The only info that I have found about the end is that the interrogation was supposed to be a little longer.
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Logan's Run First Watch
- Thread starter Antonovus
- Start date
That works fine if it's just part of the backdrop; only hinting are a more complex world, but these concepts were supposedly central to the plot and premise. Indeed, from what I'm reading it was 100% an invention of the movie whereas in the book it seems people are just supposed to report to euthanasia clinics.
So it behoves the filmakers to make the audience understand WHY these things are important to the characters.
As for Cathedral: so where exactly are these kids getting these unauthorised drugs from? It's a closed system, no?
It'd be different if this were part of the established system; all kids are left to run while in Cathedral after the breeder robots are done raising them until they hit green and have to leave to become...whatever the hell greens are for.
I suspect a lot of this just wasn't very well thought though. For instance, we see yellows running around the place, but without parents, how do they live? Are they assigned their own rooms and just left to their own devices? Is there no educational system? How are things organised? Does anyone actually work, or is it all taken care of by unseen robots?
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Reportedly, one of the reasons the novel's method of euthanasia was changed to Carousel, was thanks to MGM's Soylent Green (1973), which used a method of euthanasia very similar to that oroignally created for the Logan's Run novel. As a result, the film's producers did not want to tread on the same ground as a recent film (despite the Heston film's alleged swiping from the Logan novel), so the more visually spectacular Carousel ritual was developed for the film.
Its a closed system, but in the film, the fact there were underground groups of runners with their own weapons implies the city has always had a crack in its perfect system, allowing unsanctioned assembly, manufacturing of weapons and probably drugs. "Muscle" was supposedly developed to enhance physical performance, so like real world steroid use would become on a larger scale in the 1970s - forward, "Muscle" probably started off as a drug developed for commercial use, but fell into a peddled drug status, skirting the law or any monitoring system.
If you're referring to the film, one can assume Yellows--like the rest of the age orders--have their structured training/place, to (ultimately) become part of the hedonistic class (the average citizen), skilled workers (e.g., Doc and Holly at the New You shop, the clean up crews who remove human remains, et al), or were already selected before birth to become Sandmen.
"synth" score? You should listen to Jerry Goldsmith's full score again, as any synthesizer parts are minimal at best, with the rest being one of Goldsmith's greatest works, and one of the best from a decade with a boatload of great soundtracks.
And that's fine to a point. It's a film, so there needs to be some spectacle and flair. The thing is, the stakes and purpose are poorly addressed.
Again, not a problem if it's just some kind of blood sport done purely for entertainment, noting more. However, "last day" and the chance of "renewal" are central the character motivations.
Except as per the script it's no good for anyone over 13. So who's making it and who's giving it to the delinquents and why? There doesn't appear to be any economy to speak of, so it's probably not just for personal profit.
What's really going on here is that the story wants to portray an allegory of the perceived irresponsible youth, middle class hedonism and delinquency present in the real world, so they're just dropped in this future setting without any real thought as to WHY they're there within the context of that world. That's lazy writing.
All well and good, except, again the movie never gets into how this society works, which really is kind of the whole point of doing a future dystopia setting. 'THX 1138', 'Brave New World', '1984', 'Hunger Games' etc. all go to great pains to explain how and why it all works. It's necessary in order to convey the point of the story...which as I said is kind of the core problem here: there really isn't much of a point, just a lot of vague flailing about youth culture.
Really speaking I think the story says a lot less about the follies of the youth of the 60's & 70's at which it was aimed and much more about the fears of the adults of the time. The war generation that felt themselves becoming less and less relevant as they saw the boomers grow up in a world (in their eyes) so much easier and free of hardships.
That's as maybe, but I typed that not a few hours after watching the movie and the synth and random beeping noises are the only parts that made an impression, hence: unmemorable.
As a pubescent teen in the late 1970s to the very early 1980s, I remember seeing "more" of her in American Werewolf in London.
About education in the Logan's Run universe:
There's a line in the movie where Logan, making fun of his friend Francis' rigidly orthodox opinions, says "You sound like a sleep teacher with a stuck tape".
So it would seem that what passes for education in this society consists of people being fed information while they sleep, like having a speaker under their pillow. Which probably would not actually work.
