Exploring A Boy and His Dog 

Anyone who plays Fallout needs to watch this film, it was one of the primary sources. Not just Dogmeat and the vaults, but the glowing ones, 1950s idealism, and other aspects were basically directly taken from the film.

I was a depressed druggie hoodlum who hitchhiked around the USA in the mid to late nineties with a Boxer Lab mix named Buster. My world was already a waste land and my dog was literally the only thing I lived for. This movie is very close to my heart. Miss you Buster Brown.

I believe it was called "Psycho Boy and his Killer Dog" in some countries. in case some parents thought it was a wholsome Disney flick.

Ratings Board: "A Boy and His Dog; we'll give it a PG rating." L.Q. Jones: "Have you actually watched the movie?" Ratings Board: "What? Of course we did." Jones: "Are you sure, because it's not really about a boy and a talking dog." Ratings Board: "Wait, the dog talks?"

Surprise. People can't comprehend the idea of the main character not being a hero. Nor can they understand that you can have bad things happen to, for example, women and not be advocating it. Great review, man.

"Well she certainly had marvelous judgement Albert, if not particularly good taste."-Blood 🐶

Harlan Ellison was a gifted writer, but also the most head-in-the-hands miserable bastard to walk the earth. The two were likely not mutually exclusive.

The ending was so beautifully done.

"He became jaded.....well, more jaded than usual." HAHAHAHAHA! That's Harlan for ya.

You can actually watch a boy and his dog on RU-vid, pretty good quality. That's how I watched it awhile back.

The poster art is awesome for this movie

I first saw it with two coworkers at a small movie festival. Including us and the projectionist (really just a guy with a laptop and projector), there were 6 people in the room. When the last line dropped everybody stayed silent for a couple second, looking at each other with different nuances of bemused puzzlement on our faces, slowly started grinning and burst out laughing. One of my best moviegoing experience.

"It got a PG rating, as was the style at d'time"

Good Bad Flicks really should review the British uncut version of The Plague Dogs. It's a hidden masterpiece.

I very recently saw "A boy and his dog." Ellison is wrong, the ending line is _Perfect!_

You left out the fact that A Boy and His Dog was produced by Alvy Moore a.k.a. Hank Kimball from Green Acres.

I've watched this movie and the last line is the best final line ever.

I saw this film when it came out in theatres. I also read the collection of short stories you mentioned... I think after seeing the film. I don't know if this was the best Sci-Fi film ever made, but it definitely was a fine one. You were right: the last line was perfect!

Ive seen the Movie once, and only once and about 35 years ago. Still remember it well and know that last line to this day. That's how good it was.

Wait wait, if Tiger was nominated for an Oscar and won, would he be the first dog to win an Oscar?

Might want to re-think the title of this video.

According to imfdb, the rifle carried by vic in this movie is also featured in 'the book of eli'.

This movie has quite possibly my favorite last line ever. Great stuff.

I think that the movie didn't actually depict Blood as being telepathic. Personally, I think that it's about the boy slowly going crazier than he was in the beginning or otherwise continuing along the path of being a bad guy. I love the ending. This movie could never be made or remade in this year or after.

What I you appreciate most about your in-depth reviews is that they offer me opportunities to learn far more about movies which I might otherwise just have passed over in Netflix or Amazon. I am very thankful for the considerable amounts of time and effort you have put into your videos. Please continue making these clips, especially because there is no possible way I would be able to learn so much on my own about the movies you discuss.

Best ending ever! Dark humor at its finest.

You know a good bad flick that I love? The Sword and the Sorcerer. That would make an excellent addition to your awesome Exploring series.

Nicely done, sir. This film should be used a measuring stick... "You don't LIKE Boy & His Dog ?!!!...o.k everyone, my round...except i aint buying THIS guy a beer !"

The final shot you put up of Harlan Ellison ranting was pure hilariousity.

The problem with the last line in the movie is that it makes fun out of Quilla's death, something that should be tragic. The line doesn't utilize it's misogyny in a reprehensible manner to show how evil Vic is, it uses misogyny to make you laugh. Still fucking hilarious though.

watched this today after hearing of Ellison's death, guy was one of a kind

Saw this movie SEVERAL times when I was a kid right after it first came out. took me awhile to grow up enough to understand it, but it is absolutely one of my favorite movies and it meant a lot to me...and it still does!

There is an audiobook of this story narrated by Harlan himself, I highly recommend it, it's sooooo fucking good, if you can find it, give it a listen, Harlan is an amazing narrator and really brings his stories to life.

