Blood." For reasons that are not really explained either in this movie or in the book, some people are capable of speaking to animals or at least to a dog. They can't talk to all animals, just to one particular one. It is an interesting concept that I think all people who have an affinity towards dogs would probably seriously like to be true.

Blood is smarter than Vic, but Blood realizes that he is to a certain extent dependent upon Vic for sustenance and they roam various places looking for food, shelter, and also a woman for Vic. Blood is far more capable of figuring out dangers with his keen sense of smell and since the two of them can communicate silently with one another, this makes them a very effective team at both attacking and defending certain areas where they happen to be.

Vic and other men view women as something to be used and Vic wants blood to help him find a woman so that he can merely have sex with her. He isn't looking for love, lets just say that. A taboo subject matter indeed and I am sure it was even moreso in 1975.

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When Vic discovers a lone woman he initially set out to just "use" her and then leave but it turns out that the woman, named "Quila" actually takes a liking to him and he doesn't have to force himself upon her. This is not familiar territory for Vic or Blood and they don't really know how to handle it. She kind of proves her worth when she works together with both Vic and Blood to hold off a group of marauders that are descending on their location with the intention of killing all of them.

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As the story carries on - which in my opinion carried on for too long really - we start to see that Vic is starting to prefer being with Quila over being with Blood, or at least it seems so for a time. When Vic travels underground to find or rescue Quila from the civilized world of sorts that exists underground, Vic starts to realize that the bond he has with Blood is actually far more meaningful to him than the one that he has only just been introduced to with Quila.

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_{although very basic, this introduction of the underground world is actually done pretty well considering that in 1975 there was no CGI and presenting a massive underground lair realistically would have been really quite impossible}

Vic starts to feel great regret as he spends more time with Quila underground because he left Blood on the surface, injured and hungry, in order to pursue Quila. When he eventually returns to the surface to find that Blood is still clinging to live but only just, he does what most people would consider unthinkable and kills and cooks Quila in order to save Blood's life.

There. I've spoiled the movie for you but to be fair I did warn you at the start didn't I?

I think the reason why the novella was so popular at the time of its release is because there are a lot of dog lovers out there and the bond between man and dog is a pretty strong one. Just look to the amount of people out there that claim that they like dogs more than they like people, there are a lot of them. Hell, I know that I get much more emotional when a dog dies in a film than when a person does and there are a lot of people that feel this way.

This, combined with the fact that the original story is quite brutal and graphic for any time period, let alone 50 years ago, and you have something that was likely a very underground but very popular story of love, deception, and the rather unbreakable bond between humans and dogs.

The film was made on a budget of $400,000 and given that this is the case, I think they did a very good job of spending that money wisely. It certainly isn't some sort of Lawrence of Arabia epic, but they did a very good job using the money they had wisely. If that is the film's total budget, I can't imagine that Don Johnson was paid very much for it.

Should I watch it?

Honestly, no you shouldn't. I do however recommend that you find the book and read that. Either option is going to take roughly the same amount of time and I really think that the images that you can put into your head by reading it is actually kind of better than the film is. They kind of took a lot of liberties with the screenplay because the novella was honestly too short to really provide with a lot of material. Apparently the author of the book quite liked the film but absolutely hated what they did with the ending.

I think you can get by in your life without seeing this because other than the fact that I am kind of stunned that a topic matter like this was even allowed in rather puritan 70's cinematic landscape, it doesn't really have any sort of historical importance.

If someone were to watch this without being aware of the source material, I am pretty sure they would switch it off before it was over anyway. However, it can be a nice little ride into a rather risky project that was initially a failure but became a bit of a cult classic. Oh, and you get to see a really young Don Johnson, if that does anything for you.

_{You can legally stream this film on Amazon Prime, Fubo, and Night Flight. I'm not familiar with Kanopy and Hoopla but apparently it can be streamed there for free as well}