Silent Running (1972) Review
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- Опубліковано 12 лют 2023
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I met Bruce Dern in 2003, filming a local Hallmark movie, before his career got a 2nd wind. Super nice guy, not like the villains he plays, or what you would expect from Hollywood actors. I was working in a video rental store, and he asked me if we had Silent Running, and if I had seen it. He said, "Look at the guy on the cover, that's me!"
One of my all time favorite actors.
The video won't let me do a thumbs up...anyone else having that problem
@@gyllenspetzfamily7993 I'm five hours later... worked fine.
great actor.. tho poor guy got a lot of heat for his character killing John Wayne in the Cowboys
@@cyryc He definitely seemed the most proud of Silent Running and Cowboys. Also proud of his daughter for staring in movies like Jurassic Park and October Sky.
As I am an old fucker I appreciate your taking the time and effort to review these older movies, films I grew up with. These are better by far than anything released nowadays. Thank you.
In that sense it is perhaps ironic that the film industry itself has lost something since those days.
Well said, im also a long i the tooth fornicator and life was soooooooooooo much better without all the woke bullshi*
As an old fucker myself, I totally agree
@@davidgreen6490 Indeed. I've not been to the cinema since 2016. Don't see why I should spend 10 to 15 quid to be yelled at for two hours by an industry that hates me. This does though constitute an interesting commercial loss for them, albeit anecdotal: because I've not frequented their establishments since 2016, neither has by fiance.
In the meantime, if anything does emerge which is worth bothering with, I'm content to wait until it's available on BR in the sales, get it cheap, watch at home on the comfy sofa with gf, 48" TV, surround, no annoying people in a theatre using their stupid phones, misbehaving children/teens everywhere, others constantly going to the loo throughout the screening because they're scoffing so much (loud) food & drink, etc.
I have an old photo album in which I keep every cinema ticket stub I ever had.The peak was the mid 90s. I think it began to decline even when the tickets themselves became boring thin paper receipts rather than a proper ticket that at least looked like it was something special. Bit like what's happening to postage stamps, replaced by boring bar codes.
It's a cliche that one has nostalgia in one's elder years, but I think one can easily make good arguments that some things now are definitely worse. I don't know if cinema will ever be worth considering again, certainly not so long as the woke insanity infests the industry. Long gone are the days when one could go see a dirt cheap 8am promo screening of Con Air, or Raiders in IMAX. Or further back, T2, Jurassic Park, etc.
Meanwhile, I search for hard copies of old films I either like or have never seen but am sure are worthy, sometimes the occasional newer feature too, BR if possible but DVD/VHS if necessary, or laserdisc. Still unopened on BR, for a raindy day, there sits nearby Lawrence of Arabia, Bullitt, The French Connection II, The Raid 2, Thief and Westworld. The latter two I have seen before, but the others not.
The most recent BR film I saw which I thought was ok was Dune; not brilliant, but ok. I would have been content paying to see it on the big screen, but even then, until the cinema experience itself is improved (atm infested with noise, phones, food, kids, etc.), no thanks.
I'm so glad I kept my VHS collection, many have never received modern format releases, likewise I have a number of laserdisc films I've yet to see; some I already have, but the laserdisc editions are so good for various reasons (SW trilogy, T2, The Abyss, etc.)
Movies should be about telling stories, but they've become collectivist propaganda. It's not as if there is a shortage of tales from which to choose, just read any of the works from the "New Writings in SF" series (cheap on ebay, highly recommend them), hundreds of excellent imaginings with which one could intrigue, shock, amaze and delight audiences anew, but the industry doesn't have the guts, it's become largely a sequel/prequel/franchise/reboot/remake dross machine, and sadly our modern Idiocracy-level masses seem conent to lap it up.
To Dave's list of movies to check out I would certainly add, "The Brother From Another Planet".
Not at all. I grew up with them and there are good movies in every decade. You must be real unhappy if you think like that. Stop living in the past.
