I Watched A 1975 Sci-Fi Cult Classic With Don Johnson For The First Time, And Seriously, WTF?

I’ve seen a lot of movies, and I grew up in the 1980s. I was shocked to learn about a 1975 cult classic called A Boy and His Dog that I’d never even heard of. It even stars one of my ‘80s TV heroes, Miami Vice star Don Johnson. When my buddy told me about, I had to watch it. Like, immediately. I have to say, it’s f’ing WILD. Just for starters, there is a telepathic dog, and that might be the most normal thing about this sci-fi movie. The movie has so many WTF moments, I have to talk about it.

It’s Like Mad Max, But Madder

The movie is set in the future, all the way into 2024. World War IV (yeah, “IV,” that’s not a typo) ended a few years before, after lasting five days, with the world’s arsenal of nukes depleted. The main character, Vic (Johnson, years before becoming a TV star), and his telepathic, snarky dog Blood (voiced by Tim McIntire) live in the desert wasteland that was once Phoenix, AZ. They can communicate, and Blood is much smarter than Vic, in basically every way.

Like other dystopian movies, everyone left in the world is pretty ragtag. In terms of aesthetics, it really reminds me of the Mad Max franchise, but less… cool. There is some clunky, but helpful, exposition that comes from Blood, giving the audience the lay of the land and how the world ended up a wasteland. After that, we learn pretty quickly that Blood can’t hunt for food, but can detect women with his scent. This is shown by the soft pings of a sonar-like beep as he searches.

Blood needs food, and Vic needs women. This is where it really starts getting weird in a very-1970s kind of way. Blood is on the hunt for women for Vic to assault. Yeah, for real, that’s the mission at first. Vic, who is seemingly supposed to be our hero, is basically a serial rapist. Ok, that’s gonna be a challenge, but let’s get the adventure started, I guess

It Only Gets Wilder From There

I won’t give away too much here, because I think it’s well worth a watch, especially if you’re into ‘70s sci-fi movies. I will reveal that the best-known actor in the movie at the time, the late, great Jason Robards, is one of the leaders of a community of people living underground who dress in old-timey outfits and paint their faces in white face, for some reason. Vic eventually follows the women he attempted to rape underground and finds out they tricked him there for a specific reason.

I can’t give away anymore, it’s all just too wild not to watch unfold for yourself. A Boy and His Dog not only has elements of Mad Max, but it also reminded me of Escape From New York at times, and even Waterworld in a weird way (please note that I love the Kevin Costner box office bomb). Check it out, it's available with a Prime subscription.