Deathsport

Roger Corman tried to create a sequel to his moderately successful Death Race 2000 (’75) with Deathsport (DS) The setting was also in the dystopian post-apocalyptic future and featured gladiatorial-style combat via vehicles. This time, however, it was dirt bikes. David Carradine stars, Claudia Jennings co-stars. A dozen or so Yamaha dirt bikes, dressed up with welded aluminum faces also co-star as the over-hyped “death machines”. DS had several writers and several directors, and it shows. SEE many things explode. HEAR the stars speak in psuedo-zen aphorisms. MARVEL at mighty dirt bikes! But, be patient.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A thousand years after the neutron wars, the world is divided up into city states. Between them lies desert wastes call The Range. Kaz Oshay (Carradine) is a Range Guide — a sort of High Plains Drifer cum Jedi knight. Deneer (Jennings) is a female Range Guide. The ruler of the city state of Helix has his men capture Kaz and Deneer so he can have men on his much-vaunted Death Machines (dirt bikes) kill the Guides in gladiatorial combat. This, to prove to the people of Helix that he has a super weapon so they can win a war against another city state, Tritan. Lord Zirpola also has a brain tumor and is going off the rails. After much pointless footage, the dirt bike battle begins, but Kaz and Deneer not only prevail, they escape. Ankar Moor, Zirpola’s dressed-in-black lieutenant, purses them with still more dirt bikes. After a long chase with lots of dash-cam footage from the dirt bike’s POV, there are some battles and skirmishes. Kaz and Deneer detour to save a little girl taken by mutants. While Deneer and the girl press on to the city of Tritan, Kaz and Ankor have their much-hyped duel with glass swords. Ankor loses his head. Deneer comes to Kaz with some horses, they ride off into the sunset. The End,

Why is this movie fun?
If one is fond of seeing fireball special effects, and things blowing up, DS will be an entertaining film. Quite a few times, things blow up for no apparent good reason. The dialogue is unintentionally funny.

Cultural Connection
Nightmare to Fantasy — As lame a movie as DS is, it is still one of the early examples the shift in how the culture viewed the nuclear apocalypse. Instead of being seen as a terrible fate, the apocalypse would wipe away the old world (which prior generations controlled) and usher in a new blank slate in which the young, buff and beautiful could live idyllic lives. Fantasy notions of stone age, or medieval life could mix with technology. This proved to be a popular formula for films in the 80s (think Mad Max and variants), as the late Boomers, eary-GenXers could fantasize about romantic simplicity, yet still have their techno-toys.

Notes
Conan and the Dirt Bike — As befitting the fantasy mix of old and new, the hero (Carradine) runs around in a fur-hooded cape (for warmth?) and a loin cloth. He carries a big glass sword (a “whistler”), and gets to woo the beautiful blond in a leather bikini (and a matching glass sword). YET, he also gets to tear up the desert on a dirt bike, doing jumps and tricks AND see lots of stuff blow up. DS is a Chex Party Mix of adolescent male fantasies.

Film Fads — There must have been something in the water in the late 70s. This is the third film — almost in a row — in which there were (1) many fireball explosions filmed from multiple angles and played back numerous times, and (2) rolling rubber heads. Did someone publish a study in the mid 70s that said audiences wanted to see rubber heads rolling around? Melting Man, Fury and now DS all had rubber heads rolling around.

Fireball Fun — Roger George is credited with the pyrotechnics. He and the aluminum welder appear to have gotten the bulk of the budget. Watch for how many dirt bikes blow up and go sailing into the air. Watch for the chase through the fuel factory. It is a pointless scene as far as the plot goes, but it allows George the opportunity to burn many things and stage several explosions. The multiple oil barrels set must have been a favorite.

Weapons of Mass Indifference — Perhaps the writer and/or directors had a fascination for dirt bikes which transcended reality. How else to explain mere dirt bikes as supposedly terrifying and war-winning “Death Machines”? The dozen or so Yamaha bikes were dressed up with some welded aluminum face plates and some add-on tubes. They were overdubbed to make sounds like Imperial tie-fighters so they did not sound like a pack of angry chainsaws. But, as a terror weapon, the dirt bike fails miserably. If a rock or a patch of sand can stop your Death Machine, how terrible is it, really? Audiences were unimpressed too.

Type 2 Sequel — Roger Corman produced DS, and appears to have been trying to find out just how cheaply a film could be produced. DS is fashioned as a sequel to Death Race 2000, though not as a Type 1 sequel. The storyline or characters of DS do not continue that of DR2K. Instead, DS is a repeat of the formula in a new place, with new characters and subtle tweaks. It is another motorized sport-to-the-death imposed by a tyrant in a post-apocalyptic world.

If You Can’t Be Good, Get Naked — Corman must have seen that DS was turning out to be a milk toast film. In a flagrant attempt to boost ticket sales he inserts two scenes of full-frontal nudity. The first is with Jennings. (the torture by string lights scene). He repeats this, for little good reason, with a second young woman who dances erotically for Lord Zirpola. Corman knew his flim was no good, so his only hope was to include naked women. Even that was not sufficient to save DS.

No Third Film — Plans were, for there to be a third film in the “Death” series — DeathWorld. This third film was abandoned when DS turned out to be a box-office dud. Perhaps one could justify a third film on the grounds that it simply had to be better, but this logic may not have wooed funding.

Bottom line? DS is a very poor film. The writing is insipid. The directing testifies that all three directors did not quite know what sort of film they were making. Carradine is bland as Conan the Dirt Biker. Jennings is okay. Lynch is at least a melodramatic villain (in his Goth black with studs). There are fans of the post-apocalyptic fantasy world genre. They might be amused with DS as an early example. Other viewers may find boredom or annoyance in lieu of amusement.

Futureworld

The sequel to Westworld (’73), Futureworld (FW) tried to be more ambitious in scope. FW is somewhere between a Type 1 and Type 2 Sequel, in that it continues the timeline from the first film, but almost amounts to a remake of the original concept. Almost, but not quite. Michael Crichton, writer of the first film, did not create the screenplay for FW. It was written by Mayo Simon and George Schenck. The only character to continue the story is Yul Brynner’s Gunslinger, but this is only in a dream sequence. In reality, it’s an all-new cast. Peter Fonda stars as Chuck Browning, newspaper reporter. He wasn’t in the first film, but is said to be the reporter that broke the WW story. Blythe Danner co-stars as a television reporter and former fling of Chuck’s. Samuel Z. Arkoff is more known for his low-budget work, but FW is a fairly lavish production for an AIP film.

Quick Movie Synopsis
A man named Ron wins a vacation at Delos on a game show. Newspaper reporter Chuck Browning (Fonda) and television reporter Tracy Ballard (Danner) are invited by Delos management to thoroughly check out Delos to prove that all is well. Chuck, however, gets an anonymous tip that something is wrong. They arrive at Delos, with the insufferable hick, Ron (who is obsessed with having sex with robots). Chuck notices that many of the guests are important people in the world. Chuck, Tracy and the insufferable Ron all go to Futureworld. Through various views, it is hinted that the Delos staff are collecting data on the various notables. Chuck and Tracy sneak out at night to snoop. They inadvertently activate a materializer (?) that creates four samurai. These chase Chuck and Terry, but eventually, all four are “killed”. They find Harry (Stuart Margolin) in the wet basements where robots are not allowed. They ask Harry about Frenchy and the secrets, but Dr. Schneider (head Delos scientist) and a security team interrupt. The next day, Duffy (Arthur Hill) shows Chuck and Terry the Delos mind reader/recorder device. They hook up Tracy. She dreams about the Gunslinger pursuing her, saving her from a sinister surgical crew, then much kissing. Later than night, Chuck and Tracy sneak back to Harry, who offers to take them to a secret lab. In that lab, they see their own clones being uploaded all their mental content. The three agree to flee Delos immediately. Duffy tries to stop Chuck, but Tracy shoots him. Duffy was a robot. Harry is killed by Chuck’s clone. Tracy comes face to face with her own clone. One of them is killed. Chuck is chased by his clone. After a protracted struggle, one of the Chuck’s falls from a high catwalk. The two meet later, embrace and kiss. Crossfade to the departure concourse. Chuck and Tracy are asked by a skeptical Dr. Schneider if they had a good visit. Both talk flatteringly of Delos, so are allowed to leave. Just as they get to the doors, the evil clone Tracy drags her bloody self up to Dr. Schneider. Chuck flips off the doctor and the two get happily aboard their plane to freedom. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
The trope of takeovers is a classic in sci-fi, so it is fun to see it in action again. The plot has less fast-action than WW, but it has more subtexts to muse over.

Cultural Connection
70s Angst Soup — The 70s were rife with technophobia. The 70s were also a time of rising distrust in authority. Technophobia is as old as the Luddites, of course, but the rise of massive computers tended to strike the public (generally) and maybe not such a good thing. Kubrick’s Hal 9000 and Forbin’s Colossus are prime examples of worries about too-smart machines taking over (or at least trying to). The public was coming to see their government as perhaps more villain than savior. Films like Andromeda Strain (’71) and Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler (’71) and others, catered to that angst that freedom was illusory, as actual control is by some sinister powerful group (government if you’re on the right, big corporations, if you’re on the left). FW combines these very-70s angsts.

Notes
Technophobia -- FW continued the technophobic theme of the first film, complete with foolishly-trusting public who are too eager to embrace (literally) the technology. There is a social commentary in this. The ignorant public can be too willing to accept a massive technology if it promises them something they want. Nevermind anything noble like food to feed the poor, or robots to take over the menial work. Sex. That's what the public want. With that bait on the hook, the public willingly bite. The robots (in this case, the staff of Delos) go about replacing humans.

Dangers of Cloning -- Where even the advanced model robots, "the 700s" were still electro-mechanical, the real breakthrough was bio-engineering. The duplicates were crafted from biological material, fashioned to look and sound just like their human model. They even got their human model's mind contents uploaded via the brain scanner (dream machine). They are identical, except for the independent free will (to rebel against their master, Dr. Schneider.) This subtext is closely akin to the classic angst in Invasion of the Body Snatchers ('56) -- personable free humans being replaced by look-alike drones.

