The fact that this unforgettable movie made us kids cry all around the world, proves me that in the bottom of our hearts we are good and there's a hope. Argentine here.
Ah, so I'm not the only kid who watched this and burst into tears! ;-) Actually, the end scene, with the robot on his own, looking after the forests set me off most! The whole film is a masterpiece and a truly poignant piece of cinema.
I watched this in the theatre when it came out, I think I was 12 years old, and it had a tremendous effect on me...I was already a melancholy child, this just took me over the edge..But in a good way in that it made me more conscious of our planet.. and yes, I sobbed at the end... Now I want my grandchildren to see it...
I was fortunate to have seen this on it's first run as a kid. From the opening shot, I was hooked. The music, the theme's, the robots. In terms of story, I favor Silent Running over other sci-fi films of the era. This one has always stuck with me. Even though Bruce Dern has that unshakable, manic screen persona, he brings a deep humanity to his performance. His final speech to the robots had me in tears. Silent Running is a superb film and stands tall among the best of Science Fiction Films.
Shit, I cried as a 20-something year old man when I watched this for the first time, it is a really potent commentary on our disposable, wasteful culture, not to mention having a dark, surreal perspective on isolation and the human condition. The anthropomorphism of the robots out of desperation for emotional connection, the lengths he is willing to go to defend his beliefs... the final scene where he "sacrifices" himself to preserve those ideals.. it's pretty powerful. Love this movie, even out of it's time it is as relevant and poignant as ever.
I am 58 years. This movie has stayed with me all these years. I remember back in high school, I somehow ended up talking with this kinda of tough kid who I was a bit afraid of.For some reason we ended up talking about this great movie. He admitted to me that he cried watching it! I told him I cried like a baby when I watched it! We became good friends after that.
Im 58 also my friend and the near exact same thing happened to me, i was watching it with my buddy Pete White the toughest kid in our school and at the end of the movie i sneakily turned to look at him because i could feel myself starting to go and he was already crying. btw i went on to join the Royal Marine Commando's and he went on to join the French Foreign Legion true story ( don't tell the Russians )
The endings to Silent Running and Coming Home continue to haunt me. Dern is AMAZING in both. Wonderful guy. Nails it every time. Tears in my eyes! Getting sentimental these days!
I cried so hard the first time I watched it. My family had no idea what was wrong, and I couldn't explain the flood of emotion: sadness, anger, shock. Self destruction is human destiny. I wanted to express myself the way Charlton Heston did in the final scene of Planet of the Apes. I haven't watched it since, but no movie has ever made the same impact.
Sitting here watching Bruce Dern in Once upon a time in Hollywood movie, I was telling the missus I always remember Bruce and Silent Running. Not for the movie, but how sad I was when Louie the robot was killed! I couldn't remember the name of the movie, so I Googled it and here I am. So glad to see I wasn't the only sook when Louie died, and even at 54 now, I'm sure I'd tear up again if I watched it. Even just reading the comments here has me vividly remembering that scene and getting glassy eyed! Cheers for the review...It's brought back a lot of memories
I was 7 or 8 when I saw this in the early 70's for the first time. It was so profound and meaningful it still effects me the same way. It has the power to transport me back into that child, filled with awe and wonder.
There aren’t many movies I watched in the 70’s that left an indelible impression on me but this is one of them. He’s right though, truly heartbreaking about the robots and the movie was unfortunately way ahead of its time. Bruce Dern again shows that given the right materiel he’s a master of his craft, so too Mr Trumbell.
It was also the first movie for me where the protagonist is a murderer. He murders his companions! Two in a very cold hearted way and one rather violently. This disturbed me and I had a conflict of empathy that I have since found fascinating. Plus my father worked for the Forest Service, the Government Agency that was in charge of the botanical fleet. So Bruce Dern's character had a certain paternal affection from me.
interesting "take & view" of yours , 240ups ...; here's anpther one : i'd seen "silent running" for te first time at the age of ~ 10 y & before i've seen "2001" ... & "i fell in love with space & spacetravel" ... & then i was "lucky" enough to make this love "my profession , v better , my calling ... : i'm over 50 y old now but i still wouldn't hesitate a second when i'd get the chance "to fly to the stars" ... !!!
This brilliant film truly brings out the core human quality of empathy and caring in people. I saw it at age 15 when it was released in 1972. It was broadcast multiple times over the years on television and I now watch my DVD copy at least once a year. I have tears every time I see it. Joan Baez's song, "Rejoice in the Sun" is so moving. And the final visual of Dewey caring for the pants and trees using Freeman Lowell's dented children's watering can while the song plays is painfully sad. It is filled with hope, but it is still very sad indeed. It is good that a film like this can touch us in this way and I find it very heartening to read how so many people are emotionally moved by it. Finally, this film is just as important today, if not more so than it was back in 1972.
