On 14 August 2021, 40-odd years after reading the original classic sci-fi novella 'A Boy And His Dog', written by Harlan Ellison, first published in 1969, and winner of the highly-coveted Nebula Award for Best Novella later that same year, I finally watched the movie version of this memorable story. (In 1970, it was nominated for the equally prestigious Hugo Award for Best Novella, but lost out to Fritz Leiber's 'Ship of Shadows'.)
Directed by L.Q. Jones (who also wrote its screenplay after Ellison suffered writer's block while preparing one for it), and released in 1975, A Boy And His Dog is set in the year 2024, within a barren post-apocalyptic Earth. The 'boy' is a late-teenage loner named Vic (played with great zest by a young Don Johnson). His dog is a genetically-modified, super-intelligent mutt named Blood, with whom Vic can communicate telepathically (Blood's thoughts are voiced by Tim McIntire), as they eke out a nomadic, Mad Max-like existence together in a comical love-hate relationship, foraging amid the arid desert terrain of what had once been the U.S.A., prior to the nuclear devastation wrought by World War 4, that is… (Indeed, it has been claimed that this movie was the inspiration for the Mad Max film franchise.)
Vic's primary interest is finding women for sex, Blood's is finding food, so each helps the other in their respective searches, and they combine forces to steer clear of marauder gangs, slavers, deadly mutants, and other life-endangering hazards spasmodically confronted by them. Eventually they encounter and rescue from marauders and their ferocious guard dogs a passionate young woman, Quilla June (Susanne Benton). However, she ably uses her physical and emotional wiles to trick lustful, hapless Vic into deserting a now-injured Blood (after having battled one of the guard dogs) and following her instead into a secret underground realm resembling an idealized all-American town from the 1950s but ruled by an autocratic Committee, headed by the merciless Lou Craddock (Jason Robards).
It turns out that the Committee had specifically sent Quilla into the above-ground, surface world to ensnare Vic, because their women need impregnating by a virile, fertile male from outside their inbred, self-contained society in order to become pregnant with male offspring. Inevitably, Vic is overjoyed to learn this, until he discovers that instead of performing actively as a stud as he'd expected to be doing, he is forcibly attached to a machine that, shall we say, facilitates the necessary biological extractions automatically.
Angry with Quilla for her deceptions, Vic nonetheless takes her with him when he eventually breaks free and escapes from this soulless subterranean world, re-emerging back on the surface after having spent several days beneath it. There he finds Blood, still faithfully waiting for him but gravely ill due to starvation, Blood's worsening injuries having prevented him from hunting for food during Vic's absence below-ground. Blood now faces imminent death unless he can receive sustenance swiftly, but Quilla begs Vic to depart with her in a new life together above-ground and leave Blood behind, saying that there is nothing that can be done for him.
However, even though it actually occurs off-screen, this movie version's retention of the brief yet famously shocking, wholly unexpected end scene from Ellison's original story ensures that Blood does survive, with a boy and his now well-fed dog setting forth to face new adventures together, just the two of them once again...
Interestingly, there had been plans to film a sequel movie entitled A Girl And Her Dog, in which Vic and Blood have parted ways, Blood now teaming up with a young woman instead. Tragically, however, Tiger, the dog who had played Blood in A Boy And His Dog, died shortly after the latter film had been released, so the idea for a sequel was shelved indefinitely. Also of note is that the first choice of actor to voice Blood's thoughts in A Boy And His Dog was none other than James Cagney, but he was ultimately rejected for the role on the grounds that his voice was too recognisable and would therefore detract from the character of Blood. Instead, after about 600 others had auditioned, Tim McIntire was chosen.
Although adhering to the same principal plot as Ellison's novella, this movie version does veer from it in certain key ways. Most notably, the novella is predominantly set not in empty desert terrain (much of the film was actually shot on location in California's Mojave Desert) but instead within the shattered, desolate remains of what had once been a large, thriving city. Moreover, the underground town in the novella is far less bizarre, sinister, and out-and-out grotesque than in the movie. For in the latter, the faces of all of the people are painted with clown-like 'white-face' make-up, complete with fake red-painted upturned smiles, and the Committee uses a series of murderous androids to keep the populace obedient and subservient, with anyone stepping out of line being summarily dispatched off-screen to a mysterious place named The Farm, after which they are never seen again.
Also, the extraction machine used upon Vic in the movie is not present in Ellison's novella, in which Vic is simply expected to impregnate the town's women in the traditional, natural manner (as Vic had expected to do in the movie before the machine made its unwelcome appearance!). And one aspect of the movie that apparently greatly irked Ellison at the time was that his iconic closing lines in his original story were replaced by a totally different set that in his opinion spoilt the entire end of the movie. I won't say what they were, so as not to spoil either the novella or the movie for those not currently acquainted with them, but I do agree that Ellison's lines would have yielded a far superior and much more chilling finale for the film.
Notwithstanding these changes, this movie version of A Boy And His Dog is an engrossing, semi-humorous, and highly unusual entry in the sci fi cinematic genre, and has gone on to become a cult film among the latter's aficionados. Certainly, I greatly enjoyed it – so much so, in fact, that it inspired me afterwards to dig out and re-read my copy of Ellison's original novella, as contained within a collection of his stories published in a 1979 Pan Books paperback edition entitled The Beast That Shouted Love At The Heart Of The World (also the title of the first story in this collection) that I'd bought back in or around 1980. (Incidentally, the version of 'A Boy And His Dog' contained in this particular edition is an expanded one that had been prepared by Ellison for the story's first American publication.)
At the time of writing, A Boy And His Dog can be viewed for free on YouTube by clicking here, and an official trailer for it can be watched by clicking here.
To view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.
Classic.
ReplyDeleteI was shocked by the ending.
ReplyDelete