On Demand recently added Silent Running, so I watched it. I was pleasantly surprised, as I found it to be a delightful movie. Bruce Dern gave a very sweet performance as a man of conscience forced to endure living in a future world where everyone else acts like uncaring Republicans. He reminded me very much of Al Gore. When Dern is ordered by a Cheney-esque figure to destroy the Earth's last forest, he refuses. The drones were even cuter than R2D2.

I plan to watch this film again!

Guess what, Rona, you didn't need the political stuff.

Of course she does, Scott. It is Rona after all.

My enjoyment of this film is fairly limited. I loved it back when I saw it in the late '70s. But frankly, it doesn't hold up for me. It's too preachy. No subtlety to it whatsoever. It's also a very slow moving film. The end, though, is great. And I do love Joan Baez's theme, "Hymn to the Sun". To me, it's haunting. But I suspect it's more of a guilty pleasure than anything else. Ultimately, Silent Running is too much a product of its time for me to truly embrace.

"I like to watch." - Chance the Gardener

Actually, the impression I got from the film was that BUSINESSMEN were running everything. I believe the 'Valley Forge' and similar ships had some corporate - NOT government - logo on them. I mean that everything was run by the same kind of businessmen who've been sending American jobs overseas for years, while Presidents from BOTH parties have been doing NOTHING about it; and the same kind of businessmen who actually BRAG about how many jobs they've eliminated. And the same kind of businessmen in the Greater Washington, D.C. area who go out of their way to hire illegal aliens in order to get out of hiring those job applicants who grew up in West Virginia.

BTW, wasn't Teddy Roosevelt a conservationist? Didn't he play a big part in getting our systems of National Parks and National Forests started? And wasn't he a Republican?

Also - Footage of the 'Valley Forge' and similar ships was used to film the Agro Ships in the original 'Battlestar Galactica'.

Dern's character Freeman mentions that the Earth (in the film) now has a constant temperature of 75 degrees. This suggests some type of global warming, which would be an interesting prediction for 1971 (when the film was made). It also seems totally implausible. For the Earth to have a fairly uniform temperature, wouldn't a total greenhouse effect, such as on Venus, have to occur? It would also seem unlikely that all the forrest would be destroyed on Earth, since they are neccessary for us to have breathable air.

The film seems to have its heart in the right place, but the science just seems too implausible. The film's 2001-type realism makes one take it more seriously though. For a low-budget film, the sets are also most impressive. It almost has the look of ALIEN, but the film was actually filmed in a redressed real-life (decommissioned) aircraft carrior.

I noted some small nits in the film. A scene which features a pullback from a window with Dern disssolves into a shot of the Valley Forge (another model) where that window is missing.

The ending seems downbeat - Dern commits suicide when the Berkshire catches up with the Valley Forge. I can't remember any other scifi films where the hero commits suicide in the end.

Of course, Mike would have to agree that as with the later Battlestar Galactica, the film's makers found a unique way to disguise their robots- with double amputees here, and a chimp in Battlestar's Muffit suit. The waddling walk of the drones adds to their appeal. This film also managed to get emotional performances from the drones without using any sounds for voices (unlike the beeping R2D2).

In searching around the web for different reviews, I was surprised that a Christian review site gave the film a positive review (for following God's will to conserve the Earth's forrests)...but, did they forget that Freeman kills his three other crewmates?

BTW, wasn't Teddy Roosevelt a conservationist? Didn't he play a big part in getting our systems of National Parks and National Forests started? And wasn't he a Republican?

Yes that was back in the day when dems were the conservative party (Pre-FDR) and before the Republican party was taken over by Neo-Conservitives.

Despite the three killings in the film, and Freeman committing suicide at the end, it got a "G" rating back in 1972.

The film's 2001-type realism makes one take it more seriously though.
Probably because the film's director was effects man extraordinaire Douglas Trumbull, who supervised the effects for 2001. A few years later, he was hired as the effects supervisor for Star Trek - The Motion Picture after original effects man Robert Abel got in way over his head and was fired. It is to Mr. Trumbull's credit that ST-TMP was even in as good a shape as it was when it finally hit theaters.

Here's the credits for the film. A lot of the people who worked on this film went on to bigger and better things in the film and TV industry.

Yes, there's more than one way to do non-humanoid robots, and all of these methods work quite well. A lot depends on what kind of effect/impression the creator/producer is going for. The robots in 'Silent Running', as well as 'Star Wars''s R2-D2, were machines built for the purpose of doing certain kinds of jobs and moving themselves around. Muffit, on the other hand, was made to look like a dog because he's supposed to be a robot dog. C-3PO is tall and man-shaped because, as a PROTOCOL droid, it's necessary for him to be somewhat visually appealing, and Buck Rogers' Twiki was probably originally designed to be a robot baby-sitter.

And, yes, Freeman did kill his crewmates, but whoever ran the review site recognized that (a) had he not done so, that would have been the end of the story, and (b) that Freeman was fighting for what he believed to be a greater good.

The reference to Earth's temperature was PROBABLY an AVERAGE temperature.

Brian - I do not believe that being a conservative necessarily makes someone unfriendly to the environment. Remember that Pres. Reagan asked Sec. of the Interior James Watt to resign for refusing to do anything about the dumping of dioxin. And the Democratic Party stopped being the party of FDR and JFK and LBJ when it became the party of Bella Abzug, Walter Mondale and William Proxmire.

