A Boy and His Dog

A Boy and His Dog is a 1975 post-apocalyptic dark comedy written and directed by LQ Jones based off the 1969 novella of the same name by Harlan Ellison, starring Don Johnson, Susanne Benton, Alvy Moore and Jason Robards. The film follows a teenage boy named Vic (Don Johnson) and his telepathic dog named Blood (Tim Mclntire), who wander through a post-apocalyptic wasteland as they work together to survive. This article will be less of an analysis or an outright review more of a throughout piece on elements of the film and as an overall whole experience.

Right from the beginning scene where they search for food supplies and they woman to rape whilst also avoiding the gang hatted in the area they want to be the film shows that Vic and blood are not meant to be heroes but merely survivors of an awful ordeal. Vic’s primary goals are getting food and having sex, A Boy and His Dog showcases a realistic scenario of how a young man with no parents in a post-apocalyptic world would act. Throughout the film Vic and Blood constantly argue and fight with one another. The film is destroyers the idea of typical post-apocalyptic films showcasing a young man trying to change the world for the better and instead showcases a more realistic and grimmer story of survival. When Vic finds a dying woman, who has just been raped he says, “help they didn’t have to cut her secrets have been used to have three more times”. This is one of the elements in where we are boy and his dog has been perceived as misogynistic whilst some people believe the film to showcase female empowerment. Although this article will highlight these elements of the film, they will not be the focus of this article.

The Vic and blood seem to have a weird love hate bond with each other throughout the film. Blood is sarcastic and seems to be more intelligent and sophisticated than Vic, as the two other dogs throughout the film but must work together would do to survive. This is further showcased by blood educating Vic on how the world came to be post-apocalyptic in hopes that it will give him more intelligence and be a suitable companion to engage in conversation with whilst Vic believes such actions is pointless, as showcased by blood teaching ethics to the US presidents. This central debate between the two main characters is showcased within the main argument within the film. Blood believes there is a need to go on and find a better life as shown with his continued argument to that they need to go to the place “over the hill” which is supposedly untouched by this post-apocalyptic world. Vic on the other hand offers a more cynical look on life believing there is no great promise land and that is all you can do is survive. A boy and his dog showcase the idea that to survive you must be savage and willing to steal and kill if necessary. Unlike some post-apocalyptic films that advocate the re-formation of society, boys dog seems to state that even at the individual or a small group will survive over a collective. The film seems to indicate that due to the world already being destroyed the reconfirmation of site society is impossible, it is pointless to try and regain a semblance of your old life again and instead all you can do is fend for yourself.

Within the post-apocalyptic wasteland there is a slick of the community and more over shantytown where people seem to stop off, coming and going as they please. The primary source of entertainment being old porn films as people try and find some joy in the world. The film showcases the idea that being either by yourself or with your one true friend is a better more effective idea than trying to restart the world from scratch as a functioning society rising from the ashes of a post-apocalyptic world seems impossible. Thanks to blood Vic tracks down a female called Quilla June Holmes. Vic burst through the opening grabbing her and holding her at gunpoint. Vic is not a hero; he is a human. Throughout the film he acts like a teenager who does not know what he is doing with no parents to teaching right or wrong he is merely going instincts just trying to survive. As stated before it could be argued that the film is misogynistic in nature a prime example being Vic saying “I’m gonna go over there and I’m gonna get one of them mats you make one move of their and I’ll shoot your leg right out from under you and your still get it except you’ll be without a leg”. Quilla June tries to appeal to Vic’s better nature but Vic is having none of it showcasing the harsh and brutal reality of a post-apocalyptic future, however he does suffer from this American exchange names are rather. It turns out that a Rover pack (a gang of survivors) is nearby so him, Blood and Quilla June decide to fight them off. This idea of fighting against people to protect the girl’s subverted as a boy he still thinks a very non-romantic image of this act, as Vic just wants to have sex with her. In many ways they could see ultimate anti-hero protecting the girl not because it is the right thing to do but because he can personally benefit from her existence again this could showcase misogynistic overtones in the film, with a fight scene that shoes showing the brutal realism of a fight for survival within a post-apocalyptic world.

After this Quilla June ends up having sex with Vic. This scene showcases the almost femme fatale aspect of her character and the film as a whole in allowing him to have sex with her she is manipulating him, showcasing a film that is as much about female empowerment and possibly even feminist ideology as it is one about sexism and misogyny. Vic and Quilla June then start talking as if they were a couple trying to impress one another and convince the other to go with them. Vic tries to have sentimental moment before blood cuts him off. The film seems to suggest that there is no time for love in a post-apocalyptic future and that people must just accept their fate in life. Throughout the film Vicky’s show is lower cultured and less intelligent as bloods who is seen as high cultures are more intelligent, which is shown when Quilla June Knox out Vic and runaway as bloods mocks him. The scene also shows how character is one of a fem-fatale like nature expressing female empowerment throughout the film as opposed to researching. Vic decides to follow Quilla June into the down under via her card, despite blood trying to convince him not to go down there showing that they do truly care about one another when all is said and done.

Downunder has an artificial biosphere, complete with forests and a city, which is named Topeka after the ruins of the destroyed city that it lies beneath. The entire city is ruled by a triumvirate known as “the Committee”, who have shaped Topeka into a bizarre caricature of pre-nuclear war America, with all residents wearing whiteface and clothes that harken back to the rural United States prior to World War II. The boundaries is a dystopian society where anyone who doesn’t toe the line supposedly ideal goes to the farm. Although the farm is never given a detailed explanation as to what it is it is hinted as being a sort of camp where people were taken and killed, promise they think their deaths in the society is in order to keep up the peaceful image to the population. Quilla June wants to bring down the dystopian society, showcasing the film as one of female impact on as opposed to misogyny.

Once She is Vic is sentenced to a ironic and fitting fate in which he lives out his fantasy by impregnating a load of young women, but the via a machine in which sperm is pumped out of him as as they are done with him he’s killed. This scene showcases a sadistic comeuppance of the character, as Vic constantly searched for women to have sex with and royalties primary driving force now he’s paying the price via a call and ironic punishment. This further leads into the idea of a blind dog being a feminist film about female empowerment due to Vic being controlled and dominated by the system. Quilla June then frees Vic as him and the others escaped. Quila June wants Vic to help her and the rest of her friends by killing the people in command and starting a revolution. Vic however has no interest in this, to quote the character himself “I gotta get back in the dirt so I can feel clean”. Vic has a simple ideology of fighting for survival and has no interest in revolution. The film suggests as a community is impossible in a post-apocalyptic world and that survival is what humanity needs to concentrate on. Vic and Quila June escape after several of her friends of murdered, which further reinforces the ideology of survival being mankind’s primary objective in this post-apocalyptic world as they escape after destroying the robotic Michael. Once outside they find that blood has been injured and needs food otherwise is going to die Quila June says there is nothing that can be done now and encourages them to leave without blood. As the transition to the final scene shows Vic killed Quilla June cooked her and fed her to the blood so that he would live. On one hand this ending could be seen as misogynistic as her death his merely trivialised is shown with the joke and final line in the film “well I would certainly say she has marvellous judgement Albert if not particularly good taste”. However, the ending could also read as showcasing survival in a post-apocalyptic world as well as acting as a sort of revenge and justice for her tricking Vic in the first place, whilst also showing that dog really is man’s best friend.

A Boy and His Dog is a strange, funny and dark tale of survival that creates a very unique world in its characters and story. The film tells a story of brutality and violence towards everyone showcasing the desolate situation the protagonists are in and how the only means of survival is to fight your way out.