Ellison is wrong. It is one of the greatest closing lines of any movie ever. From what I understand , "Bloods" performance is so good because they spent a good amount of time transferring the dogs responses from his trainer to Don Johnson. That way he's actually responding to Johnson as opposed to staring out of frame like so many animal actors. The first time in his life he was going through writers block? When he wrote THE CITY ON THE EDGE OF FOREVER for STAR TREK the producers actually locked him in an office till he produced enough pages. Also, are you a closet STAR TREK geek? (I'm not casting aspersions, I certainly am). But you seem to be avoiding his experience on that show as part of his dislike of being rewritten. I'm not a writer (I'm a stupid actor) but I know a lot of writers & I think they would all admit to having writers block from time to time. Hell, Mark Twain admitted to it.

And thus Fallout was born.

This makes me want to re-watch that documentary about Harlan Ellison. Especially the part where he talks about the ridiculousness of telling writers that they will "get paid in exposure". No, my fellow writers! NO!!! :D

I saw this in a theater in the 70s. It was what made me think Ellison was good. Then I found out more about the guy, and changed my opinion of him radically.

I saw this movie for the first time when I was about 14 years old and it was on late night scifi channel and I loved it.... it surprises me how few people have seen it

One of my favorite movies ever, seriously, thank you. Also keep up the good work, love the videos dude!

Thank you!!!! This is wonderful. One of my all time favorite underrated films. You're THE best RU-vid channel!

Thanks for doing this video! This is one of my all time favorite movies.

I remember having seen the movie as a kid way back, late at night on TV - I thought it was really weird, and didn't like much of the underground stuff with the dressed-up people - hey, I was young, dumb and didn't get it ... ^^ Harlan Ellison however really sounds like a guy that needs to be a movie made about - quite hilarious anecdotes ^^

My parents refused to let me see this movie when I was younger, even though my dad is a huge Ellison fan. I saw it in college and read the novella, enjoyed them both for what they were. Need to go back and reread/rewatch soon now. Man you always make me want to go back and rewatch some of these classics. So many of the movies you review are unappreciated gems, the kind that my dad and I used to hunt down at Blockbuster for our, bad movie nights. I'd love to see you tackle some of the other ones I loved growing up, or some of the ones I still revisit from time to time, like The Cube, but not the se/prequels.

Love how part of this movie was filmed where I grew up.

Excellent and in-depth review! I love your channel and all the effort you put in your research really makes your videos stand out!

Even though the very end of the movie is rather dark and quite shocking on the first viewing it never fails to make me chuckle even after numerous viewings.

You should totally do something about Wristcutters

Awesome video, Cecil. Love this classic!

Thanks again, I was always apprehensive to watch it when I was younger ( in the 80's) when I saw it at the movie rental store. When I finally did watch it in the 2000's I was pleasantly surprised and completely agree with you that it was a very under rated / under appreciated film.

"Hey I got a movie idea about a talking dog" Drugs: "I'm listening"

Absolutely love this movie. It regularly played in the rep. theatres in Montreal and I must have seen it a dozen times.

Thanks much Sir, seen this on 80s cable . How good that time was for anyone that got o grow up with it .

Love these videos please never stop!!!

Hi Cecile! I recently listened to the Videodrome podcast on Harlan Ellison and knew very little about him except for the fact that he wrote this book. I read the book in high school and throughly enjoyed it but never read anymore from Ellison but plan to very soon. I was looking through your exploring series (which are AMAZING) and saw this video and had to watch it since you had talked about it on Videodrome. Unfortunately I have not seen this movie yet but I plan to watch this video again when I have. :) Keep up the amazing videos!

Great video bud. Loved it.

I saw this with no prior knowledge a few years back. The ending surprised the hell out of me! It's one of those films that's hard to discuss without spoilers, but then spoilers ruin it. It's one of the great foundations of modern sci-fi cinema! I'm very happy you didn't include the last line, or any of the twist.

I loved this film, when i first saw it. The ending was an interesting touch as well for me

Great movie. Great review. Thank you for posting this. I gotta watch this this weekend.

Thanks, I've read the book and I wasn't sure about sitting through the movie. Now I have something to look forward to!

The number one stand out best thing about this film was...they didn't try to animate the dog to have a moving mouth. Ellison was right to be pissed at the idea. It's an awesome film.

