Run, Logan, Run

8/10/13 Logan's Run, Special Academy Award for Visual Effects, 1976

Either 'dystopia' is becoming the most overused word in movie synopses, or I'm in a rut. Or option C, it's what we call 'a happy accident'. I barely remember the movie Logan's Run, but I do remember the television series (with Gregory Harrison), so it closes the loop to have finally seen the whole movie. Basically, it's a couple of millennium in the future and the thirty is the mandatory retirement age...from life. According to the government and the true believers, you may get 'renewed' if you are lucky enough. Of course, there are people who are not so trusting, and are not all that eager to give up without a fight. That's where Logan 5 (Michael York) and his fellow Sandmen come in; they wrangle up the 'runners' and terminate them if necessary. York meets Jessica 6 (Jenny Agutter) and eventually figures out she may be part of a group of 'runners' who are looking for 'sanctuary'. Logan is asked by the computer (perhaps it should be capital 'C' because it seems to have a lot of authority) to find out if 'sanctuary' really exists and to report back; unfortunately, this means that Logan must become a runner and escape the Sandmen. Jessica and Logan flee and encounter all kinds of interesting things on the way: Farrah Fawcett as an assistant in a 25th century plastic surgeon's office (yes, that Farrah Fawcett), a crazy, delusional robot named 'Box', and a slightly addle-pated elderly gentleman played by Peter Ustinov who likes cats. Oh, and they discover the great outdoors with everything from trees, to lizards, to rivers and mountains. I probably forgot to mention that they lived in a sanitized bubble. Jessica and Logan are fascinated by the old man (he's been on his own so long he doesn't remember his own name) because they have never met anyone older than 30. They find the old man in what they are calling sanctuary, and the ironic thing is sanctuary is actually...wait for it....Washington, D.C. (if that was intended as irony back in 1975, how ironic is it today with Washington such a stagnant cess pool of career politicians?). Logan and Jessica want to return back home, but bring the old man with them to show the others that there is life after 30. Logan's Run was based on the book of the same name and it made me think about A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, which I read on my own volition many years ago, and I recommend reading just to add it to your own database books about the future written many, many years ago (it's nice to cross things off your list). The movie won a Special Academy Award for Visual Effects, and I imagine at that time it was probably groundbreaking; it's hard to imagine Star Wars came out just a few years later and changed special effects so much. The movie is worth a watch if you like science fiction, maybe watch The Planet of the Apes, Logan's Run and Omega Man (with Charlton Heston) for a triple feature. Logan's Run is pretty family friendly (maybe not for kids under 10).

I'd like to dedicate this review of someone 'running' metaphorically and literally to a friend of mine who is competing in an Ironman Triathlon this weekend. Bon chance, mon ami.