Boy Meets World Reviewed He Said She Said
| A Boy and His Canis familiaris | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release affiche | |
| Directed past | L. Q. Jones |
| Screenplay by | L. Q. Jones |
| Based on | A Male child and His Dog by Harlan Ellison |
| Produced by | Alvy Moore |
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography | John Arthur Morrill |
| Edited past | Scott Conrad |
| Music by |
|
| Product | LQ/Jaf Productions |
| Distributed by | LQ/Jaf Productions |
| Release dates |
|
| Running fourth dimension | 91 minutes |
| Land | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $400,000 |
A Boy and His Dog is a 1975 American black one-act science fiction film directed by actor L.Q. Jones, from a screenplay by Jones based on the 1969 novella of the same championship by fantasy author Harlan Ellison. The film stars Don Johnson, Susanne Benton, Alvy Moore and Jason Robards. It was independently produced and distributed by Jones' company LQ/Jaf Productions.
The movie'south storyline concerns a teenage boy (Vic) and his telepathic domestic dog (Blood), who work together every bit a team in order to survive in the dangerous post-apocalyptic wasteland of the Southwestern United States.
On August half-dozen, 2013, Shout! Manufactory released the flick on DVD and Blu-ray.[two]
Plot [edit]
In the mail-nuclear war America of 2024, Vic (Don Johnson) is an xviii-year-quondam boy, built-in in and scavenging throughout the wasteland of the quondam southwestern United States. Vic is most concerned with nutrient and sex; having lost both of his parents, he has no formal education and does not understand ethics or morality. He is accompanied by a well-read, misanthropic, telepathic dog named Claret, who helps him find women to rape in exchange for food. Blood cannot provender for himself due to the same genetic engineering that granted him telepathy. The two steal for a living, evading bands of raiders, berserk war machine androids, and mutants. Claret and Vic have an occasionally antagonistic relationship (Claret often annoys Vic by calling him "Albert" for reasons never made clear), though they realize that they need each other to survive. Blood wishes to discover the legendary promised land of "Over the Hill" where above-ground utopias are said to exist, though Vic believes that they must make the best of what they have.
Searching a bunker for a woman for Vic to rape, they observe one simply she has already been severely mutilated and is on the verge of death. Vic displays no pity, and is merely angered by the "wastefulness" of such an deed, as well as disgusted past the thought of satisfying his urges with a adult female in such a status. They move on, but to find slavers excavating some other bunker. Vic steals several cans of their nutrient, later using them to barter for goods in a nearby shanty boondocks.
That evening, while watching erstwhile vintage stag films at a local outdoor "cinema", Blood claims to odor a adult female, and the pair rails her to a large cloak-and-dagger warehouse. At that place, they run into Quilla June Holmes (Susanne Benton), a scheming and seductive teenage girl from "Downunder", a society in a big underground settlement. Unknown to the pair, Quilla June's father, Lou Craddock (Jason Robards), had sent her to a higher place basis to "recruit" surface dwellers. Blood takes an instant dislike to her only Vic ignores him. After Vic saves Quilla June from raiders and mutants, they take repeated sexual practice. Eventually, though, she takes off secretly to render to her clandestine social club. Vic, enticed past the thought of more women and sex, follows her, despite Blood's warnings. Claret remains on the surface at Downunder's portal.
Downunder has an artificial biosphere, consummate with forests and a city, which is named Topeka afterwards the ruins of the destroyed urban center that information technology lies beneath. The metropolis 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 Us prior to World State of war II. When Vic is told that he has been brought to Topeka to help fertilize the female population, he is elated to learn of his "stud" value. His joy is brusque-lived, when he is informed that Topeka meets its need for exogamous reproduction by electroejaculation and artificial insemination, which will deny him the pleasure of sex that he seeks. Anybody who refuses to comply with or otherwise defies the Commission is sent off to a mysterious place called "the farm" and never seen again. Vic is informed that when his semen has been used to impregnate 35 women, he, too, will be sent to "the farm".
Quilla June helps Vic escape but because she wants him to kill the Committee members and destroy their android enforcer, Michael (Hal Baylor), so that she can usurp their ability. Vic has no interest in politics or remaining hole-and-corner. He only wants to return to Claret and the wasteland, his home. The rebellion is quashed past Michael, who crushes the heads of Quilla June'due south 3 co-conspirators before Vic disables him. She proclaims her "love" for Vic and wants to escape to the surface with him, at present that her rebellion has been quashed and that the Committee has decreed that she will be sent to "the farm".
