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.
And for some strange reason I tend to compare The Institute from Fallout 4 with Downunder. Still have to wonder what the Fallout equivalent of "Over The Hill" would be.
When they were talking about "Over The Hill" it made me think of a place in Fallout 3 called "Oasis". The place has green trees and plants growing. It has a really cool quest line if you want to check it out!
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.
Bukowski Drunk he was a hero to a certain degree. Vic may have not been a good person and had no moral compass, but he didn’t know any better and lived in that cruel environment his whole life where survival of the fittest was key. Quilla June was shrewd and manipulative and lived in a sterile, hypocritical, and controlled environment with a cross between 1984 and the early 1900’s midwest. She had intentions to use him to overthrow the council and try to make him think she was forced into doing this. I laughed at her fate after she joined Vic in the real world and forced out of that environment.
lol My grandpa took his kids to see it in the theater because he thought, based on the title, that it was a wholesome Disney flick. They were pretty shocked from what I've heard.
One of those "other countries "was New York City's Times Square! I saw it playing there in the mid-80s under that title, so I told my then-wife about it and she went to 42nd Street just to see for herself.
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.
@@keithinaz9769 Buster was with me when I met my beautiful Argentinian wife in Key West. Then I became a Spanish teacher she a nurse, now I make more money in real estate. We have two beautiful daughters the eldest of which is about to start college. I also stay in really good shape and have a beautiful garden and property (paid off). My life is amazing. Did I mention my wife is hot, still hot at 47. I'm a G bro. Nobody needs to care but me, because I am all that matters. That's the lesson I learned on the road.
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?"
So that's the line Jones put in and Ellison hated. Must say it was a great line. Better than the final line in the book : "Do you know what love is?" "Sure I know. A boy loves his dog." (too ambiguous). Jones' version makes it obvious what happened to her. Especially when they both laugh with the darkly funny double entendre "good taste" line.
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.
I remember reading about him and the guy that made a the I Have No Mouth fake and he was supposedly a super nice guy to him. I think the dev was working as like a contractor and didn’t get his contract renewed so at some game Dev conference Ellison had a fish tank and walked around the audience after his speech collecting business cards for his friend who made the game and ended up getting him a permanent job
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!
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.
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.
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.
Mark Twain had sense of auto-irony and a keen appreciation of his own shortcomings, having episodes of writer block being the lesser of his sins he admitted (writing news out of whole cloth when it was a slow period for his newspaper was a bit graver in my book...). Ellison didn'exactly overflow with critical self-consciousness...
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.
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.
Trickier Hades The original last line was more subtle and so much better imo: Vic: Do you know what love means ? Blood, eating: ...A boy loves his dog.
Considering they had no other food, the same as the movie. The only difference being that it's making you realize on your own without saying it directly.
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!
Again, Harlan didn't criticize the line as much as criticizing Blood saying the line. It should have been Vic. As Harlan said "Vic was an idiot who would have said ANYTHING."
@@DavidTSmith-jn5bs I just don't Vic is clever enough to make an allusion with a double entendre, he's not Alex deLarge if Vic said it, I think it would just come off as a corny line to end the movie with
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 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.
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.
Nah, I came here entirely because of how bad the title was and am now finding myself looking for this movie to watch. Fuckin baited right into a good movie. Well played.
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
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.
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.
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 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 ^^
There are a LOT of stories about Ellison - these are some of the tamer ones. He was at a sci-fi convention and asked a woman there "what would you say to a little f***?" She replied "Hello, you little f***"
The dude wrote "I have no mouth and i must scream", and then when someone suggested making it into a game, he ended up writing the entire game story himself, voiced the main antagonist and even provided artwork of himself for a mousepad that was included with the game. all this while he hated video games and didn't even own a computer. (he had written the entire thing on a mechanical typewriter). oh, and it was the story that was one of the direct inspirations for "The Matrix"
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 :)
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.
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!
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.
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).
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 think Ellison also wrote a great (maybe the best), Star Trek O.S. episode with the time portal, where McCoy goes back, changes history, and Kirk/Spock have to go back to try to undo the change.
This movie and Logan's Run were the two I oldies that really stuck with me. Then later it was Bladerunner. And who doesn't like Mad Max. Dystopian movies for the win?
