Dark Star (1974)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

John Carpenter

Writers:

John Carpenter (original story and screenplay) and
Dan O'Bannon (original story and screenplay)

Release Date:

9 February 1979 (West Germany)

Genre:

Comedy | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

What would you be like after 20 years aboard DARK STAR the spaced-out spaceship. The ultimate cosmic comedy!

Plot:

Low-budget story of four astronauts in deep space, whose mission is to destroy unstable planets in star systems which are to be colonised...

Plot Keywords:

Bomb | Computer | Space | Alien | Spoof

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Brian Narelle	...	Lt. Doolittle
Cal Kuniholm	...	Boiler
Dre Pahich	...	Talby
Dan O'Bannon	...	Sgt. Pinback

Also Known As:

John Carpenter's Dark Star (Australia)

Runtime:

83 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Netherlands:16 | West Germany:6 (f) | Australia:G | Norway:11 | UK:PG | USA:G

Company:

Jack H. Harris Enterprises

Trivia:

The bombs are made from an HO scale piggyback trailer kit and parts of 1/25th scale model car kits; "Matra", the name of the car, can be seen on some parts in some shots.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Pinback says, "Now it's time to go sleepy-bye, you worthless piece of garbage" before shooting the alien, his mouth actually says "worthless piece of crap."

Quotes:

Sgt. Pinback: [Pinback is trying to lure the alien with a rubber toy mouse] Here, boy! Want your mouse? Nice mouse. Pretty toy. Want your mouse? Here, boy.
[Thinks for a second, then loudly eats the mouse]
Sgt. Pinback: Idiot!

Movie Connections:

Spoofs Silent Running (1972)

Soundtrack:

Benson Arizona

The Bizarro 2001

I saw this film as a kid, dismissed it as boring, and moved on. Luckily, fate forced me to see it again about 2 years ago and (some are going to hate me for this) now i consider it second only to Kubrick's 2001:A Space Odyssey. The scope is gigantic, even though we're trapped inside the goofy little ship with these rejects (and they ARE rejects). It is a spoof of man's uninformed view of his place in the universe. It is filled to capacity with malfunctioning technology, illogical solutions to self-inflicted conflicts and a very genuine feeling of the isolation of deep space.

The music (John Carpenter is an innovator in film scoring) is strange and often indistinguishable from the zany noises of the ship's equipment and displays (who would ever create such tortuous bleeps and sirens for EVERY function of a spacecraft designed to house a couple of guys in the outermost regions of the galaxy?). The ship's computer is a perfect contast of Hal9000 (2001) in that SHE seems to understand her crew's dimwitted plight and ,after speaking to them in her programmed monotone, recognizes the need to go back and dumb herself down so that they can function accordingly. It is never explained whether she has assumed a mother-figure role or is simply acting out of self-preservation ,but ,like most of the more thought-provoking elements of this absurdist's fantasy, the viewer is merely given the bare-bones information and allowed to decide for itself.

Maybe all of this implied data caused me to make the movie better in my head than it actually is ,but how many films have you seen lately that can give you that freedom?