Outland (1981)

Is it fair to say that Sean Connery is a legend? Yes, more than fair, I'd say,

Is it also fair to surmise that directors and screenwriters have been a bit apprehensive at the thought of casting him in anything that wasn't larger than life? After all, this is James Bond here. One does not cast James Bond in just any piece of flotsam.

True, there were no such qualms with Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and that other guy no one seems to remember. Just put 'em in anything, who cares? Moore was in a Spice Girls movie, fercryinoutloud!

But again, we're talking about Sean Connery. Sean. Connery. The only kinds of stories you cast Sean Connery in are larger than life stories. The Man Who Would Be King. The Molly Maguires. Robin and Marian. The Great Train Robbery. Meteor. See? Larger than life. When he comes onscreen, there's a hush; everyone wants to see what he'll do, if that same old Connery spark is still there (which it usually is). Not everyone commands such respect onscreen as he.

And the brogue doesn't hurt, either.

So what was going on in the Eighties? Namely 1981? Well for one thing, Moore was spoofing James Bond (and ticking off Cubby Broccoli) by playing Seymour Goldfarb in The Cannonball Run. Who knows what the guy no one remembers was doing?... And Sean? There was only one place a talent like his could have room to breathe and take flower - and it sure wasn't in the middle of an illegal cross-country race.

Rather, it was in outer space. A whole other planet, even. Jupiter's moon Io (okay, a planetoid.)

Director Peter Hyams, who's worked with other such larger than life characters in his career as James Brolin, Michael Caine, Roy Scheider and Arnold Schwarzenegger, felt it only right that his self-penned story was right to cast Connery in, seeing where not only were the action, the setting and the other characters larger than life, but Connery's own role in the proceedings would have been comparable only to Gary Cooper.

Yes. THAT Gary Cooper.

And yes, I said Io earlier.

Don't worry, it'll all fall together. Let's get this plot out of the way first, though: Federal District Marshal William T. O' Niel has been transferred from Earth to the Con-Am titanium mining outpost 27 located on Jupiter's moon Io. O' Neil is immediately assigned to investigate the violent deaths of several of the miners, only to discover they died of lethal drug overdoses. With no allies aside from local doctor Lazarus (Frances Sternhagen), O'Niel must fend for himself against an uncooperative Io police force beneath him and the hired assassins sent to dispose of him and his meddling in local affairs. Suspecting the outpost's corrupt administrator Sheppard (Brian Doyle) involvements with the drug dealers, O' Niel realizes he must stand alone against the drug dealers as all sides converge against him.

If that sound more than a touch familiar then good job: you've seen High Noon, the movie Western which was a blue print for more than one movie in history. And Hyams was more than happy to crib from this one because not only was the storyline of a put-upon lawman surrounded by opposition a sound one, but...did i mention this all happens in outer space?

Uh-oh. This worked so well as a setting for vampires, Emmanuelle, leprechauns and Leslie Nielsen.

But just hold your lasers there, Tex. This is different in the respect that films like Leprechaun 4: In Space and Emmanuelle in Space only cast mere humans. Outland cast Sean Connery. Sean. Connery. A man who could bring style an class and huge-scale machismo and bravado to a Pepto-Bismol commercial.

High Noon in space? Nothin' to it....

Starting with the script itself: if you've already seen High Noon, there's nothing here that will really surprise you, story-wise. It's not like anyone (even Hyams) is going to go too far afield from something as dependable as this. A little more grit, more effects, more weightlessness and more spacesuits - there you go.

The acting? Straight out of your standard Western. Boyle plays the mining boss as dourly as you'd expect for what is essentially the Frank Miller part. James B. Sikking also plays a role (as he usually does in Hyams' films), here as a security sergeant who knows more than what he's saying. The nicest surprise in Outland is the performance by Sternhagen as the outpost's doctor who turns out to be the only one O'Niel can trust. Sternhagen is a wonderful actress who has turned in great performances in such films as Bright Lights Big City, Misery, Doc Hollywood, Julie and Julia - and in all of them she plays as acerbic and tart as she does here. Every line insists that while she may just spit in your eye at the slightest provocation, she's still a good woman. In Outland, she's fun as a no-nonsense, sarcastic observer along the sidelines who offers advice, encouragement and medical attention when necessary. My only complaint about her is that she didn't get more screen time.

But lest we forget, this is Sean Connery's movie, and he makes his O'Niel as larger than life as only he can. Making no effort to hide that Scottish vocal inflection that is so perfectly him, Connery struts, swaggers, gives orders, runs here and there and takes command. There are even many scenes where every character in a crowded scene falls silent whenever he enters the room and I'll wager a guess that it was as much out of respect for the man himself than a screenwriting conceit.

Outer space geeks will argue about in ineffective portrayal of space here as they have in every movie from the Buck Rogers serials on. Sound doesn't travel in outer space, I know. Bodies do not explode in the vacuum of outer space, I know. Stars do not blink unless seen through an atmosphere, of which Io has none, I know. The shuttle carrying the assassins could not have arrived an hour earlier than its 70-hour trip because of the laws of physics, I know. But certain sacrifices must be made for the effects of drama. After all, such factual errors do not effect our enjoyment of such films as Star Wars or Independence Day, so why should they here? Good grief; loosen your pocket protectors, guys.

Hyams' direction is taut, suspenseful and dramatic, extending from first scene to last. he knows how to frame a face onscreen to use it to its utmost dramatic effect and he also know show to milk the best out of every scene. he'd better - as director AND screenwriter if nothing visually or aurally works, he has few to blame but himself.

In the end, a strange thing happened: this $16 million movie earned back a little over $17 million - meaning that it made its budget back but it did NOT turn into the blockbuster that it should have. THAT, I cannot explain; Outland has everything going for it plus a Sean Connery role that was as good a fit for him as a black tuxedo coupled with a vodka martini. Of course, this being released in 1981, had a lot of competition in the Cinematic Fantasy Race what with other releases like Raiders of the Lost Ark, Superman II, Time Bandits, Escape from New York, Dragonslayer, The Road Warrior (aka: Mad Max 2) and - in a twist of irony - James Bond installment For Your Eyes Only. Oddly, Outland didn't even crack the Top 10 of the high grossers for that year.

Why didn't Outland do any better? Who knows; many reviewers in the day used words like "boring" and "slow" and "predictable" to describe it and apparently warned away enough people to determine its place far in the back row of Eighties Sci-Fi Movie lists. Even today, when someone asks you to mention the best science fiction films of that era, you'll think E.T. The Extraterrestrial, Aliens, The Terminator, RoboCop, Back to the Future, Blade Runner - and Dune might even pass your lips, heathen that you are.

Outland? Prolly not so much.

Anyway, I think it's worth it to watch Outland if not for the story and not even for the setting (or even if you're a High Noon completist), then for the fact this is most likely the only time you're ever going to see Sean Connery kick butt and take names all for truth, justice and the Sean Connery way in a mining outpost on Io.

Then again what did you expect from a bunch of bad guys bringing rifles to a Connery fight?