R.U.R. Revisited -- The biologically manufactured humans is a trope that goes back to 1920. That was when Karel Capek wrote his play: "R.U.R. Rossum's Universal Robots". This, by the way, is where the world got the word "robot." Capek's manufactured worker drones were made of synthetic organic material -- not electro-mechanical men. With the Delos plan to replace humans with the bio-copies, there is even a bit of Capek's story thread -- that humans eventually dwindle away, replaced with the bio-bots.

Pointless Materializing? -- There is an odd plot jump half way through the film. When Chuck and Tracy are snooping around, they manage to turn on a machine which makes four samurai robots (the mechanical kind) materialize inside a chamber. This was all very Star Trek-like, but a strange non sequetur. Everywhere else, the robots are being assembled and/or repaired by hand. Wires, transistors, screws, panels. Why bother, if the robots can just be "beamed" into existence so quickly? Perhaps the instant 3D printing method was still in R&D and did not have the kinks worked out yet. After all, the samurai were mindless killing machines. Not good for the guests.

Love Knows -- As with so many humans-being-replaced movies, it is assumed that only the REAL human can show love. This, the writers and audiences like to think, is the one essence of real humanity that cannot be replicated. Somehow, with their big kiss after disptaching their clones, Chuck and Tracy were able to "feel" whatever spark of love from the other as visceral proof that the other was not their clone.

TechnoLonely -- In the Harry Croft character, there is a glimpse of the future of mankind under the reign of the robots. He is a model of the "last man on earth" trope. The world above belongs to the robots. His only companion is a mute 400 Series robot Harry named Clark, which he only has because he salvaged him from a scrap bin and fixed him up -- most of the way. Harry talks to Clark just like he was a human companion, and even feels sad leaving him -- a bit like Tom Hanks lamenting the loss of Wilson.

Bottom line? FW is an "okay" sequel. It is not as simple and action-based as Crichton's original story. The additional subtexts (while interesting), tend to dilute the experience into more of a muddle. There is also very little tension or surprise (we all know the Delos experience will go bad). Only the twist at the end has some power. Who died, the clones or the humans? FW is a passable enough film on its own. It just had a hard time living up to the first film.

Logan's Run

MGM released in the summer of 1976, a major sci-fi film: Logan’s Run (LR). It was an A-grade effort and might have been seen as the landmark film for the 70s, had not Star Wars eclipsed it. LR is dystopia and youth-centrism and mod sets/locations, long hair for guys, feathery big hair for the girls. LR is still the pinnacle of 70s sci-fi in many ways that a galaxy far far away is not. Michael York stars as Logan 5. Jennifer Agutter stars as Jessica 6. Peter Ustinov stars as The Old Man. Watch for Farrah Fawcett in a minor role as the lovely medical assistant.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Text on screen sets up the story. “Sometime in the 23rd century, the survivors of war, overpopulation and pollution are living in a great domed city, sealed away from the forgotten world outside. Here, in an ecologically balanced world, mankind lives only for pleasure, freed by the servo-mechanisms which provide everything. There’s just one catch: Life must end at thirty unless reborn in the fiery ritual of carrousel.” Logan 5 is a Sandman. His job is to track down “runners” — people who turned 30, but do not report for fiery death in the carrousel ritual. He and his co-worker, Francis 7, run down and kill a man who skipped the last ritual. Logan meets Jessica 6, who refuses his advances. Later at Sandman HQ, Logan turns in the personal effects of the runner they terminated. This includes a metal Ankh. The computer (that runs the city) gives Logan a special assignment, to find Sanctuary (where the thousand or so escaped runners are supposed to have gotten to.) By avoiding Logan’s questions about carrousel, he figures out that no one gets “renewed”. Everyone dies at 30. The computer advances his LifeClock (crystal in his left palm) such that it’s now Logan’s LastDay. He must become a runner. Logan seeks out Jessica (since she wears an Ankh). She and her underground railroad friends do not trust Logan and plan to kill him. Logan spares a runner, which wins over Jessica. They continue to escape the city, but are pursued by Francis 7, who thinks Logan is a real runner. Logan and Jessica get out of the city via an elevator to a frozen series of tunnels and chambers. There they meet Box, a robot whose job was to freeze-preserve food. Box has suffered a programming error and frozen/preserved those 1059 runners. None had really escaped. Logan fights Box and wins. He and Jessica escape amid mild cave-ins. They emerge outdoors to see a sunrise, but have no idea what the sun is. They follow a ruined highway to a forest-overgrown Washington DC. In the vine-entangled Senate chamber, they meet The Old Man. He is a kindly, but dottery old man who doesn’t know much. He’s seen no other people for many years, and knows nothing of Sanctuary. Francis followed them there. He and Logan fight to the death, which means Francis’. Logan decides that since there is no Sanctuary, they must return to the domed city and liberate everyone from the fiery doom. They take The Old Man with them, but he can’t swim through the seawater intake ports, so just waits. Inside the city, the people won’t listen to Logan or Jessica. They are captured by Sandmen. The computer interrogates Logan. When his holographic ‘surrogate’ (truth serum-ish) says there is no Sanctuary, the computer suffers a system collapse. In the mayhem of sparks, Logan and Jessica escape. The city starts to explode and burn. People scream and flee. Finally, a wave of young refugees come across The Old Man, fascinated by his white hair and beard. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
LR is fun on a few different levels. For one, the look and feel as so totally 70s. Even the themes are clearly the spawn of 70s points-of-view. Then too, there are many metaphors and analogies which give the story much depth as a social commentary. Add to all that, the performances of York and Agutter are fine. Agutter is particularly easy on the eyes. Ustinov is amusing.

Cultural Connection
The Cult of Youth — Nolan’s story was written back in the mid 60s when America was experiencing a massive shift into the worship of youth. “Don’t trust anyone over 30.” Films like Wild in the Streets (’68) and Gassss (’70) were based on the same premise that only the young would somehow be left to rule the world. Old people would be banished or eliminated. Thus was the arrogance of youth given expression in film. If they ruled the world…it wouldn’t actually be any better. Youthful utopia is never attained.

Notes
Based on the Book — William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson wrote the novel “Logan’s Run” in 1967. There were plans to produce a movie shortly afterward, though this ran into delays. They penned a script which followed their book, but the producers balked at the projected expenses. The book’s scenes would have required several expensive sets (such as the colony on Mars segment). David Zelag Goodman's screenplay made several revisions, while maintaining the basic premise. In the book, people were terminated when they turned 21, not 30. They were terminated in a Sleep Room, which makes the job title of Sandman more of logical. Logan 3 (not 5) still escapes with Jessica 6, but they eventually do find Sanctuary. This happens to be a colony on Mars. Francis, in the book, turns out to be a key leader in the Underground. Goodman's story is different in key features, but may actually be a better story.

Carrousel — As mentioned above, the book had people terminated via a lethal injection in the Sleep Rooms. As the production of LR was delayed, MGM’s Soylent Green was released in ’73. One of its key scenes is lethal injection rooms as the euthanasia solution to population control. So, LR could not have them too, even if Nolan’s novel had them before Soylent Green did. Enter the elaborate “carrousel” ceremony in which the participants and audience are led to believe they “ascend” to some high plane of “renewal” to be reborn later. In reality, they merely rise to the ceiling and explode. The city’s computer knows that there is no renewal, just obliteration as population control. When the computer refuses to answer Logan’s questions about the carrousel ceremony and Renewal, he comes to realize the truth. This is a key scene in Goldman’s story. This is the moment when a mortal man realizes his own mortality. This neatly matches that threshold event in everyone’s lives (usually while a youth or young adult), that they will not live forever, but will die someday.

Metaphorical Trap of Youth — Goodman's story creates a neat metaphor for the idealistic island that the narcissism of youth creates. Inside the domed city, the young enjoy their carefree (and meaningless) existence of eating, socializing, sex and little else. Outside of their bubble is a whole wide world, but they are both uninterested in it, and afraid of it. Continuing with the metaphor, after Logan 5 realizes his mortality, he can no longer remain in the bubble of ignorant bliss. For that matter, none of the inhabitants can remain either. Once they come “of age,” they are destroyed. But, they imagine their existence to be perpetual, via Renewal. This cycle of ignorant bliss becomes a deadly trap. Even when Logan returns to tell them the truth, they refuse it. Only when Logan bursts their bubble (makes the city explode) are they forced out into the real world where they encounter “old age”.

Old Age Through Young Eyes — Some viewers find Peter Ustinov’s Old Man character hammy and overplayed. Instead of the wise old man to teach the neophytes (ala Obi wan Kenobi), he is a dottering old fool who recites pointless lines from a T.S. Elliot book about cats. Apparently, he cannot read (or is selectively ignorant), because despite being surrounded with books, he seems to know almost nothing about the world or place he lives in. He’s kindly, benign but simple and pretty much useless. This would be the youthful view of what old people are like. They’re all dottering old fools, prattling on and on about nothing of importance (to the teen mind). In this, the subtle Youth Rules message is upheld.

Sanctuary Lost — A rather nice double twist in LR is the legendary Sanctuary. The disaffected within the city spread word of its existence, even though no one has seen it. Viewers find out that all of the 1056 runners which had escaped the city, were actually still within it — frozen by malfunctioning Box, the food storage robot. Logan and Jessica were actually the first city people to ever make it out. Logan is disappointed to learn from Old Man, that there is no Sanctuary. That is, in the mystical, magical way he had been imagining it. He sees it as Sanctuary Lost. Unrealized by Logan, he was standing in it. He and Jessica were like a new Adam and Eve, “beloved husband” and “beloved wife” in a lush green world all to themselves. When Logan frees the city’s inhabitants, they all end up finding the real Sanctuary — normal mortal lives in the natural world, not the contrived and managed pseudo-childhood existence they had in the city.