Wonderful movie. Heart aching moment when he blew up his ship with the malfunctioning droid and leaving the other to solely take care of the dome.
I remember that moment... crying my eyes out. (Got too darn emotionally invested in these things. Kept wondering 'but what happens when the robot gives out or there's a crack in the dome or...')
Yeah, it affected me the same way; just crying when he blows himself up (the heart-beat music as the camera pulls back leading up to the explosion worked very well). The Joan Baez music following it - 'tho' cheesy - also worked well.
Yeah, I always thought he should have left both drones in the dome. Who cares if Huey was able to do much work, he would have atbleast kept Dewey company.... I was 12.
Yay! Dave isn't shitting on his fans like the last video. This guy sold out for a few early release episodes. I'm glad Critical Drinker still has integrity...
Agree
A very underrated film.
Agreed, very underrated film, still good after all these years.
the ability to introduce characters and tell a story with them to its conclusion in 90 minutes is a skill I wish Hollywood would re-learn
Strongly agree.
BION DisneyToons did it quite well, if simplistically, with the Tinkerbell movies. _The Pirate Fairy_ and _Legend of the Neverbeast_ are small precious gems in my book (esp. since I watched them mainly because my children loved them).
This was such a wonderful film and is essentially timeless.
literally a movie that clap's all cheek's
Yes. I think I have seen it several times and it's just as good each time.
I loved this film as a kid when I first saw it. The final scene of the lonesome robot tending the forest as it drifted forever in space was quite poignant for me.
I was surprised you didn't mention the incredible use of paraplegics inside the drones. Rather than depending on stop frame motion to portray these diminutive robots, the use of real actors inside them was innovative and very, very effective. I loved the scene where one tapped the other to get its attention when Lowell entered the room and how they had to operate on him.
Silent Running is a thought provoking and innovative film I still love today.
NOTE: The forest ships in this movie were also seen in the Battlestar Galactica movie and TV show of the late 70's BTW.
The 1932 film Freaks has a man with no legs who walks around on his hands. This is what inspired Douglas Trumbull to use amputee actors as the drones.
I thought they looked a lot like the ships from classic BSG! It makes sense, after filming has wrapped all the props still exist so they get reused in other movies and TV shows. If you ever watched Red Dwarf there's a scene in the first episode of series 6 where they fly through a spaceship graveyard and there's loads of classic ships in it, like the eagles from Space 1999, and a ship from one of the Alien movies.
the droids were a highlight of this movie- very clever way to bring them to life...
The ships were very fragile and pieces were breaking off all the time in shooting
One of my favourite movies from my childhood. I remember watching it on tv one night with my parents, I was already a huge sci-fi geek even at 6 or 7 years of age, lol. Anyway, I just thought it was sci-fi so I would enjoy it, but it was so much more than that and by the end when you see that one little robot floating off on the biodome I started to cry, I felt so sorry for him. Now yes, I was a child, lol, but even now, nearly 50 years on, it still gets me every time I watch it.
Same thing happened to me.
Same here - loved it when I was a wee lass. One of my favourite science fiction movies of all time. I was welling up just listening to Dave talk about it!
Ditto here, too, my friend. 😢
Speaking of little robots in distress. Batteries Not Included would be another lump in your throat one
Have you seen WALL-E? It draws a huge dose of inspirado from Silent Running.
I love SILENT RUNNING. The end scene of the last robot watering the last forest as it drifts off into space, its lights blending with the stars, has remained with me even to this day. Poignant and imaginative.
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A film with an ending so horrifically poignant it never fails to bring tears to my eyes - Probably the best Pure Sci-Fi film of the 1970s.
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I still kind of get misty-eyed when he says "Take good care of Forest, Dewey."
I worked with Bruce Dern on a film called The Artist’s Wife. He was a full of great stories and while most people wanted to hear about Tarantino, I wanted to talk about Silent Running and The Driver.
