{"id":2532,"date":"2007-03-17T18:15:55","date_gmt":"2007-03-18T01:15:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=2532"},"modified":"2021-01-26T17:22:13","modified_gmt":"2021-01-27T00:22:13","slug":"silent-running-1972","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=2532","title":{"rendered":"Silent Running (1972)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;On this first day of a new century, we humbly beg forgiveness.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Silent-Running-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Silent-Running-Poster-193x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"193\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-23139\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Silent-Running-Poster-193x300.jpg 193w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Silent-Running-Poster-82x128.jpg 82w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Silent-Running-Poster.jpg 372w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 193px) 100vw, 193px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nIn a dystopic near-future, the Earth has been paved over, and the remaining gardens exist inside orbiting satellites manned by astronauts on a spaceship. When the ship receives order to destroy the satellites, an environmentally-conscious crewmate named Freeman Lowell (Bruce Dern) commits mutiny, and does what he can to protect his precious plants.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Astronauts<\/li>\n<li>Bruce Dern Films<\/li>\n<li>Dystopia<\/li>\n<li>Mental Breakdown<\/li>\n<li>Mutiny<\/li>\n<li>Non-Conformists<\/li>\n<li>Robots<\/li>\n<li>Science Fiction<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nDouglas Trumbull (who created the special effects for both <em>2001 <\/em>and <em>The Andromeda Strain<\/em>) made his directorial debut with this unusual science fiction flick. <em>Silent Running<\/em> features an impressive lead performance by Bruce Dern, and poses a provocative dilemma: what if you were asked to destroy the only remaining vegetation in existence? Would you blindly follow orders (as do the rest of Freeman&#8217;s crewmates), or take a stand and risk your life to &#8220;save the plants&#8221; at any cost? The bulk of the film follows Freeman&#8217;s gradual mental deterioration as he deals with profound loneliness, and tries to prevent his superiors from learning the truth about what&#8217;s happened. His interactions with three &#8220;friendly&#8221; robots on board the ship &#8212; Huey, Dewey, and Louie &#8212; are campy, but we actually start to care for these metallic creatures after a while, and can relate to Freeman&#8217;s fondness for them. The film&#8217;s ending generates true pathos: as Freeman makes the ultimate sacrifice in favor of his beliefs, we realize we&#8217;ve become just as invested in the outcome as our wacky yet noble protagonist. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong> The incredibly dated soundtrack (sung by Joan Baez) quickly becomes insufferable, but is all part of the experience of this uniquely-&#8217;70s cult favorite. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Bruce Dern as the dedicated gardener who will stop at nothing to protect his plants<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Dern.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Dern.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2534\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Impressive early special effects and set designs<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Set2.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Set2.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2535\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>An amusing yet eerie glimpse &#8212; a la <em>Cast Away <\/em>(2000) &#8212; at how loneliness can lead to increasingly wacky interactions with non-human objects<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Poker.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/Poker.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2536\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes. This cult movie &#8212; while certainly hokey in many ways &#8212; remains a surprisingly effective cautionary tale. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cult Movie<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/imdb.com\/title\/tt0067756\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1972\/04\/01\/archives\/screen.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/silent-running-1971\">Roger Ebert&#8217;s Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/4387\/silent-running#articles-reviews?articleId=18660\">TCM Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.stomptokyo.com\/movies\/silent-running.html\">Stomp Tokyo Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;On this first day of a new century, we humbly beg forgiveness.&#8221; Synopsis: In a dystopic near-future, the Earth has been paved over, and the remaining gardens exist inside orbiting satellites manned by astronauts on a spaceship. When the ship receives order to destroy the satellites, an environmentally-conscious crewmate named Freeman Lowell (Bruce Dern) commits mutiny, and does what he can to protect his precious plants. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Astronauts Bruce Dern Films Dystopia Mental Breakdown Mutiny Non-Conformists&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=2532\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2532"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66199,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2532\/revisions\/66199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}