Another great installment in your "Exploring" series. I first learned of this movie when it was mentioned in Medved's "Golden Turkey Awards" book ( or probably the follow up. ) A lot of the stuff in those books has a snobbish bent to it and out of context a lot of classic sci-fi sounds kind of ridiculous -- still I was intrigued. I saw "A Boy and his Dog" on cable or home video back in the 80's and I'm definitely glad I did. It still stand up as a great piece of 70's science fiction. You dug up some great behind-the-scenes info that even a fan couldn't know. No wonder you're the first channel I check when I find myself at You Tube - Thanks for educating all us Good Bad fans.

Funny thing, my mom turned me onto this back in the day. While she was a sci-fi fan, I think it was more to show the horror of nuclear war. Man did it get me into the whole post apocalyptic genre. Lost my mom recent. That and the Fallout tv show about to drop got me thinking on it among other things. Figured you’d have some good info and trivia on it. You rock. Harlan Ellison was such a character. Wish I’d had a chance to meat him.

thanks for the awesome upload

Love this movie, I always rewatch it in the summer. It's the best period to watch post apocalyptic films and play RPGs :D.

I just saw this last night and I can tell you I laughed a hell of a lot.

Happy Memorial Day. Also cool video.

One of my favorites as a kid watching old movies, quirky and just weird enough to make me want to keep watching. Good review.

One of those great films I discovered by browsing the local video rental store and trying something out. Never regretted it for a second.

thanks for always giving that much appreciated warning of please watch the movie first before this review... gonna go find it first. but that always earns a like :)

I really enjoyed this. I was one of those kids who discovered it in the 80's, quite by accident when staying up late was still a novelty. Crockett...???Hahaha...

One of my favorite endings ever. Absolutely hilarious.

Will you cover 6 string samurai at some point in future?

One of my favorite movies and it inspired the 1st 2 Fallout games.

A dog that helps him find "wiman" now that's a new word

This movie is free on youtube the last time i checked, its quite fantastic and has become one of my favorite post apocalypse films.

Do you know what love is? Of course I do, a boy loves his dog.

thanks for the awesome videos

Absolutely adore this film.

Thanks for another awesome video Cecil! Watching this got me thinking about other super natural dog movies. Any chance of a review/exploring for "Man's Best Friend" (1993)?

I watched this film last night, and this video popped up on my recommended list. Harlan Ellison is one of my favorite writers, and I love his straight forward, hot-headed contempt for anything he deemed illogical. He was like the real life version of Dr. House, or Jackson Lamb. Unfortunately, much of his work wouldn't be appreciated by modern audiences, and A Boy and His Dog is probably on a list somewhere awaiting political sanitation.

I came upon this film by accident, seeing only the second half and missing the beginning, so your comment about the two different halves of the story nearly being two different movies works rather well as I watched the film expecting more of the Down Under's shenanigans, only to discover the wasteland scavengers in the beginning. Somehow while they contrast they rather complement each other.

I saw this a while back. Good film

my favourite postapocalyptic film ever.

I did not know this was a movie until recently. I got the comic book by richard corben. Thanks again cecil, for another GBF.

Rip Harlan ellison Aka the frist youtuber rant/criticish dude

I wonder if writers now are more open to making compromises to get their work onto the big screen. If someone were a hothead like Ellison today, would Hollywood just take it's cameras on to the next story?

I was just talking about this movie to a friend of mine about how it would be shown pretty much every summer on local tv during my childhood.

very cool video and lots of useful info!

An underrated classic

About the only video i can find on this movie, thanks for giving some insight, i watched it last night and i can see why it's not talked about these days hahahah

yep, liked this one a lot when i was younger.

i agree the ending line is too perfect.

you're a genius!! I really enjoy your videos! I would like you make recommendations to watch films on the weekend, since nexflix changes according to the country. Mi escritura de ingles esta muy oxidada... greetings from Buenos Aires!

great review, this is one of my favorite movies, it took me sometime to watch it because it didn't have a release on mexico, not even on vhs or dvd, was only afther the torrents became widly avialable when i was finally able to see it and it's brilliant, i love it.

Knowing the ending annoyed Ellison till his grave makes the movie even better. And the ending is perfect. Far better than the book ending line (which is probably what made Ellison really dislike it).

SUCH a great film.

Imagine having that ending in a movie these days xD

Love this movie vic and blood when i was a kid i saw this on 📺 when i got my. Frist VCR i got the video tape like watching the film thank you

Great insights to a great movie

Harlan Ellison's one of my favorite writer's. If you liked the movie, check out the original short story