What about 'The 'Burbs'? He played the best character in that movie. Sort of the "Burt Gummer" of the bunch.
I'll never forget how I cried at the end of the movie when I was a child, watching the robot all alone caring for the forest
Oooo there's a great idea for a video (or series). The first film/ TV moment you remember making you cry. Charlotte's Web. I don't even like spiders..... at all.
I won't either. And then I watched it with my daughter when she was 10 years old, and we held each other and cried together. "Gather your children to your side, in the sun / Tell them all they love must die, tell them why, in the sun."
Saw this on a Sunday afternoon rerun in the nineties when I was a teenager, just expecting a standard scifi romp.
I was amazed how much this film affected me, and how much it stayed with me,. Maybe it's just that I share the perspective of a lonely eccentric, who feels like he's the last idealist in the world.
I loved Lowel's relationship with the two drones, and how oddly enough, he made them more human, giving them names showing grief for Louie when he's destroyed.
The moment when the forest is cut off from the sun, and there are slow shots of the dying trees was gut wrenching, and the final ending of one last robot floating off in space as the custodian of what is left the natural world is such a poignant moment.
Btw, interesting fact, did you know this film inspired the classic comedy series red dwarf? The idea of one lone human, off in space on a huge mining freighter with only robots, holograms and computers for company!
thanks for reviewing such classic scifi films, it's nice to revisit those I've seen, and get recommendations for those I haven't.
Would love to see you do a review for the film Enemy mine, since that's another one which really stayed with me, and which has an especially important message for the times we're living in, ---- real tolerance and heroism.
Silent Running also inspired the themes of WALL-E and the aesthetic of Mystery Science Theater 3000.
Nice idea, enemy mine is a good one.
I saw this movie for the first time when I had moved out of my parents house in 1990 and for the first time in my life lived on my own. I remember feeling a bit depressed about it but then I watched it Silent Running on TV and I felt comforted by it.
I concur... Enemy Mine was very thought provoking. Way better than the outright in-your-face preachy movies of today.
SMEGIN' HELL!
😆
I'll never forget this film. It made such an impact on me as a young person. The ending devastated me! Bruce Dern was brilliant in it.
they used bi-lateral amputee's to work the robots, which is partly why each robot is a slightly different shape to fit the level of disablement of the actors inside...so when you see them moving around the individual inside is walking on there hands, such a great film with an ending that's going to put a lump in your throat and a bad case of Misty eyes... good use of music to to really hit you in the feels..
Yeah. The fact that their are people in the robot suits walking on their hands is remarkable. When the main character is driving and hits one of the robots, Dern's emotions in the scene seem so real!!
This is one of those 70's movies that had the 'hopeless misery' theme. You saw it ALOT in the 70's. TONS of films with horrible downer endings, often for the sake of just beating the protagonists into abject despair.
It's perhaps one of the reasons "The Sting" was lauded so intensely and was a huge success at the box office. Not only was it fantastically written, acted, and produced in every way... but it gave a surprise HAPPY ending!
Yes, it was mostly pessimistic, at best it was gritty realism. Just look at Saturday Night Fever, that great box office success. What a dreary life it portrays. Ten years later we got Moonstruck, also about ordinary people leading ordinary lives, but what a difference.
The 70's were very good at misery; post JFK, Vietnam and Watergate kicking off fed the need for conspiratorial films. I love most of them, but they can be draining.
Also great music.
I have noticed that some of the 60s television and movies also presaged apocalyptic doom for humanity_one notable example is Planet of the Apes co-written by Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling starring yet again Charlton Heston_; by the time the 70s rolled around, virtually every popular science-fiction film had the pessimistic theme until Star Wars - which is arguably more fantastical and even somewhat mythic for sci-fi; an appeal to one's inner child rather than the cynical adult.
These are called "cautionary tales."
My dad was a Landing Signal Officer aboard the Valley Forge during the Korean War. Unfortunately, they didn't succeed in turning the ship into a museum, but they immortalized it with this film. When I watch Bruce Dern in the Vally Forge, I can see my dad. serving on her too.
