A Boy and His Dog

Saturday on the blog means Saturday Double Feature, right? Remember, the basic idea here is to take a movie that is out in theaters now, and pair it up with another movie from the 1980s or before. Sometimes the connection will be obvious, and sometimes it’ll be a little less so, but that’s part of the fun.

Okay, so one of the last of the Big Summer Movies to open this year, was Riddick, Vin Diesel‘s follow-up to Pitch Black. (Yeah, I know, there was another movie in between there, but the creators of this one seem content to ignore it, so I will too.)

So what have we got here? A post apocalyptic world, a protagonist who travels around with a specially enhanced dog, and a whole lot of the action takes place underground. Hmmm… well, it might be a slightly Riddickulous stretch, but how about we pair it up with another film with those same plot elements?

Yeah, that’s a very very young Don Johnson in the lead in 1975’s A Boy and His Dog, which was based on a story – actually, there are a number of stories – centered on Vic (the Boy) and Blood (his Dog) ) by Harlan Ellison

I know, from the trailer you may be wondering where the “underground” part comes in. Well, that’s just one of the surprises that this film has in store.

Again, one of the things that surprised me when I was talking about this movie with some friends was how few of them had actually seen or even heard of it. I know it’s pretty obscure, and certainly not the kind of thing that is going to get a lot of play on TV, but it’s definitely memorable if you have seen it, and has a certain cult cache that I had thought would make it more well-known than it apparently is. Well, fortunately for them – and you – the whole movie (albeit in a slightly edited version) is available on YouTube, so I’ve embedded it below.

So there you go. And how about you? Any other ideas for pairing films with Riddick? if so, let me know below. And also let me know of any other upcoming movies you’d like to see “double featured”. Consider it, if you will, your chance to challenge me to come up with an interesting pair.

Until next time, Happy Viewing!

Riddick (2013) (bigscreenbullfrog.wordpress.com)
De Javu? My Review Of Riddick (kevinhurtack.wordpress.com)

Yeah, I know, the header at the top of this page says “Movie Musings”, and this Tor.com interview doesn’t exactly fit into that purview, since it’s ostensibly about the republication by Hard Case Crime of Harlan Ellison’s first novel, Web of the City, but Ellison has been such a prolific screenwriter and has also had so many of his stories adapted to either the big or small screen that I really don’t have any trouble fitting it in here. Heck, even if all he’d ever contributed to the movie world was the short story that inspired 1975’s Don Johnson-starring A Boy and His Dog, he’d be worthy of inclusion in any discussion of people behind interesting flicks, and his credits go far, far beyond that.

Anyway, all of that is simply lead in to point you to this recent interview with Ellison which once again shows what a truly fascinating person he is. The interview is fairly wide ranging, and Ellison, as always, doesn’t hold back om saying just what’s on his mind.

Oh, and while I’m at it, if you haven’t checked out Hard Case Crimes before, you should, especially if you’re a fan of classic and neo-classic detective fiction or the pulp stories that paralleled and inspired so many great films noir (see, there’s another movies-related tie in). You can find out more about Hard Case Crime and their offerings at their website. Give them a visit and give them your support. They deserve it for trying to bring back a far-too overlooked genre these days.