Logan's Run. 1976 MGM/Turner Entertainment.
Starring: Michael York, Richard Jordan, Jenny Agutter, Roscoe Lee Brown, Farrah Fawcett-Majors, Michael Anderson Jr., Peter Ustinov
Director: Michael Anderson
Available from Amazon for cheap right now...
Logan 5 (York) is a Sandman, operating within a large domed city in the 23rd century. This domed city contains survivors of "war, overpopulation and pollution". Infants are implanted with a "Lifeclock" in their hands, a device that changes color as they grow older. When a citizen reaches their "last day" at age 30, the Lifeclock blinks red, then blacks, and they must report to "Carrousel", where they are told that there is hope of Renewal, a form of reincarnation. Those who refuse to submit to Carrousel are labeled "Runners", and the Sandmen are responsible for hunting down and terminating them. Logan and his friend Francis 7 (Jordan) attend a Carrousel ceremony, leaving briefly to hunt down and kill a Runner. This particular Runner was carrying a silver ankh.
After hours, Logan meets Jessica 6 (Agutter) who is also wearing a similar ankh. She declines his sexual advances, but they still discuss why it's wrong to run. The next day, Logan turns in the ankh at Sandman headquarters, and the supercomputer within the complex reveals that the ankh is a symbol for a group of outsiders assisting Runners trying to reach "Sanctuary". Logan is assigned to find Sanctuary and destroy it, and the computer advances his Lifeclock so he can pass as a runner. The computer ignores Logan's questions about whether or not he'll need assistance from another Sandman, or if his Lifeclock will be reset after the fact. Logan goes to recruit Jessica, seeking her help in reaching Sanctuary; she is reluctant to join Logan until she sees him assisting a Runner instead of killing her. Unfortunately, Francis also witnesses this, and he's unaware of Logan's undercover assignment, so he kills the Runner, then starts chasing Logan and Jessica.
From there, Logan and Jessica make their way through the bowels of city with Francis on their heels, encountering a bizarre robot named Box (Browne) whose job is preserving any food that comes his way, Runners included, and eventually, they escape the domed city entirely. Upon discovering the ruins of Washington, D.C. outside after a long journey in the outdoors, Logan and Jessica realize there is no Sanctuary. There is, though, an old man (Ustinov) living in the old Senate building with a roomful of cats, to their surprise. While there is no Sanctuary, there is now the knowledge that life does not have to end at age thirty...as the rest of the domed city's inhabitants will soon discover.
A great sci-fi popcorn movie. Highly recommended film.
Showing posts with label michael anderson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label michael anderson. Show all posts
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Friday, June 5, 2009
Around the World in 80 Days
Around the World in 80 Days.
1956 Warner Bros. Pictures; originally distributed by United Artists prior to 1976.
Starring: David Niven, Mario Moreno "Cantinflas", Robert Newton, Robert Morley, Shirley MacLaine, and a plethora of cameo appearances
Director: Michael Anderson
Available from Amazon as a two-disc special edition.
Michael Anderson and producer Michael Todd brought Jules Verne's novel of the same name to the big screen, with a few notable embellishments, namely the hot air balloon that was not in the book.
Phileas Fogg (Niven) makes a bet with his gentleman's club, the Reform Club, that he can circumnavigate the world in eighty days, betting 20,000 pounds. He soon sets out on a hot air balloon with his valet, the resourceful Passepartout (Moreno), making his first stop in Paris. As he's traveling, suspicion grows that Fogg has stolen 55,000 pounds from the Bank of England, and Inspector Fox (Newton) is assigned by the bank president Ralph (Morley) to follow and arrest Fogg. After Fogg and Passepartout engage in misadventures around the globe, like rescuing Princess Aouda (MacLaine) in India from being buried with her deceased husband, they land in London, where Fox arrests Fogg, just hours short of his goal.
But Fox has made a mistake, as the real culprit has been nabbed in Brighton. All looks lost for Fogg, until Passepartout realizes that they crossed the International Date Line, and gained a day, giving them enough time to reach the Reform Club and win the bet, which they do just under the wire.
