As you may or may not know (or care!) I just recently aquired the graphic novelization of Vic and Blood by Harlan Ellison, with art by Richard Corban. It gets five mushroom clouds.
In 1975 they releised a film adaptation of the book and it had been almost two decades since I saw that one. To give you an idea, I first saw this movie on VHS tape. I only really remembered the freaky 70s kind of stuff with Jason Robards and co.
This one is directed and the screenplay written by L. Q. Jones. I cannot say that I have ever seen anything else he's done...that I know of. He did alright I guess. I have read that there are a lot of people who complain about an over all note of misogyny in the film and I can see that. The origenal story is not misogynistic, but as Mr. Ellison states...Misanthropic. The viewer can see a bit of this too.
In this adaptation, Vic is played by a very young Don Johnson and is said to be 18 in the movie. In the short stories Vic is 15 and although it does not seem that there would be much difference, I think that the dynamic between Vic and the world is different because of his age (in the short stories) because in our world a 15 year old is not really thought of as an adult. Mr. Johnson does a nice job playing Vic, who was portrayed as little more than a savage by Ellison.
They dog they got to play Blood was a nice choice. I was glad they did not get a breed of dog that is thought of as being martial in nature, like a German Sheperd or Mastiff or some such thing. Tim McIntyre did the voice acting for Blood and I thought it sounded about right. The maturity of the voice added a tone of wisdom to Blood that is there in the Novella.
Quilla June Holmes is played by Susanne Benton who was in Catch 22 and a bunch of TV shows. Ms. Benton was an attractive and rather innocent looking young woman who looks like she might be concealing a streak of naughty underneath. And, so she was! Ms. Benton really played up the ambitious and scheming nature of the Quilla June character and I think did quite well.
The sets were cool, lots of desert and abandoned industrial landscapes, but some of these were a bit too clean for my tastes. I understand why, this was not a film with a huge budget and they worked with what they had. I was sorry that they did not have the screamers in the film on screen...but they did at least imply them off camera and that was OK. I just would have liked to have seen some mutant screamers. You know me.
Over all I think that film was a good adaptation. As a side note, in the forward to the Vic and Blood graphic novel, Mr. Ellison states that he liked the movie except for the controversial last line. I do not believe in spoilers, so I am not gonna tell you what that line is. I will only reiterate what Ellison said of the line "VIC DIDN'T TOUCH THE MEAT!"
So, if you like you some Post Apoc cinema, pick this one up and take a look. Its dated to be sure, but it was made in the 70s. Also, Lord Humungous commands that you read the Graphic Novel or at least the Novella...because Harlan Ellison Rocks!
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