L.Q. Jones, star of “The Wild Bunch” and “Battle Cry”, signing copies of A Boy and His Dog
12/21/13 2:00 PM
Dark Delicacies
3512 W Magnolia Blvd,
Burbank, CA 91505
Phone:(818) 556-6660
About the Author
L.Q. Jones (born August 19, 1927) is an American character actor and film director, known particularly for his work in the films of Sam Peckinpah. Jones was born Justus Ellis McQueen in Beaumont in southeastern Texas, the son of Jessie Paralee (née Stephens) and Justice Ellis McQueen, a railroad worker. He made his film debut in Battle Cry in 1955 with Van Heflin, under his birth name. His character was named L.Q. Jones, and when it was suggested to him by film producers that he change his screen name for future pictures, he decided that the name of his debut character would be a memorable one.
Jones appeared in numerous films in the 1960s and 1970s. He became a member of Sam Peckinpah’s stock company of actors, appearing in his Klondike television series (1960–1961), Ride the High Country (1962), Major Dundee (1965), The Wild Bunch (1969), The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970), and Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid (1973). He was frequently cast alongside his close friend, Strother Martin, most memorably in The Wild Bunch. Jones also appeared in television, as recurring characters on such western programs as Cheyenne (1955), Gunsmoke (1955), Laramie, Two Faces West (1960–1961), and twenty-five times on The Virginian (1962) as ranch hand Andy Belden. He was cast once in the syndicated military drama, Men of Annapolis, on the CBS western Johnny Ringo, starring Don Durant, and on the NBC western, Jefferson Drum, starring Jeff Richards. He made two guest appearances on Perry Mason, including the role of con artist and murder victim Charles B. Barnaby in the 1958 episode, “The Case of the Lonely Heiress.”
He directed, was the executive producer, and adapted the screenplay for A Boy and His Dog (1975), with Don Johnson and Jason Robards. Other films include Men in War (1957), The Naked and the Dead (1958), Flaming Star (1960), Cimarron (1960), Hell Is for Heroes (1962), Hang ‘Em High (1968), Stay Away, Joe (1968), The Brotherhood of Satan (1971) (which he co-produced and wrote, and cast Strother Martin again in the lead role), Lone Wolf McQuade (1983), Casino (1995), The Edge (1997), The Mask of Zorro (1998), and A Prairie Home Companion (2006).
Jones also appeared in the Season 4 episode of The A-Team entitled “Cowboy George”.
About the Film
The main character, Vic (Don Johnson), is an 18-year-old boy (15-year-old in the novella), born in and scavenging throughout the wasteland of the former southwestern United States. Vic is most concerned with food and sex; having lost both of his parents, he has no formal education and does not understand ethics or morality. He is accompanied by a well-read, misanthropic, telepathic dog named Blood, who helps him locate women, in return for food. Blood can not forage for himself, due to the same genetic engineering that granted him telepathy. The two steal for a living, evading bands of marauders, berserk androids, and mutants. Blood and Vic have an occasionally antagonistic relationship, though they realize they need each other. Blood wishes to find a legendary promised land, though Vic believes that they must make the best of what they have.
Searching a bunker for a woman for Vic to rape, they find one. However, she has already been severely mutilated and is on the verge of death. Vic displays no pity, and is merely angered by the “wastefulness” of such an act as well as disgusted by the thought of satisfying his urges with a woman in such a condition. They move on, only to find slavers excavating another bunker. Vic steals several cans of food from them, using them to barter for goods in a nearby settlement.
Blood claims to smell a woman, and the pair track her to a large underground warehouse. There, they meet Quilla June Holmes (Susanne Benton), the scheming and seductive teenage girl from “Downunder,” a society located in a large underground vault. Unknown to the pair, Quilla’s father, Lou Craddock (Jason Robards), had sent her above ground to “recruit” surface dwellers. Blood takes an instant disliking to her, but Vic ignores him. After Vic saves Quilla from raiders and mutants, they have repeated sex. Eventually, though, Quilla takes off secretly to return to her underground society. Vic, enticed by the thought of women and sex, follows her, despite Blood’s warnings. Blood remains at the portal on the surface.
Downunder has an artificial biosphere, complete with forests and underground cities, one of which, named Topeka, after the ruins of the city it lies beneath, is fashioned in a surreal mockery of 1950s rural innocence. Topeka meets its need for exogamous reproduction by electroejaculation and artificial insemination, yet needs more donors. Anybody who refuses to comply or otherwise defies the committee is sent off to “the farm” and never seen again. Vic is at first elated to learn of his value as a “stud,” but this initial enthusiasm quickly turns to horror. Vic is told that when his sperm has been used to impregnate 35 women, he will be sent to “the farm.” (In the novella, Vic is expected to impregnate the female population normally.) Vic uses the fact that Quilla’s father secretly desires sex with her as a distraction, incapacitating him, so that they can escape.
Quilla, however, wants Vic to kill the committee members and their android enforcer, Michael (Hal Baylor), so she can usurp power, though Vic has no interest in politics or remaining underground. Nevertheless, the rebellion is quashed by Michael, who crushes the heads of Quilla’s co-conspirators, before Vic can disable him. Overhearing her father order her death, Quilla proclaims her love for Vic and decides to escape to the surface with him. On the surface, Vic and Quilla discover Blood is starving and near death. Knowing he will never survive without Blood’s guidance, Vic faces a difficult situation, and it is implied that he kills his new love and cooks her to save Blood. The novella ends with Vic remembering her question as Blood eats: “Do you know what love is?” and he concludes, “Sure I know. A boy loves his dog.” In the film, Blood compliments her judgment, while making a pun about her having poor taste, causing both to laugh. His film is available to purchase here on Amazon!
