Logan's Run

The First Film of the Twenty-Third Century

Loosely based on a novel by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson, LOGAN'S RUN (the film) told a quite different story. In the novel, when DS operative Logan 3 finds out he is on Lastday (his 21st birthday) he decides to 'run', to seek out a place called Sanctuary, posing as a Runner so that he might destroy it and justify his all-too-short life... whereas in the film, Logan 5 (a 26-year-old 'terminator'-of-Runners, or Sandman) has his right palm's Lifeclock 'retrogrammed' by the computer/AI which controls the domed City -- it steals his last 4 years of life, forcing him to pose as a Runner, under orders to find and destroy Sanctuary. As a previous reviewer noted, one of the bizarre characters Logan encounters on his journey is a malfunctioning 'servo-mechanism' named BOX, who has mistaken the intruding humans as yet more sea-life for him to freeze, as food supplies for the City. As he says, "It's my job... to freeze you." Importantly, as this portrayal of Box differs drastically from the character portrayed in the source novel, Box's line reminds us of an earlier moment in the film, when Logan -- who has revealed to Jessica that he, a Sandman, is going to Run -- indicates that she 'knows something' about Sanctuary (because of an Ankh medallion that she wears as an ornament, which is somehow 'linked' with Sanctuary), she asks him where he got that Ankh. "I got it from a runner," he replies. "And then you killed him!" she accuses... and he replies, "It was my job... but now it's different, believe me." It was Logan's job to 'terminate' -- to kill -- the men and women who chose to Run, just as it was Box's job to freeze the sea-life was sent up to his glorified refridgerator of a home. Logan, a man who had effectively been programmed by the City's authority (an intelligent computer) to serve a function, was not fully human. He was just like Box, a machine. It is only after this scene that Logan truly becomes a man, that he is able to see that his role up until that point was as insane as Box's role, freezing humans as if they were no different than the protein-rich sea-greens from the ocean. In the novel, Logan is able to overcome the programming that had shaped his entire life, and he becomes one of the lucky few who successfully escape to Sanctuary... but in the film, Logan goes one step further and tries to put a stop to the inhuman computer-controlled way-of-life in the City. In the film's final act, with no dialogue spoken, the City is freed from computer control and undergoes a minor apocalypse as explosions tear through it and its womb-like dome is breached... so that the child-like citizens can finally be 'born' into a saner life. LOGAN'S RUN has its share of flaws, but its virtues easily outweigh them. Buttressed by a magnificent score by Jerry Goldsmith, the film tells an exciting and thought-provoking story that extrapolates to an absurd extreme trends that were prevalent in the mid-1970's... as well as today.

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Logan's Run Is a Blast!

What would happen if in the future you could only live to be 30? Well, Social Security would definately not be required, and you would probably see bumper stickers that said 'Don't Trust Anybody Over the Age of 15'. This 1970s science fiction flick does an excellent job of presenting a dark view of the future, where an uber-eugenics runs rampant over society. Sure, the special effects and sets are hokey in that cheesey mid-1970s-pre-computer-generated graphics sort of way. But that is part of the charm of this little science fiction gem. I have to admit that watching this film is a guilty pleasure. The twists and turns in the plot, the dim view of human nature, and the outstanding ending all contribute to a fine addition to the library of science fiction films. The most fascinating part of watching this film is observing how the future was viewed from the perspective of the popular culture of the 1970s. This film represents the high-water mark of the golden age of science fiction in the 1970s, and fits well in the genre of films that include 'Soylent Green', 'The Omega Man', and 'West World'. A young Michael York does a spectacular job in this film - he will later revive his film career in the late 1990s as Basil Expedition in the Austin Powers series. In 1984, Colorado Governor Dick Lamm gained notoriety as 'Governor Gloom' for his statement that elderly people on life support systems 'had a duty to die and get out of the way.' This is probably the lasting legacy of 'Logan's Run' to the history of American politics.

Logan's run

I AM THRILLED ABOUT THIS MOVIE BECUASE I AM DEAF MYSELF, THERE WAS NO CLOSED CAPTIONED IN 1970'S.

In the 70's no one can hear you scream.

I'm really taking issue with main review here not the movie itself. Which was enjoyable enough to me at the time, but mind you I was 10. First off this ''post-apocalyptic'' enviroment, looks a hell of a lot like a mall in California, which makes some sense, because it was filmed in one. The cast traipse about robed in short kiana togas in the hues of yellow, green, red. I am at a loss to explain reviwer Brian Dillard's notion that 'renewal' and 'carosel' are different things. Perhaps he read the book, (and God save him if thats true) but in the film, Sandmen chased runners and shot them dead. If you turned 30 you went to carosel to be 'renewed'. There was nothing 'gladitorial' about carosel. Participants dressed up like members of 'Cirqe de Solie' and floated up in something like an anti gravity beam, and when the reached a cetain altitude they exploded. Why did they explode? The film isn't really clear about that. I always assumed it had something to do with the little jewel embedded in everyones hand. Maybe it was a time bomb or something, but then why didn't our heroes explode when they left the city? O.K. more likly there was a hidden laser gun in the carosel arena, but to say that carosel was gladitorial is laughable. It was euthanasia pure and simple. Nobody got out alive. As for Logans life of hedonism there is not as much sex in this movie as a lot of people seem to remember. It is in fact quite tame by todays standards. The young and lovley Farrah Fawcett certainly doesn't show anything we didn't see on Charlies Angels. The famous 'Sex Shop' scene is little more than brief strobe-lit flashes of bodies only 'possibly nude'. Nothing explicit. Even at 'super slow speed' it offers little to see. The saving graces of this film are Roscoe Lee Browne as the single-minded robot BOX. And the delightfull peter Ustinov who seems as confused by the movie as the audience. For his part BOX has the best line in the whole thing. His programming having gone slightly wrong somewhere, he blithely performs his task to freeze all the protein and nutrient matter that comes to his domain... including any hapless human visitors seeking sanctuary. When asked why he does the horrible things he does, his response was simply: ''Its my job!''

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