Around the World in 80 Days is an impressive production, with beautiful colorful photography, and it also won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Unfortunately, I could not get into the movie for whatever reason. Maybe it was the length, or perhaps I wasn't really in the mood to tackle such an epic movie. However, I can't in good conscience give this one a rating of not recommended, since this is a classic movie, and I think it may be unfair to dismiss it after just one showing.
Slightly recommended for now; perhaps repeated viewings will change my initial opinion of the flick...
1956 Warner Bros. Pictures; originally distributed by United Artists prior to 1976.
Starring: David Niven, Mario Moreno "Cantinflas", Robert Newton, Robert Morley, Shirley MacLaine, and a plethora of cameo appearances
Director: Michael Anderson
Available from Amazon as a two-disc special edition.
Michael Anderson and producer Michael Todd brought Jules Verne's novel of the same name to the big screen, with a few notable embellishments, namely the hot air balloon that was not in the book.
Phileas Fogg (Niven) makes a bet with his gentleman's club, the Reform Club, that he can circumnavigate the world in eighty days, betting 20,000 pounds. He soon sets out on a hot air balloon with his valet, the resourceful Passepartout (Moreno), making his first stop in Paris. As he's traveling, suspicion grows that Fogg has stolen 55,000 pounds from the Bank of England, and Inspector Fox (Newton) is assigned by the bank president Ralph (Morley) to follow and arrest Fogg. After Fogg and Passepartout engage in misadventures around the globe, like rescuing Princess Aouda (MacLaine) in India from being buried with her deceased husband, they land in London, where Fox arrests Fogg, just hours short of his goal.
But Fox has made a mistake, as the real culprit has been nabbed in Brighton. All looks lost for Fogg, until Passepartout realizes that they crossed the International Date Line, and gained a day, giving them enough time to reach the Reform Club and win the bet, which they do just under the wire.
Around the World in 80 Days is an impressive production, with beautiful colorful photography, and it also won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Unfortunately, I could not get into the movie for whatever reason. Maybe it was the length, or perhaps I wasn't really in the mood to tackle such an epic movie. However, I can't in good conscience give this one a rating of not recommended, since this is a classic movie, and I think it may be unfair to dismiss it after just one showing.
Slightly recommended for now; perhaps repeated viewings will change my initial opinion of the flick...
Monday, December 29, 2008
Operation Crossbow
Operation Crossbow. 1965 MGM/Turner Entertainment.
Starring: George Peppard, Sophia Loren, Trevor Howard, John Mills, Richard Johnson, Tom Courtenay, Jeremy Kemp, Anthony Quayle
Director: Michael Anderson
Buy Operation Crossbow from Amazon.
As the invasion of Normandy approaches, Winston Churchill is concerned about reports of a German "flying bomb", and orders Duncan Sandys (Johnson), one of his ministers, to investigate. Shortly thereafter, V-1s start falling on London, and the Allies launch a raid to destroy the factory building them. Soon, the head of British intelligence (Mills) learns that engineers are being recruited for V-2s, which are still in development. Finding three qualified volunteers (all experienced engineers) who can speak German, they are quickly trained, and sent to Germany through Holland. All three men are given identities of real life individuals who are either dead or missing.
Ultimately, one of the volunteers is wanted for murder, and another volunteer is actually a Nazi agent. Will this sabotage the Allied plan to destroy the German weapons factory?
Recommended.
Starring: George Peppard, Sophia Loren, Trevor Howard, John Mills, Richard Johnson, Tom Courtenay, Jeremy Kemp, Anthony Quayle
Director: Michael Anderson
Buy Operation Crossbow from Amazon.
As the invasion of Normandy approaches, Winston Churchill is concerned about reports of a German "flying bomb", and orders Duncan Sandys (Johnson), one of his ministers, to investigate. Shortly thereafter, V-1s start falling on London, and the Allies launch a raid to destroy the factory building them. Soon, the head of British intelligence (Mills) learns that engineers are being recruited for V-2s, which are still in development. Finding three qualified volunteers (all experienced engineers) who can speak German, they are quickly trained, and sent to Germany through Holland. All three men are given identities of real life individuals who are either dead or missing.
Ultimately, one of the volunteers is wanted for murder, and another volunteer is actually a Nazi agent. Will this sabotage the Allied plan to destroy the German weapons factory?
Recommended.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)