The Odd Couple

 

This is my entry in the Mismatched Couples Blogathon hosted by Realweegiemidget Reviews and Cinematic Catharsis

 

 

 

The "odd couple" trope never really got as weird in straightforward drama and comedy as it did when used in science fiction.  You could expand that concept to more outré ideas when you didn't have to stick with what was currently acceptable possibilities (human on human; whether male on male, female on female or male on female, or even younger on older of any of those. Or for that matter, even human and animal, at least animals that didn't speak...)

Once in the realm of science fiction you could get such odd couples as robots (i.e. R2D2 and C3PO from Star Wars or even the lovelorn pair from Heartbeeps ) or an alien paired with a human (i.e. Jareeba and Will from Enemy Mine) or in the case of today's feature, an apocalyptic movie featuring a boy and a faithful companion, a dog that is telepathic.

A Boy and His Dog  was the second of only three directorial efforts by a man who was better known as a character actor, L. Q. Jones. 

 

 

 

 

You will undoubtedly recognize Jones.  He was a frequent guest star on TV shows as well as a subsidiary character in several movies (many of them westerns).  An interesting tidbit for you:  Jones' real name was Justus McQueen, but in his first role on film he played a character named "L. Q. Jones" (Battle Cry).  He liked the name so he used it as his stage name ever afterwards.   

The movie features, also, one of the first appearances by a young Don Johnson, and I KNOW you know who HE is...  (even if you may not quite recognize him in a photo from the movie here...)

Also included was Tim McIntyre as the voice of the dog, Blood.  (And McIntyre, BTW,  just missed his shot at iconic stardom a few years earlier.  In the late 60's, Norman Lear's first attempt at creating what eventually became All in the Family, a pilot called Justice for All, featured McIntyre in the role of the son-in-law of Carroll O'Connor's character.)

Oh, and by the way, does Blood himself look familiar?  The dog that did all the physical action and reactions required of him in this film was a consummate actor in his own right.  It was "Tiger", the dog that was the 10th star (after the 2 parents, 6 kids and Alice, of course...) of the classic TV show The Brady Bunch! So he came by his ability to convey frustration and disgust quite naturally.

The story comes from a short story written by Harlan Ellison.  Ellison had some Hollywood efforts that made it to film, but the one you the reader might be most familiar with is the Star Trek episode The City on the Edge of Forever.  Some liberties were taken with the story as it transitioned from print to film and Ellison himself tried to adapt it first, but after a while the script duties were taken over.

 

 

 

A Boy and His Dog (1975):

Note the movie poster above.... "The year is 2024... a future you'll probably live to see."

Well, congratulations.  If you are reading this now, you DID live to see 2024. (Unless you are reading this 100 years hence, of course... a distinct possibility,  given the eternal life of the cyberspace.)

Although, to be fair, the future depicted in A Boy and His Dog is not the future we actually lived to see... As noted in the opening sequence (after some stock footage of some nuclear explosions) the screen crawl told us:

World War IV lasted five days.

 

Politicians had finally solved the problem of urban blight.

(To say the least...)

So wait a minute... "World War IV"?

Well, as we discover in the process of the first reel, World War III was actually the Cold War and some of the conflicts that occurred over the span of time from 1950-1983.  (The optimistic end of the Cold War, of course.  The actual Cold War didn't end until a few years later...) 

Anyway, the peace only lasted a few years, then, as stated the ultimate conflict happened and everyone started firing off their rockets and made the apocalyptic future as now ongoing...  In this world roving bands of renegades vie for their own little bit of "paradise".  In this future comes Vic (Don Johnson) and his companion, a telepathic dog named "Blood" (voiced by Tim McIntyre).

Blood helps Vic out by TRYING to keep him alive, as well as directing him to the one thing he wants more than anything else.  And what, you may ask, is that?  Hint: Vic is an 18 year old boy.  What do YOU think is primary on his brain?  (And if you said a college degree, boy are YOU naive...)

One thing to warn those of you with more conservative sensibilities; Vic is not necessarily a good guy.  His quest is NOT for love or even a compatible companionship.  He just wants sex and usually in a form that does not include the willingness of the recipient. (Yes, that means he is raping the victim.)

Blood also does his best to educate young Vic.  History lessons and the like.  Including the Presidents.  (Apparently after Ford, the Kennedy clan was able to lay claim to a succession of presidencies... which Kennedys I don't know.  But Teddy tried his hand at the job several times back in the late 70's and early 80's so...)

