Logan's Run

Plot synopsis:
An opening title sets the scene:Sometime in the 23rd century... the survivors of war, overpopulation and pollution are living in a great domed city, sealed away from the forgotten world outside. Here, in an ecologically balanced world, mankind lives only for pleasure, freed by the servo-mechanisms which provide everything.There's just one catch: Life must end at thirty unless reborn in the fiery ritual of carousel.To maintain the ecology of the system of domes that makes up the city, both reproduction and death are carefully controlled by a monolithic master computer. Sex is readily available but there are no long-term relationships. You can dial up a sex partner on "the circuit" or visit orgy rooms filled with people of both sexes and clouds of aphrodisiac gas. Babies grow in glass boxes; implanted in each infant's left palm is a life clock, a penny-sized crystal that starts out white and changes color as the years go by. People dress to match their crystal: yellow for a child, green at 16, and red a few years later. Your crystal flashes red as you approach "lastday" -- your 30th birthday. On lastday, you're expected to report to an arena for Carousel, the ceremony that will, you have always been told, result in your renewal and rebirth. In fact, you stand in a circle with your age-mates, float to the ceiling when the gravity is turned off, get zapped with lasers, and disintegrate in a cloud of sparks. During the spectacle, ominous music is piped in while hundreds of younger folks applaud and shout "renew!" to cheer you on.If this doesn't sound good, your alternative is to become a runner. Runners are criminals and are hunted down and terminated by policemen known as sandmen, who wear black. The city dwellers believe that there is no renewal for runners.Logan-5 (Michael York), a sandman, is in the nursery, knocking on the glass that separates him from a pair of infants; he's trying to wake one up. He tells his friend and fellow sandman Francis-7 (Richard Jordan) that the baby is Logan-6, his son. Francis thinks hanging around the nursery is a little odd and teases Logan that he knows who the baby's seed-mother is. "I'm curious, not sick," Logan retorts.Logan and Francis attend a Carousel but have to leave early when they receive a report of a runner. The runner is killed in a fall trying to escape them and Logan removes a silver ankh (☥) from the dead man's hand. At home that night, Logan browses the circuit and chooses a woman called Jessica-6 (Jenny Agutter), a green who wears a silver ankh on a choker. She declines to sleep with him, saying she went on the circuit because she was sad about losing a friend in that day's Carousel, but now regrets it; they argue about whether Carousel participants die, whether sandmen are killers, and whether it's wrong to run.The next day, Logan turns in the ankh he took from the runner. The master computer (voice: Lara Lindsay) recognizes the significance of the ankh. It tells Logan that 1056 runners are unaccounted for and are believed to have escaped the city and fled to a place called Sanctuary. Logan is to go under cover, find Sanctuary, and destroy it. To make him a plausible runner, the computer overrides Logan's life clock so that it begins to flash red immediately, though he's 4 years from his lastday. The computer doesn't answer when he asks whether he'll get his 4 years back.Remembering the ankh around Jessica's neck, Logan sends for her and attempts to convince her that he wishes to find Sanctuary. She agrees to help him after he lets a runner go. She leads him through an orgy room to a secret exit where they meet members of the resistance who are very suspicious of Logan, despite his flashing red life clock. They're right to be suspicious; Logan activates his communicator to lead the other sandmen -- who are unaware of Logan's undercover mission -- to the secret exit and the resistance cadre guarding it. Logan was counting on sending Jessica back to the city, but she's starting to fall for him and insists on coming with him to Sanctuary. When the sandmen arrive Logan won't risk Jessica's life; he runs in earnest, taking Jessica with him. Francis is hard on their heels.Using the ankh to unlock a door, Logan and Jessica escape from the city through the water system and find themselves in an icy cave. They have a close call with a homicidal robot named Box (Roscoe Lee Browne), who captures runners and freezes them -- they see a long corridor lined with people he's frozen. He seems to have been designed to capture food from the outside ("fish and plankton and sea greens and protein from the sea!"), but when it stopped coming he adapted and now harvests runners instead. When he tries to harvest Logan and Jessica, Logan fights back and brings down part of the cave, disabling Box. The fugitives find a tunnel that leads to the outside world. They're not sure what the bright thing in the sky is, but they're glad it's warm. Francis still follows at a distance.The Earth has healed since the disaster. In the wilderness outside the city, the runners are disappointed not to find Sanctuary right away and grow tired and thirsty looking for it. But the landscape is healthy, and soon they find a river to swim in. In the water, they notice that their life clock crystals have stopped functioning and turned white again -- the color of a baby's crystal. Jessica and Logan interpret this as indicating they are no longer bound by the rules of the city and its 30-year limit. They fall in love, and Logan abandons his secret mission. But there are no other people, not even other runners.They explore, finding their way to the overgrown ruins of Washington D.C. (shown on screen with award-winning post-apocalyptic special effects). When they discover the Lincoln Memorial, they are confused by Lincoln's appearance; "That must be what it looks like to grow old," Logan says. Searching for signs of life, they find some gravestones marked "beloved husband" and "beloved wife," and wonder what the strange words mean. Then in the ruins of the Capitol, they encounter an eccentric white-bearded old man (Peter Ustinov) and his many cats. The old man has no crystal in his hand; he reminisces about being raised by his own mother and father and recites passages from Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot. This is all nonsense to Logan and Jessica, who have never lived in a family or seen a cat.After quizzing the old man about other people and finding he's never seen or heard of any except his own parents, Logan tries to convince Jessica that there is no Sanctuary. There's no evidence that anyone before them made it past Box. She can't accept it.They are discovered by Francis, who refuses to listen to what they have to say. He attacks Logan; after a fight, Logan kills him by bludgeoning him with an American flag. As he dies, Francis looks at Logan's white crystal and says "Logan, you renewed!"The three of them bury Francis, and the old man gets Jessica to promise that she'll bury him when his time comes. When Logan hears that, he says they can't keep the promise because they have to go back to the city, destroy all the life clocks, and stop the killing. Jessica resists the plan until they hit on the idea of bringing the old man along; he'll convince the city people that life after 30 and life outside the city are possible.They hike back to the city, but are forced to leave the old man waiting outside while they re-enter the domes through the water system. They promise to bring the city-dwellers out to meet him. They fail; not only do the people ignore their news, but sandmen come and arrest them.The city's master computer interrogates Logan using a memory probe and becomes confused and overloaded by the memories it finds ("there is no Sanctuary ... all frozen ... an old man ... all ruined .... no Sanctuary"), which don't conform to the computer's expectations. The computer malfunctions and Logan fights off a group of sandmen to escape with Jessica, doing further damage to the computer in the process. The ensuing chain reaction wreaks havoc on the city. Fleeing the explosions, the inhabitants go outside and gather curiously around the old man, who is delighted to see them.