City Planning — Reading between the lines, it appears that the city was built by elders long before, with the massive central computer in charge of everything. To balance incoming resources, the computer creates the age limit and termination plans. The computer itself seems to have accepted the existence of Sanctuary as an absolutely necessary component of its city planning program. Discovering that Sanctuary did not exist causes a total system failure. “Input Contrary.” Why? Perhaps having an opponent “outside” was fundamental to the city’s protection plans. Runners had to be terminated, lest they increase the power of the opponent. The city needed to be protected, lest the outsiders jeopardize the city. Tyrants need an “enemy” to justify their tyranny. Another theory is that somehow Logan's having returned from the outside world is a clue to the computer that the outside is habitable again.  With no more need for the protective bubble, the computer self-destructs. The trouble with this theory is how uncontrolled the computer's meltdown was.

Subtle Technophobia — Woven into the background of LR are subtle technophobia themes. Technophobia was a popular theme in the early 70s, less so by the mid to late 70s. (thus pointing to an early 70s writing of Goldman’s screenplay). Note the deadly tyranny of the Computer. The program says everyone must die at 30, so they do. Note too, the Box character — that semi-comic robot in the ice chambers. It appeared to have originally had a job as a food preserver robot. It kept repeating a chant: “Fish, plankton, sea greens and protein from the sea.” But Box noted that at some point, the sea food supply stopped. That is when the people began to try and escape the city. Box, like the stereotypical computer gone amok (ala Hal), begins to freeze the escapees as if they were the food he was supposed to preserve. Automated systems become the deadly overlords. Classic technophobia.

Early 70s Demons — Another hint that Goldman’s screenplay hails from the early 70s, is the triple bogeymen of Overpopulation, Pollution and War. Somewhat undermining those traditional demons is that the outside world is not toxic. Logan and Jessica frolic in Eden-like forests. The pollution problem was, apparently, not so terrible after all.

Iconic Ruins Trope — Several films play with favorite cultural landmarks in ruins as a commentary on the mortality of even a great nation. Planet of the Apes (’68) was an early major landmark in this trope, with the partially buried Statue of Liberty as the surprise ending. Later films, such as Independence Day (’96) and others, would almost gleefully go around blowing up cherished American landmarks. LR’s portrayal of Washington DC as more-or-less intact but abandoned, is a subtle twist on this trope. It’s not so much that America as “destroyed” as that Americans got lost. Their populist capital was still there “for the people” — the books, the paintings, the governmental chambers — but the culture itself had been destroyed.

Bottom line? LR is one of the big sci-fi films of the 70s. It is a more cerebral film, with many thoughtful tangents to muse over. It should be on the viewing list of any serious sci-fi fan. Younger viewers (born after 1970) need to cut the film some slack for being very 70s in style. Don’t kvetch over hair styles or fashions, or the non-CGI special effects. Get over it and get into the story instead. It’s worth it.

A Boy and His Dog

The last sci-fi film of 1975 was A Boy and His Dog (ABHD). This was a somewhat peculiar film in that it was partly a classic post-apocalyptic tale, partly a black comedy, also partly a social commentary, but intermixed with misogynist elements that disturb quite a few viewers. Based on the 1969 novella of the same title by Harlan Ellison, adapted for the screen by L.Q. Jones — who also directed. A young Don Johnson (pre-Miami Vice) stars as Vic, the boy with the dog. Actor-dog “Tiger” co-stars as Blood, the telepathic partner.

Quick Plot Synopsis
The year: 2024. Vic and Blood eek out a living on the barren desert of the American southwest in the post-apocalyptic wastelands following World War IV. They’re “Solos” who forage and steal bits from other bands of foragers. Blood communicates with Vic telepathically. Vic just talks to Blood. Blood can’t hunt for his own food, for some reason, so Vic provides food for them both. In exchange, Blood locates “females” via his heightened doggy senses, so that Vic might have his way with them. Vic is a bit shallow and highly libidinous. Blood does locate a female in disguise. Vic follows her to a buried school. He plans to rape her, but she’s disarmingly calm and chatty. Quilla June is “cooperative” too, which surprises, and beguiles Vic. She knocks him out and flees. Vic follows her down into the “Down Under.” There, he enters the subterranean world of WWIV survivors who have recreated the world above (trees, grass, buildings, etc.) all done in the tone of early 1900s rural America. “Topeka” is run by The Committee. Quilla June was the “cheese” to lure Vic into the trap. She expects to get onto the ruling committee as payment for her service, but she’s put off with excuses. She bristles at this. Periodically, the women of Topeka fail to get pregnant. Underground living does something bad to their DNA. So, a young strong specimen from above is brought down to provide new ‘seed’. Vic thinks stud service would be okay, but he’s hooked up to a milking machine to extract his seed. No joy there. Quilla June helps Vic escape, hoping that he’ll help her and some cohorts kill the Committee so she and her cohorts can take over. Vic has no stomach for revolt and just wants to flee. The coup fails. Quilla June has no option but to go with Vic back to the surface. When they get there, Blood is near death from starvation, having waited all those days or weeks. Quilla June urges Vic to abandon Blood and run off with her. Vic gets a sinister look. Fade to black. Fade back in to a campfire. Blood is better, having eaten well. As Vic and Blood leave, Blood comments that Quilla June had remarkable judgement, if not very good taste. They both laugh at the pun. Freeze frame. Credits. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Once one gets over the disturbing aspects (rape, misogyny, etc.) the dark humor can be fun. The visuals are intriguing too. Long’s vision of post-apocalyptic life: with ragtag bands of scruffy people wearing tattered scraps of clothing and junk for structures, is much like the classic “Mad Max” motif — even if before Mad Max. Long’s vision of the Down Under world is also intriguing for it’s odd veneer of “normal” over a reality of “1984”.

Cultural Connection
Rural-phobia — 1975 was a “good year” for films expressing an urbanite’s fear of rural life. Giant Spider Invasion painted a grim picture of rural folk as crude and hopelessly backwards (as well as morally bankrupt and greedy). Just how city folk might imagine “they” are “out there.” The Stepford Wives painted a grim picture of suburbia. The banality, the conformity, were just too creepy for hip city folk to endure. In ABHD, that fear of the rural is exemplified in Topeka, the land “down under.” Again, the banality and rigid conformity. People go about with smiles painted on their faces, going about with routines of faux-normal — marching bands, barbershop quartets, etc. These three films together start to paint a picture of how big city people might “see” life in the hick middle between two “hip” coasts.

Notes
Misogyny? — Many viewers are disturbed by the apparent misogyny of Ellison’s story and Long’s adaptation. It’s true that the story paints a view in which women are little more than objects to be ravaged then killed (or eaten). Yet, consider the story to be told from the point of view of a hormone-charged 15 year old (the age of Vic in the novella). To a boy of that age, all that matters is getting his rocks off with no regard at all for the woman as a person. ABHD is as self-centered and insensitive as a sex-obsessed teen might typically be. Note that the title stays A Boy and His Dog, not A Sensitive Mature Man and His Dog.

Classic Split — The Down Under scenes are the most intriguing. The trope of post-apocalyptic survivors carrying on with civilization underground, has a long history in sci-fi film. 1952 has “1,000 Years From Now” (or it’s racier title, Captive Women) with the ragtag Mutants living on the surface with the corrupt “Normals” living beneath. Of course, H.G.Wells had his Eloi and Morlocks, 1956 had World Without End, in which the surface was populated with mutant cavemen and underground was civilized society, and with degeneration due to life under ground. In 1973’s Beneath the Planet of the Apes, there were the ragtag humans (and apes) on the surface. Beneath the ruined cities lived a society of “civilized” techno-enabled survivors — also with degeneration. In ABHD, that society is presumed to keep carrying on.

Pre-Max — Even though the make of Mad Max says ABHD was not an influence on him, we see much the same vision of what post-apocalyptic Earth would be like. Barren landscapes. Scruffy survivors wearing rags and mismatched odd things. Vehicles and structures made from junk of the “before” times. This vision was so much invented by any one artist, so much as it multiplied. Glen and Randa (’71) had ragtag survivors scrounging for old-world food amid a desolate post-apocalyptic landscape. Battle for the Planet of the Apes (’73) had ragtag humans and crude vehicles. Death Race 2000 (’75) introduced the “punk” element. Planet Earth (’75) also had ragtag mutants and odd junk vehicles in a desolate landscape (and with civilized normals living underground, from the Genesis II story line). As such, with George Miller’s Max-world came along, there was already a foundation of that view of what a post-apocalyptic world would look like.

Love Cynic — While Ellison might not have intended his story to be misogynist, he did appear to have a grim view of “love.” In ABHD, the men on the surface have no love. They only seek sex. Quilla June uses sex as a tool to get what she wants (power). The Committee use her (and sex) as bait for a trap. Vic hooked up to the milking machine is a fitting visual metaphor for the impersonal nature of sex in 2024. Quilla June tosses around the word “love” but only as a ploy. One minute she’s berating Vic for not doing what she wants. The next minute, she’s professing to love him, as a ploy to get him to do her bidding. Even in the end, she professes love for Vic, but even his simple mind can see through her ploy. She needed him to survive. Vic realized he did not need her nearly so much as he imagined. Hence his willingness to sacrifice her for Blood.