Saw it when I was 12 in theater and it affected me profoundly. Bruce Dern rocked in this film. Ever since I’ve had a strong connection with plants. I wonder how far he and his conifer forest have gone out into the universe after all these years? In a galaxy far, far, away. Had I been involved in Star Wars, during the last 3 episodes, I would have added a shot of Dewey’s dome going by in one of the space scenes.
The fact that this movie made us kids cry all around the world proves me that, in the bottom of our hearts, we are good and still got hope. Argentine here.
In fact, the entire movie was filmed aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Valley Forge, except for the forest dome sets which were built inside an airplane hangar at Van Nuys Airport.
It is the end of February of 2022, and Douglas Trumbull died about a week ago. It is poignant for me to rewatch this brief tribute to his finest film. A few years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Cliff Potts at a script reading in North Hollywood. I usually leave celebrities alone, respecting their privacy. But at the end of the evening, with everybody leaving the small theatre, I told Mr. Potts that "Silent Running" is one of my favourite movies and I thanked him for his part in it. His eyes lit up, he shook my hand and immediately started telling me about the making of the movie. He was so excited to be talking about this film, that it was evidently as touching experience for him as it is for the audience. He was so nice!
I hadn't realized Trumbell had died. Absolute master of his craft. 2001, especially the shuttle craft docking with the space station is timeless. The greatest tragedy was his work in The Starlost. Great Ark ship modelled after the ships in this movie but utterly appalling writing, direction and acting. I don't think anyone involved would like to admit it.
Haha, one of the reasons I don't want to watch it again is because of how badly it made me cry. I am glad to know it's not just me. I loved the robots so so much in this one.
I forced myself to watch it again finally, to try to understand better the affect it has on me. It was almost like a religious experience. The little robots, so gentle, and the feeling of lonliness at the end with just Dewey there looking after the forest, but also a feeling of hope. It was incredibly humbling.
It's definitely a rollercoaster of emotion, I feel the only characters I really could empathize with where the robots. The crew members are just A***holes, Dern the hippy hero brutally murders his fellow crew, Aholes or not and as much as I like Dern as an actor he's a little creepy leaving me only concerned with the safety and well being of 3 droids, I suppose a testament to there construction and the actors within. And that song tugging, pulling at your heart strings!. Maybe there should be a sequal with hippy aliens that find the last pod, look after Dewey and the forest :)
The music score (I'm not talking abut the Baez songs) is great as well. It's impressive for a $1 million budget and yes 'Silent Running' makes me cry too.
Loved this film as a kid! The robots where so adorable and it had a good message, A hippy scifi film done well and the soundtrack just adds to the hippy feel. Still relevant and moving today had as big an effect on me as a child as 2001, but is sadly not very well known.
Those robots are so cute. That make no sounds like the Star Wars creatures do which makes them more cute. And Bruce Derns performance is impeccable. But what impressed me most of all is that a director and the money backers were able to try a project which dealt mainly with how the worlds lost compassion for life except this one man. And he will stop at nothing to save the last of the forests. Try to sell that today. Movies used to be made for the people but now their made for those who are backing it up and they know nothing about people.
You are so right about this classic movie. The effects that were used in this classic were great, from the spaceship's to the real looking robots. I remember some years ago when I got lucky to see a part of the making of Silent Running. I was blown away when they revealed the truth about the robots. Because like you said, for me as a kid, the now classic robots that looked and performed real were the best. Just to list two, robot B-9 from Lost in Space, and Robby from Forbidden Planet.
An absolute classic when it comes to sci-fi. Great modelling on the ships, looking huge, but industrial like the Nostromo in Alien, not shiny and neat like Discovery from 2001. It's the closing scenes that get me, with Bruce committing nuclear suicide, the last drone drifting off all alone with the last forest and Joan Baez's haunting song over the end credits.
Someone may have called this out in another comment already, but if you look carefully at the colonial fleet in the original Battlestar Galactica series, Trumball re-used the Valley Forge from Silent Running as the Ag Ship.
While the ship design was re-used in the original Battlestar Galactica and was later paid homage in a similar design in the re-boot, Trumbull didn't do the FX for BSG. That was John Dykstra (who would later be the FX director on the oringal Star Wars) and his team at Apogee who did BSG. That said Dykstra did get his start working with Trumbull on Silent Running as one of the model makers.
loved this film - totally forgot about it-- and then, in 1993, it was the 2nd DVD I ordered from Netflix (back when you got actual discs mailed to you)-- it was great to re-discover!
I worked at Tessmann Planetarium located on the campus of Santa Ana College (2-yr "Junior college). Used the music from this film many times; mainly when discussing O'neill-styled Space Settlements. 1973-83 Santa Ana CA Planetarium could seat 100 adults --- largest planetarium in Orange County CA
Great film, same thing here in Canada played a lot at nite, and it blew my socks off. Droids are great and organic movement made them very human, made me want to be a botanist, actually want to University for this reason, can’t express how much of an impact this movie had on me, only wish it hadn’t been so prothetic. Bruce Dern was magnificent in this film, and the story, soundtrack, and effects are spot on. First film ever where I actually bought the Blue Ray. Thanks for 5he review, wish more people would see this film, as it is so relevant to today’s situation.