But Blood has very little patience as a teacher.  Plus, like Vic, Blood has a one track mind too.  He wants food.  Which means that Blood occasionally resorts to coercion to get Vic to find food.  You want women? I want food.  You bring me food and then we'll talk.; "Albert".  (For some reason, which is never really made clear, Blood sometimes calls Vic "Albert", apparently just to annoy him...)

Blood keeps urging Vic to seek out "Over the Hill" an idyllic legend that Blood heard about from a police dog (which Vic doesn't actually believe), a place where food grows right out of the ground (instead of the way they have to find it now, scavenging demolished buildings for storehouses of canned goods.)

Vic and Blood end up trading in some of their goods to attend a movie theater, one which apparently deals in cheap cheesy stag (read: pornographic) films,

Vic is being observed by three mysterious characters who come from "Down Under".  They come to the conclusion that he is the best candidate for what, at this point, remains a secret mission.  But they decide to send in the "cheese".  What is the cheese.  As it turns out it is a girl, Quilla June (Suzanne Benton), who is put into place to entice Vic into "Down Under".

After (multiple!) sexual liaisons with Quilla she deserts Vic, and Vic, being someone with only one mind, decides to try and follow her.  (Which was the whole plan.)

"Down Under", it turns out, is an underground society, a leftover from the days before the war.  The Down Under society coincidentally calls itself "Topeka", so maybe the location that Vic wanders with Blood above ground is Kansas.  The Topeka (as I will refer to it here out) society lives on, having separated itself from those "savages" who live on above ground.  And they need Vic because, while the Topeka society still functions, they somehow don't have the ability to generate the necessary qualities to procreate that someone above ground does, and Vic becomes their goal to help resolve that deficiency.

The society in Topeka is bizarre, to say the least.  It appears to be run by religious fanatics, with some really outré Christian basis.  (And a penchant for wearing white face, which is never really explained...)

A Committee runs the show and any citizens who do not fit and follow the strict rules of the society are judged to be uncooperative and sent to The Farm (which turns out to be a death sentence, more or less, and which is completed by an android named Michael, who is dressed, coincidentally,  as a farmer.) 

The process by which Vic is induced to help Topeka get repopulated is not to his preferences however.  What it involves is his being strapped down and manipulated by machine to generate vials of his procreative seed (I am TRYING to keep this entry as "family friendly as possible, but it's not easy).  He has to come up with 35 vials of said seed, but then he is scheduled to be relegated to "The Farm".

If Vic had been required to use his prowess to physically become active with his potential "mates", I doubt he would have wanted to leave Topeka, even if all of them did have that off-putting white face fetish.  

But he is not happy with the situation he has to endure.  Not that he has much choice since he is strapped down and has duct tape over his mouth to prevent any objections.

 Eventually Quilla June comes along to help Vic escape, but her goal is not due to a change of heart.  What she really wants is for Vic to help her make a change in the leadership in Topeka. Failing getting a position on the Committee by peaceful means, she tries to manipulate Vic into helping her in a revolution, by killing off the leaders so she can take over as the leader of Topeka. But Vic just wants to get the hell out of Dodge  (I mean Topeka).

With an effort Vic and Quilla escape Topeka, destroying the android Michael in the process and make their way back to above ground.  But is Blood still there?  And will Quilla convince Vic to make a new life with her?  Or will Vic and Blood chase the elusive dream of Over the Hill, a realm where you don't have to scavenge every single day just to survive?  He eventually chooses Blood, and gets him the food he needs to survive.  The "food" that Vic gets for Blood is not stated in overt terms, but as Blood tells Vic in his final line, about Quilla: "I would say she had marvelous judgement, Albert, if not particularly good taste". So maybe you can draw your own conclusions...

Friends stick together, through thick and then, even in the strange post-apocalyptic worlds of the future (or present, if you want to be technical).  And you couldn't find a better friend to get you through hard times than a super-intelligent dog.  So odd couples, even in sci-fi, are friends to the end (or the end of the movie anyway).

Well folks, time to fire up this old Plymouth and head back to the hovel I call home.  Drive safely.

Quiggy

Friends Fur Life Blogathon

      

 

 

 

The Friends Fur Life Blogathon

A new blogathon! Hamlette and I present the Friends Fur Life Blogathon!

 

Friends can come in all shapes and sizes.  Most of us have human friends of course.  But friends are not limited to just the bipedal members of the homo sapien  variety.  There are four legged friends (dogs, cats, ferrets etc.). There are two legged friends (like birds). There are even eight-legged and no-legged friends (like spiders and snakes... to each his own).

