Review of A Boy and His Dog (1975) by Matthew J — 07 Nov 2011

Even for movie buffs, there are some cult movies you get and others you don't. For me, "A Boy and His Dog" is definitely one that I didn't get. I was with the movie for the first half as it played out as an uncanny predecessor to the original "Mad Max", even if Don Johnson is a poor substitute for Mel Gibson. It's definitely offbeat, which I love, with a twisted sense of humor and an unlikely but precious relationship between Johnson and his telepathic dog. I could tell right from the start that this was going to be something special, and it is. For about forty-five minutes.

Then the movie takes an unexpected and tragic detour when our hero goes underground to a weird survivalist colony. It's completely mystifying and lost me completely. If the first half was reminiscent of "Mad Max", the last half reminded me of "Westworld" mostly I suppose because the robot shows up for no apparent reason and starts crushing people's heads. Then there's the band of survivors dressed up like silent movie stars who want Johnson to impregnate their female population. The whole thing left me cold and restless and detracts from the enjoyment of the first half.

This is widely considered by some to be a landmark science fiction film like "Blade Runner", and I guess I just don't see it. It's inventive and unique, but ultimately a let-down. It veers off down the wrong path and never quite recovers.

I wanted to like "A Boy and His Dog", but I just couldn't get past its faults. I'd rather see an ambitious mess than another routine and ordinary mess, but a mess is still a mess.