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A Boy and His Dog

Play trailer Poster for A Boy and His Dog R 1975 1h 31m Sci-Fi Play Trailer Watchlist
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78% Tomatometer 36 Reviews 63% Popcornmeter 10,000+ Ratings
Vic is a libidinous 18-year-old traversing the post-apocalyptic desert of 2024, in the company of his telepathic dog, Blood. When the pair encounter an underground community, the leader's daughter, Quilla Holmes, seduces Vic into their fold, separating him from Blood, who's left to survive on his own. But once Vic discovers he's been lured there solely for mechanized procreation, he realizes he's doomed unless he can escape and rejoin Blood.
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A Boy and His Dog

A Boy and His Dog

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Critics Consensus

An offbeat, eccentric black comedy, A Boy and His Dog features strong dialogue and an oddball vision of the future.

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Critics Reviews

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Dave Kehr Chicago Reader 06/05/2007
In spite of some clever ideas and a few well-wrought images, it seems too schematic and its satire too blunt. Go to Full Review
Time Out 06/24/2006
Jones' debut as a director nevertheless has a distinctive tang, as affably unprincipled as the series of villains he played for Sam Peckinpah. Go to Full Review
Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times 10/23/2004
2.5/4
It's got a unique... well, I was about to say charm, but the movie's last scene doesn't quite let me get away with that. Go to Full Review
Rob Gonsalves Rob's Movie Vault 11/29/2022
A
If you haven't seen this film, chances are you've seen a dozen better-known SF movies it influenced Go to Full Review
Eddie Harrison film-authority.com 10/20/2022
4/5
…A Boy and His Dog isn’t an easy or likeable film, but it’s a great example of imaginative sci-fi, and a dank, dingy polemic that doesn’t dilute Ellison’s righteous anger about the dangerous direction he perceived society to be going… Go to Full Review
Rob Aldam Backseat Mafia 10/13/2022
A Boy and His Dog is daft by design but it’s also well-written and full of interesting angles. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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DanTheMan 2 @DanTheMan2150AD Jun 11 A dank, dingy polemic set against a gritty, callous and satirical post-apocalypse, A Boy and His Dog is certainly daft and brilliantly grotesque by design, yet the sharp as nails dialogue and ridiculous friendship between a perpetually horny teenage scavenger and his sardonic telepathic dog do wonders for the righteous anger at its heart. A fearless blend of irreverent humour and dystopian tropes, the film makes searing statements about many societal problems that are still relevant in today's world while also carrying with it a legacy that both the worlds of Max Rockatansky and Fallout owe a great debt. The rough edges often work in its favour, enhancing its sense of unpredictability, but it's one where you need to look past the truly icky characters and racy tone to get any sort of offbeat delight out of A Boy and His Dog. As daring and unsettling as it is provocative and bizarre, targeting both post-apocalyptic fiction and American social values with equal contempt. See more bao s @RT77741678 Aug 20 I'm not sure but it seems like the writer doesn't like women for some reason.. See more JW R @RT79763095 06/14/2025 Excellent visionary movie portray man's primitive instinct to copulate! See more Dante P @RT27229870 06/02/2024 started all the Mad Max movies ... a great flick and made back when female nudity was ok lol See more Adam E @RT85762021 10/12/2023 One of only two movies directed by veteran actor L. Q. Jones, A Boy And His Dog is a cult sci-fi thriller from 1975 set in a Mad Max-style post-apocalyptic Earth where society has divided itself into two rather twisted slices of madness. We follow Vic, an 18 year-old boy played by Don Johnson, who walks through the desolate wasteland that is the world, thieving and scavenging, with the help of a telepathic dog he calls Blood. Yes, this movie's best kept secret is that it's both a very adult science fiction film with some genuinely disturbing elements and it's also got a dark sense of humour, hence the talking dog. Before you picture a cross between Steel Dawn and Show Dogs, I should point out that A Boy And His Dog is a much better and more interesting movie than these two combined. This is a truly messed-up and unpleasant depiction of the future, one that's a lot more daring and repellent than in most science fiction films, so be warned: it does contain some pretty graphic scenes à la Clockwork Orange. The world above ground is one where men are monsters who kill and enslave each other, where rape is an everyday occurrence, so it's particularly scary to see our protagonists, not only fail to criticize this society, but not even try and actually take part in it. Vic and Blood, along with Quilla (Susanne Benton), a young woman they met along the way, discover a city underground called Topeka, in which a seemingly more civil society has prevailed, with Quilla's father, played by Jason Robards, being part of the ruling Committee. Topeka, it turns out, is also quite twisted in its own way and Vic eventually rejects it. This is one movie the likes of which you rarely encounter. It's the kind of film you see once and remember vividly long after. This unsettling vision of the future and the passive way in which our supposed heroes have accepted and adapted to it, along with the black humor throughout, especially when it comes to the shocking ending, makes A Boy And His Dog a hard film to forget. If you're not expecting anything from it, it's likely to send a few (probably unwelcome) surprises your way. For such a low budget film, it really makes quite an impact. With a premise as potentially silly as this, it's a miracle that it never turns into a joke like the much campier Barbarella or Zardoz. It'll turn off some viewers pretty quickly but A Boy And His Dog is, frankly, a must see. It's never particularly pleasant but there's something fascinating about this world gone mad and its odious inhabitants who have resigned to the folly around them, regrettably, without much resistance. Bizarre. See more Tony B @RT25917660 09/06/2023 I liked the gritty apocalyptic look. Some desert scenes needed more depth, better sets and proper supporting characters, like Roadwarrior. The underground scenes were ridiculous and could have been done way better with a more imaginative plot, think Stepford Wives 1975 and West World 1973. Don and the Dog's acting made the movie, female nature they exposed perfectly, and the ending they got absolutely right. See more Read all reviews
A Boy and His Dog

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Movie Info

Synopsis Vic is a libidinous 18-year-old traversing the post-apocalyptic desert of 2024, in the company of his telepathic dog, Blood. When the pair encounter an underground community, the leader's daughter, Quilla Holmes, seduces Vic into their fold, separating him from Blood, who's left to survive on his own. But once Vic discovers he's been lured there solely for mechanized procreation, he realizes he's doomed unless he can escape and rejoin Blood.
Director
L.Q. Jones
Producer
L.Q. Jones
Screenwriter
L.Q. Jones
Distributor
Warner Bros. Pictures
Production Co
Warner Brothers/Seven Arts
Rating
R
Genre
Sci-Fi
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jun 16, 1975, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Dec 12, 2016
Runtime
1h 31m
Sound Mix
Mono
Aspect Ratio
35mm, Scope (2.35:1)