The inspiration for this blogathon came as a result of the loss of a longtime companion of mine (Pennie, a cat).  And the addition of a new longtime (hopefully) companion into my life (Ditto, another cat).  

My friend Rachel at Hamlette's Soliloquy agreed to co-sponsor a blogathon celebrating our animal friends.  Animal friends appear in hundreds, nay thousands, of film and TV shows.  To celebrate our animal friends this blogathon is dedicated.

 

The rules for this blogathon are pretty simple:

• The animals in the movie or TV show must be pets or companions (Jaws is out; Flipper is in).
• Only one duplicate of a title allowed.
• Only new posts, please -- don't link to something you wrote last year or last decade, etc. 

The possibilities are endless. TV shows which had a regular appearance by a dog or cat? Sure. Movies which may have had an animal as one of it's cast members? Absolutely.  Even if the focus was on the humans in the story, if a pet or companion shows up as a focal point in a scene or two, that is OK. (For instance in The Incredible Shrinking Man the focus is on the man shrinking but a focal scene involves him interacting with the household cat, and that's OK.)

My co-host added this which may lead you to another inspiration:

 

Entries are not limited to movie/TV show reviews.  If you want to do a list of your ten favorite episodes of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch that feature her talking cat, have at it!  If you want to compare the 1965 and 1997 versions of That Darn Cat, you totally may.

 

Leave a comment on your choice here or on Rachel's blog Hamlette's Soliloquy.  The entry choices so far will appear below as I have the chance to add them.  Please feel free to use one of the buttons created to add to your blog entry.

 

 

 

 

Blog Entries So Far:

Me:

First entry: A tribute to Orangey, the great cat star of the 50's.

Second entry: Willard (1971) and Ben (1972)

 

Hamlette: 

101 Dalmatians: (1961)

Realweegiemidget Reviews:

A Fish Called Wanda: (1989)

 

She Who Seeks:

Alligator Loki from Loki: (2021)

Rocket Raccoon 

 

The Stop Button:

Buddy: (1997)

 

 Taking Up Room

Puppy Love (2023)

 

Crítica Retrô  

That Darn Cat (1965)

Elisabeth Grace Foley

Greyfriars Bobby (1965)

A Dog and His Boy

This is my entry in the Favorite Tearjerker Blogathon sponsored by Moon in Gemini

As I explained to Debra at Moon in Gemini, I am not a fan of the sobby, tearjerker trope.  However, even one of my books, dedicated to movies for guys, says that Old Yeller is a classic coming of age movie that should not be missed.  I admit it, however, I only recently watched it.  But I read the novel by Fred Gipson when I was a wee lad.  So I knew going in how it ended.

The movie was directed by Robert Stephenson.  You know, I wasn't ALWAYS a director type person. (I am now.  See our Favorite Director Blogathon if you feel the same way).  It was only after I turned 18 that I started paying attention to whose name was listed last in the credits.  But after looking at Stephenson's output as a director, much of it under the Disney logo, I find that some of my most beloved movies of childhood were directed by him:  Blackbeard's Ghost, The Absent-Minded Professor AND Son of Flubber, Bedknobs and Broomsticks,  The Love Bug AND Herbie Rides Again.  He also directed Mary Poppins,  not one of my favorites, but still a classic.

Remarkably, there are only 7 characters in the entire movie (8 if you include Spike, the dog that portrayed the title character).  That's pretty rare in itself, but each of these actors and actresses were pretty good at their craft.  You get Dorothy McGuire as the mother.  She was the veteran, so to speak, having been in movies longer than anyone with the exception of Jeff York (as the neighbor, Mr.  Searcy)  Fess Parker had been around for a few years, but it was Walt Disney who made him a star.  This was an early title role for him (before his famous roles as Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone, for Disney).  Chuck Connors, who had a brief appearance as Mr. Sanderson, the original owner of Old Yeller, had just left a career in baseball (did you know he played both in the MLB and the NBA? I didn't.), and went on to TV fame from here as Lucas McCain on The Rifleman.   Tommy Kirk and Kevin Corcoran got the roles as brothers (and went on to play the same brothers in the sequel to this movie, Savage Sam, as well as playing brothers in a few other Disney movies). While Kirk went on to a career as a star in movies (including a fond favorite of mine as one of the Martians in Mars Needs Women), Corcoran pretty much ended his career as an actor when he left the industry to attend college, but came back and continued to make movies, only this time behind the camera as assistant director in hundreds of TV shows. Rounding out this cast was Beverley Washburn, as Searcy's daughter, Elizabeth.  Washburn says in the features section of my DVD that she was up against nearly every female star of the Mickey Mouse Club and that she was proud the producers honored her with the role.