I have a greater appreciation for SILENT RUNNING after watching another movie, constantly on cable, which includes Saturn, spaceships, and robots. SATURN 3 compares vary poorly in terms of special effects, robots, and story. Trumball created some great effects (and classic spaceship designs) in SILENT RUNNING. The latter film (made in 1980) has effects that look as were out of an early 60's Italian scifi film. SILENT's effects (made in 1971) look more sophisticated. The robots don't compare either. SATURN 3's is too obviously a man in a suit. The 1980 film also has a much less imaginative plot - basically, it's a about a robot that wants to rape Farrah Fawcett. How creative!

One thing both films suffer from; the depiction of Saturn is outdated as they are pre-Voyager depictions.

Saturn 3 (it is on all the time, isn't it?) may have suffered due to a problem with its director. This was supposed to be the directing debut of Star Wars and Superman production designer John Barry (not the same John Barry who did the music scores for 12 James Bond movies, among many others) but he was fired and replaced (for some odd reason) by Stanley Donen, a man who's mostly known for directing musicals. Mr. Barry passed away in 1979.

Adam, you mentioned that the film recieved a "G" rating. That probably accounts for the editing of the scenes of Freeman being treated for his wound in the clinic. The rapid editing suggests something rather gruesome. Actually, if freeze-framed, the wound is little more than a dent in his leg. If the film was made today, the gore aspect would be played up more, that's for sure.

Yeah; we'd probably see more gory details of Freeman's fight to take over the ship; they can't have Freeman himself hurt too badly without having to change the story.

Film histories of the seventies usually talk about "anti-heroes" in early 70's films (supposedly, Lucas's STAR WARS was a reaction against this). Would Dern's Freeman character fit this description? He is the 'hero', but he still killed his three crewmates. At the end, he commits suicide, is this a fitting 'punishment'?

While some critics complain about the environmental "progaganda" of the film, I find the message in other films of the era to be more troubling. For instance, in BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES, the hero detonates a bomb which destoys all life on Earth. In other words, he decides that genocide is suitable (in his view) for the ape people. I found that to be offensive. It's certainly worse than Freeman killing three people.

Actually, George Lucas did Star Wars for several reasons. I read somewhere that he wanted to do a Flash Gordon movie, but couldn't get the rights to it, so he decided to do something original-but-similar. A Time or Newsweek article (I forgot which) from earlier in 1977, which predicted that S.W. would be the best movie of the year, said that he did it because movies weren't fun any more and he wanted to make movies fun again.

As for the 'Planet of the Apes' movies, the message that I got was that an all-out war could result in the end of human civilization. The "Alpha Omega" Bomb was a doomsday weapon left over from the last war between human nation-states; did Col. Taylor necessarily know that it was a doomsday weapon? And wasn't it strange that this leftover doomsday weapon was being worshiped as an idol?

Freudians would have a field day with the whole worshiping the 'missile'. Most critics, of the reviews I've read, don't like "Beneath the Planet of the Apes". I think it's quite interesting. I like the first three films in that series, the rest I can pass on.

It's fortunate that Lucas didn't get the rights to FLASH GORDON. We would have been deprived of a classic series of movies if he had gotten the rights!

Back to SILENT RUNNING, the "Valley Forge" must rank as one of the best movie spaceships ever!

A wonderful,thoughtful film with a moving performance by the terrifc Bruce Dern.I thought that it also featured one of the most realistic space ship sets ever!The producers & artistic designers actually utilized the decommissioned Attack Aircraft Carrier Essex(CV-9)Class.They went in & revamped it appropriately to have a futuristic look to it,but within actual ship locales like the C.I.C.(Combat Information Center),ship passageways,etc.It all gave the Valley Forge a very real feel to it & enhanced its overall atmosphere.

I can't remember any other scifi films where the hero commits suicide in the end.

In Mission To Mars, Tim Robbins commits suicide by removing his helmet while in space. I've forgotten the reason, though.

These days, Silent Running definitely would not get a "G" rating, due to its violence. Even Airport got a "G" rating in 1970. Plot points in that movie involved infidelity (a pilot [Dean Martin] who routinely cheated on his wife), abortion and out-of-wedlock pregnancy (the aforementioned pilot and his girlfriend [Jacqueline Bissett] discuss her having an abortion in Europe, but she decides to have the baby) and a guy (Van Heflin, who was a dead ringer for my late Uncle Jimmy) who brings and explodes a bomb on the flight, so his wife can collect insurance money. Nowadays, it would get a "PG-13."

Robbins suicide in Mission To Mars was actually one of self sacrifce for his crew Adam. He had used his jet pack in order to connect a cable to a supply satellite which his crew could then reel themselves to.Unfortunately in doing so he bounced off of the craft & was in orbit around Mars.His wife tried to reach him with a cable but it fell short of his grasp.When he saw that she was going to continue doing this at the expense of her life,as well as the other two astronauts in their party,he purposely removed his helmet in space & died.Its a powerful moment supported by a terrific score in this wonderful film.

I don't recall Robbins being "the hero", since it was an ensemble cast without one big star that overshadowed the others. In addition, Robbins' suicide didn't occur at the end.

Robins had the credit "and Tim Robins" in the opening credits, which means a big star who's not the star of the film and is often the tip off to a credit watcher like me that such a person won't live 'till the end. The bit in M2M was a touching moment with a great musical score but totally silly if you know anything about the real physics of space flight.

Stock footage of the ships in this movie were used for the agro-ships in the original Battlestar Galactica.