I recently rewatched SIlent Running. It was just as beautifully sad as I remembered it. Certainly a film of its time, but with a message we can all appreciate to this day.
As a child this film made me so sad, that even 40 years later I have an emotional flashback when I see clips of it.
I remember watching this as a kid, and by the time Joan Baez "Rejoice in the Sun" started, with the last robot tending to the forest garden all alone floating off into space, I was in tears.
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Huey Dewey and Louie made that movie for me. Their interaction with the character Lowell and between themselves. No doubt, George Lucas got his inspiration for R2D2 and C3P0 from that movie. Lucas might has said as much but I don't remember off hand. When Lowell played cards with them 😆
R2 and C3PO were inspired by two characters in The Hidden Fortress.
Silent Running inspired the themes of WALL-E and the aesthetic of Mystery Science Theater 3000.
@@archstanton9073 Character interaction with the story yes but inspiration for C3PO comes from the robot in Metropolis and yes, these guys did inspire R2D2.
When 'Batlestar Galactica' came out, movie and TV series, the look and effects (by John Dykstra, one of the key figures behind ILM and the first 'Star Wars' film), 20th Century Fox tried to sue Universal for copyright infringement, but the lawyers for Universal pointed to the use of little people and amputees inside the Huey, Dewey and Louie suits in 'Silent Running' to counter-claim that Lucas had "stolen" the concept for R2D2, for which, amoung other arguments, the lawsuit was dropped.
@@petergivenbless900 Authoritarian conformist law-mongers are the bane of civilization. One of many banes, that is.
One thing that really made an impact to the mood and plot of this film was the soundtrack by Peter Schickele, with two songs (written by Schickele and Diane Lampert) performed by vocalist Joan Baez: "Silent Running" and "Rejoice in the Sun." Very much of the time, the nature folk flavor tugs on the heart - upping the tension of impending loss and making the lead character even more sympathetic. Haunting and beautiful.
Peter Schickele is perhaps better known for his classical music satires as "PDQ Bach".
@@bernardoconnor1502 Thanks for the heads-up! I love a good parody and this sounds fun. Victor Borge inspired maybe? I have a friend who played a ‘broken’ Claire de Lune that was brilliantly funny. Takes a lot of talent to do a quality parody.
I'm currently learning to play piano. "Rejoice in the Sun" was one of the first songs I learned to play. It's weird and wonderful when your own music makes you tear up and get a lump in your throat.
it's a classic film .. even the ships made a return in Battlestar Galactica
Both versions of Battlestar Galactica
The agro ships of the original Galactica series were reuses of the ships John Dykstra created for Silent Running.
A Bruce Dern classic.
Douglas Trumbull worked on 2001 as one of the main visual effects team, the original 2001 script ,(and the novel ) had the monolith being encountered on a moon of Saturn, Trumbull used a lot of the techniques they'd prepared and used them on Silent Running.
I'm old enough to have seen it when it first came out in the 70s and it never fails to bring a tear to my eye at the end of the film
Douglas Trumbull also worked for NASA during the Apollo era in the 70s. He is highly under recognized.
As a child I did get freaked out slightly by the jettisoning pods (and people being in them), as well as trying not to cry at the robots deaths / suicide / general melancholy. What annoyed me more was I spilt my Coca Cola shouting "plants need the sun!" and being told off by my mum. I get Derns character was going stir crazy but thats day one plant stuff :D
@@readhistory2023 IIRC he had to put them up though after watching the plants die back. But I could be blocking stuff out from the pod trauma though...
I have nothing but admiration for this film. It has its flaws, but overall it impresses me on all levels. Bruce Dern's performance is perfect. Douglas Trumbull was one of cinemas giants. A visionary!
