Despite its ironically cutesy title ("A Boy and His Dog") and a plot premise that might've come out of the Walt Disney archives (dog and boy share telepathic communication), this movie is about as darkly comic and acidic as anything Stanley Kubrick ever did ("Clockwork Orange"). Sadly, as of the year 2014, almost 40 years later, the only copies you can find, even the laughable Blu-ray HD release, are in serious need of some restoration before audiences will give this film the respect it deserves. But considering its low profile appeal, I highly doubt that'll happen in our lifetimes, so grab it wherever you can.
In the tradition of the great 70s dystopian/postapocalyptic scifis like "Clockwork Orange" (1971), "Rollerball" (1975), "THX-1138" (1971), "Soylent Green" (1973), "The Omega Man" (1971) and I'll even throw in "The Stepford Wives" (1975), this movie has its appeal in a sort of minimalist presentation that presents a chillingly emotionless and sterile future. Where "A Boy and His Dog" excels is in its thick, satirical tongue-in-cheek presentation, particularly in the 2nd half when our hero encounters the true future of human society (or is it the present? You be the judge).
The first half is something like Mr. Ed meets Mad Max, with its equal portions of chatty humor and dusty violence. But right in the first scene we realize that, despite the cute banter between boy & dog, there aren't going to be many warm fuzzies. In the opening scene we learn that the boy (Don Johnson) is looking for female survivors so he can rape them.
If you can swallow that highly disturbing premise, which the director makes no bones in presenting at the outset, then the rest should be an unsettlingly fun joyride all the way to the film's very memorable punchline. Things get really trippy in the 2nd half, and even though there's minimal nudity, certain things happen which would make D.H. Lawrence blush (particularly involving a certain mechanical device attached to the male anatomy).
Definitely NOT a date movie, nor any sort of movie you'd watch with your parents or kids, "A Boy and His Dog" is really like a lost cousin of "A Clockwork Orange" or "Dr. Strangelove". Who ever would've thought that this sarcastic gem would come to light through the directing talents of L.Q. Jones, the ubiquitous guest star on many a 70s TV show like "Charlie's Angels", "Columbo", "Gunsmoke" and "Vega$" but whose only other directing credit is an episode of "The Incredible Hulk" (one which I'm going to re-watch immediately).
Unfortunately with the somewhat bland & grainy video quality of the existing print, we don't get the full eye-boggling power of this film the way one could imagine it. But all the same, it's an unusual vision which should proudly take its place amongst the other 70s masterpieces I mentioned. You can buy the Blu-ray for literally pennies on ebay, so you have no excuse for not checking this out.
