This is a pretty unassuming poster considering A Boy and His Dog is one of the top cult films of the 1970s. It was painted by Robert Tanenbaum, a major talent in the realm of American cinema illustration. Based on a novella by Harlan Ellison, and starring a young Don Johnson as well as early Pulp Intl. femme fatale Susanne Benton (who you can see in all her glory here), A Boy and His Dog is a post-apocalyptic tale of desperate survivors wandering radioactive wastelands scratching out a hard fought existence. Mutations have done a number on living creatures, which is why Johnson's co-star is a shaggy telepathic dog named Blood. Man and dog have a symbiosis, with Johnson offering protection, the dog sniffing out food and women, and both profiting companionship.

Sounds goofy, we know, but the telepathic dog bit really works. Blood is irascible, but funny, smart, and warm, while Johnson is a slave to his id and libido. Ultimately, circumstances offer a choice between a dangerous and unpredictable freedom on the wastelands, or a secure but tedious existence in an underground sanctuary. The final question becomes whether conventionality diminishes a man. Playing like a bizarro prequel to The Road Warrior, and ultimately revealing itself to be a barroom joke stretched out to feature length, this is a film we recommend, however be forewarned that Harlan Ellison's post-apocalypse is a tough place for women. A Boy and His Dog premiered in the U.S. today in 1975.

Good news for pulp fans. Norton Records, through its publishing arm Kick Books, is releasing a collection of post-pulp author Harlan Ellison’s early juvenile delinquent fiction. Ellison, many of you already know, made his rep writing some of the most out there sci-fi of the 1960s and 1970s, including 1969’s classic novella “A Boy and His Dog,” 1974’s award winner “The Deathbird,” and 1978’s collection Strange Wine. The new Kick Books collection, entitled Pulling a Train, brings together Ellison’s juvenile delinquent fiction, which he wrote during the late 1950s and early 1960s.

For those unfamiliar with his work, we could cite chapter and verse some of the astounding prose he’s set to paper (“Croatoan,” “All the Birds Come Home To Roost,” “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream”), but instead just consider this: one of his favorite activities over the years has been to sit in a bookstore window beginning at opening time, and by the end of the day have written a complete short story. On a typewriter. And to make the feat more challenging, the premise or first sentence of the story would be supplied to him by a stranger. Yet, at least one of these tales went on to win awards. You can learn a bit more about the unique Ellison and his new collection at the Norton Records/Kick Books website.

Above: a thrilling shot of American actress Susanne Benton, who appeared in numerous films during the late 1960s and into the 1970s, but is a cult favorite because of her turn as Quilla June Holmes in the post-apocalyptic classic A Boy and His Dog. She's seen here in 1970. The "sweet plump knees" subhead, by the way, comes from a well-known Thomas Dewey pulp novel.