and logan ran, he ran so far away

[orangerful]

One of Tim's co-workers told him he should watch Logan's Run.

I don't know why they told him that. Perhaps he was talking about getting older. Or maybe they were just talking films from childhood or something. But anytime Tim actually *wants* to watch a movie, I jump on it because it is so rare, plus I force him to watch so many random things, it seems only fair.

So...yeah...after watching that, a movie that came out in 1976, I totally understand why Star Wars blew people's minds. The effects alone...

Also, I'm pretty sure the female character technically wasn't wearing underwear for the whole movie, which made me cringe anytime she sat down on the ground. They did put nude panties on the poor girl so when "fight scenes" happened, she didn't risk flashing everything. But later they had to strip for "reasons" and she definitely did not have panties on at all.

Note: I noticed this. Tim did not.

Valuable lesson here about animals in movies - cats are a bad choice. Logan is trying to have a SERIOUS conversation and the cat behind him is begging for pets, bumping its head into his arms until someone off screen must have clicked at it because it looked up and off in the distance. And in the background, there were at least two cats taking baths. It's just hard to focus with cats wandering the set.

I'm sure the book is better or at least gives more details? The movie doesn't give you any background for the society, how it functions, who the leader is etc. just that they are killed at 30 and like having sex...a lot. Somehow they live in this domed city and no one has bothered to invent any other past times except for sex and watching your friends maybe-not-die.

Another concern: if they don't have babies themselves in this domed land, how do their bodies even work? Can they even have children the normal way (this was my first concern when they were all free at the end)?

Michael York's haircut = Mark Hamill's haircut and it was very distracting. Also, in his all black outfit, he looked like RotJ Luke. Honestly, the whole time I was watching, I just really wanted to watch Star Wars.


(yeah, I can't imagine why I kept thinking of Star Wars...)

I did like their super sci-fi future version of what was basically Tinder. Except it was like Tinder with transporter technology which seems like the worst idea ever. I was impressed by the whole idea of consent being front and center though. Jessica kept saying "it is my choice" and Logan would say "yes" and he mostly listened. I mean, he put some pressure on but there wasn't any kissing or touching until she agreed to it all much much later. So for a cheesy sci-fi movie, it had that going for it. Even if she showed up pretty much naked and he was wearing a large snuggie.



I've seen it now. I mean, I knew the whole set up for the movie before we started watching it and then they went ahead and pretty much gave you 75% of the set up on the first screen:



And it wasn't like we doubted Logan's motives, as soon as they age him up 4 years to his "last day" he's like "oh screw this Imma RUN!" so there wasn't even this whole "will they won't they".

You know what did it better, so many years later? Scott Westerfeld's "Uglies" book series. He clearly watched Logan's Run and then that episode of Twilight Zone, then blended them in his brain.

Why while I will never watch 'Logan's Run' again, at least I can credit it for a lot of the dystopian stories I ended up enjoying later.

(while googling for pictures, I saw an article saying a remake was "coming soon" but that was in 2015 so I guess they realized they missed the "dystopia bubble" and shelved the project.)

Comments

[rahirah]

The society in the book was a bit more complex, yeah (it wasn't confined to a single city, for starters) though by today's doorstop novel standards, it's a very quick read. And there were a number of other fairly major changes. It's definitely worth a read.

[alificent]

The book is better in some ways and not in other ways. It sounds like consent is handled way better in the movie, for example. I also don't remember them explaining much more about why everyone has to die at... I think it's even younger in the book, like 21 or something. It's been a while since I read it.

Also it is way less about fuckin,' and there is no being reborn, you die at the assumed age or you run, period. It's worth a read, it's really short.

100% agree that Uglies did it better though.

[yourlibrarian]

I'm pretty sure I saw the whole film at some point but it was a long time ago and I remember very little about it. I do recall that while it did ok as a film it got a second life when Farrah Fawcett boomed given she had a recent role in it.

[fenchurch]

As others have mentioned, the book is actually a bit different. The maximum age is 21, not 30 (which I'm sure they raised for casting reasons in the movie)... and IIRC there are three definitive stages to life: 0-6, 7-13 and 14-21. It's been so long since I read it, I don't remember what each stage is supposed to be for (obviously, the youngest is childhood, and 7-13 is training/education? I think? with 14-21 being considered adults).

Sanctuary exists and is a colony on Mars... and the character of Francis is *completely* different (don't want to give too much away, in case you decide to read it... and you can usually find used copies for pretty cheap).

Oh yeah, and it's heavily implied that after people are killed on their LastDay, they're "recycled" and eaten.

It's a fairly quick read and I think may be worth it, even if just from an historical perspective... a sort of glimpse into the 1970s.

[jerusha]

I think I've seen bits and pieces of this movie when it was on TV back in the 90's, but I've never watched it all the way through. I've never had a desire to do so.

But counterpoint on a cat in a movie: Goose in Captain Marvel was DELIGHTFUL.