Bottom line? ABHD can be a tough film for some people to watch, given its (apparent) anti-woman elements. But, if one can see even those scenes as part of the selfish pubescent point of view, the rest of the elements can be appreciated. ABHD isn’t for everyone, but it is a well told tale with some intriguing subtexts. Don Johnson actually does a fair job of acting, given that he’s delivering his lines to a dog. ABHD is worth watching, as long as you’re braced for the harsh elements.
—

Strange New World

Someone at Warner television must have really believed in Gene Rodenberry’s “PAX” story line. In ’75, they tried a third variation on the PAX theme. This time, the title was Strange New World (SNW) — taken from the prologue of Star Trek. Roddenberry himself had lost enthusiasm for the project by this point and bowed out. Warner pressed on. John Saxon stars again as the leader, though renamed Anthony Vico instead of Dylan Hunt. This third and final installment in the PAX Trilogy is more of a derivative than a sequel. The establishing back story is different. This pilot also failed to engender enough interest to get development into a series. It had no theatrical release, hence the VHS box in lieu of a poster.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Set-up Story: The science community of PAX has an orbiting space station. It’s three-person crew are undergoing hibernation experiments. A swarm of deadly meteorites is headed for Earth. PAX extends the timers on the hibernation computers and sends the space station into a long orbit around the sun to get the station out of the path of the meteors. Earth is pummeled into the dark ages. The space station returns 180 years later. Upon awakening, their new mission is to find PAX where other survivors may be in suspended animation too. Captain Anthony Vico (Saxon), Dr. Allison Crowley and Dr. William Scott, zoom down in a shuttle. From there, they roam the “new world” in a eight-wheeled vehicle named Vestia. From this commences two distinct “episodes”. Eterna is an advanced civilization enclave that tricks the 3 PAX folk into range via a faked PAX signal. They are stunned and brought inside. Once in, it is clear that all is not right in paradise. There are no old people and no children. The 20-30-somethings live “forever”, doing nothing much. Their leader, The Surgeon, shows them advanced surgeries and science, since they’ve been advancing science for the missing 180 years. Surgeon wants Scott to take over as the new leader, as Surgeon is going senile. The Eternals use clones to provide donor organs to keep fixing themselves up, but with each cloning, their resistance to disease decreases. Surgeon wants to drain Vico and Allison of all their blood to rejuvenate the clones’ immune systems. Scott rebels and the cloning lab “blown up.” Somehow, this kills all of the Eternals at once. The PAX team flee. Animaland is a tale of mankind divided. The team first encounter the outsiders, the poachers. Allison is captured by the Insiders, so Vico and Scott employ the aid of a poacher named Badger to find her. Instead, they get captured too, and Badger gets the much-coveted flare gun. The insiders are descendants of park rangers, so their mission is to protect the animals — from the poachers. Eventually, Allison and Vico convince the old Warden that they are good-guys, when they stop an attack by Badger and four poacher henchmen. In parting, the wardens agree to share water resources with the poachers and maybe become friends someday. They also promise to not be so hide-bound to their old Fish & Wildlife Manual as their law book. The PAX team drive on, still in search of the PAX base out there…somewhere… The end.

Why is this movie fun?
The premise of SNW has some intriguing possibilities. Seeing some previous tropes recycled had some amusement value too.

Cultural Connection
60s Optimism Meets 70s Pessimism — Gene Roddenberry’s original Star Trek series placed its emphasis on an optimism about mankind and their future. This may be part of why the original series developed a cult following among the young. The 70s however, was a very different decade. Technophobia and pessimism about all the BAD things that science would do, was the rule of the day (decade). Roddenberry’s PAX story placed an emphasis on the gloomy side of humanity and its history. Whereas Star Trek’s Federation was a better upgrade of contemporary society, the background in the PAX Trilogy is of a post-apocalyptic Earth with mankind starting over in all its brutalism and bad tendencies.

Notes
Neo-Sequel — First, there was Genesis II in ’73. This was revamped as Planet Earth in ’74. The third installment of the PAX Trilogy was more a re-telling of the original premise in Genesis II, but with variations. Both feature someone from the past in suspended animation, awakening to a post-apocalyptic Earth, primitive survivors and getting captured by one side or another, or both. The PAX team roam from adventure to adventure, encountering “strange new” enclaves of survivors. SNW varies things in that the PAX team are all there is of PAX. In fact, PAX lives on in name only and as a sort of long-lost McGuffin for the team to search for.

Episode One: Eterna — James Olson stars as the leader of a supposed Utopia named Eterna. This episode has more than a passing resemblance to Zardoz. A colony of immortals who cheat mortality with clones. Where Sean Connery served as the outsider that crashes the system, Saxon does exactly that — also in a scanty red costume. Where Star Trek had its noble Prime Directive, the PAX folk seem unburdened by any such moral foundation. By blowing up the cloning lab, they manage to somehow kill all of the Eternals. The PAX team just walk off, stepping over the bodies, as if to say, “Oh well. That didn’t turn out very well, but let’s push on.”

Episode Two: Animaland — Somewhat recycling the premise in Star Trek’s “The Omega Glory” episode. Instead of Yangs and Kohms, the PAX team discover a community of wardens who care for (and almost worship) animals with a former state park, and a tribe of scruffy poachers who live on the outside. There is an environmentalist undertone to the episode. Friends of the Animals are nominal good guys, who, like the Yangs, have a pseudo-religious devotion to their pre-holocaust documents. In this case, it was a Fish & Wildlife book of regulations. This book has clearly been ignored or heavily amended over the years, as death penalties seem rife. Not quite SOP for the current Fish & Wildlife Service.

Weak Sister — Among fans of the PAX Trilogy, SNW is often regarded as the weakest of the three. SNW had a less complex plot line — 3 people roving in search of a lost base. It also had just the three main characters. These three were somewhat stock characters too: The macho/implusive/fight-prone leader, the token pretty female, the wise older guy. The woman is somewhat stereotypic in being the damsel in distress which needs rescuing by the hero. SNW doesn’t develop the three much at all. Perhaps this was what the series episodes was intended to do. But, in just the pilot, it leaves the 3 rather flat. The special effects were fairly modest too. The overabundance of stock library music and effects gives the production a generic-TV-show quality. Warner tried, but not terribly hard.

Enterprise On Wheels — The little multi-wheel vehicle, Vestia, serves a similar role to the starship Enterprise. Her mission was to be the vehicle that ferries the crew from weekly adventure to weekly adventure. Instead of planets, as on TOS, they would have been isolated enclaves of somethings “strange.” In this, Vestia functions like the tube trains in Genesis II and Planet Earth, but with more individuality, like the Enterprise.

Pre-Logan — The move Logan’s Run (’76) and subsequent TV series by the same name, made a much bigger impression on the culture than SNW did. People who see SNW after its original broadcast (via VHS and later DVD) often see it as a poorer version of Logan’s Run. This, despite the fact that SNW came first. In this case, being first was not a ticket to immortality.

Bottom line? SNW is passable entertainment, if one is accepting of 70s style television production values. Fans of TOS and/or the PAX story line, can find some additional fodder, even if in diminished quality. Fans of 70s style dystopias will find more of the same. Not great stuff, but not bad either.

Rollerball

Continuing with the gloomy pessimism of the 70s, AND trope of dystopias with deadly super-games, Rollerball came out shortly after Death Race 2000. Where DR2K was a dark comedy with undertones of social commentary, director Norman Jewison gives Rollerball a very serious approach to the same topic — an oppressive future tyranny that used a brutal sport to distract the populace from their oppression. James Caan stars as the awakening sports hero, Jonathan E. John Houseman stars as the sinister corporate board chairman. The game of Rollerball is a convoluted mix of roller derby, football, basketball and cage fighting. The game is only a tool, however, of the supra-national corporations who control every aspect of citizens’ lives. The corporations, however, unwittingly spawn a populist hero. That was the last thing they wanted.

Quick Plot Synopsis
The story opens (slowly) to a rollerball game between the Houston team and Miami. The game is tough, but Jonathan’s leadership gives Houston the win. Afterward, Mr. Bartholomew (Houseman) gives the team a locker room pep talk about their semi-finals match against Tokyo. He also asks Jonathan to come see him at his office. At the corporate headquarters, Mr. Bartholomew tells Jonathan that the corporation wants him to retire. Jonathan is puzzled, thinking only of his team winning another championship, but Bartholomew insists that he announce his retirement on a TV special. Jonathan is polite, but noncommittal. Later, he asks his trainer to find out why he is supposed to retire. Jonathan, still trying to research why he is being pressured to retire, tries to check out books from a library. All his choices have suddenly become classified. His corporate-assigned mistress has been replaced. Daphne tries to urge him to retire. At the taping of the television special about Jonathan’s career, he refused to make his retirement announcement. Jonathan flies to Geneva to get information from a major computer portal. Zero, the computer quietly managing mankind via information control, only answers in tautologies. “Corporate decisions are made by executives. Executives are those who make corporate decisions.” Bartholomew demands that Jonathan retire. Jonathan demands several concessions — one of which is to see his former wife, Ella, who was taken by an executive that fancied her. There is a party in Jonathan’s honor (and to watch the TV special). Later, many of the party guests go outdoors and blow up several spruce trees with incendiary bullets. (a metaphor) The Tokyo game is brutal, as a rules change eliminated penalties. Still, Jonathan leads his team to victory. His friend and teammate, Moonpie, is rendered brain dead by the Tokyo team. Jonathan refuses to sign the release to take Moonpie off life support. When Jonathan returns to his ranch, Ella is there. They reconnect in a distance sort of way, and share apologies, but their former life is irretrievable. She, too, urges him to just do what the corporation tells him. “Comfort means freedom.” Still, Jonathan refuses to retire. The finals match against New York has more rules changes. No penalties, no substitutions, and no time limit. It is, essentially, a cage fight to the death. Many players are killed in savage ways. It comes down to two NY men vs. just Jonathan. He escapes the attack by one of the NY men, killing the NY man in front of Mr. Bartholomew. He defeats the attack of the second man, but stops at the moment of killing. Instead, he takes the ball and scores the game’s only goal. The stone-silent arena bursts into cheers and chants of Jon-a-than, Jon-a-than! He skates toward the camera, smiling. Freeze frame. Roll credits. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
This is a serious and well-done dystopia tale. There is much to muse over and discuss over beverages later. The directing and acting are great. The writing has depth. The cinematography, while dark at times, has a richness to the views and textures. While the vehicle is gruesome, the story is engaging.

Cultural Connection
Corporate Villains — Big corporations as villains was not a new trope. They had taken on some air villainy back in the late 1800s. This was the era of the “robber baron” tycoons: Carnegie, Mellon, Morgan, Vanderbilt, etc. A couple world wars and a Cold War added some more urgent villains, but when those waned, the old corporate villain archetype re-emerged. The “flower child” youth who came of age after the crest of Atomic Angst did not share their elders’ fear of communism. Instead, the old villains were rediscovered.

Notes
Pre-Hunger Games — There are many similarities between the 70s dystopia of Rollerball, and the 2000s’ dystopia in The Hunger Games. Both feature an oppressive tyranny that uses an annual brutal sport as a distraction to keep the masses’ energy spent in useless channels. In both, the protagonist is good at “the game.” In both, the protagonist becomes aware of the larger picture (the games are deception) and thus the protagonist opts to rebel. In both, the evil overlords try to manipulate the rebellious protagonist with rules changes. In both, the protagonist “wins” their way and thus anger the overlords, who are all the more angry at the protection fame gives. Rollerball is the Hunger Games of the X generation.