February 13, 2023 - Thanks Mr. Cullen, I was waiting to see your review when you mentioned you would be doing one about this film. This has got to be one of the films that really have made an impression on me over an eighty year lifespan. I have a VHS cassette of Silent running in my film library. I often think about watching it again, but I never seem to be in the mood to watch such a sad and almost depressing film. As pointed out in the comments here. The little robots with human actors that worked inside the robots are wonderful, and I believe one of the video out takes shows the actors, and if I recall correctly, one of them is a woman. The scene where one of the robots has an accident and drifts off into space, is very impactful and sad. From the time I first saw the film, Bruce Dern, and later his daughter Laura, has been a favorite actor of mine. Joan Baez's singing as the film's credits scroll, adds a lot of pathos to it. She also is one of my favorites from my early adult years. I love you Huey, Louie, and Dewey!💖😊
A few things you forgot to mention:
1) The music is by Peter Schickele, the man behind the "P.D.Q. Bach" albums and of the Schickele Mix on Public Radio.
2) This movie heavily inspired the premise of "Mystery Science Theater 3000" with the bejumpsuited working shlub in space who maintains his sanity with a couple of robots.
As for the movie itself, I could never buy the premise that the Earth would decide to not even try to bring back the forests but would indeed opt to intentionally jettison AND NUKE THEM TO BE SURE THEY ARE DEAD!
This was one of the then first 'modern' sci-fi films I had watched. I was a kid then and the themes had not yet permeated my young mind. I did not possess the ability of abstract thinking and couldn't correlate the societal messaging of the time with the messages in the film. I was just more fascinated with the robots and spaceships.
The messaging at the time was global cooling by 1999, the evils of the Vietnam war, the approaching depletion of oil, the impending overpopulation of the Earth, and killer bees. Acid rain, the hole in the ozone layer, and global warming had not yet been the latest raison d’être for those interested groups. We would first move on to heighten nuclear threats from the USSR during the Cold War.
"Silent Running" remains me of how innocent my mind and life were at the time. It still a nostalgic movie from what seems like another reality in my existence.
Great job, Dave.
i like that in this movie the real danger seems to be not caring anymore. We can't lose hope and we can't lose drive
1972 and still speaks volumes today!😮😮
To my knowledge, the film became the inspiration for the song of the same title by Mike+The Mechanics.
“Silent Running” is the first movie I ever remember watching, in 1974 or so. I try to watch it at least once a year. It’s particularly sad if you think about what will happen to that last dome; like the bottle that Freeman threw into the ocean as a child, it will likely be lost or destroyed by entropy, never to be found.
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Bruce Dern was a great actor, especially in this movie, he was very underrated.
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This is one of my favorite films. Great story and great special effects on a shoestring budget.
Thank you Dave. I really enjoy the older film reviews. As I am also older and they bring back memories.
My parents would drag us as children to some really weird and whacky films and this was one of those, the only time I saw it was at the cinema and even though I was only about 5 or 6 at the time it left an impression on me, I didn't even know the name of it until your presentation, but over the years I had always remembered Dern sacrificing himself and the damaged robot to save the last remaining forest pod, it, perhaps, was one of the reasons I love trees and nature so much, even from that young age it spoke to me on a deeper level.
I saw this in the theater with my younger brother. Our mom picked us up afterward. In the car, we both began bawling like babies. It was that final scene with the lone robot tending the garden - that water can - and then the Joan Baez song - - - I confess I still get verklempt thinking about it.
Silent Running(1972) was a huge influence on the 1988 KTMA TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000.
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I loved sci fi as a kid, I am 60 now and still love sci fi. There are some movies that leave a mark on you and you remember always, Silent Running was one of these. I remember lying on the floor and watching this on TV and I was riveted, yes I cried at the end. For me it has always been a warning of what is to come and sadly we still don't heed the message. In general we portray an image of caring about the environment, in reality though we care more about costs and convenience.
Surprised they didn't mention the beautiful song by Joan Baez.