Ellison, and this movie, don't get near the credit deserved, for influencing so many different forms of media. Also, being of the quality that each generation has a different idea of what it means, yet it's always important enough, to either praise it greatly, or think it's the ultimate display, of misogynistic art.
No spoilers here: In regards to "The last line"... I agree with THEM BOTH. Seriously. IMO, there is no reason they could not have used them BOTH. If you know them both, then (imho) it would have been so, sooo damn easy to have used both L. Q. Jones' line from Dog, then a short pause and Don Johnson can muse to himself the last line as written by Ellison (which is also great, and I see his point it changes the scene, movie a lot and makes Dog much 'harder'). My over-valued 2 cents on a movie I have loved since I discovered in on late-night cable in the mid 80s about 2am after the bars closed. :)
I saw it yesterday... I need to rewatch it again because holy hell this movie really painted a bleak picture. I am also a fallout fan and I could see how games like wasteland and fallout were inspired by this movie.
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!
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...
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.
that's what I noticed and the farrel ghouls
feral, and basically that's what he meant by glowing ones
And for some strange reason I tend to compare The Institute from Fallout 4 with Downunder.
Still have to wonder what the Fallout equivalent of "Over The Hill" would be.
When they were talking about "Over The Hill" it made me think of a place in Fallout 3 called "Oasis". The place has green trees and plants growing. It has a really cool quest line if you want to check it out!
+SNARCast Productions fallout 4 is garbage compared to the previous fallouts
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.
A dog's gotta eat, right? Also, it's post-apocalyptic fiction, where nothing is nice or in good taste.
They've become deluded. Not only should they always survive, they ought to thrive as well.
Mainstream audience will never understand things like that in movies. They want a clear evil doer vs good guys joking around
Bukowski Drunk he was a hero to a certain degree. Vic may have not been a good person and had no moral compass, but he didn’t know any better and lived in that cruel environment his whole life where survival of the fittest was key. Quilla June was shrewd and manipulative and lived in a sterile, hypocritical, and controlled environment with a cross between 1984 and the early 1900’s midwest. She had intentions to use him to overthrow the council and try to make him think she was forced into doing this. I laughed at her fate after she joined Vic in the real world and forced out of that environment.
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.
Khuratokh yeach it make sence
lol My grandpa took his kids to see it in the theater because he thought, based on the title, that it was a wholesome Disney flick. They were pretty shocked from what I've heard.
Lmao
One of those "other countries "was New York City's Times Square! I saw it playing there in the mid-80s under that title, so I told my then-wife about it and she went to 42nd Street just to see for herself.
My grandma took me to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid -- because she thought it would be like tom mix or gene Autre.
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.
Yea I did that too
You ok?
@@dubuyajay9964 Me? I'm a pimp bro.
Nobody cares, dude.
@@keithinaz9769 Buster was with me when I met my beautiful Argentinian wife in Key West. Then I became a Spanish teacher she a nurse, now I make more money in real estate. We have two beautiful daughters the eldest of which is about to start college. I also stay in really good shape and have a beautiful garden and property (paid off). My life is amazing. Did I mention my wife is hot, still hot at 47. I'm a G bro. Nobody needs to care but me, because I am all that matters. That's the lesson I learned on the road.
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?"
"Well she certainly had marvelous judgement Albert, if not particularly good taste."-Blood 🐶
So that's the line Jones put in and Ellison hated. Must say it was a great line. Better than the final line in the book : "Do you know what love is?" "Sure I know. A boy loves his dog." (too ambiguous). Jones' version makes it obvious what happened to her. Especially when they both laugh with the darkly funny double entendre "good taste" line.
@@boke75 I know right, it's a trip. I really love the dark humor in this movie, fits perfectly well and without it I think it wouldn't be as good.
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.
Harlan Ellison wrote for The Twilight Zone and a Hulk comic book set of issues.
I remember reading about him and the guy that made a the I Have No Mouth fake and he was supposedly a super nice guy to him. I think the dev was working as like a contractor and didn’t get his contract renewed so at some game Dev conference Ellison had a fish tank and walked around the audience after his speech collecting business cards for his friend who made the game and ended up getting him a permanent job
"It got a PG rating, as was the style at d'time"
And Jaws
and an onion on its belt.
The ending was so beautifully done.