Boring Middle? — Some viewers regard the middle third of Rollerball to be weak and boring. This may be because they expect an all-action film. Instead, the middle of the film is all about the awakening of Jonathan’s soul. In the first third, he is the unaware pawn of the overlords. He lives to play the game and win. His natural leadership qualities, which made him the championship team captain, alarm the overlords. They rule by bribes. Keep the people comfortable and they won’t make trouble. The game was designed to vent any aggressive urges. But, the overlords’ brutal diversion was breeding a populist leader. That would not do. The call for his retirement on the eve of another championship series is the dissonance that breaks the spell. The middle third of the film is about Jonathan’s growth. He is the reluctant rebel. His former life was good, but once the genie was out of the bottle, there was no turning back. Even when the corporation gave him his stolen wife back, he could not resume his former life. Everything had changed. His growth in the middle third explains why he fights so hard to stay in the game designed to kill him: why he kills the second-to-last New York player directly in front of Mr. Bartholomew: why he refuses to kill the last player and why he bothered to make the winning goal. Defiance of the overlords. That, is what the middle third is about.

Closet Colossus — Behind the scenes of this comfortable world of 2018, is the super computer Zero. Not much is made of it, but it is hinted at by the Librarian, that Zero controls everything. Zero talks in smoke-screen tautologies. Zero controls all of mankind’s information. If Zero wanted the whole of 13th century history to “disappear down the memory hole,” that history is gone. With no books anymore, mankind has no recourse. Unlike Colossus (of the Forbin Project), Zero operates behind the figureheads of the corporate oligarchy. But, do even those directors actually control things, or does Zero actually control them?

Hockey Roots — Screenwriter William Harrison was a hockey fan. He liked the game as a game. It was at one particular game that a nasty fight broke out (surprise!) and the fans cheered with bloodlust. It was the savage nature of the hockey fan and the opiate of violence that inspired and informed his screenplay. Rollerball is not so much an indictment of sports — even violent sports — so much as it’s an indictment of the masses’ addiction to them and the corporate/media pushers who feed the addiction.

What’s Up With Killing Trees? — A scene that puzzles some viewers is when the guests at Jonathan’s screening party amble outside and take turns gleefully blowing up tall spruce trees with incendiary bullets from a revolver. This scene often elicits a “What was THAT all about?” It’s partly a metaphor for how the corporations consume (burn up) the rollerball players with the game. Note how many players die before the end. But it is also a metaphor for the public’s complicity. Note the idiotic glee the guests show while destroying the trees. Only the acceptance by millions of fans can give the game its mesmerizing power. Near the end, the team’s exec shouts at the trainer, who was upset that the game had become just a street fight. “The Game? This was never a game!”

Bottom line? Rollerball is well worth watching. The party music is badly dated, but the rest of the film is timeless. Yes, it has some brutality. The “gore” is very mild by today’s grim standards. Caan plays his role excellently. He is heroic, but has no swagger. Houseman does an excellent job too, as the silky smooth villain. The supporting cast are good too. There are a great many subthreads and tangental topics in Rollerball. This makes it worth watching several times.

Death Race 2000

Roger Corman’s Death Race 2000 (DR2K) was an unabashed exploitation film (nudity and violence) within a tale of a dystopian future. The film is often classified as a sci-fi, though there is no real science elements in the fiction. The dystopian-future sub genre is a close cousin to sci-fi, so DR2K is included here. Roger Corman produced the film. David Carradine stars as the popular champion racers. A young pre-Rocky Sylvester Stalone stars as the champion’s ill-fated rival. As an exploitation film, there is implied violence, tacky gore, buxom blondes, some frontal nudity and lots of explosions. The gist of the film is a series of gags, vignettes and snappy lines, more on the order of a Coyote vs. Roadrunner cartoon, cast by the WWF. The plot is more of a framework upon which gags and dark humor are hung, so the plot synopsis will not sound particularly funny.

Quick Plot Synopsis
In the grim future of America, the oppressive dictatorship keeps the people distracted and amused with an annual “Death Race”. Five teams race from New York to New Los Angeles. Teams get points for arriving first AND points for killing pedestrians on the way. The teams in the year 2000 are: Calamity Jane in her bull-mobile, Nero the Hero, Matilda the Hun in her nazi-themed V1-mobile, Machine Gun Joe (Stalone), in his black gun-wagon and the returning champion, Frankenstein (Carradine) in his godzilla-mobile. Each driver has a navigator / paramour. Frankenstein’s navigator, Annie, is the granddaughter of Mrs. Pierce, the leader of The Resistance who seek to sabotage the race and rescue America. Annie’s role is to facilitate the capture of Frankenstein. The race begins and so does the gratuitous killing. The Resistance blow up Nero’s car first, with a bomb in a fake baby. At a rest stop in St. Louis, the drivers get massages, so the viewers get lots of nudity. The government covers up Nero’s death by The Resistance. Later, The Resistance kill Matilda with a detour off a cliff. Calamity Jane is taken out with a land mine. Annie leads Frankenstein into a Resistance trap, but the Resistance are too incompetent to capture him. Later, Lt.Fury of the Resistance tries to bomb Frankenstein with a small plane. This fails too. Annie asks why Frankenstein is so obsessed with winning the race. He confides that his artificial hand (always gloved) is a hand-grenade. (Get it? HAND-grenade?). He plans to blow up Mr. President and thereby free America. During a desperate driving battle between Joe and Frankenstein, Annie uses the hand-grenade to blow up Joe. Frankenstein arrives in New Los Angeles, the winner. Mr. President is there to congratulate the winner. Annie, dressed in Frankenstein’s black leather costume, mounts the podium with a knife, but Mrs. Paine steps out of the crowd and shoots at Mr. President, only to hit Annie instead. Amid the chaos, Frankenstein (now naked) revs up his car and rams the podium. Mr. President falls to his death. Fade to black, Fade in to Frankenstein and Annie in white, at their wedding. He is now President Frankenstein, who promises to many good things and restore America. In one last act of poetic justice, he runs over the whining and obnoxious TV reporter. Roll credits. The end.

Why is this movie fun?
DR2K is a comedy — albeit a very grim and dark comedy. Despite the juvenile gore-humor, there are some amusing lines and a few funny sight gags. The social-commentary part, while secondary to the blatant exploitation pandering, does give some fodder for musing.

Cultural Connection
Cannonball Run — In the 70s, there were several coast-to-coast unsanctioned amateur races from New York City to Los Angeles. They started as a sort of grassroots protest against stricter traffic laws. Speed limits were disregarded (though each driver was still responsible for his own tickets.) As such they began with an air of “stick it to the man.” With the oil crisis of 1973, its subsequent gas shortages and rationing, the “freedom” of the open road seemed like lost dream. In 1974, the federal government imposed the nation-wide 55 mph speed limit (on the pretense that it would save a significant amount of gasoline). The 55 limit was widely unpopular, seen as just another heavy-handed intrusion by “the man.” This was the background in which DR2K was released.

Note
Based on Print — Ib Melchior wrote a short story titled “The Racer,” published in the January 1956 edition of Escapade (a minor “men’s magazine). His story featured a transcontinental road race in which the drivers scored points for killing bystanders. It also suggested the idea of The Resistance, in passing. Melchior said the inspiration for his story came from a speedway race he attended and the crowd’s bloodlust enthusiasm for crashes. (A parallel to hockey fans who watch for the fights, not the game.) Melchior’s story also featured a woman who changes the protagonist, Willie, from heartless killer to caring human being. Melchior would later write Angry Red Planet (’61) and Robinson Crusoe On Mars (’64).

Political Statement — Despite the trappings of comedy, DR2K makes dystopian warnings about America becoming a dictatorship under a president who uses crises as an excuse to remain in office. Mr. President sponsors the gruesome annual race as a sort of “bread and circus” distraction to keep the masses minds off the oppression. Note how the government is constantly trying to control the media and what the public hear. Note too, how “France” is blamed for just about everything. France as the evil empire? That’s funny by itself.

Evil Media — Where DR2K can be seen as an indictment on oppressive government, it is even more of an indictment on the entertainment media. In a rather fitting commentary, even for today, is the sinister collusion between Big Media and the oppressive government.

Virgin Sacrifice — An odd, and somewhat disquieting scene features Lori. She is the “chosen” fan from the Frankenstein fan club. She talks with Frankenstein so that he will know her and remember her. The next day, the fan club has her set up in the middle of the road, dressed in a flowing white “virgin sacrifice” dress. She will give her life for Frankenstein to get more points. He coldly runs her down. Why? asks Annie. “Because she said she loved me.”

Euthanasia Day — On race day, a hospital sets all it’s old infirm patients out in the road. That way, the racers can get some valuable points and the hospital clears out some beds. In a foreshadowing of Frankenstein’s change of heart, he drives instead behind the hospital, running over several of the doctors and nurses who were trying to thin the geriatric wing.

Inept Resistance — Of some comic value is the bumblings of The Resistance. They talk in high-sounding phrases, but are poorly organized and inept. They do manage to blow up Nero with the baby bomb, get Matilda to drive off a cliff and blow up Jane with a land mine, so they do manage to strike a blow at “the man,” and his Race. Their leader, Mrs. Paine’s announcement over hijacked TV waves was “The Age of Obedience is Over!” Surely a motto that resonated with young drive-in audiences.

Spawning Sequels — DR2K managed to spawn remakes and sequels. There was a video game named “Carmageddon” in the late 90s. The movie Death Race in 2008. Death Race 2 in 2010 and Death Race 3 in 2012.

Mad Before Max — The Mad Max movies did not invent the trope of tricked up cars covered with spiky and jagged things, as featured so prominently in the second Mad Max film, 1981.