Just today I was reading an article about a carbon credit scheme to do with the rainforests in Papua New Guinea and how it's just a sham, all about the dollars. I thought immediately how typical of the Human Race this is and that we are doomed, we are just too apathetic and self-destructive, we foolishly believe that technology will save us but it isn't the answer. Enjoy what little we have left while it lasts.
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I watched this film many years ago, probably when I was in my 20s. I found it quite disturbing. In the intervening years I have gradually come to realise why it disturbed me. It gave me insights into my own character. I subconsciously questioned myself regarding how I would act in various situations I might encounter in my life and found myself wanting. That hurts, but the pain has motivated me to strive to do better, to be better. Naturally, I don't always succeed, nevertheless it's a great outcome for a piece of art, a piece of entertainment.
That's more courage than most people have, to take character development lessons in a media plot and apply it to your own life. Things like "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington", "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town", the original "The Twilight Zone", and the revival of "The Outer Limits" were made for that - using fiction as philosophical & moral provocation.
Saw this movie when I was 22, left an impression that has stayed with me to this day... I love nature🌲🌳🌴🌷🌻
This is one of those movies where I’d seen the imagery via osmosis, but had never seen the movie or heard much about it. Nobody talked about it during the 80s or 90s when I was younger. I finally saw it a few years ago. Good flick.
One of my favorite films. Really good work. Bruce Dern made a very sympathetic character and you come to understand his viewpoint.
1:22 - A minor correction: the Valley Forge isn't the "primary ship in the fleet," just the one with a story worth telling. The flagship is apparently the Berkshire. That's the ship that keeps giving the Valley Forge crew their orders. It's not even clear who's in charge on the Valley Forge. Keenan comes closest to having an air of leadership, but he doesn't seem to be its captain.
I saw this film as a child in the 70's and it left a lasting impression on me, not many I saw back then that I remember so vividly. Thanks for the review
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It was filmed on the Intrepid in New York harbor. A key point is the movie established you could create small non-verbal robot characters that an audience could relate to.
Hey Dave if I may suggest another dystopian 70s movie for you to review "a boy and his dog"
Marvelous actor. I was a fan of him since his first appearance (at least to me as a kid) on the original Outer Limits (The Zanti Misfits).
Superb Sci-Fi. Apart from the soundtrack... A couple of bars of Joan Baez and you're right back in 1972.
Peter Schickel wrote the sound track, including the songs. For some reason there's a release with an alternate sound track on it. It's pretty cringe, much better with the original.
@@darthagaddadavida9936 I've only heard it with Baez's overly sincere warbling. I didn't realise there was an alternative.
The main instrumental theme, the space fleet, is very good. It plays from the sequence where Dern is looking out the window of the Valley Forge and then pulls back to reveal first the ship and then the rest of the fleet. Was one of the best scenes in the movie.
@@FatNorthernBigot if you never hear it, nothing important will be lost 🙂 My only complaint is the recoding is kind of "mushy", if it were clearer it would sound better.
@@tonygreenfield7820 yes, the orchestral soundtrack is second to none, which makes the hippy dippy durge even more jarring.
Fun Fact: Silent Running was part of the inspiration for the plot of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Check out Joel's original jumpsuit, and hey he's stuck in space all alone with his robot pals.
I saw it when it made it's TV premier. It had a deep effect on me. The droid being inured...not damaged...injured, was horrible. A great example of how to include a 'message' without overriding the entertainment value.
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Always remember watching this as a kid one Sunday afternoon. Great film
One of the first theater movies I watched as a kid. It had a large impact on my view of creation.
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I was actually mad that he wasted a forest dome in order to kill the two lunkheads.
One of the great films from the alumni of 2001:A Space Odyssey. Freeman Lowell was the role model of that age, like Billy Jack, only his power reside in his love for nature and truth. Qualities all but absent today.
Those Space Ship Models are amazing. I would love to see those in person, real works of Art.
I think this movie was so well written & made that it made me feel for the robots, they actually conveyed personality & it was so sad watching two die with Dern, & the last one go off for eternity alone, his only task tending the plants. Noting like that has come close in recent years.