You can actually watch a boy and his dog on TH-cam, pretty good quality. That's how I watched it awhile back.
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.
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!
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.
Good Bad Flicks really should review the British uncut version of The Plague Dogs. It's a hidden masterpiece.
I'll second this statement / request !!
Thanks.
That makes three of us. Fantastic movie.
I LOVED that as a kids
Agreed
"He became jaded.....well, more jaded than usual." HAHAHAHAHA! That's Harlan for ya.
Yeah, he was an ass.
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.
Thank you!
According to imfdb, the rifle carried by vic in this movie is also featured in 'the book of eli'.
ooo, I like that
Book of Eli is not a good movie.
I mean it has some good b movie qualities and it got the aesthetic right but I think the bible thing was goofy as hell but Gary oldman did good
So did eli kill vic?
@@titusmccarthy It's not good. It's great I'd say.
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.
Mark Twain had sense of auto-irony and a keen appreciation of his own shortcomings, having episodes of writer block being the lesser of his sins he admitted (writing news out of whole cloth when it was a slow period for his newspaper was a bit graver in my book...).
Ellison didn'exactly overflow with critical self-consciousness...
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.
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.
Yeah, Harlan was great, he MAKES the "I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream" video game with his AM performance.
This movie has quite possibly my favorite last line ever. Great stuff.
Agreed. Its brutal and darkly hilarious.
Trickier Hades The original last line was more subtle and so much better imo:
Vic: Do you know what love means ?
Blood, eating: ...A boy loves his dog.
Gaveyard and what happened to the girl?
Considering they had no other food, the same as the movie. The only difference being that it's making you realize on your own without saying it directly.
Gaveyard Agreed. But the movie's character development was better
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!
I've watched this movie and the last line is the best final line ever.
Thank you!!!! This is wonderful. One of my all time favorite underrated films. You're THE best TH-cam channel!
Thank you! :)
I very recently saw "A boy and his dog." Ellison is wrong, the ending line is _Perfect!_
Again, Harlan didn't criticize the line as much as criticizing Blood saying the line. It should have been Vic. As Harlan said "Vic was an idiot who would have said ANYTHING."
@@DavidTSmith-jn5bs
I just don't Vic is clever enough to make an allusion with a double entendre, he's not Alex deLarge
if Vic said it, I think it would just come off as a corny line to end the movie with
@@tictacterminator Remember the line "They didn't have to cut her! They could have used her a few times!"? Guess who wrote that line for Vic? HARLAN!
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 !"
You left out the fact that A Boy and His Dog was produced by Alvy Moore a.k.a. Hank Kimball from Green Acres.
Who had a part in the movie.
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.
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.
Another dog/animal are human being is mentioned being telepathic at one point in time during the film.
Have to disagree, theirs many scenes that show bloods telepathic abilities
Might want to re-think the title of this video.
EH?.......oooooOOH !
heh heh heh. ya aint wrong !
You had to go there ehh?
to what do you propose the title is changed too?
LAWL
Nah, I came here entirely because of how bad the title was and am now finding myself looking for this movie to watch. Fuckin baited right into a good movie. Well played.
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
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.
They kept the stuntman's death in the movie 😢he played the sorcerer falling off the cliff and completely missed the airbag 👼
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.
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.
watched this today after hearing of Ellison's death, guy was one of a kind
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
One of my favorite movies ever, seriously, thank you.
Also keep up the good work, love the videos dude!
Wait wait, if Tiger was nominated for an Oscar and won, would he be the first dog to win an Oscar?
Rin Tin Tin won didnt he?
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 ^^
There are a LOT of stories about Ellison - these are some of the tamer ones. He was at a sci-fi convention and asked a woman there "what would you say to a little f***?" She replied "Hello, you little f***"
The dude wrote "I have no mouth and i must scream", and then when someone suggested making it into a game, he ended up writing the entire game story himself, voiced the main antagonist and even provided artwork of himself for a mousepad that was included with the game. all this while he hated video games and didn't even own a computer. (he had written the entire thing on a mechanical typewriter).
oh, and it was the story that was one of the direct inspirations for "The Matrix"
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.
Best ending ever! Dark humor at its finest.
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.
Absolutely love this movie. It regularly played in the rep. theatres in Montreal and I must have seen it a dozen times.
