Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
Set in the year 2024 in post-apocalyptic America, 18-year old Vic and his telepathic dog, Blood, are scavengers in the desolate wilderness ravaged by World War IV, where survivors must battle for food and shelter in the desert-like wasteland. Vic and Blood eke out a meager existence, foraging for food and fighting gangs of cutthroats.
A Boy and His Dog is a genuinely singular cult sci-fi entry — a darkly comic, morally transgressive post-apocalyptic film based on Harlan Ellison's novella. Its premise of a telepathic dog-human partnership navigating a savage wasteland is wholly distinctive, earning high Novelty. The plot is episodic and uneven, moving from surface wasteland scavenging to an underground society satire, but holds interest through its cynical, subversive tone. Don Johnson is serviceable as Vic, and Tiger as Blood is remarkable, but the acting overall is merely competent. The cinematography is functional low-budget work — the Arizona desert locations are used well enough but nothing visually distinctive is achieved. The ending is notorious: darkly funny and morally shocking, fully committing to its nihilistic thesis, which lands above average. The film remains one of the more distinctive American sci-fi films of the 1970s despite its rough edges.