Logan's Run (1976)

Okay, show of hands; anyone out there remember '70s science fiction?

Ah-ah-ah...not so fast. Anyone remember '70s science fiction...between 1970 to 1976?

Boy, look at all the hands go back down.

It's not easy, is it? For many sci-fi geeks out there, the modern history of science fiction began with the release (and subsequent pop culture bombardment) of Star Wars (1977), a film rightly regarded as a linchpin for those who measure their space operas on that special barometer as being above it or below it. Of course, nothing is better than Star Wars, so case closed....

"But Star Wars wasn't the best science fiction," others still will say, remembering fondly another linchpin from TV known as 'Star Trek', which debuted a full ten years before George Lucas' baby, and introduced the world to Captain Kirk, Mister Spock, Tribbles and Klingons and so on. See, this was thinking man's sci-fi, which means that it brought logic and human sensibilities into the arena where aliens, spaceships and entire galaxies hold sway.

Ah, but then what happened was there was this shadowy realm in the late '60s and early '70s when definitions for science fiction were up for grabs. Oh sure; there were defining moments along the way like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Silent Running and 'Doctor Who' - but think about what all of these had in common. Like 'Star Trek', they all brought the cerebral, the thoughtful, the "human-interest" into science fiction. There was less Buck Rogers and more Isaac Asimov involved. You had to really concentrate on what was on-screen and take into consideration that there was - of all things - a message to be delivered and a lesson to be learned.

That's certainly what the train of thought was in our subject for today: Logan's Run came out during what was considered by many a long dry period in science fiction, where just that many people didn't care about the genre anymore and the only ones who did still talked in hushed respect about the relevance of Romulans and Harcourt Fenton Mudd in today's society.

The story in Logan's Run was simple enough: a dystopian dome city is populated exclusively by young people who, on their 30th birthday, must go to a ritual known as Carousel, where they are "renewed" in a fiery ceremony, thus stopping overpopulation. This dome city is regularly patrolled by peacekeepers known as Sandmen, who must keep down the Runners, individuals who resist the law to "renew". One of these Sandmen, Logan 5 (Michael York), is forcibly recruited by the thinking computer that rules the city to go undercover as a Runner and find the location called Sanctuary - the paradise all Runners seek outside the confines of the city.

In the process, Logan befriends Jessica 6 (Jenny Agutter), a female Runner and alienates Francis 7 (Richard Jordan) - another Sandman and once his best friend. Now Logan and Jessica literally must run for their lives and seek out Sanctuary, which takes them throughout the dome city and finally to the outside, where they discover an entire world that had been hidden from them and a shocking truth that will shatter all that they ever knew.

Right there is a description that sounds as if it did come from Asimov, or even Robert Heinlein. This is certainly more than a boy, a girl and a whole universe. Many subjects are touched on; the stigmata of aging, the insolence of youth, the cold logic of computer-thinking as compared to the sloppy emotional thought train of man, even the Orwellian topic of a "perfect world" where perfection comes at a price.

Before we get into all that, however, a word about the movie itself.

For many of the literati out there, you may already know that this is a movie based on the book of the same name written in 1967 by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson and, though a few things were changed here and there, the song remained the same. This particular adaptation was made for the screen by David Zelag Goodman, who himself has had quite a legacy in Hollywood, writing such memorable movies as Lovers and Other Strangers, Monte Walsh and Straw Dogs. He acquits himself well herein, adapting the words of a novel into dialogue that doesn't insult the intelligence nor sound as stilted as it could have. Quite a feat for a story that could have become more self-serious than at first intended.

It is to Michael Anderson's credit that his direction is solid and creates distinctive views of a bright colorful world and a darker exterior, both physically and psychologically. Of course, Anderson is most famous for bringing such wartime and Cold War thrillers to life as Yangtse Incident: The Story of H.M.S. Amethyst, Flight from Ashiya, Operation Crossbow and The Quiller Memorandum, not to mention the 1956 film adaptation of (surprise) the George Orwell novel 1984, which makes him the perfect director for a vision of the future where happiness and unending pleasure are covers for a more bleak world view.

