A Boy and His Dog (1975)

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Overview 

 Similar visual style to The Postman...except good.

Plot  

 Vic and Blood discuss getting laid...no really.

 
Vic, an eighteen year old boy, born in the wastelands after the war, befriends a dog named Blood and the two are able to communicate with each other telepathically. Together the two travel the wasteland, scavenging both for food and women. When Blood picks up a human female scent they track her to a small underground warehouse. Blood stands guard whilst Vic prepares to rape her, however he is interrupted by Blood who warns him that other people are coming.

 Quilla brings new meaning to the term 'manipulative bi#@h, even when at gunpoint.

Blood tells Vic that they need to forget about the woman and leave as they are heavily outnumbered by the approaching bandits. Vic refuses to back down however, being so close to what he had hunted for, for so long. A battle ensues and whilst Blood is slightly injured they are able to fight them off by pretending to be Screamers, terrifying mutated ghouls that can be found in the wasteland. Their victory is soon cut short when a group of actual Screamers begin roaming around in the underground warehouse.

Trapped Vic, Blood and the young woman ‘Quilla’, hide themselves in a safe where they can safely wait the Screemers out. Once inside Quillia seduces Vic and the two spend most of the night having sex much to the annoyance of Blood who takes a dislike for the woman.   Blood asks when they are getting rid of her and is taken aback when Vic replies that they are all going to make a life for themselves, just the three of them. After a long argument the two return to the safe, however Quilla knocks Vic out cold, leaving behind a key card that is used to access a society that lives under the ground in an extensive fallout shelter, built before the fourth world war.

 Makes the people from Beneath Planet of the apes seem somewhat normal.

Despite Blood’s protests, who suspects that the she deliberately left it behind as a trap, Vic uses the card to enter the underground city which is comprised of largely brainwashed citizens controlled by an elite board of delegates. It is a cult-like society that appears to be a twisted version of rural America where everyone wears farming clothes and makeup that is reminiscent of mimes.  

Vic discovers that this society and Quilla were planning to lead the young man there as a life living underground has made the men as baron as the wasteland above ground. Vic is taken prisoner and attached to a machine that harvests his sperm. Having left Blood above surface, Vic seems to have little hope of escape; however Quillia who’s motives extend beyond that of the elite board of delegates has other plans for the young Vic.

Accusations of Sexism

 Vic certainly proves in the film that he puts bros before hoes.

 Blood isn't sexist, he looks down upon all humans as inferior beings.

The director of the film reasoned that he was not trying to make a sexist film and fails to see how the film is promoting such behavior just because it is present in the film. Just because Vic may have a misogynistic character, that doesn’t mean the film is trying to promote the values. Blood even condemns Vic’s actions in the film, calling him a bad and violent person with no regard for others.

Further accusations were directed at the films ending where Vic ultimately is forced to choose between the life of Quilla and Blood, choosing the dog over the woman. Criticism was targeted at the manner in which this decision is handled in the film, and the resulting consequences to Quilla from this choice, some claiming that is one of the most chauvinistic scenes in the history of film that is hateful towards women.
 

Similarity to the Novel

 Really, nothing good could ever come from entering something that looks like that.

The film is almost identical to the novel, largely because the author himself had begun writing the screenplay adaptation before Jones took over. The novel goes into a much deeper explanation of the alternate history of the world, which is briefly touched in the movies beginning, with Blood teaching Vic about the history of the world. In the novel it is explained that Blood is the result of genetic engineering experiments involving spinal fluid from dolphins. In the film this is largely left unexplained with Vic explaining their ability to communicate with each other simply because they both have a ‘feel’ for each other.

The screamers known as ‘ Burnpit Screamers’ in the novel, were more present in the book than they were in the film where they are heard but never actually seen. Vic claims that Blood had previously saved him from one before.