“Silent Running” 1972 Universal
Bruce Dern, Cliff Potts, Cheryl Sparks & Mark Persons
“Lost My Stub” review 14 Feb 2012 (MZ: #E-5)
Welcome back Fans,
As it is the new year, and we have had unseasonably warm weather and still people are in denial about global warming, I thought I would cover an old environmental favorite film of mine. Unfortunately I am old enough to remember the first Eco craze of the early 70s. When the colour scheme was avocado green & harvest gold for about 3 years.
I saw this as a kid and moved me even back then. In the future American Airlines had built 3 spaceships, The Valley Forge, the Berkshire & one other, to hold all the last natural environments on earth. Freeman Lowell is the only Astronaut left that cares about the last remaining forests, trees, gardens & the animals that occupy them. The earth (clearly run by Republicans) decides it is no longer “Cost Effective” to maintain the last of the earth’s natural environments. (much like when the Republicans denounced Alien lifeforms because “There is NO financial gain in space travel”). So the crew begins to explode the the Eco- domes, and Lowell snaps, he ends up killing his ship mates in order to save the the very last Eco- dome containing the forest which he loves.
Losing himself and the ship in space Lowell becomes lonely and reprograms the maintenance drones in order to keep himself company. An awesome performance from the actors in the drones as they bring personalities to these robots without faces. In the end I personally feel Lowell’s guilt over comes him and brings us to the ending of the film. There are 2 fantastic songs performed by Joan Baez (who I met many years ago and have a great story about this meeting) “Rejoice in the Sun” & “Silent Running” So if you are remotely concerned about the planet we All Live On, this film is worth watching at least once, especially if you have children….
Until the next installment….
Happy 2012, MrZero
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