A Boy and His Dog (1975)

The great thing about "watching" (really it's just running in a browser window while I have my headphones on and am otherwise doing something useful and pop in whenever it sounds like something interesting is happening) videos instantly from our Netflix queue is that I can vett some marginal films or watch films I know Sarah won't like. A Boy and His Dog has the bones of an interesting premise (based on an Ellison novella, which I might go and read), a semi-likable young Don Johnson, a mostly likable telepathic dog, a couple of good lines... and that's about it.

The basic plot goes like this: Don and his telepathic dog roam the countryside looking for food (for both of them) to eat and women (for Don). Don's general studliness brings him to the attention of a restrictive underground society (which is NOT "female-dominated" as the Netflix blurb claims) that needs new sperm every so often to keep the birthrate positive, so they send a female agent to lure him to "Down Under", where he is the center of a conflict between the Establishment and the Youth that would replace them. Don decides he doesn't like either side and leaves (with the female agent who lured him down there, because without Don's help her side is lost).

The problems:

• script just isn't good enough to support the spare plot,
  
• the female lead's character is really inconsistently written. At first she comes across as a helpless whimpering damsel in distress (blech), but we quickly learn of course that this is just a cover, and she (unbeknownst to Don) helps him in a battle by expertly shooting some of their enemies. Unfortunately, at the end when they escape from Down Under, she is again helpless and whimpering.
  
• As a result of these inconsistencies and the general lack of chemistry (both written and onscreen) between her and Don, the "shocking" ending lacks any effect because the "difficult choice" Don has to make isn't difficult at all!
  

That's a lot more than I meant to write about this.