THX 1138 (1970)
| THX 1138 (1970) |
| Cast: | Robert Duvall | THX 1138 |
| Donald Pleasence | SEN 5241 | |
| Don Pedro Colley | SRT | |
| Maggie McOmie | LUH 3417 | |
| Ian Wolfe | PTO | |
| Marshall Efron | TWA | |
| Sid Haig | NCH | |
| John Pearce | DWY | |
| Irene Forrest | IMM |
Review By Bret Walker
In this, George Lucas' first film, we are shown a rather bleak depiction of the world as it could be in the future. Lucas shows us a distopic society where computers determine our destiny, mates are chosen at random, sex is outlawed, and the entire population is narcotically sedated. Add to this the fact that the police force in its entirety is completely manned by androids, and you have the recipe for a fatalistic future vision like those that were so popular in the late sixties-early seventies (Soylent Green, A Clockwork Orange, Brave New World).
Robert Duvall is stellar in the title role (men and women have alpha-numeric designations rather than names). His mate is slowly taking him off of his sedatives without his knowledge. His work is slowly deteriorating as a result, and he finds himself falling in love with her. When he finds out what she's been doing, he begs her to let him go back on the sedatives, for fear that he will not be able to perform his job without them. In fact, being off sedation causes him to nearly create a radiation breech in his work area. His life goes from bad to worse in this society as his mind clears and begins to wander to thoughts of freedom. In a daring escape from the subterranean world he has known all his life, he enters the world above ground as the film ends and leaves the audience wondering, will he survive? Will his new found freedom be worth all he has left behind?
This is the movie that predated both Star Wars and American Grafitti for Lucas. It was produced by American Zoetrope studios, then one of the few "indie" film studios of the time, but so great was the faith in Lucas that his mentor, Francis Ford Copolla, was the executive producer of this film. For a first attempt at filmmaking, this is one of the finest debut films that I can think of, in league with American Beauty and Resevoir Dogs. Lucas certainly struts his stuff in a very Kubrick-like fantasy of his own design. Like Star Wars, Lucas wrote THX 1138 himself. And in case you were wondering, yes, it is where the name for Lucas' THX digital mastering came from.
Rating:
Trivia:
Links:
Feedback