This week's movie is the one movie that really got me into science fiction, in both movies and books. I don't even know what it was about the movie that made me have abetter appreciation for the genre as a whole. I remember, though, watching it and loving that 70's quality film, that washed-out color look, the way everything in that future seemed to be simplified and how different it is from recent views of the future. Now we see wires and chrome and sleek sheens where once there was black and white matte finishes and clear glass panels.
HISTORY:
William F. Nolan said the novel was written in a Howard Johnson's booth, where Nolan and friend George Clayton Johnson holed up for 3 weeks. Yes, they wrote the whole thing in three weeks. It turns out that Nolan needed college tuition money for one of his kids, and I don't know what Johnson's motive was. The hilarious part is that they collected the bucks they needed, then George Pal (Big Name Sci-Fi film producer) got interested in the idea of making a movie from the novel. This would be in the mid to late 60's timeframe. But by playing coy, Nolan and Johnson managed to parlay this 3-week hack novel-writing exercise into a $500,000 fee for the film rights. Nolan went on to comment that Pal's first draft of the film script followed the novel pretty closely, and MGM rejected it, stating that it would cost $100 million to build a 22nd century Los Angeles, Crazy Horse Mountain, Pittsburgh, Undersea City, and Cape Canaveral for the characters to run around through. That's when they started getting interested in the 'domed city' approach.
He was somewhat disappointed that the movie lost what he regarded as the 'deep theme' of the novel, namely, that a youth-dominated culture would be shallow and fadlike, that it takes experience, wisdom, and age to sustain a genuine culture; the young can't impart the essence of the culture to those younger still. And as to why Logan and Jessica were 26 and 22 in the movie: 'They cast Michael York and Jenny Agutter, and there was no way either of them could pass for 20.' Somebody asked him about why the Francis/Ballard thing was dropped, and Nolan said 'Oh, yeah. Sure. Have Peter Ustinov rip off his make-up and turn into Richard Jordan. Yeah, that would work real good.' (He expressed some cyncism about the fact that the producers cast actors, then wrote the story around them, rather than the other way around.)
PLOT:
Following the Catastrophe, the architects of the City imposed a strict limit on the lifespans of its citizens: they may not live past the age of thirty. To enforce this rule, each person is implanted with a "life clock," a crystal that changes colors during different periods of a person's life. Defying all fashion sense, members of each age group wear the color which corresponds to their crystal. Young people are Yellows, teens and early twenties are Greens, and late twenties are Reds. When you reach your 30th birthday, or "lastday," your red crystal begins to blink and you are forced to ride the Carousel, a kind of roller coaster of doom. Although the Carousel ritual promises some vague hope of continued life through Renewal, some people try to escape the city when they reach their lastday. Dubbed "runners", these erstwhile escapees are hunted down by a special corps of Sandmen, who, although they are subject to the same lifeclock rules, wear black and take great joy in terminating their less fortunate neighbors. Logan 5 is a Sandman who is assigned a special mission: he must find the rumored "Sanctuary", a place to where a supposed 1056 runners have escaped. To help him do this, his lifeclock is accelerated to the blinking stage and he must pose as a runner. The computer voice which assigns him the mission, however, refuses to answer his questions about Renewal. Logan begins to suspect that the Carousel is more final a death than it is purported to be. After hooking up with Jessica 6, a member of the
underground movement which helps runners, Logan finds himself on the run for real. Casting aside his Sandman heritage, Logan and Jessica flee the City, hoping to find Sanctuary.
CAST:
Michael York - Logan 5
Jenny Agutter - Jessica 6
Richard Jordan - Francis
Peter Ustinov - Old Man
MUSIC:
The soundtrack to "Logan's Run" was scored by Jerry Goldsmith. He is one of the major film composers in the country. Among his works include the music for Star Trek: The Motion Picture (the main title theme music of which was re-used as the opening title theme of Star Trek: The Next Generation). But, the music can get a bit irritating if you actually pay attention to it. Lots of blips and pulsating noise. It certanly adds to the futuristic feel of the movie, however. And it creates a lot of suspense.
REVIEW:
I love this movie (I MUST or it wouldn't be here, would it?) because of the campiness of the setting and costume design, but they tried, and that's what's important. Sure, it was shot in a mall (the Dallas Market Center) and it's almost obvious, but that's what's so great. I think people tend to underestimate the power of cheapness in a movie. Sometimes that quality can make a movie that much more enjoyable. And one of the interesting aspects of this movie is that Michael York kind of grows on you throughout the film. You first look at him and think "Eh, he's not that great looking. I'm sure they could have found someone better." but by the end you're thinking "Hmm, you know, he's pretty cute."
TRIVIA and FACTS:
1. William F. Nolan, one of the original authors of the novel Logan's Run, has expressed interest in remaking Logan's Run with a big budget and modern special effects. He claims that the technology now exists to make a film closer to his original vision.
William F. Nolan himself says the following:
"Right now everything is in limbo with regard to a remake. Now that the merger has gone through, Warner Brothers owns all remake rights to Logan's Run and is in the process of evaluating the mass of properties they acquired from the Turner library."
2. At the very end, as Peter Ustinov is mouthing the words "All the people!", one of the people in the crowd waving to him makes the Vulcan "live long and prosper" sign with his hand. (At the time "Logan's Run" was filmed, Star Trek was still only an insider's cult. The gesture may merely have been one actor's expression of Sci-fi fandom.)
3. Most of the scenes that took place in The City were filmed in the Dallas Market Center. It had just about the right kind of glitzy ambience the producers wanted for a futuristic utopia.
The Texas locations for the film were:
a. The Dallas Market Center Apparel Mart. (this was the main section of Arcade, outside Carousel, and the plaza with the hand)
b. The Oz Restaurant/Nightclub in Dallas. (The Love Shop)
c. Zales International Headquarters, now owned by Mobil oil and completely refurbished. (Sandman Headquarters)
d. Arlington Health Center. (Sandman gym)
e. The Burton Park Building. (Living units)
f. The Ft. Worth Water Gardens. (Hydro-galvanic power system)
g. The World Trade Mart (various city concourses)
4."Logan's Run" isn't just a movie, it's:
a. A novel by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson, written in the mid-1960s. (A note in the original 1966-67 edition says "Soon to be a major motion picture".) Nolan later wrote two sequels, Logan's World and Logan's Search.
b. A movie produced by Saul David at MGM studios, starring Michael York, Jenny Agutter, Richard Jordan, and Peter Ustinov, with a badly acted guest appearance by Farrah Fawcett-Majors, made in 1976.
c. A television series on CBS, starring Gregory Harrison, that ran for one season in the fall/winter of 1977-78.
d. A Marvel Comics comic book series based on the movie, which started its run within a year of the movie's release.
e. A six-issue black-and-white comic book series based on the book, drawn by Barry Blair and released by Malibu Graphics, which ran in the early 1990s. (Malibu Graphics also bought thr rights to do comic serieses based on Logan's World and Logan's Search. Logan's World had a complete six-issue run, but Logan's Search was never done.)
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- Related Links -
You can actually buy life clocks used in the filming
Original Script
Logan's Run FAQ
Images
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