On the surface, Vic and Quilla June find that Blood is starving and almost death. She pleads with Vic to abandon Claret, forcing him to face up his true feelings. Vic decides that his loyalties lie with his dog. (Off-camera, Vic murders Quilla June and cooks her flesh so that Blood tin can swallow and survive.) Blood thanks Vic for the food, and they both annotate on Quilla June. Vic says that it was her fault that she followed him, while Blood wryly jokes that she had marvellous judgement merely did not have particularly good "taste". The boy and his dog keep to talk equally they walk off together into the wasteland.
Cast [edit]
- Don Johnson as Vic
- Tim McIntire (vocalisation) as Blood
- Susanne Benton as Quilla June Holmes
- Jason Robards every bit Lou Craddock
- Alvy Moore as Doctor Moore
- Helene Winston as Mez Smith
- Charles McGraw every bit Preacher
- Hal Baylor every bit Michael
- Ron Feinberg as Fellini
- Michael Rupert equally Gery
- Don Carter every bit Ken
- Michael Hershman as Richard
Production [edit]
Harlan Ellison, the author of the original novella A Boy and His Dog, started the screenplay merely encountered writer's block, so manager L. Q. Jones wrote the script. Jones' ain company, LQ/Jaf Productions (50. Q. Jones & Friends), independently produced the film. Distributors initially were reluctant to advance Jones any money for production, and so he raised $400,000 through family and business assembly.[3] The film was shot at Pacific Sea Park in Venice, California, and on location around Barstow,[four] and Coyote Dry Lake in the Mojave Desert.
In a later interview, Harlan Ellison said, "When he [Claret] calls Vic 'Al' or 'Albert,' he is referring to the Albert Payson Terhune dog stories, whereas a traditional boy and his domestic dog human relationship is turned upside downwards in this pic."
James Cagney's vocalisation was considered as the phonation of Claret, simply was dropped because it would accept been too recognizable and prove to exist a distraction. Eventually, after going through approximately 600 auditions, they settled on Tim McIntire, a veteran voice role player who also did most of the music for the motion picture. Ray Manzarek (misspelled in the pic credits as "Manzarec"), formerly of The Doors, was among the musicians for the score.
McIntire sang the main theme. Bolivian composer Jaime Mendoza-Nava provided the music for the Topeka underground segment.
Reception [edit]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the pic has a 76% approval rating based on 33 reviews, with an boilerplate rating of 6.58/10. The site'southward consensus states: "An offbeat, eccentric black comedy, A Boy and His Dog features stiff dialogue and an oddball vision of the time to come".[5] On Metacritic the motion picture has a score of 68% based on reviews from 10 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[6]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the picture show a mixed two.v stars out of a possible 4, writing that Ellison'due south novella "seemed nearly to defy filming" simply notwithstanding Jones managed to offering "a sort of wacky success".[7]Richard Eder of The New York Times wrote that the realistic earth set in the beginning and the underground customs introduced afterward "don't really work together; their contrast, and a ridiculous ending, shatter the picture. And the talking domestic dog chews up the pieces".[viii] Variety called the film "a turkey" and "an amateurish blend of redneck humor, chaotic fight scenes, and dimwitted philosophizing".[9] Cistron Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the motion picture 1.5 stars out of 4 and wrote, "Rather than illuminate the nowadays through a glance at a possible time to come, 'A Male child and His Dog' is simply a dim-witted collection of tired sex activity gags and anti-American imagery".[10] Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times praised the film as "an offbeat delight" with performances that "accept that comfortable naturalness oftentimes detectable when an actor is directing other actors".[eleven] Gary Arnold of The Washington Post panned the film as a "shoddy, puerile science-fiction parable" that "mistakes juvenile facetiousness for wit and glorifies a juvenile concept of liberty, which means making it in the wild, away from such unmanly encumbrances as civilization and girls".[12]
The flick was not commercially successful at the time of its release. It has since became a cult film[13] and also inspired the video game series Fallout "on many levels, from underground communities of survivors to glowing mutants", according to Jesse Heining, a programmer of the game.[14] On the motion picture'south DVD audio commentary, Jones states that Ellison was more often than not pleased with the film, with the exception of some lines of dialogue. Ellison especially objected to the film'due south final line, which did non originate from his original short story, in which Blood said of Quilla, "Well, I'd say she certainly had marvelous judgement, Albert, if not especially adept taste". Ellison referred to it as a "moronic, hateful chauvinist last line, which I despise".[15] [16]
