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Dom Robinson reviews
Arrow Film Distributors
- Cert:
- Cat.no: FCD 208
- Running time: 88 minutes
- Year: 1975
- Pressing: 2005
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 12
- Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Mono)
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: None
- Widescreen: 1.85:1 (cropped from 2.35:1)
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £15.99
- Extras: None
Director:
- I.Q. Jones
(A Boy and His Dog, The Devil’s Bedroom, TV: The Incredible Hulk)
Producer:
- I.Q. Jones and Alvy Moore
Screenplay:
- I.Q. Jones and Wayne Cruseturner
(from a novella by Harlan Ellison)
Music:
- Tim McIntire
Cast:
- Vic: Don Johnson
Quilla June Holmes: Susanne Benton
Lou Craddock: Jason Robards
Blood (voice): Tim McIntire
The year is 2024 and the world is in turmoil after World War IV.
It only lasted five days but that was long enough to turn the planet into a wasteland. The wording at thestart claims that politicians had finally solved the problem of urban blight. Hmm… some solution(!)
Don Johnson is Vic, a “Solo”, a loner going from place to place looking for food for both him and histelepathic dog, Blood (voiced by composer Tim McIntire), giving him advice and seeking out new womenfor Vic to have sex with in the post-apocalyptic world, but the first ones he comes across are dead, havingseen those who did the deed just escape from the location. Instead of commenting on them no longer being alive,he sighs, “They didn’t have to cut her… She coud’ve been used two or three more times.”, to whichBlood replies, “Ah, war is hell(!)” So, necrophilia is all the rage in the future, it seems!
Along the way, the pair meet other scavengers, we learn there’s danger for all concerned when they come across’screamers’ and that when desperate men are in that situation any sex isn’t going to be tender and loving…
However, after chancing his luck with Quilla June Holmes (Susanne Benton), Vic is lured into the world”Down Under”, not Australia, but a place where they can live without having to worry where their next meal, orshag, is coming from. Sounds ideal, but at the same time you’re partnered up with someone else at the choosingof those in power, a strange commitee including Lou Craddock (Jason Robards), and to make things worse,Vic is not allowed to bring his faithful companion, Blood, down with him. There are even more sinister reasonsfor wanting Vic to join the clan underground, which you’ll find out.
That’s if you stay the course. A Boy and His Dog is a movie that has an interesting premise but thisisn’t well-carried out and drags quite often, even during its short running time.
Don Johnson was 26 at the time, playing an 18-year-old. I’d never heard of this film until the press releasedropped through my door. Like many, I first knew of him through the successful ’80s TV series Miami Vice,where he epitomised the flash lifestyle with designer suits, designer cars and flash women to suit. He eventried his hand at music, which was largely ignored but as well as the class pop/rock title track to his debutalbum, Heartbeat, there were many other tunes on that album well worth listening to, such as Voice ona Hotline, the upbeat Last Sound Love Makes and the haunting ballad, Can’t Take Your Memory.As the album is now hard to find, the link on the right will take you to a collection, The Essential DonJohnson, but many of the original album’s tracks are on there.
Shot in 2.35:1 Techniscope, the film here is cropped to 16:9 – something I didn’t realise until I had startedwatching the DVD and then browsed the Internet Movie Database, and then the opening credits began, a few minutesin. I normally hate watching a cropped movie, and while I was curious to see this Don Johnson outing, myenjoyment was spoiled. Why was such a print used, Arrow? In addition, sometimes the print is as bad in qualityas the dodgy ’60s porn films being shown in the make-shift cinema.
The mono sound fares no better, crackling at time when characters are having to shout or there’s louddialogue, over a PA system, for example. Similarly, there’s no subtitles, no extras and a static menu withonly options to play the film or view the sparse 12-strong chapter menu. Is that really worth a penny undersixteen quid?
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
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Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.