Film

A Boy and His Dog

Name: A Boy and His Dog
Genre: Drama, Science Fiction, Comedy
Released: 1975
Cast: Don Johnson, Susanne Benton, Jason Robards, Tim McIntire, Alvy Moore

Post-apocalyptic

Harlan Ellison's savage post-apocalyptic fable about a boy and his telepathic dog hunting for survival in a 2024 wasteland. Tonally fearless—it lurches between dark comedy and genuine horror, mixing road-movie camaraderie with something genuinely unsettling. Cult film that still feels dangerous. For viewers ready for something that refuses to be comfortable.

TMDb rating

3.1

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy bleak, deadpan satire and an odd-couple partnership between a restless young drifter and his sardonic telepathic dog, played for laughs.

Skip it if the tone swings hard between jokes and cruelty, and its rough, low-budget look and crude sexual humour may grate if you want warmth.

What it asks of you: Its ninety-one minutes move briskly through restless stretches, and it wants you to stay with its bitter gallows humour even when the mood turns grim.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Mad Max 21981

The template for stylish post-apocalyptic survival stories. Lean, propulsive, visually inventive. Every frame justifies itself. If you loved the scavenging and the lawless desert, this is the refinement of that impulse.

But Less interested in the moral grotesqueness that makes A Boy and His Dog unsettling. Favours action momentum over discomfort.

The Road2009

Cormac McCarthy's bleak father-son odyssey through ash and ruin. Shares the bone-deep desperation and the question of what survives in you when civilization ends. Uncompromising emotional weight.

But Relentlessly grim. No levity, no reprieve. The 1975 film has a darkly comic pulse that this one deliberately avoids.

Stalker1979

Tarkovsky's meditative sci-fi about guides and followers in a forbidden zone. Shares the mythic journey structure and the strange intimacy between companions. Haunting and philosophically dense.

But Glacially paced and abstract. Where A Boy and His Dog is visceral and immediate, this asks you to sit with emptiness and meaning.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from A Boy and His Dog

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Quiet Earth1985

Both are small-scale, character-driven sci-fi films made outside the studio system that ask brutal questions about what makes life worth living when the world has ended. Neither offers comfort as an answer.

New Zealand post-apocalyptic film where a man wakes to find himself seemingly alone on Earth. Philosophically grounded, intimate, strange. Explores consciousness and meaning when companionship vanishes—the inverse of Vic's dependent bond.

But Slow burn with a third act that divides audiences sharply. Some find it transcendent; others find it self-indulgent. Requires patience and philosophical openness.

Damnation Alley1977

Post-nuclear road movie with Roger Zelazny's pulpy DNA. Mutant creatures, desert wasteland, buddy dynamics. Embraces the trashy adventure spirit without pretension.

But Effects and logic haven't aged gracefully. Cheaper and less inventive than the best 70s sci-fi. Feels more dated than it should.

The Postman1997

Kevin Costner in a gentler post-collapse America where a drifter restores hope through symbol and story. Thematic inverse of the nihilism here—explores what we choose to rebuild.

But Nearly three hours and earnest in ways that can read as naive. The tonal opposite of Ellison's cynicism.

Cherry 20001987

Melanie Griffith as a tracker in a wasteland, leading a man to find his android lover. Campy, energetic, genuinely weird. Captures some of that 70s pulp-sci-fi DNA without taking itself seriously.

But Unabashedly B-movie. The craftsmanship is cheerful rather than considered. It knows what it is, which some find freeing and others find slight.

Miracle Mile1989

A date in LA becomes a race against nuclear annihilation. Propulsive, intimate dread. The relationship-under-pressure dynamic mirrors Vic and Blood's forced partnership, but in an urban nightmare.

But Entirely dependent on the specific premise. Once you know what's coming, the film's power diminishes sharply.

Tank Girl1995

Comic-book punk energy in a desert post-apocalypse. Doesn't apologize for its strangeness. Lena Headey before she became known for everything else. Genuinely anarchic spirit.

But Tone wildly unstable. Tries too many things at once. The cult following exists precisely because it doesn't quite work.

Waterworld1995

Kevin Costner again, this time as a mutant drifter on a drowned planet with a child and a woman. The survival partnership framework and the journey structure. Ambitious scope.

But Historically expensive and famous for overrunning. Often feels bloated. The execution doesn't match the scale of ambition.