The loss of Drone 3 didn't bother me when I first saw Silent Running as a kid, because the robot didn't have a personality or even a name yet. Lowell reprogrammed and named the other two after Drone 3 was destroyed, so Louie got his name posthumously. The ending of the film, however, tore me up.
In any reboot of this unforgettable movie, i believe Matt McCoughnagey could absolutely NAIL the role of Freeman Lowell! Even Bruce Dern would say: "Holy cow! That guy looks like just like me! Or how i looked then!"
Made for something like $975 000, this 70s icon is a testament to the FX genius of Douglas Trumbull...the canny use of front projection systems, the UNcanny visualization of Saturn that, try as they might, he, Wally Veevers and Con Pederson could not get to their (or, I guess Kubrick's) satisfaction for 2001...the 'uncoupling' effects for the domes which look like vintage NASA footage... the Japanese metabolist architecture-inspired space-frame exoskeleton of (what then must have looked quite radical and now appears as a beloved sentimental favourite) the Vally Forge and the most physically correct blast wave and explosion effects ever presented in a film: expanding spheres of light and material (i.e.: no roiling clouds). Of course....there still is noise in the vacuum of space...but why not?...that sound when those locking plates pop off the jettisoned domes is heartbreaking...
I watched the moon landings with rapt attention as a child. I also wanted humanity to take as much of the Earth's ecology with us into space. I saw Silent Running in 1972 as a double feature with the Andromeda Strain at the age of 12. I so love my planet, just the opening scene and music had me crying. I cry to this day as I watch the whole movie.
I loved those buggies, which as I understand, were custom made for this movie. I was in 2nd grade when the movie came out, and I wanted one of those buggies for Christmas.
For me, contemplating what I would do if I where in Freeman Lowell's shoes, can break away some tears; he commits murder, but he does it to preserve some of the forests. ...That is one script that must have been a bit of a hard sell, but as it turned out: To me, it's a gem.
You must acknowledge the soundtrack. It was outstanding! Yes, everyone SHOULD cry like an eight-year-old. We are all children of nature and the earth is dying.
Yep also for me a box of tissues film with the poor little robot looking at his buddies foot stuck outside the ship and when hes left in the forest! Im off to buy the DVD now!
I feel exactly the same way about this film, seems like it really hits a nerve with the viewer it did for me back in the '70s when I caught it on TV, it'd be interesting to see if it has the same effect on younger viewers today.
I watched it when I was about 18 or 19. Maybe a bit older than you meant, but I loved the atmosphere. That worked. And the story is simple but big, which usually works. It's now one of my favorite sci-fi films.
I'm around the same age as Edgar and I fondly remember this sometimes being on UK tv in the early evening. That and The Forbidden Planet. Settled down with a nice cup of tea and some custard creams for dunking: childhood evening sorted.
I loved the Joan Baez songs. I still have the translucent green soundtrack LP. I believe this was filmed in the decommissioned US aircraft carrier USS Valley Forge.
Someone looking over this series of comments could probably compose a fine university dissertation on the significance of so many contributors' using words like "died" or "killed" in connection with the Drones, without using quotation marks. (They really are endearing little chaps; they probably remind people of penguins [whom we also shamelessly anthropo-morphize, although those at least are flesh-and-blood critters]). Are we making an existential mistake, in being so willing to extend emotions to animated computers? If Progress goes on, eventually we may indeed be faced with simulacra that are all but indistinguishable from us - could this just be a warming-up for that day? Are we preparing ourselves for the prospect of the ultimate Union of human and machine?
Joan Baez? I thought that was Barbara Streisand, oh. This is a great Sci-Fi film for many reasons, and Dern is a good actor, but I can't much identify with/relate to the main character, a Future Space tree-hugger. I haven't seen this film in ages. I should give it a watch as soon as possible.
If I was pressed to offer up a "Best Movie of All Time" I'd most likely throw this one out there. Even over Bladerunner. A true masterpiece. And imminently relevant even 50 years later.
My first sci-fi movie that I saw in a real Drive-In at the time and had a tremendous impact on me since to pursue a career in entertainment but in 2004 I had an opp to meet Douglas Trumbull and told him what I always wanted to say to him about his movie and I don't think (based on his reaction) that he wanted to be bothered especially by my interruption at the time as he was waiting for his ride to an airport.
So fkn annoying how people today always say "after Star Wars came out..." then he declares it was released before so they may as well say "after Silent Running or Dark Star came out" but then someone can say "they're all probably influenced by Star Trek".
The Silent Running ship works by Newtonian physics. It can, at best, leave the Solar System, and take 81,000 years to get to the nearest star, let alone further. It obviously isn't "intergalactic," as Wright mistakenly says, since it would take literally millions of years to leave our galaxy when you can't travel at even a fiftieth of light-speed. It's a good film, except that the ending is completely unbelievable: a botanist who doesn't realize that plants need sunlight? Gimme a break. But it's very pretty, has a great soundtrack, and Bruce Dern does his usual good job as a half-crazed character. It's somewhat implausible that the other crew are all assholes without the faintest interest in their mission, but I suspend disbelief on that point.