Accolades [edit]
The moving-picture show won the 1976 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation at MidAmeriCon, the 34th World Science Fiction Convention in Kansas Metropolis, Missouri, located not far from the existent Topeka, Kansas. Johnson won the Golden Ringlet for Best Role player, which was shared with James Caan for his performance in Rollerball. In 2007, it ranked #96 on Rotten Tomatoes "Journeying Through Sci-Fi" (100 best-reviewed scientific discipline fiction films).[17]
Legacy [edit]
Co-ordinate to L. Q. Jones, George Miller cited the 1975 moving-picture show adaptation of A Boy and His Dog as an influence on the Mad Max films, particularly The Road Warrior (1981).[eighteen]
Sequel [edit]
Rumors regarding a sequel never materialized. On the film's DVD sound commentary, 50. Q. Jones states that he had started to write a script sequel to the pic that would take picked up right where the offset film concluded and featured a female warrior named Spike, and we would have seen this world through the optics of a female person instead of a male (this happens in Ellison's story, Claret'south a Rover, when Blood partners with Spike after the ostensible death of Vic). Jones and Ellison collaborated on this short-lived endeavor. Ellison denied that evolution went beyond a short "what if?" conversation, and that any efforts were solely that of Jones. According to Cult Movies ii, Jones had a sequel planned chosen A Girl and Her Canis familiaris, just the plan was scrapped when Tiger, the canis familiaris who portrayed Blood, died. In a December 2003 interview,[19] Jones claimed that he has been repeatedly approached to brand a sequel, only that funding was always an issue. In 2018, Ellison'south teleplay featuring Spike—the girl in the proposed A Girl and Her Dog picture show—was finally published. Claret'south a Rover past Harlan Ellison (Subterranean Printing 2018), a "fix-up" novel, consisting of "Eggsucker" and "Run Spot, Run", ii short stories from the 1970s and 1980s, as well as "A Male child and His Dog" (Ellison's famous, 1969 award-winning novella) and an unproduced teleplay from the 1970s, entitled "Blood's a Rover", was published in a express number of hardcovers.
See also [edit]
- List of American films of 1975
References [edit]
- ^ "A Boy and His Dog - Details". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. American Pic Institute. Retrieved December 24, 2018.
- ^ "Blu-ray Review: A Boy and his Domestic dog | High-Def Assimilate". Bluray.highdefdigest.com. Retrieved January 19, 2014.
- ^ "A Boy and His Dog". New Beverly Movie theatre. 2022. Retrieved Feb vi, 2022.
- ^ "A Boy and His Dog - Details". AFI Catalog of Characteristic Films. American Film Establish. Retrieved Jan 29, 2020.
- ^ "A Boy and His Dog (1975)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved July nine, 2019.
- ^ "A Boy and His Dog". Metacritic . Retrieved May 4, 2020.
- ^ Ebert, Roger (1976). "A Boy and His Dog movie review (1976)". Chicago Dominicus-Times.
- ^ Eder, Richard (June 17, 1976). "Film: 'Boy and His Dog'". The New York Times. 32.
- ^ "Moving-picture show Reviews: A Boy And His Dog". Diverseness. March 26, 1975. 32.
- ^ Siskel, Gene (March 30, 1976). "'Male child and Domestic dog' runs tired". Chicago Tribune. Section 3, p. 3.
- ^ Champlin, Charles (October 10, 1975). "After the Dust Has Settled". Los Angeles Times. Part Iv, p. 1.
- ^ Arnold, Gary (July 14, 1975). "'Boy and His Dog' Trying to Survive". The Washington Post. B6.
- ^ Art House Science Fiction Films You Might Take Missed - Flavorwire
- ^ Fiegel, Michael (July 21, 2009). "Junktown Canis familiaris". The Escapist. Retrieved July 29, 2011.
- ^ Ellison, Harlan. "Ellison Webderland Bulletin Board Archives". Retrieved September 4, 2006.
- ^ Ellison, Harlan and Corben, Richard. Vic and Claret. Simon & Schuster. 2003. v-half dozen.
- ^ "RT's Journey Through Sci-Fi" Archived June 19, 2013, at the Wayback Automobile, Rotten Tomatoes, 2007.
- ^ Yamato, Jen (Feb 6, 2008). "LQ Jones on A Boy and His Dog: The RT Interview". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved March 30, 2021.
- ^ "Scifidimensions.com". Scifidimensions.com. Archived from the original on August 15, 2012. Retrieved January 19, 2014.
External links [edit]
- A Boy and His Dog at IMDb
- A Boy and His Canis familiaris is available for costless download at the Internet Archive
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Boy_and_His_Dog_(1975_film)