There's a line in the movie where Logan, making fun of his friend Francis' rigidly orthodox opinions, says "You sound like a sleep teacher with a stuck tape".
So it would seem that what passes for education in this society consists of people being fed information while they sleep, like having a speaker under their pillow. Which probably would not actually work.
Considering they had teleportation technology (via "The Circut"); one would think they also came up with an effective technology to teach children while they sleep.
Apparently Francis was an old-fashioned (no teleportation needed) kind of guy. He just met girls at the bar, got them high and then invited them home.
Teleportation is just another way to be rejected by women, as Logan found out.
Teleportation is just another way to be rejected by women, as Logan found out.
You need to watch "Equus".
^ Or Walkabout.
Agutter seems to have been one of those actresses who was like, "Whaddya mean, no nudity?" (See also: Jennifer Jason Leigh.)
Agutter seems to have been one of those actresses who was like, "Whaddya mean, no nudity?" (See also: Jennifer Jason Leigh.)
Carousel was explained well enough, not only with all of the repeated dialogue about "trying for renewal," but the big payoff/shock reveal/motivator during the scene where Logan received his mission to destroy Sanctuary (and having his life clock advanced), learning no one has ever renewed. That scene provided an solid explanation for its ritualistic death show, and a justification for why Runners exist at all.
That society is presented as the culmination of all that is wrong about an anything goes/ hedonistic culture. Its laid out loud and clear: cosmetic surgery boutiques, the Circuit (sex on demand / transporter service, youth obsession in the pursuit of "renewing" to live young years all over again, etc.), so drug abuse / access by children would fall right in line with a society based strictly on a moral decay. How they obtain it is not important in the service of the story, which is--in part--about the many faces of said moral decay.
Exposition overload need not apply when the story's message is clear from the start.
Like the film's source--the novel--where the decay of society with its youth obsession, worshiping pleasure, superficiality and technology as master, an overall devaluing of life, all with a lack of any moral structure were quite correct. It was a cautionary tale not born out of the alleged fear of adults, but stood as a darker warning against things to come, which also happened to be an escape adventure.
Yeah..listen to the entire score.
Here's a little bit of trivia for Logan's Run - in the scene near the end where the young people gather around the old man, one of the extras made a Vulcan salute.
Link - some guy's blog post on the topic
Another link - the same guy's older blog post on the topic with some Starlog scans
Basically the extra wanted to find a way to locate himself in the crowd and he did that.
Link - some guy's blog post on the topic
Another link - the same guy's older blog post on the topic with some Starlog scans
Basically the extra wanted to find a way to locate himself in the crowd and he did that.
That's funny, because a few years ago, I had an avatar of a Vulcan salute along embedded with the Gem they use on Logan's Run 
I've still got my paperback from the 70s with the movie stills in the middle. 
I've got to read those sequels someday, though....
I've got to read those sequels someday, though....
I've been a fan of the movie since I saw it on TNT in the 90s. I think it was Monster Vision they used to call their Saturday night movie programming. I've always been a sucker for pre-Star Wars 70s sci-fi like Logan's Run and Soylent Green.
The book is very different and bizarre is what I'll say. I think at the time it would have been unmakeable and I think it was so weird they would have had to have changed it.
The book is very different and bizarre is what I'll say. I think at the time it would have been unmakeable and I think it was so weird they would have had to have changed it.
As far as Logan's Run ephemera, I remember seeing something, I think it was on PBS, in the late 70s or early 80s about a Logan's Run fan-film that was shot on Super-8. I think it was mostly shot in a parking structure. I bet it's online somewhere but I can't find it with a quick google search. But I remember the look of the costumes and props being faithful to the movie. It was meant to be a prequel about one of Logan's predecessors. Anyone know more?
The WHY is pretty obvious to me. Reducing human lifespan and instituting brave-new-world style test-tube reproduction is necessary in order to create a stead-state society that doesn't outgrow the fixed carrying capacity of the domes. The hedonism is an unnecessary byproduct of this.
That depends on which side of the argument you're on. I'm not sure the world has been made a better place by mainstreaming hedonism. I mean, the teleportation "dating" booth as a meme comparing it to Tinder is bang on.
Pot. Kettle. Black.
Agree with you, but it's not one of your strengths Christopher.
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