Why blow up Hughie though? First he runs him over (accidently) then seperates the drones saying Hughie is too broken to leave behind with his mate and detonate him along with himself.... but I guess 2 robots in the forrest would not have had the same impact as the lone guardian of the forrest with his childs watering can. I think it's a great story kinda messes with your young moral compass, unexplaned conflictions left me guessing what it was all about. As I type someone is blowing up/buring down or polluting this dome we all live on and as humans we are all Dern, if we don't stop these people there will be no forrests, no fresh water, no clean air, no safe food left and SPOILER ALERT, we won't, because folks don't give a crap and I think that is shown here by the guys saying "Yeah lets blow this crap up and go home....." "no longer our problem", relishing blowning stuff up. Not their fault just following orders. It's pretty amazing just how much pain folks will inflict and damage they will do when someone else is ordering them to do it, studies have shown this. As I type this I can also see a part of all or most of us at one time or another, sitting at the table busting Dern's balls about why he cares or eats REAL food, like he's some kinda lesser man tree hugger as that's what we have been shown to act like around someone who thinks of the ramifications whilst the heard just eats what they have been gift wrapped up ready to eat and moves where they have been told to move, like mindless pawns. The expression "It puts hairs on your chest!" springs to mind. I think it odd that AAirlines would want their name involved in blowing up the forrest. But hey, go figure. So in the end we... Kill the humans we suddenly hate for blowing up the forrest We save the forrest at the cost of our humanity. We care about the robot who died and anthropomorphize the remaing two as children Leave the forrest mankind no longer cares for to a robot and kill ourselves, we also have to do it before the other humans get to us as they will surely blow it up on arrival. It's all backwards. That is why I couldn't sleep right when I thought it over.
I know this is a three year old comment, but you're spot on. I came to the same conclusions. I often wondered what Cheryl Sparks who was inside Hughie thought of the 'You're too damaged to help' line.
When he runs into the droid, am already thinking "F****** Idiot" especially after chastising the droid. The script did not lend much sympathy for the droids and poor handling of them, but again this was perhaps the intention of the writing.
One of the movies my dad took me to see when I was a little kid. We also saw The Cowboys. I watched Bruce Dern save the plants and animals and then kill John Wayne. I loved and hated him.
The fact that this unforgettable movie made us kids cry all around the world, proves me that in the bottom of our hearts we are good and there's a hope. Argentine here.
I cried at the end as a kid....'take good care of the forest'.
Ah, so I'm not the only kid who watched this and burst into tears! ;-) Actually, the end scene, with the robot on his own, looking after the forests set me off most! The whole film is a masterpiece and a truly poignant piece of cinema.
Nope, I too used to cry when I watched it way back then. I'm 54 now, and would probably tear up again! 😁
I watched this in the theatre when it came out, I think I was 12 years old, and it had a tremendous effect on me...I was already a melancholy child, this just took me over the edge..But in a good way in that it made me more conscious of our planet.. and yes, I sobbed at the end... Now I want my grandchildren to see it...
I saw this last year and cried like a baby, still emotional.
Yep. That were exactly my feelings, and specifically in that same scene. I think this was the first movie that made me cry as a little kid.
I cry just listening the that song ...
I was fortunate to have seen this on it's first run as a kid. From the opening shot, I was hooked. The music, the theme's, the robots. In terms of story, I favor Silent Running over other sci-fi films of the era. This one has always stuck with me. Even though Bruce Dern has that unshakable, manic screen persona, he brings a deep humanity to his performance. His final speech to the robots had me in tears. Silent Running is a superb film and stands tall among the best of Science Fiction Films.
That robot getting destroyed was the saddest thing for a kid.
Shit, I cried as a 20-something year old man when I watched this for the first time, it is a really potent commentary on our disposable, wasteful culture, not to mention having a dark, surreal perspective on isolation and the human condition. The anthropomorphism of the robots out of desperation for emotional connection, the lengths he is willing to go to defend his beliefs... the final scene where he "sacrifices" himself to preserve those ideals.. it's pretty powerful. Love this movie, even out of it's time it is as relevant and poignant as ever.
I just watched this tonight and I couldn’t agree more!
I am 58 years. This movie has stayed with me all these years. I remember back in high school, I somehow ended up talking with this kinda of tough kid who I was a bit afraid of.For some reason we ended up talking about this great movie. He admitted to me that he cried watching it! I told him I cried like a baby when I watched it! We became good friends after that.
Im 58 also my friend and the near exact same thing happened to me, i was watching it with my buddy Pete White the toughest kid in our school and at the end of the movie i sneakily turned to look at him because i could feel myself starting to go and he was already crying. btw i went on to join the Royal Marine Commando's and he went on to join the French Foreign Legion true story ( don't tell the Russians )
"Crying like an 8 year old." That sounds about right for me as well.