Auto Trivia — DR2K feeds on the muscle car mindset which the oil embargo was emasculating. For those into automotive trivia, Frankenstein’s car is a modified Corvette. The cars of Jane and Joe were heavily costumed Manta kit cars (fiberglass “Mclaren” bodies on VW Beetle running gear). Nero’s car was a gussied up Fiat 850 Spider. Matilda’s car is a Karmann Ghia with much added bodywork to make it resemble a nazi V1 buzz bomb.

Plane Crazy — For aircraft fans, there is good footage of the Rutan VariViggen 2-seater. it is a pretty cool looking machine, so it is a treat to get to see it doing so many fly-bys.

Bottom line? DR2K is a pretty flagrant exploitation film. The female announcer’s name, Grace Pander, makes it clear that the movie makers knew they were pandering. The gore and violence are juvenile. The nudity is gratuitous. The film amounts to pro-wrestling in cars. Still, the dystopian elements and social commentary between the humor, do make DR2K worth sitting through.

Terminal Man

Another of Michael Crichton's sci-fi novels as made into a movie. This time it was his 1972 book, The Terminal Man (TTM) The title character, played by George Segel, is "terminal" in the sense of becoming a computer terminal. Joan Hackett, Richard Dysart and Donald Moffat star as the cooly dispassionate scientists. Crichton's basic story, as adapted by director Mike Hodges, is a subtle flavor of dystopia.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Harry Benson was a brilliant computer scientist. He suffered a serious head injury in a car accident which left him with a rare disability: psychomotor epilepsy. When he had a seizure, he would black out and remember nothing, but went into violent rages. His battered wife divorced him. He could no longer work. He volunteered for an experimental surgery. It would place electrodes in his brain and a microchip computer in his neck. The computer would detect the onset of a seizure and stimulate his brain in such a say as to tranquilize him. The surgeons feel most of the badness in mankind could be cured with such surgeries. The procedure is done. The scientists test each of the 40 probes to see how Benson's brain reacts to each. From this input, his implanted computer can calculate which probes to stimulate. The scientists monitoring Harry note that his mind is learning to bring on seizures in order to get the pleasure stimulation. Harry is under police guard since he was convicted of prior violence. However, after the surgery, he manages to escape the hospital and the guard with clothes and a wig provided by Harry's girlfriend, Angela. She picks him up outside and takes him to her apartment. After a calm spell, Harry goes into a seizure and kills Angela. He seeks comfort in a church, but kills the priest when a seizure comes on. He flees to Dr. Ross's apartment. He has another seizure and attacks Dr. Ross. She stabs him with a kitchen knife. Wounded, he flees aimlessly, ending up in a cemetery just ahead of a funeral. He falls (or jumps) into the open grave. He has another seizure, but cannot get out. He is discovered by the funeral procession. The police come, and Dr. Ross, but a police sniper in a helicopter shoots and kills Harry. Fade to black. Dr. Ellis gives a press conference about the pervasiveness of violence and despite the failure with Harry, the need to continue research. An anonymous orderly quips about his coworker being next. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
TTM is a dark and rather grim tale, so it's not so much fun as it is visually appealing. Director xx xx composes his shots, choses sets and costumes in such a way as to speak volumes with the visuals.

Cultural Connection
TTM falls into the category of Cautionary Tale films. Many of them warn of the dangers of dispassionate Science. This sentiment goes back Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" in the early 1800s. The technophobia of the early 70s was a fertile ground for new cautionary tales -- this time of medical science and computers both going horribly wrong.

Notes
Too Slow? -- A common criticism leveled at TTM is that it moves too slow. Granted, the pace is slow by modern (or television) standards. Getting Harry through the surgery takes the first half of the film. There are some action scenes, but xxx deliberately slows down the pace and even stretches many scenes out beyond the rapid-fire sound-bite format that modern viewers have become accustomed to. Rather than a flaw, this is a feature. Among the complex visuals and spare score, there are messages is the quiet. Quiet, however, is not a familiar dialect to many.

Hodges Vision -- While Crichton was involved in the project early on, he did not remain involved. Apparently, he felt the alterations to the script deviated too far from the plot of his book. Mike Hodges developed the screenplay and directedThese deviations do not hurt the film. The overall story is cohesive. Hodges' vision of ruthless science is well displayed in costume (the doctors are all very neat, or even in tuxes), and acting (the doctors are all stoic and calm). The sets and location shots are all clean and orderly. Hodges' image of dystopia is tidy while it is oppressive. It is dark while dressed in clean white.

A Crichton Orange -- Where Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange explored the dark side of psychological behavior modification as the "cure" for the badness in mankind, the Science establishment in TTS see their brain-probe computer implant surgery as the cure of the badness in mankind. Both establishments have the hubris to think they can "fix" man -- on the presumption that mankind is intrinsically "good" and it is only some fixable flaw which is the root of all evil. Like Alex in ACO, Harry submits to the dehumanizing "modern" process as escape from his violent criminal past. Both suffer from the solution as much as the sickness.

Cyber-Threat -- The 70s were a hotbed of technophobia films. TTM follows that path with computers failing man, medical science failing to save mankind from itself. Harry Benson is a sort of cross between Frankenstein's monster, Alex from ACO and the gunslinger from Westworld.

Bottom line? TTM is visually rewarding to the careful observer with an artistic eye. It is not a face-paced action thriller. It's depth makes it valuable to watch, even if its measured pace runs counter to modern tastes. TTM isn't a benchmark classic, but still worth watching.

Zardoz

John Boorman, then acclaimed as the director of Deliverance, wrote, produced and directed Zardoz. He was given a free hand, and a pretty good budget (over a million dollars) for an eclectic art film, which is more fantasy than sci-fi. Zardoz had great cinematography, lush landscapes and even a big name star: Sean Connery. It also occasionally suffers the common one-man-band foibles. The story was just too much for the mass-market movie audience to warm up to. Zardoz was likened to Kubrick's 2001 for it's overly-cerebral montage of obscure tangents. As such, Zardoz gained a reputation as one of those "worst films ever." Yet, it has also developed a zealous cult following.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A little man named Arthur introduces the story as his story, though it might not happen. The year is 2293. A huge stone head lands on a desolate hillside. A band of natives on horseback come to worship the head. The head says he is their god, Zardoz. Guns come flying out of the stone mouth. The natives are to kill "the brutals". The head flies away, but one of the natives (Sean Connery) hid inside it. While flying along, Zed (Connery) meets Arthur -- the voice of Zardoz. Zed shoots Arthur, who falls from the head to his death. The head lands a bucolic (Irish) country villa. People in short colorful outfits go about agrarian tasks. He is eventually captured (via mind powers) by a woman named May. She demands that he explain how he got into the Vortex. Zed says he does not know. He was "an enforcer" who's Zardoz-given job was to kill humans (the brutals) and keep the population in check. May wants to study him, because his mind isn't simple like the other brutals. Consuella worries that he is dangerous in the Vortex. Zed is put under the care of "Friend", another immortal. Friend shows Zed where the immortals bake their daily bread. They take bread to an old folks home, of sorts, that houses The Renegades -- immortals who rebelled, or just went senile. Friend also shows Zed a farm that houses The Apathetics -- immortals who've lost the will to live (so they just stand and stare). The immortals can't grow enough wheat to feed these non-workers. That's why Zed and the enforcers make the burials grow wheat. Consuella explains that once people were immortal, the need for sleep and sex vanished. The immortals tried advancing themselves in science and knowledge, but became bored. They actually long for death, but the Tabernacle prevents death. Scientists created this Tabernacle super computer 300 years ago, then had it erase all knowledge of it from their minds. This way it would never be broken by them. Zed is fed all the knowledge that the immortals acquired. He learns that Arthur taught him about the truth -- there was no god, just like the Wizard of Oz was just a man. wiZARD of OZ -- get it? Zed wants to disable the Tabernacle so people can die. Eventually, he solves the mystery of the crystal and breaks the Tabernacle. The old Renegades die first, of old age. The younger immortals are standing around a fountain humming New Age tones. A band of natives with guns runs up, shooting them. (the protective dome disappeared when Tabernacle was shut off. Amid all the carnage, the immortals are eager for death. The natives oblige. Zed sends away to safety "in the east", May and a band of other no-longer-immortals. Zed runs away with Consuella and hides in the big stone head. They have a baby. The baby grows into young manhood and leaves. Zed and Consuella grow old and die. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
There are so many tangents and sub-topics, that one could muse over Zardoz for weeks. Things happen so quickly that the story doesn't have time to get boring -- or predictable. There is a lot of symbolism in Boorman's production, which can be fun to muse on too, such as how the Eternals were usually scantily clad (if clad at all), but when the leave The Vortex, they're wrapped up in heavy quilts. Adam and Eve, naked while innocent, left Eden clothed.

Cultural Connection
New Age Xtreme -- Much of what fills the complexity of Zardoz is best seen in the light of of the New Age movement. While the actual roots of New Ageism are quite old, it's more modern form began in the late 60s, invigorated with all the youthful energy of the "hippy" generation. Boorman did not just explore one or two of these New Age facets, but seemed intent on including as many of them as he could: vague self-centered spirituality, environmentalism, back-to-the-land, communes, psychic energy, crystals, egalitarianism, etc. Zardoz is a concentrated stew of New Age notions.

Notes
Well-Trodden Ground -- Much has been written about Zardoz already, some of it favorable, some of it critical. These few notes below don't pretend to be exhaustive. These are just a few more points.

Too Much Meat -- What often puts people off about Zardoz is its complexity. Audiences conditioned to movies with a single story thread are stymied by Boorman's complex medley. Boorman himself admits to a bit of hubris in that he included too many ideas to really do most of them any justice. Many viewers who experience a "what was THAT all about?" moment will likely agree.

Subtle Technophobia -- The Tabernacle is the all-powerful supercomputer in Zardoz. The old ones made it to run their lives better than mankind tends to. Like other technophobia movies, the human creators cede authority to the computer. True to form, things go bad: The Krell, Hal, Colossus, etc. Mankind cannot super-compute his way out of a fallen world.

Everything's Better With Beethoven -- For his score, David Munroe made much use of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony, mostly the second movement. Second movements were traditionally slower, more somber (or stately) and in a minor key. Beethoven's 7th, 2nd movement was "Allegretto" rather than "Adagio" but still the slower movement. The melancholy motif seems a perfect choice for the dystopian tale.