A note on the film:  The movie poster and the credits feature Fess Parker as one of the stars (in fact, his name appears second in the list of credits), but Parker's character is only on screen for the first 10 and the last 5 minutes of the film.  The stars are really Dorothy McGuire as the mother and Tommy Kirk as the young Travis, as well as Kevin Corcoran as Arliss.

Old Yeller (1957)

Spoiler Alert!  It would be impossible to explain why I classify this movie as a "tearjerker" without revealing the denouement.  So be forewarned.

In Texas, circa post Civil War, Jim (Fess Parker) and his wife, Katie (Dorothy McGuire) are running a farm.  Jim has to leave to help run a conglomerate group of ranchers (which we don't see) run a herd of cattle up to Kansas.  He leaves his oldest boy, Travis (Tommy Kirk), in charge.

The next day a stray dog shows up and creates havoc, scaring the family mule which knocks down several yards of fencing.  Initially, Travis is angry and disgusted with the mongrel, but his brother, Arliss (Kevin Corcoran) takes an immediate liking to the mutt.  Despite Travis' objections, mom allows Arliss to keep the dog.  Named Yeller (or Old Yeller), more because it is yellow than because it makes a yelling noise, the dog does a few things, including stealing a rack of meat hanging on the porch, that puts him on Travis' bad side.

But Arliss is protective of Yeller.  Arliss is a spoiled brat in some respects.  This being Disney, you wouldn't see Arliss taken out to the woodshed, although in real life in the late 1860's, he probably would have visited that locale  several times.



Travis eventually grows to respect Yeller for his bravado and his gusto, and even gets him trained to be a good farm dog.  Along the way Travis eventually grows to love the dog, and so, its not surprising that,  even though initially Yeller is Arliss' dog, Travis comes to consider him his dog.

When Mr. Sanderson (Chuck Connors) appears on the scene to claim his dog (it actually was Sanderson's dog in the first place), Arliss becomes irate and thinks Sanderson is stealing his dog, but this being Disney, instead of going away, Sanderson makes a trade with the boy.  Interestingly enough, at this point, although Travis respects and loves the dog, he is willing to let Sanderson take what is rightfully his.

Travis claims towards the end that Yeller is his dog.  To wit, when Travis and Yeller go hog hunting, Travis accidentally falls from the tree he is in. He is attacked by the wild hogs, and Yeller is seriously hurt by the hogs trying to defend him,  Travis puts Yeller in a safe place and goes to try to get help.  His mother insists that his, Travis', injury is too serious to go out, but Travis defies his mother to go retrieve Yeller.  He insists that he promised the dog he would return, and since it's "my dog", he has to keep his promise.

Later, after Travis is recovering from his attack by the hogs, Elizabeth (Beverley Washburn) tries to give him a puppy, a member of a litter delivered by her dog and fathered by Old Yeller.  But at this point Travis has come to consider Yeller his dog and rejects the puppy, to the disappointment of Elizabeth (who apparently has her own "puppy love" for Travis).  She gives the puppy to Arliss, and Arliss instantly transfers his ownership rights to the puppy.

When Elizabeth and mother are attacked by a rabid wolf, Yeller comes to the rescue.  Travis eventually shoots the wolf, but not before Yeller has been bitten by it.  Mother insists on what has to be done, but Travis' love for the dog makes him refuse to see the truth, until its almost too late.  Yeller does become rabid, and Travis tells his mother that he, Travis, must be the one to shoot the rabid dog, because after all, "Yeller is my dog".  And I defy even the hardest, most cynical person to not get teary-eyed when Travis pulls that trigger.

Papa returns the next day, having been away the entire time that Yeller was a member of the family, and gives Travis some Disneyesque advice on how to cope and continue on.  The movie gives new hope for Travis as it is revealed that the puppy is just as rambunctious and reckless as Yeller was when he first appeared at the farm.  Thus giving an indication that Travis may have a new outlook on life, helping make the puppy a useful farm critter.

Dry your eyes, folks, before attempting to drive home.  And we'll see you next week at the drive-in.

Quiggy