I'm really enjoying these old-school sci-fi reviews. Good work!
Well of course the special effects are good if Douglas Trumbull was directing! The most memorable scenes for me are when Bruce is interacting with the robots. Imagine being alone and only having them to interact with. (Sounds good actually.)
It's definitely a hidden gem. I was surprised the first time I watched it. Wondering why no one ever talks about it. It's hard to find a film that still surprises you throughout the run time. Thanks for sharing this one!
I'm really enjoying all of your recent old classic reviews, I used to watch them every time they were on tv when I grew up. So, thank for your good work and brining back fond memories of a simpler time.
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Thanks for reviewing these old classics - man, I’d forgotten about this one!
Doug Trumbull, what a legend, his work on TMP was fantastic... RIP...
I remember watching this in the early 80s and it left an impact on me as a young child, especially the ending
I saw this movie at the theatre in 1972. I was 9 years old. My father went with me. He hated it because it way too much of a "hippy" movie to him. I personally loved it. Of course the special effects were somewhat amateur but I had an appreciation for the story and theme of the movie. The movie touched me - seeing the lone robot tending to the forest as the dome sailed away into space. I had always been a somewhat sensitive child.
My parents subscribed to the National Geographic magazine and I would read every article and be extremely concerned about what was happening to nature. Going to see Silent Running was one of those formative experiences that influence me to this day.
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My main quibble with the movie involves his struggle to maintain the gardens after he goes rogue. It takes him ages to figure out the mystery of why the plants are all dying. I won't reveal here in case anyone wants to see it, and also because it's embarrassingly stupid. Dern is supposed to be an expert botanist. Anyone who has had grade school biology should have seen the problem instantly.
As I saw it then I was young the last scene with the small robot which takes care of the plants burnt in my mind and make me cry. It was such an impressive movie
I thought it funny when you said that it was not up to "2001" effects when in fact Douglas Trumbull did the effects in both. Kubrick rejected using Saturn as it was in the book because he was not happy with the look of the rings. Trumbull used his ideas in this low budget film instead. This movie made a big impression on my when i was very young sneaking downstairs to watch it in the darkened living room. The robots amazed me and the blowing himself up literally blew my mind the way it was done. The Joan Baez singing really made the mood of the movie for me as well.
Really loving this series your doing Dave bringing back memories of my youth
One of my all-time favorites. Thank you!
I always liked his little robot companions
I saw this film at the theater as a kid. While it makes no sense to move plant life far away from the sun, where it will only receive about 1% as much sunlight, and I don't see how life on Earth could survive with no plants left there, the film is still fun. Now and then it shows up on cable TV.
I've liked this film since seeing it in the 70s as a kid. Bruce Dern was made for this film, he's the perfect wholesome, quiet fanatic bordering on lunacy. It was never the carefree Hippies singing and dancing naked in the fields you had to worry about back then, it was the silent, reserved ones you barely noticed until it was time to mix up the Kool-Aide.
Saw this film with my dad and brother when it came out. Became obsessed with robots and Si-fi. ❤
It's a really, really sad movie. I've seen it a couple of times. Definitely worth watching, just be prepared to cry.
Remember seeing this when it first came out, picked up the reissued DVD a year or so back. Excellent movie.
Silent Running was the first sci-fi film I saw, when it was originally released back in '72. It left a strong impression on little 8 year-old me. Thanks.
I was a young teenager when this came to be on tv, as so this movie was one of the top five or so influential movies of my young life att. It was particularly significant in in me generating çonçerns regarding environmental problems, ethical dilemma, personal responsibility, Bruce Dern, Duglas Trumbal, and more.
Terrific film! Thanks for reminding us of it!
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I loved how they gave the robots a bit of personality such as when they are "cheating" during a game of poker. I cared about the robots. An interesting dichotomy of technology saving nature.
This movie was also a partial inspiration for Mystery Science Theater 3000.
superb film.
