Rating: 
Summary: Hidden classic!
Review: The best science fictions has a message. What is the best Star Trek film? Why, the one with whales. "Silent Running" follows the same pattern of using the future to explain our current predicament.Set in the future, of course, where many of the world's planet have been put aboard space freighters waiting for the order to refoliate the planet. But the project gets axed due to budget concerns. Now what does Bruce Dern do? I won't spoil the film, but it is an enviro-friendly, action, sci-fi film that has a deep message and a warning. The special effects are classic, and the robots are as memorable as Robby or B-9 (Lost in Space). By the way, amputated Vietnam vets were inside the costumes. But you get caught in the illusion. I wish this film would get more circulation and exposure. A hidden classic.
Rating: 
Summary: What might be
Review: This was Douglas Trumball's triumph! He had just finished making 2001 and got on with a specialaized project with Universal to be able to make movies on a fixed budget. He was able to make a movie that still stands up today as an effects triumph. Despite his limited budget he was able to make a movie with Robots that I had to see to believe how they were done. The most important thing in this movie is the message. Earth is a fragile thing and that our resources and space are not limitless nor boundless. IN the end, we may have forests in little domes in space wondering where we went wrong on earth. The idea that even these last vestages of life would be destroyed is interesting and considering the present corprate mentality of the bottom line or nothing, is plausable. The logos and advertising by American Airlines and other corporate entities gives the film a realistic flavor. Trumball did his best to convey that. Such was present in the use of the Valley Forge, a WWII aircraft carrier that was in the process of being scrapped. Varous sections of the ship were modified and utilized as set pieces and rooms on a vast spacecraft. So much so, as a child when I saw this film, I thought they had actualy filmed it on location! This was Trumballs film all the way. Although Stephen Bochco and others appear as the writing credits, Trumball eventually had to throw out all their writing and write the film himself, but because he was not a member of the Writers Guild, did not get credit for his work. All in all, an excellent film that I hope that todays youth, with their jaded, computer-graphic, perfect mindset, can understand and hopefully see the message that the worst can STILL happen.
Rating: 
Summary: This movie is a Joke
Review: I just saw this movie the other day and I can't belive how it has not aged well. The special effects are really low budget looking and fake, Dern's acting is flat and uninspired, the robots look like carbon metal boxes with legs, and the music by Joan Beiz is really annoying. I liked this film once, but I really don't care for it now.
Rating: 
Summary: Another well made science fiction film from the early 1970's
Review: Bruce Dern plays a lone scientist who safeguards Earth's last remaining rain forests on a massive starship in this early 1970's science fiction classic, directed by Douglas Trumbull and featuring the first major special effects work by John Dykstra, as with the other two movies made at the time (The Andromeda Strain and Colossus; The Forbin Project), Silent Running also benefits from an intelligently written screenplay, the`performance of Dern, and good effects work from the design of the starship to the three robots that keep company with Dern's character as he journeys around the solar system.
Rating:
Summary: Run Freeman, Run
Review: Movie Summary: Freeman Lowell is the gardener on one of a small fleet of space ships carrying the last of earth's forests. These forests are contained in giants domes. When the project is canceled, the domes are ordered destroyed and the ships called back to earth. Lowell fights to keep the forest on his ship alive with tragic consequences. Consequences that he must try to live with. My Opinion: This is a classic sci-fi film. I really like it, but I'm a hard core sci-fi fan. I don't think that people that are only slightly into sci-fi would get much out of it. The robots are very cool. The main theme of the movie is Lowell trying to weigh the saving of the last of earth's forests against the taking of human life. DVD Quality: Non Anamorphic Widescreen in Dolby Digital 1.0 (mono center channel only) as bare bones as it gets. What You Should Do: It is currently out of print, so you don't have too many options. Rent it if you are a medium to hard core sci-fi fan. If you are a hard core sci-fi collector then you should try ebay for a copy.
Rating:
Summary: Silent Running Endures the Test of Time
Review: ...With the exception of the terribly dated vocal soundtrack (I found myself fast forwarding through Joan Baez's insufferable wailing; however the instrumental portions of the soundtrack are very appropriate and seem to highlight the absolute isolation of space), this remains one of the finest Science Fiction films I've ever seen. I first viewed this film in theatres during its original release when I was only 9 years old, and have never forgotten this film as one of my favorites growing up. Of course, not having seen this film in nearly 20 years, I expected it to be terribly dated with horrendous "pre-computer animation" special effects. Was I ever wrong! The special effects have held up well, (even my 10 year old daughter was amazed at how good they were for such an "old, old film"). Finally, Bruce Dern's performance (Lowell) in this film is absolutely amazing. He plays the part of a tree-hugging botanist in a society where trees and plant life are no longer essential for continued life on Earth. His passion for his job bounces off the deaf ears of his shipmates who only want to blow up the forests they're carrying and head home for good. In the end, Lowell emerges from his despondant despair to save the last forest from extinction, but only at the price of the lives of his shipmates. The remainder of the movie centers around Lowell's solitude, his interaction with his forest and the three service droids who make up his new family. During this time, the guilt associated with the murders he has committed gnaws away at Lowell's soul exposing him to be a character of many varying depths. Kudos to Bruce Dern for one of his finest performances ever. Watch this movie if you can. It'll be worth it (just be ready for the remote when Joan Baez starts wailing about sunshine, children dancing in the sun, trees, and world harmony... EEEeeyyeech...!)
Rating:
Summary: Semi-Interesting film.
Review: Bruce Dern and film maker Douglas Trumbull give us a film where a lone man tries to save the last of Earth's forests onboard a mammoth starship, fleeing from a doomed polluted world called Earth. Acting, the visual effects, and film sets look very impressive.
Rating:
Summary: A buddy was in it.
Review: A friend of mine, Larry Whisenhunt, played one of the drones in the movie. Unfortunately, Larry passed away of kidney cancer in 1989. Apparently, the cast had a ball making the film judging by the stories Larry used to tell us.
Rating:
Summary: Hilarious!
Review: I don't think I got this movie at all the way it was meant, but it still ranks as one of my favorite movies of all time. My movie watching companion and I both found the movie to be full of seemingly unrelated clips randomly sewn together with a completely unrelated underlying emotion attached... I'll never forget the look on that guy's face when he knocked one of those fall-apart octagonal boxes down in the funny looking motorized wheelbarrow. Why exactly was he so concerned for that few shovel fulls of dry dirt? And it took me an hour to stop laughing at the way the robot death scene was put together; he just drove right through poor Huey (might have Louie or Dewey... and why are those names so hard to spell?) without even realizing it. I am completely serious; you have to see it to believe it! Its a fullhouse, and he knows it! Must-buy late Christmas present =)
Rating:
Summary: I'm being generous
Review: The only reason I gave it a 1 is because I couldn't give it a 0. It is totally stale. If you are a fan of sci-fi, chances are you'll have to fight to stay awake. The look and feel of the robots is about the one and only redeeming quality of this film. Avoid it like the plague, even on earth day.
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