For my 2018 Resolution Project, I decided to take a page out of Lane’s book and do my own Silver Screen Resolution (hence the Take Two part of the title). There are a lot of movies out there I haven’t seen but feel like I should have, or movies that I’ve simply wanted to see and have yet to get around to it. With a deadline of some kind, now I’ll have to finally make a point to find them, get them, and watch them. My rules for the resolution are slightly different in that:
- They must be spec-fic (this has not changed).
- The movie will not be one that is in theaters or that would be part of a Sound Off!
- They don’t have to be popular – or even something folks have heard about.
But I’ve decided to take my resolution to the next level as well, since I had more than 12 movies on my list that I wanted to see. And since we’re in “Take Two” mode, I might as well up the ante: I will instead be seeing two spec fic movies per month rather than just one. Let’s keep with this month’s theme of weird places (it’s not really a theme, to be honest, it’s just the next movie on the list). It’s also the main film I’ve been meaning to see for so many years that it’s what started this whole 24 movie mess — Logan’s Run. Based on a book by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson (which I did not know until the opening credits), Logan’s Run is a dystopian film made in 1976. Starring Michael York as our main character, Logan 5, and Jenny Agutter as Jessica 6, a woman who agrees to help Logan escape to a place called Sanctuary.
Movie from 1976 = All the Spoilers
In a nutshell, everyone lives in a massive domed city. It’s a utopia — at least, until Lastday when you’re 30 and you have to go to Carousel for “renewal” (aka you die in a spectacular fashion of zero gravity aerobatics and an explosive shower of sparks). Logan is a Sandman who catches Runners — people who don’t fancy exploding when their time comes. Everyone’s time is designated by the life-clock crystal in their palms, and once you start blinking, your time is up. When Logan finds a Runner with an metal ankh symbol and delivers it to the main computer for disposal, the computer tells him it’s associated with a place called Sanctuary where escaped Runners live. It decides Logan needs to find this place and destroy it by turning him into a Runner. Logan isn’t jazzed by this idea, but at least he has one lead — Jessica 6. He’s met her once before, and luckily she happened to be wearing an ankh necklace. Chaos ensues, and Sanctuary sure as hell isn’t what they thought it would be.
Time to renew!
I remembered seeing tiny pieces of this movie years ago when I was young enough to not even remember my exact age. All I remember are people being “renewed” and exploding with a lot of sparks, and much later on, Logan’s fellow Sandman, Francis 7, looking quite insane about his friend’s betrayal and attacking him in some old, overgrown city place. How I missed everything else will remain a mystery. Instead, now I have new questions, most revolving around the city that Logan lives in. But we’ll get to that.
Francis 7 can’t quite handle the Great Outdoors.
The movie is quintessential 70s, what with the overbearing science-fictiony future music and noises (a lot of which I could have done without) and special effects that will make you smile and think, “They did their best with what they had.” But even as 70s as this movie was, it also did a lot of things well that I really appreciated. The use of miniatures and models for the main city (which looked like a cross between Las Vegas and Disneyland), the scope of sets that included clean, futuristic rooms as well as rusted, pipe-filled back areas. I liked some of the zoomed-out shots, such as when Logan and Jessica are walking down a long set of rusted steps that exist outside the city proper. Or even the really cool waterworks that they find when they return to the city (it’s a real place!).
The Fort Worth Texas Water Gardens! Who knew?
On the flip side, the movie did things I did not see coming. In this world they openly accept not just multiple partners but that gender isn’t a big deal. Want some sex? Guys or girls, it’s a party for everyone. During a scene in which Logan switches on a teleporter-like device and summons Jessica (after saying “no thanks” to a man), I initially got a little incensed. Had he really just summoned up some poor woman to have sex with? Did a Sandman get special privileges? But then Jessica told him no, and I learned that if you wanted to hook up, you could put yourself “on the circuit” to be summoned for that specific purpose. There’s even a moment where Logan basically says, “My bad — do you prefer women?” It was just so casual, it took me by surprise. It was actually quite refreshing. Further along in the movie, Jessica asks if it’s still her choice (to have sex with him, I presume), to which he replies super laid-back, “Of course.” It was weird. Why? Because clearly if she’d said no, he’d be totally okay with that and move on. I kind of realized I never see that in film. Guys that get told “no” are always bummed or frustrated or something akin to those, but in this universe sex is so natural it’s not a big deal. It sort of boggled my mind for a little bit.