Sophomore Manifesto -- In his commentary, Boorman recounts how the idea for Zardoz began in his teenage years. Many of the themes and "morals" of his many threads read as an anthology of sophomoric mottos. Civilization (rules by elders/elites) exist to repress sexuality. Religion is man-made and exists only to control people -- with empty promises of eternal life. And, a telling trait of youth -- that eternity would be boring. More than five minutes of anything tends to be boring to many teens. Also a trait of youth is the inability to accept that whatever their current values are, that they might not be universal or even long lasting. What is fascinating to a kid (Pokemon? Power Rangers?) eventually gets replaced by something else -- usually something more valuable. C.S. Lewis used an analogy of chocolate and sex. When a kid is young, chocolate is the ultimate delight. A young couple on their honeymoon tell that kid that they've not had chocolate for a whole week, and never even once wanted any (having something far better on their minds). The kid is horrified at life without chocolate and announces that he wants nothing to do with girls and marriage because there's no chocolate. Boorman's notion of eternity is that of a chocolate-loving kid (and one easily bored).

Bottom line? Zardoz is not for everyone. It's jumble of story sub-threads are usually not well developed, so can be confusing. If one tends to like simple story lines and straightforward action, Zardoz is probably not a good film to watch. For the patient, however, many of those sub-threads are interesting food for thought.
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The Last Days of Man on Earth

Robert Fuest, produced, directed and wrote the screenplay version of the mid-60s novel by Michael Moorcock, The Final Programme. This ran in the UK in late '73, then in American early in '74, so it's a fitting place to start a review of 1974's sci-fi films. When it ran in America, it was retitled as The Last Days of Man on Earth (LDME, for short). The American version trimmed several of the scenes. Jon Finch stars as Jerry Cornelius. Jenny Runcare as the bossy Miss Brunner.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Caveat: -- Moorcock's story was not so much a plot as a framework for wordsmithing and commentary. Fuerst's film version dabbled heavily in fragmented, pop art, psychedelic style of the late 60s. The "plot" given here is not so much what the movie was about as just the shape of that framework.
Jerry Conrelius attends the funeral (pyre) of his father, who was an esteemed scientist. An associate of his father, a Dr. Smiles, says that his father left some microfilm back in his mansion which was vital to their ongoing project. Jerry's evil brother Frank has control of the house. Jerry agrees to take in the scientists and the scheming Miss Brunner, mostly to save his sister, Catherine, whom Frank is keeping drugged. They get int, despite many booby traps and defenses, although Jerry accidentally kills Catherine. Miss Brenner thinks she has Frank over a barrel (drug withdrawals) and forces him to give her the microfilm. Frank was faking and runs off with it. Miss Brenner figures out that Frank has fled to Turkey. She recruits Jerry to take her there and find him. They eventually do. Frank and Jerry have a protracted gun babble with air-dart pistols. Jerry eventually kills Frank. Miss Brunner asks Jerry to come to Lapland with her. There, she's been working on his father's project: DUEL -- a super computer into which has been fed all human knowledge. Once in Lapland, Jerry learns that the Final Programme is to feed all the info in DUEL back into a human brain. No one brain can handle it, so part of the project is to merge two bodies, two brains, into one new General Purpose Human Being. Miss Brunner is one half. Jerry has been brought along to be the other half. In the solar radiation chamber, the two are merged. What emerges is one caveman who says he's the new messiah. His parting words, "A very tasty world." The End.

Why is this movie fun?
LDME reeks of 70s hipsterism -- that vague flamboyant phase between the hippy era and disco.

Cultural Connection
Art Film & Rebellion -- Fuest was not a particularly avante garde director, but tried his hand at "designing" an artsy film. There is a blend of the lack of structure, or continuity, etc., as artistic rebellion against the "staid" rules of traditional cinema. Fuest mixes in "psychedelic" colorful visuals. He also directs his main character (who is more anti-hero than hero) to be haughty and disdainful of all authority. Jerry is the arrogance of youth, despising anyone and everyone who tries to tell him what to do. As such, the rebellious art-film style fits the character, which fits the times it was released in.

Notes
Based on the Book -- Fuest based his screenplay on the 1969 novel, "The Final Programme" by Michael Moorcock. As is almost always the case, the written form can do things which film simply cannot. Fans of the book appear to be divided on Fuest's film version. Some love it and think it does a good job. Others denounce it as a travesty, nothing at all like the book. Moorcock himself was not pleased with Fuest's adaptation. Fans of Moorcock's books have noted that the Jerry Cornelius character, other characters and plot tropes show up in other writings by Moorcock, most notably, the Elric series.

Dystopic Undertones -- Somewhat incidental to the "plot" are suggestions that the world (as we know it) is on the verge of collapse. Several times, the Professor Hira character talks of the impending "end of the age." Snippets of radio stories or details suggest that order is breaking down, though almost everyone remains oblivious to it. Jerry himself comments that: "The end of the world has been going on for years, but everyone has been so bloody busy watching the commercials that they haven't noticed."

Übermensch -- The "Final Programme" itself was the attempted creation of a super human. Unlike Neitzsche, who imagined man "evolving" into this super status, Moorcock fancied that science could zap one up if it had a super enough super computer. Several times in the story, this new person is lauded as the new messiah. This has an amusing irony to it, in that Neitzsche fancied that God was dead. Instead, mankind would elevate itself into deity. This calls to mind the Bible verse which says that "every knee shall bow." Even secular, humanist, ego-centric man recognizes the role of a messiah -- they just imagine theirs to be just like themselves. Adding to the irony is that in the final scene, "super" Jerry is a caveman. Progress?

Sexual Obsession -- Perhaps typical of the later 60s and the "Sexual Revolution," Moorcock seemed obsessed with sex, of all types. Jerry and Catherine: incest. Jerry and Hira, homosexual. Miss Brunner and Jenny: lesbian, etc. In fact, the big selling point Miss Brunner uses on Jerry, to convince him to do the body-melding thing, is that it would create a "hermaphrodite" being that could self reproduce. The whole point of this vaunted final computer program was to create a being which could have sex with itself. It seems questionable whether this is "progress" that science needs to pursue.

The Best Brains -- In an apparent nod to that 50s sub-genre of the "brain movie," Fuest gives viewers several brains in aquarium tanks. They're hooked up by tubes. They bubble and pulsate. The intent was probably parody or self-parody, but it was also very 50s.

Super Micro Computer -- Super computers were typically shown as massive things. Think the Krell underground city in Forbidden Planet or the usual roomful of blinky lights and spinning tape drives. Moorcock and Fuest may have intended their supercomputer, DUEL, to be humorously ironic. It was a plain box about the size of a photocopier. 70s audiences may well have chuckled. Yet, it turns out to have been prophetic, given how small computers have been getting.

Bottom line? LDME is not a particularly easy film to watch, owing to its artsy free-form style and numerous unexplained elements. In this, it's rather akin to A Clockwork Orange and Slaughterhouse Five. Those films at least took themselves seriously. LDME seems always on the verge of self-parody, which diminishes the overall effort. There are some interesting sci-fi elements, but they are a scant few raisins in a large bowl of bran flakes.

Sleeper

Woody Allen's Sleeper is a sci-fi comedy -- a small sub-genre. This United Artists film was co-written and directed by and stared in by Woody Allen. Normally, this much one-man-show-ness spells doom for a film, but Woody makes it work. His deadpan style of humor and witty one-liners are abundant. Diane Keaton co-stars as the hapless woman of the future and Allen's love intreats. The plot of Allen's story toys with elements of older sci-fi classics. His direction mingles all that with old style comedy from the 1920s (sight gags) and slapstick. Broadly speaking, Sleeper is a blend of 1984 and the Keystone Cops.

Quick Plot Synopsis
In the year 2173, a lost cryogenic capsule is found by some doctors sympathetic to a revolutionary underground. Since the frozen man will have no official ID, he can be used to infiltrate government facilities. The frozen man, however, is MIles Monroe (Allen), a nerdy former owner of a health food store in Greenwich Village. HIs reawakening does not go smoothly, with many comic moments. The doctors take him to a moderne home for reintegration into 22nd century reality. Police raid the home. The doctors tell him to flee west and find out about The Aries Project. He escapes via comic chases, eventually hiding in a van of domestic servant robots. He dresses up as robot from spare parts and gets dropped off at the home of Luna (Keaton). She takes him to the repair shop for a better head. Much hilarity ensues. Miles then kidnaps Luna, trying to enlist her help. She plays along until they get to another house. She calls the police. When they arrive, a chase ensues with Miles in an inflated rubber suit. The police take Luna, to erase her brain for having been in contact with the alien. Miles rescues her via his inflated suit as rubber raft. They get back to the house Miles was first at. The police raid it. Miles hides Luna so she can find the Underground. MIles is captured and taken back for reprogramming. More absurdity follows. (Miles as Miss Montana) Meanwhile, Luna tries to become the forest denizen with comedic results. She is captured by Erdo, leader of the Underground. She becomes a guerilla fighter, eventually recapturing MIles. Luna and Erdo try to break Miles reprogramming via staged Jewish suppers. This leads Miles into acting as Blanche du Bois. Miles wakes up cured. He and Luna then sneak into a government hospital, posing as doctors. They are mistaken for a pair of famous doctors and attend a briefing. The totalitarian Leader actually died 10 months ago from a rebel bomb. All that was saved was his nose. Miles and Luna are expected to clone from the nose, a new Leader. More silliness results. They escape yet again, and discover that they both love each other. Kiss. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
It's a comedy. Allen's one-liners are fun. The slapstick and sight gags are fun too. Also fun for sci-fi fans are the many tie-ins to some classics. More on those below.

