Thursday, December 6, 2012

Logan's Run (1976)

MGM
Directed by Michael Anderson
My rating: 3.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, Warner Bros.)

In the 23rd century, people live in domed cities after a "catastrophe" destroys civilization. It's a completely hedonistic society in which age is regulated by a "life clock" in the palm of your hand. It starts blinking at age 30, at which time you go to "carousel" for a chance at renewal. Michael York is Logan, a "sandman" who chases down and kills those that would rather run than go to carousel. He pockets an ankh from one of his victims, which represents a place called "sanctuary" where runners go to escape. The computer which controls society alters his life clock and forces him to search for sanctuary and destroy it. He takes along the lovely Jenny Agutter, another believer in sanctuary. They get outside the domed city and find Peter Ustinov living in an empty Washington DC with a lot of cats. Ustinov quotes TS Eliot, they feel his wrinkled face, then head back to the domed city to tell everyone else about it. An exceptionally entertaining film which creates a fascinating world of the future, but also says a lot about the current one. The soundtrack by Jerry Goldsmith is one of his best, the eerie synthesizers perfectly complementing the retro world of the future.

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