I'm 45 years old and as i see this movie at the first time i was 10 years. At the end i was so sad. This movie is a masterpiece.
Watched this movie two days ago. It still holds up! Gut punch at the end still! 😭
The endings to Silent Running and Coming Home continue to haunt me. Dern is AMAZING in both. Wonderful guy. Nails it every time.
Tears in my eyes! Getting sentimental these days!
I cried so hard the first time I watched it. My family had no idea what was wrong, and I couldn't explain the flood of emotion: sadness, anger, shock. Self destruction is human destiny. I wanted to express myself the way Charlton Heston did in the final scene of Planet of the Apes. I haven't watched it since, but no movie has ever made the same impact.
Sitting here watching Bruce Dern in Once upon a time in Hollywood movie, I was telling the missus I always remember Bruce and Silent Running. Not for the movie, but how sad I was when Louie the robot was killed! I couldn't remember the name of the movie, so I Googled it and here I am. So glad to see I wasn't the only sook when Louie died, and even at 54 now, I'm sure I'd tear up again if I watched it. Even just reading the comments here has me vividly remembering that scene and getting glassy eyed! Cheers for the review...It's brought back a lot of memories
I was 7 or 8 when I saw this in the early 70's for the first time. It was so profound and meaningful it still effects me the same way. It has the power to transport me back into that child, filled with awe and wonder.
There aren’t many movies I watched in the 70’s that left an indelible impression on me but this is one of them. He’s right though, truly heartbreaking about the robots and the movie was unfortunately way ahead of its time. Bruce Dern again shows that given the right materiel he’s a master of his craft, so too Mr Trumbell.
Bruce Dern gives a tour de force performance. x
all the crying let me hold my girl friend and i got lucky for the first time after an hour of taliking and snuggling
It was also the first movie for me where the protagonist is a murderer. He murders his companions! Two in a very cold hearted way and one rather violently. This disturbed me and I had a conflict of empathy that I have since found fascinating. Plus my father worked for the Forest Service, the Government Agency that was in charge of the botanical fleet. So Bruce Dern's character had a certain paternal affection from me.
interesting "take & view" of yours , 240ups ...; here's anpther one : i'd seen "silent running" for te first time at the age of ~ 10 y & before i've seen "2001" ... & "i fell in love with space & spacetravel" ... & then i was "lucky" enough to make this love "my profession , v better , my calling ... : i'm over 50 y old now but i still wouldn't hesitate a second when i'd get the chance "to fly to the stars" ... !!!
This brilliant film truly brings out the core human quality of empathy and caring in people. I saw it at age 15 when it was released in 1972. It was broadcast multiple times over the years on television and I now watch my DVD copy at least once a year. I have tears every time I see it. Joan Baez's song, "Rejoice in the Sun" is so moving. And the final visual of Dewey caring for the pants and trees using Freeman Lowell's dented children's watering can while the song plays is painfully sad. It is filled with hope, but it is still very sad indeed.
It is good that a film like this can touch us in this way and I find it very heartening to read how so many people are emotionally moved by it. Finally, this film is just as important today, if not more so than it was back in 1972.
Saw it when I was 12 in theater and it affected me profoundly. Bruce Dern rocked in this film. Ever since I’ve had a strong connection with plants. I wonder how far he and his conifer forest have gone out into the universe after all these years? In a galaxy far, far, away.
Had I been involved in Star Wars, during the last 3 episodes, I would have added a shot of Dewey’s dome going by in one of the space scenes.
The fact that this movie made us kids cry all around the world proves me that, in the bottom of our hearts, we are good and still got hope. Argentine here.
I cried when the robot got blown in to space too.
We all did. It's a pulverizing ending. It haunts the mind forever.
Bruce Dern is AMAZING in all his films. Great guy.
I love life and movies!
I've been wondering what happened to one-legged louie
for 40 damned years
Yep I’m 58 now and I still remember watching this in my living room as a little kid and absolutely crying my eyes out. My favorite hands down.
It was a hippy/sci-fi movie that actually worked. Loved it. AND Huey and Duey were the most believable movie robots since Forbidden Planet.
The interior, where they drive around in the "buggies" is actually the lower deck of a decommissioned aircraft carrier.
In fact, the entire movie was filmed aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Valley Forge, except for the forest dome sets which were built inside an airplane hangar at Van Nuys Airport.
@@scotpens Hence the name of the spaceship.
It is the end of February of 2022, and Douglas Trumbull died about a week ago. It is poignant for me to rewatch this brief tribute to his finest film.
A few years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Cliff Potts at a script reading in North Hollywood. I usually leave celebrities alone, respecting their privacy. But at the end of the evening, with everybody leaving the small theatre, I told Mr. Potts that "Silent Running" is one of my favourite movies and I thanked him for his part in it. His eyes lit up, he shook my hand and immediately started telling me about the making of the movie. He was so excited to be talking about this film, that it was evidently as touching experience for him as it is for the audience. He was so nice!