Likewise, I was minding my business when WHOA HEY NAKED FOLKS. Did not expect any topless scenes. Or butts. Or a giant get-stoned-and-have-an-orgy place. I’ve sort of lost track of what was considered acceptable in movies in varying years, so I wasn’t sure how big of a deal it would have been at the time. Made sense, given the context though, but still threw me for a loop.
We’re naked (again)! But even better, our life-clocks have stopped!
The story itself also took an unanticipated turn. For whatever reason, in my brain they would find this Sanctuary place, Logan would convince them he was good (having turned against his mission by then), and either a) live happily ever after or b) convince the people to return with him and fight the power (or in this case, a computer I guess). I did not expect them to finally bust out, discover an overgrown Washington D.C., and find nothing else but an old man and a truckload of cats. Not even close. The entire time I felt like Logan and Jessica probably did, thinking, “Surely this isn’t it. Surely there have to be more people around here, right?” Nope. What you see is what you get. At one point while the old man was rambling on about cats, I had a moment in which I kind of flailed about and said in amusement, “Oh my God, this is like talking to one of my customers.”
My theories aside, they decided to go back and fight the power with just the two of them (weird strategy, but I guess that’s how we bring down dystopias all the time, so okay), and it all worked out in the end. I did find it a wee bit hysterical in that Logan doesn’t want anyone to go through with the renewal since it means straight death, yet when he goes back and inevitably gets captured, the computer can’t accept his answer that there is no Sanctuary, overloads, and blows up massive sections of the city. Ok, so maybe that shouldn’t count as Logan’s fault, but I’m still pretty sure a lot of people died.
But like I said — I still have questions. The obvious ones are: Who built the city? Are there others out there? The beginning of the movie always gives the same vague stuff. Overpopulation. Pollution. War. But this is some seriously fancy technology. I kept wondering who ran this place, but it seemed at the end that just a computer was in charge of everything — which led me to question why it cared about Sanctuary’s existence at all. Box, the really shiny, really weird robot confused the hell out of me. He claimed to be collecting food, so I guess there was a Soylent Green type situation going on, but I still don’t think what he got would be nearly enough. That and everyone he’d ever caught was still frozen. So was his “food” even getting to any part of the city? It almost seemed like he was operating autonomously, but who knows.
What the heck is with this robot?
Setting all that aside, which I’m okay with it not being answered, I really didn’t understand the forgotten people in the part of the city named Cathedral. Why weren’t they in the main city? How did they get out there? Especially the little girl. Those folks made the least amount of sense when they’re living in a city that literally provides you with everything. And where did the old man’s parents come from? Why were they the only ones out there? Are the people inside the dome sterile? Because they certainly don’t bear any children. And, of course, there’s the major problem of the city’s functions getting trashed at the end, which means now everyone will have to fend for themselves — ruining a dystopian society all at once creates a whole new set of problems, you know.
Sooo…why are you kids out here again?
But that’s just me being me. If I stop thinking and enjoy the movie for what it is, it’s a great movie. I want to read the book now, in order to see how it compares. I’m glad I finally watched it. Now I can finally stop wondering about this movie and mark it off on my “seen it” list. It’s not hard to see why it was such a hit and why so many people still enjoy it today.
Poor Abe. Maybe someday they’ll come cut all those vines off you…
P.S. I’ve learned that if you are going to go, then going out via Carousel is the way to do it — stylin’ outfit, sweet mask, zero gravity party, and an entire crowd around you cheering. Not the worst way to leave the world. Just preferably not when you’re still 30 years old.
Images courtesy IMDB.com
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