By Matt for the TIB Network:
Tonight's film is the 1976 classic, Logan's Run.Tagline: "Welcome to the 23rd Century. A perfect world of total pleasure, With just one catch..."
Plotline: ...and what a catch it is. As Robert puts it, "Life is great. There are babes everywhere; but when you turn thirty, secret police hunt you down and shoot you!" You see, in this post-apocalyptic world gone mad, a computer runs the domed city you live in and it can only sustain so many people for so much time...
Speaking of the city...
Nice models, eh?
Speaking of models...Farrah Fawcett-Majors makes an appearance in this one...
It's not her finest moment... She plays a "nurse" in what passes for a plastic surgeon's office in the city.
But, we're getting ahead of ourselves.
Here are the two stars of this flick...
That's right...on the left we have Dune's Duncan Idaho (Richard Jordan) and on the right we have Austin Powers' Basil (Michael York). York plays the title character and Jordan plays his sidekick friend and ultimately his nemesis, Francis.
Back to the story...
When you turn thirty, you can chose to take part in the "fiery ritual of Carousel" and have the chance to be "renewed" or you can Run. When you Run, that's where the Sandmen, like Logan and Francis, come in...their job in the domed city is to terminate Runners.
The fiery ritual of Carousel.
After a long day of hunting Runners and witnessing Carousels, Logan calls up a mate and gets the lovely Jessica (Jenny Agutter, of MI-5/Spooks "fame")
After meeting Jessica, Logan gets the mission to seek out Sanctuary after being told that in fact no one has been renewed and there are over a thousand unaccounted for Runners. Jessica is the key to Logan's Run...and run they do.
After getting past Sandmen, Gate Keepers, and an evil robot named Box, Logan and Jessica meet the Old Man (Peter Ustinov).
After much debate, and a fight to the death with his best friend, Logan decides that he and Jessica should return to the City with the Old Man and tell the truth about the real world.
Right about now, you're thinking, "Okay, so where is the obligatory Star Trek reference." There are two...as mentioned previously, Richard Jordan was in Dune with ST:TNG's Patrick Stewart. And the score for this film is by none other than Mr. Jerry Goldsmith, Star Trek's most prolific and beloved composer (behind Alex Courage, of course).
While the film looks terribly dated by today's standards, it was great sci-fi cinema at the time. Out of all the films in my collection, this is the one I'd like to see re-made because while it is a classic on its own, I could do without the 70's fashion sense. And while I love Goldsmith's work, this score has to be one of the worst I've heard from him.
