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Silent Running (1972)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers:
Release Date:
10 March 1972 (USA)
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Tagline:
Amazing companions on an incredible adventure... that journeys beyond imagination! more
Plot:
The loner crew member of a spaceship harbouring Earth's last nature reserves goes renegade when he is...
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| full synopsis
Awards:
1 nomination
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NewsDesk:
(11 articles)
Moon: DVD Review
(From 24FramesPerSecond. 19 November 2009, 12:36 AM, PST)
Moon: DVD Review
(From 24FramesPerSecond. 19 November 2009, 12:36 AM, PST)
(From 24FramesPerSecond. 19 November 2009, 12:36 AM, PST)
Moon: DVD Review
(From 24FramesPerSecond. 19 November 2009, 12:36 AM, PST)
User Comments:
You Can't Blow Up My Forest
more (145 total)
Cast
(Complete credited cast)| Bruce Dern | ... | Freeman Lowell | |
| Cliff Potts | ... | John Keenan | |
| Ron Rifkin | ... | Marty Barker | |
| Jesse Vint | ... | Andy Wolf | |
| Mark Persons | ... | Drone 2 - Huey | |
| Steven Brown | ... | Drone | |
| Cheryl Sparks | ... | Drone 1 - Dewey | |
| Larry Whisenhunt | ... | Drone |
Additional Details
Also Known As:
Running Silent (USA) (working title)
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Parents Guide:
Runtime:
89 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) |
Mono (35 mm prints) (Westrex Recording System)
Certification:
Canada:PG (Ontario) |
Australia:PG |
Norway:12 |
Sweden:15 |
UK:U |
USA:G |
West Germany:12 |
Singapore:PG |
Canada:PG
Filming Locations:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
The dome jettisoning sequences were based on Trumbull's viewing of actual footage of Apollo Saturn V rocket stage separations. The miniatures of the dome couplings were 10 inches in diameter, and were filled with mica and compressed air to get the separation effect Trumbull wanted.
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Goofs:
Continuity: In all the forest domes, entry to the forest is shown to be through a tunnel in the rim of the dome. However, no connection of this kind can be seen in any of the exterior shots of the domes. Moreover, when the domes are jettisoned, the shots of the pylons connecting the domes to the ship reveal barely enough room for the ejection system engines. There does not seem to be any kind of connection which would indicate an access tunnel.
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Quotes:
Freeman Lowell:
[to Huey and Dewey] Poor Louie, God bless him... he's not with us anymore.
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Soundtrack:
Silent Running
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FAQ
Are there people inside the "Drones?"more
more (145 total)
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Universal Studios funded several low-budget productions in the early seventies. By far the best to come out of this program was 'Silent Running', an ecologically-minded 'message film' that stands out today as one of the truly great films of the science-fiction genre.
Bruce Dern stars as Freeman Lowell, a futuristic Park Ranger minding Earth's last forests, sealed in gigantic domes aboard an equally gigantic freighter in space. When ordered to destroy the domes and return home, Lowell is forced to choose between his crewmates and his beloved forests.
The motif of a polluted, or simply, homogenized Earth, the ultimate triumph of human progress over nature and wilderness, is a standard theme of science fiction in the 20th century, and the film is not too different from many other films and episodic television programs seen since the postwar period. Rarely, however, has the theme been explored from the point of view of ecological ethics. The storyline is kept deliberately simple, and asks not the question 'How Would You Act In Such A Position', it merely shows how one particular man might. The characters are given seminal, yet subtle opportunities to flesh themselves out (comments made during meals and card games are particularly noteworthy), and even if the character of Lowell is ultimately dislikeable, he remains oddly sympathetic. Dern produces a remarkable performance here, as a tortured, perhaps even mentally-ill, loner. His work here is still fresh and understated and certainly not of the over-the-top calibre, despite the insistances of some.
The film possesses truly amazing visual images, from the spacecraft itself (the decommissioned and soon-to-be-scrapped aircraft carrier Valley Forge) to the domes (an aircraft hanger at Van Nuys Airport) to the unforgettable Drones, uncanny little robots designed around the amputee-actors that give them life. Visual effects are excellent, the direct prototypes of even more fantastical films to come. The music, composed for the film by Peter Schickele (known internationally as P.D.Q. Bach), is by turns boldly triumphant, softly mournful, and is quite effective; some viewers may hate the vocal work of Joan Baez, but she is a logical choice for this production and time period.
While many films have suffered since the release of 'Star Wars'(which is NOT, strictly speaking, science-fiction) due to dated visuals and obsolete effects technology, 'Silent Running' is still startlingly clean and visionary. A worthy film for all science-fiction fans to see.