I just saw the amazingly bizarre A Boy and his Dog. Set in apocalyptic earth after WWIV, Vic (Don Johnson) telepathically communicates with gifted dog Blood. Blood has the infallible ability to locate females, a fantastic gift for endlessly horny Vic. Starving and horny the two wander the desolate land. Their only hope for is the world over the hill- utopia (one conversation suggests that this is the dream of lost civilization, the idealized world of yesterday). In this animal world, a primitive and violent Vic survives solely on pillage and rape. The most poignant remainders of humanity are found in the touching relationship of this boy and his dog.
The biggest problem with the movie is that it introduces several interesting ideas and does not explore them. For example, there's a threatening glowing green force called the screamers that are apparently very harmful. One reference suggests that is they so much as touch you- you'll die. Even the toughest of men run like children at the mention of screamers. Vic temporarily suppresses his male urges when the woman he intends to rape escapes in the pit of the screamers. Only when Blood tells Vic to stop quivering like a baby does Vic deny his fear and follow his instinct. This lust, however, almost gets them killed. A group of 20+ men come to rape the woman. A stubborn Vic at this point cares more about sex than his life. As a result, Blood, Vic and the woman are almost killed and must hide out in the screamers pit. To the wise Blood's dismay, the two continually disrupt his peaceful sleep with their animal sex.
Manipulated by the sexual prowess of the woman, Vic abandons Blood to follow her to the underworld. The remainder of civilization is preserved underground. It is an eerie, Lynch-like Pleasantville ruled by a committee. It turns out that the power-driven woman submitted herself to Vic in order to lure him down there and earn her place on the committee. It should be noted that her drive for power is the only non-misogynistic element in the movie. It turns out that the committee has selected Vic to provide the sperm for their women. This sounds like a dream come true until Vic is hooked up to a sperm-extracting machine. Again, this Brave New World, 1984 dystopian idea of population control is left unexplored. Through a turn of events, Vic escapes with the woman back to the barren, desolate ruins of the surface world. The movie avoids the clichés and does a good job showing that the surface land has as many problems as the underworld.
Blood waited for Vic, but as a result he is on the brink of death. Vic must make a crucial decision. This ending is incredibly funny, and well realized as it bring the movie round full circle in an evolutionary, survival of the fittest way. The movie is best for it’s oddly telling male relationship.
~Kristen Gorlitz