Of all the directions that science fiction wanders, the zany gems of the mid 60’s & early 70’s warm my heart the most. Dark Star (1974), Barbarella (1968), Dr. Strangelove (1964, although perhaps not science fiction) and WestWorld (1973). THX 1138 (1971) is another favorite I’ve posted about recently.
A Boy and his Dog, directed by L.Q. Jones and starring Don Johnson in his first role, is not a film for everyone. The boy (Johnson) telepathically communicates with his dog as they scavenge for food and sex [think Woody Allen’s Sleeper, 1973] in a post apocalyptic desert. The film gets interesting when they stumble into an underground, creepy-perfect village complete with 4th-of-July-style parades and picnics. The ride is worth it for the surreal sets and costumes alone.
A boy and his dog is a great film. I stumbled across it in high school, during a period when I was watching, in A to Z order, all of the Sci-Fi films at a local video store. I was already familiar with the Harlan Ellison short story, which is well translated to film here, and like many who remember Reagan as their first president, totally convinced that nuclear apocalypse and surreal aftermath was a likely future.
I really feel that the film was it a good retelling of the short story, but it somehow had a Dick (as in Phillip K.) feel to it as well, which so many movies based on Dick’s work don’t have. So I found it exciting on that level, as well.
Great point