Cultural Connection
Period Humor: Many of Woody Allen's zippy one-liners depended on his audience being steeped in early 70s American culture. Those born after that period would likely not find them so funny. For instance: in the "History Lesson" skit, Allen identifies (or misidentifies) several photos of celebrities. Of Charles DeGall he says he was a famous french chef. Of Norman Mailer, he says he donated his ego to science. Of Richard Nixon, he says the secret service had to count the white house silverware. Shown a video clip of a Howard Cosell commentary, Allen says watching it was a state torture for dissidents. Someone who did not know these people (beyond name and face) would not get the jokes. It's hard for humor not to be zeitgeist-centric. Consider the sci-fi comedy Just Imagine ('31) with its references to Henry Ford, Prohibition, etc. There's much humor in the moment, even if the moment is fleeting.

Notes
Sci-fi References -- The overall plot of Sleeper roughly parallels that of H.G.Wells' novel "The Sleeper Awakes," (1897) except that MIles does not wake up rich. At one point, Miles says he feels like Flash Gordon, though his situation is more like that of Buck Rogers -- awakened into a new age with tyrants to fight. The heavy-handed police state and reprogramming of dissidents, there are strong allusions to Orwell's 1984. Allen included a nod to Kubrick's 2001 with the surgical assistant robot. Allen hired the same voice talent (Douglas Rain) who was the voice of HAL. Allen also included close-ups of the robot's green glowing eye. With the nose of the Leader to be cloned to make a new Leader, these is even an homage to such silly films as They Saved Hitler's Brain. All these are touches a sci-fi fan could enjoy.

Selected One-Liners -- Allen is famous for his one-liners. Here are a few.
Rebel Doctor:"If they catch you, they'll simplify your brain!"
Miles: "My brain? That's my second favorite organ."
Rebel Doctor: "Haven't you ever taken a political stand?" 
Miles: "Yes. Once, I refused to eat grapes for 24 hours." 
Luna: "What does it feel like to be dead for over 200 years?"
Miles:"It's like spending the weekend in Beverly Hills."
Luna: "Do you believe in God?" 
Miles: "I believe there is an intelligence in the universe, except for certain parts of New Jersey.
Luna:"I believe there's someone out there who watches over us."
Miles:"There is. Unfortunately, it's the government."
Miles finds Luna completely wrapped in tangled magnetic tape. "For a minute there, I didn't think you knew how to work the machine." 
Luna: "Do you want to perform sex with me?"
Miles: "I don't know if I'm up to performing, but I'll practice with you."
Luna: "What do you believe in? (Not God, science or politics) 
Miles: "Sex and Death. Both come to you once in a lifetime. But after death you're not nauseous."

Sight Gags -- Allen paid great homage to the early comedy films of Charlie Chaplain, The Keystone Cops, Laurel and Hardy, even the Three Stooges. Watch for the giant banana peel that Miles and the guard keep slipping on. Watch for the police bazooka which keeps failing spectacularly. Watch for the silly chase scenes (there are many) The bickering Jewish tailor robots (with large noses) are a treat.

Future Home Of… -- The film was shot in and around Denver. Several local landmarks show up, such as the NOAA Research Center in Boulder (the radar dome) and the Mile High Church of Religious Science's swooping arched entry as a future McDonalds. The "Sculpted House" on Mount Genessee is the place Miles is taken to after he wakes up. This futuristic house was built in 1963, but the designer (Charles Deaton) never got to live in it. Due to financial troubles, the house remained unfinished inside and unoccupied for decades. It is during this period that Allen used it for his movie. In 1991, a buyer bought the house from Deaton, but did nothing with it. In 1999, a new buyer purchased the house and spent millions finishing the interior. In 2006, he sold it. This owner actually lived in the house, but then sold it to a Denver real estate investor for $1.5 million at a foreclosure sale. A futuristic house with a troubled past and bleak future.

Bottom line? Woody Allen's humor isn't for everyone. His period humor will likely elude younger viewers. The slapstick, however, can be enjoyed by kids of all ages. The many allusions to other sci-fi movies are like "easter eggs" for the serious sci-fi fan, but not seeing them does not detract from the film. Sci-fi comedy is rare enough to make Sleeper worth seeking out.

Idaho Transfer

In the early 70s, popular themes included: dystopia, government conspiracies, the righteousness of youth, environmentalism and (as mentioned a couple posts ago, mathusian doom. Idaho Transfer (IT) has all of them. IT is an obscure film that had only a limited theatrical release. A group of teens time-travel to after some devastating ecological disaster, to see if the earth can be repopulated. It's the second of only three films directed by Peter Fonda (of early fame for writing, starring, producing Easy Rider in 1969). The story and screenplay are by Thomas Matthiesen. The cast are mostly unkowns, save for Keith Carridine who plays a minor role.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Dr. George Braden has a secret project going on up in the wilderness of Idaho. Originally, it was on matter transporting, but they discovered time travel as well. Also, they discovered that some disaster befalls mankind in the nearer future. Braden is sending teams of college-age men and women 56 years into the future to find out what and why. They study the flora and fauna and report back to 1973. George's daughter Isa is one of the young scientists. His other daughter Karen joins the team. Isa shows Karen how to operate the transfer machine. Apparently, some event called the Echo Crisis devastated the earth and nearly wiped out mankind. George's young time travelers are trying to figure out what future-Idaho is like. The vague plan is, if the future is habitable, to send a colonizing group to reestablish mankind on the Earth. Isa falls and is badly hurt. Karen transfers her back, but there's deeper trouble. Bureaucrats plan to order the project shut down. Just before that, however, a dozen or so of the youngsters manage to transfer to 2029 with backpacks of survival gear. They get to the future, but the transfer machine's power fails. They're stuck in 2029. The project's doctor transfers too, but apparently, anyone over 20 suffers kidney damage in the transfer. He eventually goes off alone to die. Karen has some off-camera trysts and eventually thinks she's pregnant. Ronald and others break the news to her that they're all sterile. Their kidney survive the transfer, but not their reproductive powers. No babies, no future of mankind. They set out to on a 500 mile hike to Portland. Karen becomes despondent and returns alone to the original transfer camp in the Craters of the Moon, lava fields. She is attacked by Leslie, one of the group who did not leave. Karen takes shelter in the transfer machine. Leslie rants outside that everyone (1973 folks) "used everything up." The power lights come on. Karen transfers back to 1973 in only her panties. A startled technician see her and alerts guards. Karen locks the door and resets the machine to a further date in the future. She transfers. No one is left at the lava field station. Karen wanders alone, hopeless and exhausted. Eventually, she is picked up off the ground by a future man. He puts her in the trunk of his future car. Karen screams. The girl in the back seat wonders aloud what they (the future people) will do for fuel with all of the "other" people have been used up. Text-on-screen: Esto Perpetua. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Actually, it's rather depressing, so it's not "fun" in the usual senses. It is very thoughtful and well done as far as conveying the intent of bleakness and doom.

Cultural Connection
The Roots of Malaise: President Jimmy Carter was criticized for his famous/infamous "Malaise" speech, given in July 1979. In it, he said, “The erosion of our confidence in the future is threatening to destroy the social and the political fabric of America.” Carter spoke of America's cultural malaise -- a lack of hope for the future, rampant consumerism and self-absorption. The energy crisis did not cause the malaise. The roots of malaise can be seen in early 70s sci-fi. America was convncing itself that the environment would crash and we were all doomed to death and dystopia. Little wonder that "eat, drink and be merry" (buy and consume stuff) ruled the day. America had ben putting itself into a funk for over ten years. Perhaps the trumpets of Global Warming Doom should take note. Instead of spurring action, they may only create another malaise.

Notes
King Mathus -- As mentioned before, the Cold War's ever-impending nuclear doom created a lot of fear in people. The threat of nukes faded after the Cuban Missile Crisis, but that much fear did not subside quickly. Thus, the preachers of environmental doom found a receptive audience. All that fear needed something to be afraid of. Thomas Malthus wrote in the early 1800s about impending collapse (famine, starvation, death) as population would outstrip resources. It was an old message that had a habit of not happening. Despite its poor track record, It found a ripe audience in the late 60s and early 70s. It took 150 years, but eventually Malthus was king.

Soylent 2: Energy Source -- The surprise twist ending is much akin to Soylent Green ('73), except that in the future, people will be a fuel source instead of a food source. The girl in the backseat pretty much says the world will become Soylent 2 when she asks what they'll do when the supply of 'them' is used up. "We'll use each other then, won't we?" The parents don't answer. They already knew. This just hammers home the malthusian angst. We are consuming all our finite resources. When they're used up, we'll turn on ourselves. This is driven home by the final text: Esto Perpetua, latin for "It is (or, let it be) perpetual." I.e., mankind will not learn, but keep on over-consuming. This is also the state motto for Idaho.

Youth Rules -- A common enough theme in early 70s movies is that the "world" of the "old" will suddenly crumble and fall away. The young (alone) shall inherit the earth. This was the premise in Wild in the Streets ('68), Gas-s-s ('70), and Glen and Randa ('71).  This last one was also an indie film picturing teens as inheritors of a bleak ruined earth and in the northwest too!

Get Naked -- A curious bit of exploitation by Fonda, was that time travel required the young women to take their pants off and straddle the time machine. This was explained (somewhat) as having to do with metal (rivets in the jeans?). But, rather than select pants with no metal, they keep them, but strip down to their panties (or less!) whenever they transfer. There seems to be no plot necessity for this. Instead, it seems it's just there for exploitation -- a half-baked reason to get some teen girls naked.

Symbols -- Fonda was having a go at artistic directing. There were many, but a few were quite blatant. Shortly after the teens realize that they're trapped in 2029, Karen plucks up a young flower, roots and all. Get it? They're young flowers uprooted. Then there was the pointless brain-teaser puzzle (some interlocked metal rings) that Karen played with, but could not solve. She asked Ronald if he knew how to solve it. He said no. Get it? Their future is a puzzle they cannot solve? There are several others. Fonda was having an artistic go at it.

Bottom line? IT is a very depressing film. The lead character survives all her ordeals, only to end up as fuel for some guy's futuristic Caprice. As with most time-travel films, there are some points to muse over. The acting is modest, since most were young amateurs. The directing is mediocre, but the mood is quite effective. People who dislike depressing-ending films, should skip IT. Fans of the foreboding 70s will find gloom galore, government conspiracies and confirmation that mankind will consume itself into a desolate doom. If you want to know WHY American was in malaise in the 70s. Watch this film.