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Apocalyptic cinema has been around for almost as long as cinema itself, ever since August Blom’s aptly titled The End of the World came out in 1916. But few films have had as deep an impact on the genre as the little known sci-fi classic, A Boy and His Dog. Based on a book of the same title by author Harlan Ellison, A Boy and His Dog helped form the esthetics that would become ubiquitous in specifically post-apocalyptic media. Everything from oddly dressed scavengers to ramshackle shanty towns can be found in this darkly comedic movie, with director L.Q. Jones eschewing the normal doom and gloom of likewise films in the genre. While the movie might be a bit unwieldy for modern sensibilities, it is nonetheless an extremely influential piece that has inspired some seriously monumental media franchises after it, particularly the Fallout series.
What Is ‘A Boy and His Dog’ About?
A Boy and His Dog follows a young man named Vic (Don Johnson), who travels the wasteland with his telepathic dog, Blood. The pair have a sort of symbiotic relationship in which Vic helps Blood find food, and Blood helps Vic find… women. Yes, A Boy and His Dog does not tell a pretty story, and Vic could in no way be considered a hero, or even an anti-hero. Vic is a villain, unequivocally and unarguably. It is worth mentioning that A Boy and His Dog has been accused of glorifying misogyny, with even author Harlan Ellison showing contempt for its controversial final line, which was not in his original novella. Vic’s attitude toward women is truly heinous, and his actions are more than objectionable. It can be tough to get behind the plot of the film if one tries to identify with Vic, but that is not the point of the story.
The movie follows Vic not to glorify him, but to use his story as a probe into the strange world it created, a world that is just as depressingly immoral as Vic is. Vic was born on a post-societal earth, with nothing but base instincts propelling him forward, reducing him to a picture of barbarism. Even when his oddly intellectual canine companion tries to teach him (and he does succeed, at least enough for Vic to be able to read), Vic is still focused on one thing: sex. This quest drives the plot forward into some really strange places, including an underground society that has preserved some of the values of the old world, yet another beat that would become a trope in series like Fallout. But even the people “down under” are not “good,” and that seems to be the crux of the whole film. Goodness and decency have evaporated, and only the strong and the clever will survive.
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‘A Boy and His Dog’ Influenced George Miller’s Mad Max Movies
Media concerning the end of the world had a real shot in its arm after the advent and proliferation of atomic bombs, with many a project speculating on the consequences of such weapons. Some real gems came out of the early era of apocalyptic cinema, with movies like On the Beach (1959) and Planet of the Apes (1968) embracing the serious drama of the subject. But some creatives saw the whole nuclear apocalypse proposal as so absurdly bleak that it could only be laughed at. Or perhaps, that the prospect was so depressing that laughing at it was the only way to learn about and cope with the impending doom of earth. One of the best known films to take a humorous bent was Stanley Kubrick‘s Dr. Strangelove in 1964, but one of the first films to tackle the aftermath in that way was A Boy and His Dog.
From the start, the upbeat country theme, sung by Tim McIntire, who also voices Blood the Dog, suggests a wry take on the end of the world. To be sure, the world L.Q. Jones crafted is not zany or lighthearted. It is raw, ruined, and extremely dangerous, with violence and terror happening from the very beginning. The humor in the film derives mostly from the absurdity, and not solely from the telepathic dog. It is absurd to imagine a world after society is totally annihilated, in which people still go about living, arguing, and looking for comfort. It is not a world of depressed husks of humanity mourning for things lost. And beyond that, the film’s attitude toward the hellscape it presents suggests it is so ridiculously sad that it is even funny. This sort of attitude was highly influential for future writers in the post-apocalyptic genre, as was the aesthetic of the film discussed below.
Perhaps the most memorable “character” from A Boy and His Dog is the world itself. Shot in places like Barstow, CA and even in the Mojave Desert (similar to Fallout: New Vegas), the film is set in the ruined United States, post-World War IV. Happening in the far-flung year of 2024, the sets of the film are mostly desolate, decorated sparsely with half buried cars, ruined power lines, and makeshift settlements made of garbage. The people dress in whatever is available, with raiders dressing flamboyantly with feathers and discarded military fatigues. This scavenging look would be yet another trait often mimicked by later media. Even George Miller cites A Boy and His Dog as influential on the look of his Mad Max series, particularly The Road Warrior. And it is easy to see the creative DNA of A Boy and His Dog in the settlements of the Fallout series, which all greatly resemble “The Turf” from the movie. The filmmakers’ imaginative use of junk is what makes the movie look so memorable, perhaps because it is easy to imagine that the real thing would look quite similar.
Prime Video’s ‘Fallout’ Nods to ‘A Boy and His Dog’
Later entries in the post-apocalyptic genre would add elements of goodness surviving the end of society, but the amoral world of A Boy and His Dog provided the setting in which that good would have to struggle. As detailed in an interview with programmer and designer Jesse Heinig, Fallout in particular took a lot from the movie, with the series’ popular canine companion “Dogmeat” taking his name from an insult lobbed by Vic toward Blood.
“A Boy and His Dog inspired Fallout on many levels, from underground communities of survivors to glowing mutants,” says Heinig. “My understanding is that (Fallout designer) Scott Bennie settled on the name ‘Dogmeat’ for the character, and it’s likely that he did pick that from the story in question.” Good thing, because according to Bennie, Dogmeat’s original name was “Dogs**t.”
The mutated “screamers” from A Boy and His Dog are very reminiscent of Fallout’s “ghouls.” And the recent Prime Video series Fallout even gave a direct nod to the film with its fictional in-universe movie, “A Man and His Dog.” The influence is not limited to Fallout or Mad Max either, with another direct reference coming from Allen and Albert Hughes‘ The Book of Eli, which features a tattered old poster from A Boy and His Dog.
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Indeed, A Boy and His Dog may be a bit precarious to modern sensibilities, but that is because it is presenting a horrifying world that no one would want to live in. It presents this world through a comedic lens at times, but does not ease off from the desolation and violence. Its creative take on the possibilities of such a setting sent undeniable shock-waves through the fictional genre it came from, with Fallout in particular owing it quite a debt. All in all, it is a film that fans of Fallout, Mad Max, and post-apocalyptic media in general should watch, if for nothing else than to appreciate its fiercely original vision.
In a post-apocalyptic world, a young man named Vic roams the wastelands with his telepathic dog, Blood. Together, they search for food and safety while navigating a violent and desolate landscape, where survival means making tough choices and forming an unlikely bond.
- Release Date
- November 14, 1975
- Director
- L.Q. Jones
- Cast
- Don Johnson , Susanne Benton , Jason Robards , Tim McIntire , Alvy Moore , Helene Winston , Charles McGraw , Hal Baylor
- Runtime
- 91 minutes
- Writers
- L.Q. Jones , Harlan Ellison , Wayne Cruseturner
A Boy and His Dog is available to watch on Prime Video in the US.
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