I hadn't realized Trumbell had died. Absolute master of his craft. 2001, especially the shuttle craft docking with the space station is timeless. The greatest tragedy was his work in The Starlost. Great Ark ship modelled after the ships in this movie but utterly appalling writing, direction and acting. I don't think anyone involved would like to admit it.
The fact that 2001 predates this just makes 2001 that much more astounding.
Haha, one of the reasons I don't want to watch it again is because of how badly it made me cry. I am glad to know it's not just me. I loved the robots so so much in this one.
Count me in. Watching this movie again, would really break my heart. I saw it just once... and it's still a vivid and moving memory.
I tried to watch it about a month ago, I blubbed so much when Louie died my wife switched it off.
I forced myself to watch it again finally, to try to understand better the affect it has on me. It was almost like a religious experience. The little robots, so gentle, and the feeling of lonliness at the end with just Dewey there looking after the forest, but also a feeling of hope. It was incredibly humbling.
It's definitely a rollercoaster of emotion, I feel the only characters I really could empathize with where the robots. The crew members are just A***holes, Dern the hippy hero brutally murders his fellow crew, Aholes or not and as much as I like Dern as an actor he's a little creepy leaving me only concerned with the safety and well being of 3 droids, I suppose a testament to there construction and the actors within. And that song tugging, pulling at your heart strings!. Maybe there should be a sequal with hippy aliens that find the last pod, look after Dewey and the forest :)
The truth is that the robots are also the only ones I care for and their loss is the only one that makes me really sad... that and the animals
The music score (I'm not talking abut the Baez songs) is great as well. It's impressive for a $1 million budget and yes 'Silent Running' makes me cry too.
The music was written by Peter Schickele, who is otherwise known as P.D.Q. Bach. Never realized he wrote this beautiful music until recently.
Loved this film as a kid! The robots where so adorable and it had a good message, A hippy scifi film done well and the soundtrack just adds to the hippy feel. Still relevant and moving today had as big an effect on me as a child as 2001, but is sadly not very well known.
An effects landmark with a message and a great actor.
Saw this when it came out. I was 8. It was amazing for the day. They anthropomorphized the robots so well I had the same feeling of loss.
This movie will live in my memory forever, it really left a lasting impression on my young mind. Recommended to anyone with a soul
Those robots are so cute. That make no sounds like the Star Wars creatures do which makes them more cute. And Bruce Derns performance is impeccable. But what impressed me most of all is that a director and the money backers were able to try a project which dealt mainly with how the worlds lost compassion for life except this one man. And he will stop at nothing to save the last of the forests. Try to sell that today. Movies used to be made for the people but now their made for those who are backing it up and they know nothing about people.
You are so right about this classic movie. The effects that were used in this classic were great, from the spaceship's to the real looking robots. I remember some years ago when I got lucky to see a part of the making of Silent Running. I was blown away when they revealed the truth about the robots. Because like you said, for me as a kid, the now classic robots that looked and performed real were the best. Just to list two, robot B-9 from Lost in Space, and Robby from Forbidden Planet.
Im so glad I was able to find the DVD at a blockbuster before they closed it down, it was a favorite film when I was a kid..
An absolute classic when it comes to sci-fi. Great modelling on the ships, looking huge, but industrial like the Nostromo in Alien, not shiny and neat like Discovery from 2001. It's the closing scenes that get me, with Bruce committing nuclear suicide, the last drone drifting off all alone with the last forest and Joan Baez's haunting song over the end credits.
Someone may have called this out in another comment already, but if you look carefully at the colonial fleet in the original Battlestar Galactica series, Trumball re-used the Valley Forge from Silent Running as the Ag Ship.
While the ship design was re-used in the original Battlestar Galactica and was later paid homage in a similar design in the re-boot, Trumbull didn't do the FX for BSG. That was John Dykstra (who would later be the FX director on the oringal Star Wars) and his team at Apogee who did BSG. That said Dykstra did get his start working with Trumbull on Silent Running as one of the model makers.
loved this film - totally forgot about it-- and then, in 1993, it was the 2nd DVD I ordered from Netflix (back when you got actual discs mailed to you)-- it was great to re-discover!
I worked at Tessmann Planetarium located on the campus of Santa Ana College (2-yr "Junior college).
Used the music from this film many times; mainly when discussing O'neill-styled Space Settlements.
1973-83
Santa Ana CA
Planetarium could seat 100 adults --- largest planetarium in Orange County CA
Great film, same thing here in Canada played a lot at nite, and it blew my socks off. Droids are great and organic movement made them very human, made me want to be a botanist, actually want to University for this reason, can’t express how much of an impact this movie had on me, only wish it hadn’t been so prothetic. Bruce Dern was magnificent in this film, and the story, soundtrack, and effects are spot on. First film ever where I actually bought the Blue Ray. Thanks for 5he review, wish more people would see this film, as it is so relevant to today’s situation.
