# A Boy and his Dog (1975)



## Dave (Mar 15, 2001)

I watched this late one night, because it has cult status, and I feel I ought to be knowledgable on such things.

http://uk.imdb.com/Title?0072730

Another Post-Apocalypse tale. Written by Harlan Ellison so I expected something good.
It has Don Johnson (pre-Miami Vice) and a talking dog, who is a better actor. A shocking end, which I can't tell you about, because it was so late I've forgotten it! Or else I fell asleep!


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## McMurphy (Feb 20, 2004)

*A Boy and His Dog*

Has anyone seen this science fiction film from 1975?

What are people's thoughts on this movie?


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## littlemissattitude (Feb 20, 2004)

*Re: A Boy and His Dog*

Saw it.  Loved it.

Twisted little film, isn't it?  Well, considering it is based on Harlan Ellison's writing, that shouldn't be too surprising.  And I don't mean that to be a slam; Ellison's a great writer and an interesting person.  I've seen him speak, and he is just as advertised - iconoclastic, intelligent, and very, very funny.  As Stephen King commented in his book "Danse Macabre", if Ellison hadn't already existed God would have had to invent him.  I don't always agree with his ideas - and I have to say that I like him better as an essayist than as a writer of fiction - but his presentation is always interesting.

Thanks for mentioning this film.  I haven't seen it for years; I'm going to have to track it down and watch it again.


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## nemogbr (Feb 22, 2004)

*Re: A Boy and His Dog*

It was a very interesting specially the twisted ending at the end. Good thing he didn't go for the Hollywood version of events.

It would have been interesting to read the book as well. Did they delve into his abilities? I can't remember the reason why they had a shortage of women.

THey should show the film in India.


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## McMurphy (Feb 22, 2004)

*Apt Title*

Considering the dog's ability to communicate mentally and its father-like relationship with the boy, I always felt the title "A Dog and His Boy" would have been better.

Speaking of the mental communication...

Does everyone here believe that the dog could actually speak to the boy mentally or do you think that it was simply (no pun attended) all the his head?


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## nemogbr (Feb 22, 2004)

*Re: A Boy and His Dog*

I thought that the Boy was actually a mutant in some way. 
Perhaps his affection for Dog allowed the telepathic bond 
How would he have detected the woman in the first place?


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## McMurphy (Feb 22, 2004)

*Scent of a Devil's Advocate*



			
				nemogbr said:
			
		

> I thought that the Boy was actually a mutant in some way.
> Perhaps his affection for Dog allowed the telepathic bond
> How would he have detected the woman in the first place?


Currently, people have dogs guide them to other people all the time thanks to the canine's amazing sense of smell and their obedient nature. The dog may be doing what only comes natural when he is, without uncanny mental powers, leading the "boy" to women, who are incredibly scarce; thus, attracting the dog's attention through their (what would be then considered) exotic scent.

I have always found this subject as an interesting debate. Personally, I would rather believe that the mental connection between the dog and his boy as real. It's the science fiction fan in me. I do, however, wonder if there is room to make a plausible argument that the mental communication was a fiction manifested by him during a period of great loneliness. The dog acts as the boy's conscience, sanity, better judgement, and guide to level-headed approaches. It is quite possible that the boy displaced all those attributes onto the dog as a desperate need for companionship and to debate the choices he needed to make within a world that held very little tolerance for error. In short, is it possible that the boy implemented the mental connection as a tool for both physical and mental well being?


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## Elohim is plural (Mar 27, 2004)

*Re: A Boy and His Dog*

...and don johnson's first movie to boot...great flick

EIP


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## ravenus (May 6, 2005)

*A boy and his dog*

*A Boy and His Dog

*Has anyone else seen this? It's based on a Harlan Ellison book and can best be descriebd as a wierd fiction story. A young man and his dog with whom he shares a telepathic conversation, surviving in a post-holocaust world where above the surface food and women are very rare and hunted items. Then one day the dog leads him to a woman who seems surprisingly receptive...and takes him to another world...a subterranean one with a wierd community.

The film's a real cheapie as far as budget goes and some of its concepts are not that well-executed but damn its fresh and interesting and the ending is totally awesome.


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## red_temple (May 6, 2005)

*Re: A boy and his dog*

I had a copy of this on VHS years ago.  It has long since vanished, but I used to watch it quite frequently.  If I remember correctly, a young Don Johnson (pre- pre- Miami Vice) plays the lead.  Excellent story, and, you're right - excellent ending, particularly if you have good taste (winks knowingly ).


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## Leto (May 6, 2005)

*Re: A boy and his dog*

Rare for me please. 

And yes a good Z movie based on a good book.


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## Winters_Sorrow (May 7, 2005)

*Re: A boy and his dog*

yeah, really 'unusual' flick this one
similar in tone to some of the early twilight zones I thought

another good "z-movie" is  "Salute to the Jugger" (think it was called "Blood of Heroes" in US)


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## littlemissattitude (May 7, 2005)

*Re: A boy and his dog*

 Good movie for all it being, as Leto described it, a Z movie.  It really is vintage Ellison.  Although I really think it should have been more properly titled "A Dog and His Boy".   I mean, when you really think about it, who was really running that relationship?


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## McMurphy (May 7, 2005)

*Wow, That was one crazy mime*

I really like this film (maybe we should enter it as an option for next month's film club), and HERE is a link to my thoughts in an old thread on the film and the mental connection between the dog and the boy.


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## littlemissattitude (May 8, 2005)

*Re: Wow, That was one crazy mime*

Oops, McMurphy.  I didn't mean to steal your line.  But it really is true, isn't it?


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## McMurphy (May 10, 2005)

*Re: A boy and his dog*

I actually didn't even catch that, heh. I was, innocent little me, attempting to bate people into a discussion over perspectives about the mental communications between the boy and the dog.

Without a doubt, it should be named "A Dog and his Boy." It may lose the absolutely ironic title (nowhere as pure as the title would make us think), but--come on---there would have been no way the boy would have survived out on the surface level of the post-post-world war Earth without the leadership (not simply guidance) of his mentor, the dog. The dog's character emboddied everything the boy lacked: rational, intelligence, wisdom, humanity, and common sense.


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