In the 23rd century, men and women are free to do whatever they like, except
turn 30. Then, they must sacrifice themselves or become runners, doomed
individuals who face deadly justice at the hands of the dreaded Sandmen.
One of these Sandmen, Logan 5, uncovers rumors of a secret place called Sanctuary,
where runners might be free, and he is sent on a covert mission to find and destroy it,
all while being hunted by his former partner, Francis 7.
As Logan and a young woman named Jessica 6 begin to untangle the lies they've
been fed since birth, their search for Sanctuary becomes something more.
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In the late 60's, MGM and producer George Pal
secured the rights to the recently published science fiction novel
Logan's Run, by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson. Hoping to ride
the success of 1968's Planet of the Apes and 2001: A Space Odyssey, Pal wanted to
infuse the adaptation with social relevance and put Robert Redford in the
title role, but script delays pushed the project into the early 70's.
With science fiction becoming far less popular and profitable in those days, Pal, citing
health concerns, left the project to work on Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze,
which would prove to be his last picture.
Even though most of Hollywood had lost faith in science fiction cinema,
one producer who hadn't was Saul David, known for
producing the science fiction films Fantastic Voyage and Skullduggery.
While Skullduggery had proven to be a failure, David was convinced that there was still
a place for science fiction, and so he picked up the pieces of
Pal's aborted adaptation and ran with him.
With MGM unenthusiastic, David first took Logan's Run
to Irwin Allen, who was interested enough to purchase the rights
to the novel but became so busy making his legendary disaster movies,
The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno, that he let them lapse.
Then, when Soylent Green and Westworld proved to be modest though not enormous financial
successes for MGM in 1973, the studio was once again interested in the project,
so David was given a green light to produce Logan's Run himself.
With a new script by Straw Dogs screenwriter David Zelag Goodman,
David hired Michael Anderson to direct the project.
A London born director who spent many years working as
an assistant under the legendary Peter Ustinov, Anderson was known for
The Dam Busters, Around the World in 80 Days, and
ironically enough, George Pal's Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze.
Much later in his career, he would move to Canada and
direct the schlocky time-travel cult classic Millennium, a guilty pleasure of mine.
"Forget about this. There's gonna be a paradox if you don't."
For the lead role of Logan 5, Anderson brought in Michael
York, who he'd just filmed in Conduct Unbecoming. A relatively young British
actor--though it bears noting he was over 30 at the time--York made a name for
himself on stage with the National Theatre, where he trained under Laurence Olivier.
He'd also done some notable film work in Franco Zeffirelli's adaptation
of Romeo and Juliet and the 1972 version of Cabaret.
For the female lead, Jessica 6, they hired another British stage actor, Jenny Agutter,
who had some minor television and film work under her belt, though nothing as
significant as Logan's Run. The role nearly went to Lindsay Wagner,
but during screen tests, Anderson felt that Agutter had better chemistry with
York, which they chalked up to having worked together before at the National Theatre.
The role of Logan's friend-turned-antagonist, Francis 7, was first offered to
William Devane, who pulled out at the last minute, feeling the role just
wasn't a good fit for him. With only a few days left before filming began,
Anderson hired the Harvard-trained character actor Richard Jordan.
"Around here, I'm Mr. Prescott."
For the role of the nameless old man that Logan
and Jessica encounter towards the climax of the film,
Anderson initially tried to hire James Cagney, but the actor was resolute in his
retirement at the time. Instead, Anderson managed to get his longtime friend and
collaborator, Peter Ustinov, to deliver perhaps the film's most memorable
performance, improvising a lot of his dialogue on set.
Minor roles were filled by the great Roscoe Lee Brown as the Android Box
"Overwhelming, am I not?"
the director's son, Michael Anderson, Jr., as the new face doctor, and of course,
Farrah Fawcett as Holly 13. Also noteworthy is Laura Lindsay, who plays a nameless
runner and the voice of the computer, along with Playboy Playmate Ashley Cox,
who plays this random girl at the end.
For the special effects, Anderson turned to Glen Robinson, an MGM regular who'd done work on
The Wizard of Oz, Forbidden Planet, and Earthquake,
and L.B. Abbott, the former head of the special effects department at
20th Century Fox, famous for his work on Fantastic Voyage, Planet of the Apes,
and the Poseidon Adventure. The visual effects were done by
Matthew Yuricich, known for Forbidden Planet, Ben-Hur, and Soylent Green.
There are plenty of notable effects in Logan's Run,
like the extensive miniatures, the gas-powered laser pistols, and the Android Box.
By far the most complicated, though, was the Carousel sequence,
which required dozens of stunt actors on wires with pyrotechnics strapped to their backs,
along with some optical overlays and extremely precise editing.
During an early attempt to pull it off, the wires became hopelessly tangled
and the stunt actors had to be rescued one at a time by forklifts over the course of a couple of hours.
For the era, the effects are mostly successful,
but the miniatures never look like anything but miniatures
and there are a few effects that come across as notably bad.
It doesn't help in retrospect that, merely a year later, Star Wars would blow it completely out of the water.
Still, the film did share a controversial Academy Award in 1977 with King Kong for its effects.
The Academy had decided to do away with the category
of special effects that year, so the award given to Logan's Run and King Kong
was dubbed the "Special Achievement Award."
Though most of the film was done on sets and MGM backlots,
some major set pieces were filmed in several unique locations in Texas,
including the newly-erected Dallas Market Center,
the Water Gardens in Fort Worth, and more, which shaved a couple
million dollars off the film's budget.
The score was done by science fiction staple Jerry Goldsmith,
and though I don't think it's his best work, he does
do something interesting with it. For the scenes that take place within the city,
he sticks with a largely electronic score,
whereas for scenes in the outside world, he opts for a strictly orchestral one.
The film released in June of 1976 and was a decent success.
Though it wasn't beloved critically--many critics dismissed it as derivative, dystopic
drivel--it earned 25 million dollars domestically against a 7 million dollar budget.
What most critics missed about Logan's Run is its timely cultural resonance,
and they failed to account for the growing hunger audiences had for
science fiction. The former seems obvious in hindsight; for a whole generation of
kids who came of age during the Summer of Love less than a decade earlier, this
movie reflects their attitudes going into adulthood, leaving behind their
utopic dreams of free love and consequence-free decadence and coming to
appreciate the previously-dismissed wisdom of their elders. In that sense, it
is a surprisingly conservative film, a rallying cry for traditional values and
monogamy, even as it portrays a sexually liberated society.
As for science fiction cinema, Logan's Run represents the end of an era,
the first big-budget sci-fi spectacle of the 70's to be a major box-office hit.
It paved the way for Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, acting as a
harbinger of the science-fiction boom that was to follow. Looking back on it
now, it's hard to look beyond it schlocky 70's aesthetic, its wonky pacing, and its
uneven special effects, but make no mistake: Logan's Run is one of the most
important and influential science fiction films ever made.
And that's all for today, my fellow Earthlings. Don't forget to like and subscribe if you
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over to my Patreon, where you can get your name in the credits, watch bonus
videos, vote on future topics, and more. You can also find written reviews of
many sci-fi classics, including the novel and movie versions
of Logan's Run, at my website at emagill.com. Until next time, when we'll try
to figure out who controls the universe, this is the Unapologetic Geek, telling
you to never be ashamed of what you love, as long as you're not hurting anybody.
"Cats?" "Yeah, and they've each got their own name.
Cats. 'Course. What else would they be called? CATS!"