The final shot you put up of Harlan Ellison ranting was pure hilariousity.
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.
And thus Fallout was born.
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.
Love how part of this movie was filmed where I grew up.
So was it the desert near Barstow or the park in Ventura?
I loved this film, when i first saw it. The ending was an interesting touch as well for me
Love this movie, I always rewatch it in the summer.
It's the best period to watch post apocalyptic films and play RPGs :D.
*****
LOL =)) as if enjoying something has anything to do to how much I go outside.
Photos of Mr. Ellison at 6:54, 7:02 and 7:37 are by Pip R. Lagenta.
This movie is free on youtube the last time i checked, its quite fantastic and has become one of my favorite post apocalypse films.
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 :)
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.
A dog that helps him find "wiman" now that's a new word
Will you cover 6 string samurai at some point in future?
You should totally do something about Wristcutters
Pitt Müller god that was a good odd film! thanks for reminding me.
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!
I meant Radiodrome, lol
Thanks much Sir, seen this on 80s cable . How good that time was for anyone that got o grow up with it .
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.
Harlan Ellison's one of my favorite writer's. If you liked the movie, check out the original short story
"Hey I got a movie idea about a talking dog"
Drugs: "I'm listening"
One of my favorite movies and it inspired the 1st 2 Fallout games.
I did not know this was a movie until recently. I got the comic book by richard corben. Thanks again cecil, for another GBF.
Happy Memorial Day. Also cool video.
Thanks for doing this video! This is one of my all time favorite movies.
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).
Great video bud. Loved it.
Do you know what love is? Of course I do, a boy loves his dog.
thanks for the awesome upload
thanks for watching!
I just saw this last night and I can tell you I laughed a hell of a lot.
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 think Ellison also wrote a great (maybe the best), Star Trek O.S. episode with the time portal, where McCoy goes back, changes history, and Kirk/Spock have to go back to try to undo the change.
Thanks, I've read the book and I wasn't sure about sitting through the movie. Now I have something to look forward to!
i agree the ending line is too perfect.
I just finished watching it.
I can see the parallel of the Down Under to the Vaults.
However I was reminded more of Bioshock Infinite's Columbia.
I rarely tell anyone this; but my dog can speak to me through thoughts as well.
my favourite postapocalyptic film ever.
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.
This movie and Logan's Run were the two I oldies that really stuck with me. Then later it was Bladerunner. And who doesn't like Mad Max. Dystopian movies for the win?
One of those great films I discovered by browsing the local video rental store and trying something out. Never regretted it for a second.
Ellison, and this movie, don't get near the credit deserved, for influencing so many different forms of media. Also, being of the quality that each generation has a different idea of what it means, yet it's always important enough, to either praise it greatly, or think it's the ultimate display, of misogynistic art.
Rip Harlan ellison
Aka the frist youtuber rant/criticish dude
No spoilers here:
In regards to "The last line"... I agree with THEM BOTH. Seriously. IMO, there is no reason they could not have used them BOTH.
If you know them both, then (imho) it would have been so, sooo damn easy to have used both L. Q. Jones' line from Dog, then a short pause and Don Johnson can muse to himself the last line as written by Ellison (which is also great, and I see his point it changes the scene, movie a lot and makes Dog much 'harder').
My over-valued 2 cents on a movie I have loved since I discovered in on late-night cable in the mid 80s about 2am after the bars closed. :)
I saw it yesterday... I need to rewatch it again because holy hell this movie really painted a bleak picture. I am also a fallout fan and I could see how games like wasteland and fallout were inspired by this movie.
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!
Thanks!
Francisco Santomé this is the best TH-cam reviewers without frills needed or otherwise!
This review had particularly good taste!
One of my favorite endings ever. Absolutely hilarious.
Awesome video, Cecil. Love this classic!
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...
Excellent and in-depth review! I love your channel and all the effort you put in your research really makes your videos stand out!
yep, liked this one a lot when i was younger.
The movie must be brilliant if it pleases Elison, at least for the most part.
Its really terrific
An underrated classic
Absolutely adore this film.
Don Johnson's greatest part. Too bad on DVDs you can't see what's in the fire in the final scene.
"Race With The Devil" also influenced "The Road Warrior"
Great movie. Great review. Thank you for posting this. I gotta watch this this weekend.