The loss of Drone 3 didn't bother me when I first saw Silent Running as a kid, because the robot didn't have a personality or even a name yet. Lowell reprogrammed and named the other two after Drone 3 was destroyed, so Louie got his name posthumously. The ending of the film, however, tore me up.
In any reboot of this unforgettable movie, i believe Matt McCoughnagey could absolutely NAIL the role of Freeman Lowell! Even Bruce Dern would say: "Holy cow! That guy looks like just like me! Or how i looked then!"
Don’t fix what ain’t broke.
I watched this movie as a 9 or 10 year old and it blew my mind . Something I never forgot. Same with the film Walk about.
And yes, i was also one of those 7-year-olds who saw this in the theatres in '72 and never got over it
Cried too! Especially at end. Then in tears the next day. On the way to school. Aged 11.
I cried when the robot was killed while the ship was passing through the Saturn rings.
Made for something like $975 000, this 70s icon is a testament to the FX genius of Douglas Trumbull...the canny use of front projection systems, the UNcanny visualization of Saturn that, try as they might, he, Wally Veevers and Con Pederson could not get to their (or, I guess Kubrick's) satisfaction for 2001...the 'uncoupling' effects for the domes which look like vintage NASA footage... the Japanese metabolist architecture-inspired space-frame exoskeleton of (what then must have looked quite radical and now appears as a beloved sentimental favourite) the Vally Forge and the most physically correct blast wave and explosion effects ever presented in a film: expanding spheres of light and material (i.e.: no roiling clouds). Of course....there still is noise in the vacuum of space...but why not?...that sound when those locking plates pop off the jettisoned domes is heartbreaking...
I watched the moon landings with rapt attention as a child. I also wanted humanity to take as much of the Earth's ecology with us into space. I saw Silent Running in 1972 as a double feature with the Andromeda Strain at the age of 12. I so love my planet, just the opening scene and music had me crying. I cry to this day as I watch the whole movie.
Seeing this movie brings tears to my eyes as well....
Silent Running was also a major inspiration for Joel Hodgson when creating his concept for Mystery Science Theater 3000
I loved those buggies, which as I understand, were custom made for this movie. I was in 2nd grade when the movie came out, and I wanted one of those buggies for Christmas.
This movie also completely breaks with the traditional Hero's Journey storytelling formula. It's really quite out there (no pun intended).
For me, contemplating what I would do if I where in Freeman Lowell's shoes, can break away some tears;
he commits murder, but he does it to preserve some of the forests.
...That is one script that must have been a bit of a hard sell, but as it turned out: To me, it's a gem.
This film was intense . One day reality will become stranger than fiction.
You must acknowledge the soundtrack. It was outstanding! Yes, everyone SHOULD cry like an eight-year-old. We are all children of nature and the earth is dying.
There's a blu-ray in the UK from Masters of Cinema - you still can't see the strings. It's flawless.
Yep also for me a box of tissues film with the poor little robot looking at his buddies foot stuck outside the ship and when hes left in the forest! Im off to buy the DVD now!
I loved this movie, but I really loved those tiny vehicles they raced around in. I always wanted one of those!
I feel exactly the same way about this film, seems like it really hits a nerve with the viewer it did for me back in the '70s when I caught it on TV, it'd be interesting to see if it has the same effect on younger viewers today.
I watched it when I was about 18 or 19. Maybe a bit older than you meant, but I loved the atmosphere. That worked. And the story is simple but big, which usually works. It's now one of my favorite sci-fi films.
I'm around the same age as Edgar and I fondly remember this sometimes being on UK tv in the early evening. That and The Forbidden Planet. Settled down with a nice cup of tea and some custard creams for dunking: childhood evening sorted.
That's why many years later, I don't want to watch it because yes, I'll cry. I love the robots too.
Yeah, it was really easy to get emotionally attached to the drones. I remember them fondly. They were more faithful than people!
I did cry at that point as well.
I still cry at the end. Huey is out there still...
Lets not forget what an FX wizard douglas trumbull was in a time before CGI.
Poor Louie😢
Douglas Trumbull was mostly a special effects master. (Did he do CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND?)
That little robot all by itself 🥺
I loved the Joan Baez songs. I still have the translucent green soundtrack LP. I believe this was filmed in the decommissioned US aircraft carrier USS Valley Forge.
the CD is pretty pricely on e bay
Someone looking over this series of comments could probably compose a fine university dissertation on the significance of so many contributors' using words like "died" or "killed" in connection with the Drones, without using quotation marks. (They really are endearing little chaps; they probably remind people of penguins [whom we also shamelessly anthropo-morphize, although those at least are flesh-and-blood critters]). Are we making an existential mistake, in being so willing to extend emotions to animated computers? If Progress goes on, eventually we may indeed be faced with simulacra that are all but indistinguishable from us - could this just be a warming-up for that day? Are we preparing ourselves for the prospect of the ultimate Union of human and machine?
Me too. Cried as a kid seeing that poor robot die.
Joan Baez? I thought that was Barbara Streisand, oh.
