Silent Running

Takes The Lorax to new heights and lows. Watch it quit wasting time.

Even though this movie came out before I was born, I still think that it can be considered a sci-fi classic. This movie is definitely an underrated sci-fi film.

What a piece of crap. I can’t believe the numbers of folks who gave it 5 stars.

This movie is NOT a warning about “Global Warming.” It’s premise is about systemic destruction of the natural environment, which is happening steadily whether human activity is causing the climate to change or not. The global climate may be stable or not, but human activity is still destroying the environment at the regional level. THAT is the warning, and THAT should be the bigger concern today. This polarized fixation on global climate change is causing “real” regional environmental problem to take a back seat. So, don’t avoid this movie because some customer reviews make it sound like a 1970’s primer on global warming; it’s not... As with any good “morality” sci-fi story, it takes a social issue and describes an extreme “what if” scenario. In this case, the only remaining examples of Earth’s nature are on a fleet of spaceships at the edge of the solar system, ready to “re-seed” the Earth when ordered. One crew member cares deeply about this mission; the rest don’t care at all, and just want to go home to their now “synthetic” Earth. This story is equally (perhaps MORE) relevant today, with a bit of tweaking. This movie is from the early 1970’s so there is no “CGI.” Special effects are done with models and matte paintings. And done quite well. Some of the spaceship effects shots were later reused in other sci-fi projects, like Battlestar Galactica (original). Interestingly, CGI versions of those shots were then re-created for the reboot Battlestar Galactica of the 2000’s. What “steals the show” are the robots, designed to maintain the spaceship. They are the most original and clever elements of this movie. They are unlike anything seen before, and no one else since this movie (as far as I know) has done robots in quite this way. The are “industrial” in design, yet endearing. Better than R2 and 3PO. The music by Peter Schickele is also quite original and enjoyable. I have the vinyl LP of the score, which I digitized into my iTunes library and onto my iPod.

Contrary to some reviewers this movie has nothing to do with global warming. Back then no one had ever heard of global warming but were afraid we were destroying nature an that it had no room in our lives. Bruce Dern was fabulous and for the time period this movie was amazing and prophetic.

I found reading the other reviews for this film fascinating because so many bring their present knowledge to it, while having no knowledge of what was going on at the time it was made. Comparing the special affects of today to the affects used in this film seems ridiculous to me. There was no CGI back then. Calling it head of its time because of its message is also ridiculous. The late 60's, early 70's was the beginning of the environmental movement. i remember my parents being members of Citizens for Conservation. My Mom and Dad stuffed envelopes for them. Their mascot was a raccoon and my Mom wore the costume in a parade once. So, the message was very much in keeping with a major movement of the time period. I would say it's more that so many ignored this message at the time and most people have forgotten we had this understanding so long ago. We definitely see shades of Star Wars here in the drones. R2D2 wasn't much of a stretch from these guys. I saw this movie in a double feature with Andromeda Strain. We'd gone to see Andromeda and this movie was just a bonus. While they were both good films, at 9 years old, i liked this one better. i remember finding it on TV in my late teens and watching it many more times. The Joan Baez music is pretty cheesey 70's fare, but the rest of the movie was top notch in my view. But it was very much a downer. This will always be one of my favorite SF films.

Seeing this film as a child in the early 1970's, it intrigued and confused me. I also found it fascinating. Watching the film now, it has a charming, naive quality, but still holds up relatively well. The toy-like spaceships passing through the "gaseous" psychedelic rings of Saturn, the human operated robots with dryer vent tubing legs and the train set forests under plastic geodesic domes all limit the success of this film when seen from the prespective of present day. After the advances in special effect technoloy seen in the Star Wars trilogies or the latest Star Trek adventure, it would be impossible not to find humor in some of the special effects in this film, though they were relatively advanced for their time. As well, I don't think it's appropriate to look at the film's message through the argumentative lens of today's viewpoints on global warming, a term non-existant when this film was made. Back then, people were simply concerned with preserving nature, and the film reflects that concern. To me, the more interesting aspect of this film is the psychological narrative of a man's spiraling descent into madness brought about by the desire to preserve the world's last remaining forests, the lack of understanding and ill treatment by his fellow astronauts and ultimately, the lonliness of space. Bruce Dern did an excellent job in acting for this role. His portrayal is still unsettling to watch, even as he moves through the 70's era sets of plastic furniture and typewriter keyboards. With today's technology, a remake of this film could be a true dark and stunning masterpiece, yet keeping it in context of the time in which it was made, the original still stands as a film worthy of consideration.

If for no other reason, the sound track to this movie makes the film entirely five-stars worth it. Peter Schickele (aka P.D.Q. Bach) wrote a wonderful score to this film, movingly sung by Joan Baez. For a 70's movie this one is entertaining at least and perhaps prophetic, although there is a lot of anti-corporation sentiment, feel-good save-the-environment propaganda. Just look past all of that, and if global warming had been trendy then, it certainly would have been worked into the story. Nevermind. It's a good story, well done. It has timeless qualities.

Great movie. You can really see the beginnings of the Global Warming Religion in this flick.

Since Global Warming caused by humans has been thoroughly debunked, this movie should be tossed, not just because it is a bad movie but the premise is lacking.