Bad/Awesome Flixxx Review: Logan's Run (1976)
"NO! Don't go in there! You don't have to die! No one has to die at 30! You could live! LIVE! Live, and grow old! I've seen it! She's seen it! " - Logan 5
"Fish, and plankton. And sea greens, and protein from the sea. It's all here, ready. Fresh as harvest day. Fish and sea greens, plankton and protein from the sea. And then it stopped coming. And they came instead. So I store them here. I'm ready. And you're ready. It's my job. To freeze you. Protein, plankton..." - Box
"No Cubs over 15, Billy! Look, have you ever seen a Cub that's gone to green? You'll have to leave Cathedral then, Billy, because they won't let you stay here. And if you do try to stay here, Billy, your young friends here will rip your guts apart!" - Logan 5
"The naming of cats is a difficult matter, it's not just one of your holiday games. You may think at first I'm mad as a hatter, when I tell you that each cat's got three different names." - The Old Man
One of my favorite sci fi flicks growing up, I hold it up there with the original BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, STAR WARS, PLANET OF THE APES, and some of the Charlton Heston flicks like OMEGA MAN and SOYLENT GREEN. This was an amazing flick. The story is great, the set is great, the outfits, and the feel is perfect. Its low budget but still had enough bread to spring for a Jerry Goldsmith score. That's bigtime in and of itself. After watching this, I totally remembered watching another version when I was kid, and I forgot that there was a tv series in 78/79 that ran for one season. I'm going to have to invest in that. Michael York and Farrah Fawcett star in LOGAN'S RUN!!!
So its the year 2274 and there's a futuristic city outside of Washington DC where everyone lives in sort of a dome on top of a mountain. You are born into this society free of all worries, with nothing to do except indulge your utmost fantasies. I guess people do have "jobs" though, because our hero Logan 5 and his buddy Francis 7 are Sandmen. Which are basically cops who come after you if you are a "runner". Why would you be a runner? Why would you run away from a place that would let you dial up and choose a fuck for the night from your bedroom hologram emitter? Well for one thing, when you turn 30 years old, you have to go fly into a ceiling fan with blades on it called "Carossel" in hopes of gaining "renewal" which is like reincarnation. Some folks aren't down with that. So they run to find a place called "sanctuary".
So one day in January (I'm guessing cause they were calling for the Capricorn's for Carossel) Logan has an interesting experience with a chick who put herself on the "circuit" (which is like the fuck choice hologram thing) and she asks him what its like to "kill" and he denies killing and acts like he's never questioned what he's done before. Then she makes him question if only for a second, everything that he does. He tries to shake it off, but the seed of doubt has been planeted. So Logan catches a runner and then at the end of their shift, they go and drop off the runner's belongings in this air tube like they have at the drive thru at banks. Francis drops his, and then Logan goes in. Usually the shit just goes right up, but this time, the computer asks Logan to come sit down. It asks him if he knows what the "ank" item was that the runner had. Then it tells him he's supposed to disguise himself as a runner, and go infiltrate sanctuary. Logan asks how he's supposed to do that when he has four years left on his life clock. So the computer takes it away and makes it his last day. Logan is super bummed about those last four years. So he has to play it cool. He asks Francis what he thinks about carossel and Francis ignores him, so Logan goes to find Jessica 6, the chick from the night before. He asks her to help him.
Jessica is reluctant to help Logan because he's a Sandman. She even planned to kill him, but she witnesses him let a runner go, even though Francis catches the runner anyway. She decides to take him to her resistance group. They lead them to a door which will lead them out of the city, but too late. Francis has alerted the other Sandmen and the chase is on. Logan and Jessica barely escape, but with Francis hot on their trail. Francis dogs them all the way out of the city, through sewers and up an elevator into some kind of freezer where the have to fight this robot named Box. They even escape that and then witness the sun for the first time. Then they walk forever and are bitten by bugs until they begin to hate the outside world. They sleep and then the next day find a pool to swim in. They're psyched. Then they head toward DC.
They go into an old library and see an old man, the oldest man they've ever seen before. There is much confusion between both parties. Francis chases them there and then even though he doesn't want to, Logan is forced to kill Francis. But then Logan decides to take the old man back to the city against Jessica's wishes. I have to agree with her, there is no way in hell I'd go back to that city. But he wants to make them believe that they don't have to die at 30. Courageous. But now they'll have to have jobs. DUMMIES. Anyway, you should definitely see this. Its a classic. I've watched it many times over the years and its one that you can always come back to.
Saturday, February 2, 2013