Meditative and downbeat rather than crowd-pleasing, the film includes a few sequences that suggest the direction Lucas career later took.
THX 1138 (1971)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:44
Fresh:39
Rotten:5
Average Rating:7/10
Consensus: George Lucas' feature debut presents a spare, bleak, dystopian future, and features evocatively minimal set design and creepy sound effects.
Runtime: 90 mins
Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy
Synopsis: In George Lucas's fascinating debut feature (based on his short student film), the filmmaking wunderkind creates a futuristic, underground world in which bald, drone-like workers are forced to take... In George Lucas's fascinating debut feature (based on his short student film), the filmmaking wunderkind creates a futuristic, underground world in which bald, drone-like workers are forced to take drugs to regulate their moods and stifle their libidos. THX 1138 (Robert Duvall) and his mate LUH 3417 (Maggie McOmie) are factory workers, building the robotic police that keep order in their stark world. The soundtrack to their lives is a news service that continually lists information about factory accidents, as well as sex and drug crimes, ŕ la George Orwell's 1984. There are electronic confessionals where workers admit to mistakes they've made, outlets THX uses to express his unhappiness with his life. When LUH decides she and THX should stop taking their medication, their sense of humanity--and their desire and love for each other as a couple--is unleashed. It's not long, however, before they are imprisoned for this crime, and LUH learns that she is pregnant. Separated from LUH, THX embarks on a journey to find her, with the help of rebel SEN (Donald Pleasence) and hologram SRT (Don Pedro Colley), eventually attempting escape to the outside world. Combining complex editing and sound techniques with brilliantly subtle performances, THX 1138 is Lucas's less widely regarded vision of life in outer space, though it stands firmly as an awe-inspiring sci-fi spectacle. The film is also eerily prophetic, depicting a world in which television screens are bombarded with sensationalistic news, sexually explicit films, and vapid comedy shows. [More]
Starring: Robert Duvall, Donald Pleasence, Don Pedro Colley, Maggie McOmie
Starring: Robert Duvall, Donald Pleasence, Don Pedro Colley, Maggie McOmie, Ian Wolfe, Marshall Efron, Sid Haig, Irene Forrest
Director: George Lucas
Director: George Lucas
Screenwriter: George Lucas, Walter Murch
Producer: Lawrence Sturhahn
Composer: Lalo Schifrin
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Reviews for THX 1138
With political paternalism rampant at both extremes of the spectrum, Lucas is onto something. In any case, we'll know for sure in about a generation.
Visually it is often extraordinary, with Lucas playing on perspectives and dislocations throughout, nowhere more brilliantly than in the 'prison' represented by a limbo of whiteness that seems to stretch as far as the eye can see.
Masterpiece? I’d hazard to say so, for as much of what it says to what it leaves to the viewer.
I have a good many reservations about the film's ideas, but they are greatly outweighed by my admiration for a technical virtuosity that by fair means and foul achieves exceptional emotional intensity at the same time.
For a film that warns about the dangers of consumerism, one can only wonder how many more times will Mr. Lucas force this lesser work of his upon an uncaring public before he lets the film slip back into obscurity.
THX 1138 shows that Lucas was once interested in letting actors act, and in letting the audience think for themselves. It reveals just how much his technological toys have crippled him as a storyteller.
Lucas’ bleak debut is a film markedly dissimilar from his more famous trilogy.
A pretentious regurgitation of worn-out sci-fi cliches by a novice filmmaker who had yet to find his way.
Neglected on its initial release, this now stands as a classic science fiction movie and one of the most remarkable debuts of the 70s.
The thought put into the world of THX 1138 clearly shows a respect for the audience who crave to know more than just basic plot and character development.
A scrupulously crafted vision of benevolent oppressiveness, THX 1138 exudes a creamy hypnotism and resonates strongly.
Austere, cerebral, and sometimes maddeningly cold, it would seem that THX 1138 is the visual and tonal opposite of the space western Star Wars.
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 15% 15% | The Ugly Truth |
| 98% 98% | Up |
| 36% 36% | G.I. Joe: The Rise of … |
| 52% 52% | The Taking of Pelham 1… |
| 45% 45% | Ice Age: Dawn of the D… |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 36% 36% | Angels & Demons |
| 68% 68% | Funny People |
| 25% 25% | Four Christmases |
| 45% 45% | Shorts |
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