This is a great Sci-Fi film for many reasons, and Dern is a good actor, but I can't much identify with/relate to the main character, a Future Space tree-hugger.
I haven't seen this film in ages. I should give it a watch as soon as possible.
All that was left of him was his lil robot foot. ;(( I loved this movie and still love it!
If I was pressed to offer up a "Best Movie of All Time" I'd most likely throw this one out there. Even over Bladerunner. A true masterpiece. And imminently relevant even 50 years later.
Beautiful film and so sad x
"Intergalactic tree hugger" lmfao
This was the greatest movie in history until 1977 when everything changed. 😁
My first sci-fi movie that I saw in a real Drive-In at the time and had a tremendous impact on me since to pursue a career in entertainment but in 2004 I had an opp to meet Douglas Trumbull and told him what I always wanted to say to him about his movie and I don't think (based on his reaction) that he wanted to be bothered especially by my interruption at the time as he was waiting for his ride to an airport.
I grew up with johnny eck as my friend in Baltimore.he lived on Milton avenue.
Wait is this the same qanon song? With the orion cube and art bell show intro?
Their uniforms always remind me of the orange sleeve on the arm that Obi-Wan cuts off in the Cantina in Star Wars
Solid!
KEK!
Bless Bruce
Best sci fi film ever .
Huey you plant the tree and Dewey you dig the ditch. HEHEHE
300% agreed !
For its time I thought this movie was so cool
So fkn annoying how people today always say "after Star Wars came out..." then he declares it was released before so they may as well say "after Silent Running or Dark Star came out" but then someone can say "they're all probably influenced by Star Trek".
Does anyone know how to find this film in any format? I have tried but failed to find this film.
Brilliant film. Bruce Dern got to play a sympathetic character for once.
The Silent Running ship works by Newtonian physics. It can, at best, leave the Solar System, and take 81,000 years to get to the nearest star, let alone further. It obviously isn't "intergalactic," as Wright mistakenly says, since it would take literally millions of years to leave our galaxy when you can't travel at even a fiftieth of light-speed.
It's a good film, except that the ending is completely unbelievable: a botanist who doesn't realize that plants need sunlight? Gimme a break.
But it's very pretty, has a great soundtrack, and Bruce Dern does his usual good job as a half-crazed character.
It's somewhat implausible that the other crew are all assholes without the faintest interest in their mission, but I suspend disbelief on that point.
Why blow up Hughie though? First he runs him over (accidently) then seperates the drones saying Hughie is too broken to leave behind with his mate and detonate him along with himself.... but I guess 2 robots in the forrest would not have had the same impact as the lone guardian of the forrest with his childs watering can. I think it's a great story kinda messes with your young moral compass, unexplaned conflictions left me guessing what it was all about.
As I type someone is blowing up/buring down or polluting this dome we all live on and as humans we are all Dern, if we don't stop these people there will be no forrests, no fresh water, no clean air, no safe food left and SPOILER ALERT, we won't, because folks don't give a crap and I think that is shown here by the guys saying "Yeah lets blow this crap up and go home....." "no longer our problem", relishing blowning stuff up. Not their fault just following orders. It's pretty amazing just how much pain folks will inflict and damage they will do when someone else is ordering them to do it, studies have shown this.
As I type this I can also see a part of all or most of us at one time or another, sitting at the table busting Dern's balls about why he cares or eats REAL food, like he's some kinda lesser man tree hugger as that's what we have been shown to act like around someone who thinks of the ramifications whilst the heard just eats what they have been gift wrapped up ready to eat and moves where they have been told to move, like mindless pawns. The expression "It puts hairs on your chest!" springs to mind.
I think it odd that AAirlines would want their name involved in blowing up the forrest. But hey, go figure.
So in the end we...
Kill the humans we suddenly hate for blowing up the forrest
We save the forrest at the cost of our humanity.
We care about the robot who died and anthropomorphize the remaing two as children
Leave the forrest mankind no longer cares for to a robot
and kill ourselves, we also have to do it before the other humans get to us as they will surely blow it up on arrival.
It's all backwards. That is why I couldn't sleep right when I thought it over.
I know this is a three year old comment, but you're spot on. I came to the same conclusions.
I often wondered what Cheryl Sparks who was inside Hughie thought of the 'You're too damaged to help' line.
When he runs into the droid, am already thinking "F****** Idiot" especially after chastising the droid. The script did not lend much sympathy for the droids and poor handling of them, but again this was perhaps the intention of the writing.
I had no idea there was an actual lawsuit against Star Wars claiming R2D2 stole their idea lol
Good movie
One of the movies my dad took me to see when I was a little kid. We also saw The Cowboys. I watched Bruce Dern save the plants and animals and then kill John Wayne. I loved and hated him.
Coming on 4k ultra hd release july 7
Cool never knew this one ive seen space 1999 Logan Run movie into tv series episodes ibhave DVD videos if tv Logan run
What happens I don't remember.
Star Wars had absolutely no bearing on my watching this as a kid.
'
what name of small cart with 4 wheels
We cannot HEAR you!