One of the first films i saw in a theater (at age 6 i believe). Amazing then and now imo.
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BRILLIANT FILM! I remember watching this as a kid (am 51 now) and was so enthralled with the emptiness of space, the sheer size of the ships and what the story told, so much so that I bawled my eyes out at the end with the little robots Huey, Duey and Louie (?) (one continuing to keep the wildlife on the pods going). I watched it again a year or two a go, and still felt the emotion and awe of the story it told. One of my all time favourites! 👍😏 😎🇬🇧
I love the models used instead of CGI. I hope some of these props were preserved.
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those robots were awesome . as a kid i wanted one so bad . r2d2 was similar i think george lucas said he was inspired by the drones in Silent Running.
Thanks Dave. Another great set of reviews. I was a teenager in the 70's. Loved that Joan Baez song. 2 of the writers on this film were Michael Cimino (The Deer Hunter) and Steven Bocho (tv series Hill St. Blues and NYPD Blues) Looking forward to your take on Star Trek:Picard
Douglas Trumbull who was the chief special effects artist for 2001, was the writer and director of this movie. The original iterations of the script called for Lowell to have the robots paint the Valley Forge black, so to evade visual sighting by the rest of the fleet, where upon it would make contact with an alien vessel. Trumbull scrapped that in favor of the simpler story with it's heavy environmental message. Ironically, in the original script for 2001, the action took place around Saturn, not Jupiter. However in 1968, Trumbull was not confident in making a realistic Saturn. Note that Arthur C. Clarke's novelization of 2001, still takes place near Saturn. Through experimentation with his 'slit scan photography' method, Trumbull was eventually able to create a convincing Saturn, which in turn lead to his writing Silent Running.
The ships models used in Silent Running were so large that they were nearly impossible to keep in focus during effects photography, so each ship was shot 3 times. Once for foreground, once for mid-ground and again for background. The three images were composited in animation along with the star background plates.
As mentioned before in the comments, the robots of Huey, Dewey and Louie were played by amputee Vietnam war vets, who after losing their legs, could walk around on the palms of their hands. You may have noticed that robot 2, has a longer, taller body case than the others.
I remember watching that when I was a kid. Wonderful movie, but very sad. Adored the robots.
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I saw this on telly in the early 1970's. I thought it was stunning. Great film.
I've loved Silent Running since I was a kid in the 70s!
Eco terrorists prefer to be called "love criminals" rather then madmen
One of my favorite films. Great soundtrack.
"Silent Running" aka "The Space Hippy" LOL
Maybe there's a world where we don't have to run and maybe........I saw this when I was kid, first film that ever made me bawl my tiny eyeballs out.
Fun trivia: the soundtrack music was composed by Peter Schickele, who is also known to the world as P.D.Q. Bach.
I'm enjoying these retro reviews. I've given up on going to the cinema these days but have been delving into older movies.
Recently I watched Soylent Green for the first time and was impressed, a well written and well acted self contained movie.
What some of these films lack in SFX they make up for it in the story and acting.
I'd rather watch low-budget Sci-fi if its focus was on the story instead of SFX.
Maybe it's just me but there seems to be a downturn in quality of media sometime around the mid-2010s. I used to love going to the cinema every week but now haven't been in almost 5 years.
Like a lot of commenters below, I also saw SILENT RUNNING as a child. I caught it already in progress while channel surfing on TV and was instantly hooked when I saw the robots. It would be a few years before I found out the title of the movie. In the end when Lowell Freeman blows himself up, I kept thinking, "He had to have escaped. He can't be dead!" The movie also made me take note of the voice of Joan Baez and the film's iconic score. Come to think of it, SILENT RUNNING was the inception of my awareness of environmentalism, movie geekdom, researching films for behind the scenes, science fiction, film FX, spaceships, film scores and other movie trivia.
Sometimes, though, it feels as if our reality is heading towards the fictional world of SILENT RUNNING.