The actors make a good impression; York and Agutter are well-suited to the material - even though the story itself is set in a world that is decidedly American in its decadence and conspicuous consumption, it somehow makes sense that the main characters would for the most part have British accents. I don't know why that is, but it oddly fits...even when faced with smaller players that are all-too-obviously American.

I already mentioned Jordan, who essays the betrayed friend/now mortal enemy good enough and yet is made into just another plot device at the whim of the story, but what about the bit-part by Farrah Fawcett-Majors (back when she still had the "-Majors" at the end of her name)? Like everything else in the dome world, she is no more or less than window dressing, contributing nothing to the proceedings than something pretty to look at. But then there's Roscoe Lee Browne (as a boxy robot named, oddly enough, Box), who was actually American but was a man of such precise diction and eloquence that he might as well have been British.

Oh! But then I almost neglected to mention the one factor that keeps Logan's Run from being too stodgy, even for those who don't like stodgy sci-fi - Peter Ustinov: the one actor who could make reading a phonebook high comedy. He plays the one Old Man (that's even how he's billed) in the whole movie, a symbol that there is life after 30, so to speak. And he does his doddering best, speaking in droll witticisms, quoting T.S. Eliot and living with hundreds of cats in an overgrown Senate Chamber in a now-abandoned, vine-covered Washington DC. Bless his heart, he made his scenes highlights, that's for sure.

About the look of the film; it was a good idea to make the dome city look for everything like what hip teens of the '70s would think a utopia would be; all neon lights and togas and hovercrafts and flashing blaster guns and a salon that catered to every whim and consumer need. And that voice...that soothing female computer voice that was heard everywhere inside the city. A comfort and yet a distraction, too. What was behind that voice...? Peace? Tranquility? Or a placid surrender of thought and understanding to the altar of what a supposed utopia will give you for your continued obedience to its rules?

...see what I mean about early-'70s sci-fi? All that thought being provoked and stuff?

After all was said and done, Logan's Run ended up making back almost three times its $9 million budget (not bad for science fiction back then) so it was classified as a hit, but not a blockbuster, even with all the awards it won and/or were nominated for (it went as far as winning a special Oscar for its effects). Oh, it went on to become a short-lived CBS TV series (starring a pre-"Trapper John MD" Gregory Harrison...anyone remember that one?) and had become a staple of many a sci-fi gathering, with people dressed as Sandmen and Runners chasing one another. But as far as becoming the success it could have been....

I think if the film-makers had a time machine and could have seen one year into the future, taking note of the overt success that young upstart George Lucas would have in the same realm (but not in the same psychological arena), they would have closed up shop then and there and just counted their losses. As it was, Logan's Run was quickly and utterly forgotten to make room for Wookiees and Death Stars. Which is a shame, but consider this: Logan's Run laid the groundwork and made the general public more receptive for what was to come. So if anything, Lucas should be grateful that this movie came out when it did; it may have been more of a hard sell for him otherwise.

Crass as it is to think about, dollar signs are what make it in Hollywood, and whether or not a movie is successful doesn't usually matter; whether or not it is feasible to extend the life of a once-popular phenomenon from a profit standpoint is what matters. Accountants make all the real decisions for movies...sad, isn't it? And the plain and simple fact of the matter is that, in view of the mild level of success Logan's Run attained in its initial run (so to say), any plans of a sequel, remake or continuation went by the wayside.

For anyone who grew up in the '70s, though, and had a chance to watch this during its initial showing, they no doubt feel a kindred connection to the youthful inhabitants of the dome city; for a short while, everything was at peace, tranquil...then the outside world intervened and the psychological and thoughtful went the way of exploding planets and screaming spaceships breaking the silence of outer space.

Thinking along the same line, Logan's Run made it to the top of the sci-fi world, too...for a little while. Until utopia became dystopia. Still, a linchpin is a linchpin and, even as the Empire came marching up onto the horizon, the most thoughtful science fiction devotee could comfort themselves with visions of Renewal.

Whether there was Sanctuary or not.