Tags: murder, cult, violence, flashback, psychedelic, sci-fi

Review:
Not great for twenty-first century film-making, but a minor miracle for 1976.The story has more holes than a piece of swiss cheese and the acting is a bit touch and go, but that doesn't get in the way of a fairly entertaining movie.
Which isn't to say that his character isn't somewhat endearing.Michael York, a really wonderful actor, misses the mark a few times, but generally he and Jenny Agutter do a fine job.Listen, this isn't a brilliant movie, but it does have its moments.
But the idea of one of the killers having to face their mortality is an interesting idea.A little slow in places (but I did keep wanting to see what would happen next), and some of the special effects look really dated (even to '77's "Star Wars"), but the story holds up well, and it's an entertaining ride overall.It's truly a classic of the genre, and I wish I had seen it sooner..
But if you attempt to watch this movie by holding a magnifying glass up to it and comparing it's special effects and sets to films like Star Wars, you're not going to enjoy it because it doesn't compete on that level.
But again, I don't know how, "Logan's Run" is much better than the sum of its parts.I hope they get the rumored remake off the ground, there's some good underlying sci-fi to be explored here and with a tightened up script, upgraded effects, better direction and editing you could have *real* winner.
Beyond the entrapment of lavish special effects (for which "Logan's Run" won an Oscar anyway), few science fiction films actually present a good story, much less one that makes you think and/or presents new ideas.
I say "true" because "Star Wars" is of the fantasy genre; it is not a science fiction story, though it does share some common elements."Logan's Run" presents us with a vivid, somewhat horrifying vision of a possible future.
The actors, however, give great performances.Beautiful cinematography and settings greatly compliment the film's mood and timeframe, from the sterile domed city to the decimated Washington D.C., which still provides one of (if not) the best visuals of a post-apocalyptic world that I've ever seen.
I tend to agree with them.For me, in terms of science fiction, "Logan's Run" takes its place among such decade-defining films as "The War of the Worlds" (50's) and "The Planet of the Apes" (60's) and among such thought-provoking science fiction as "Soylent Green" and "Gattaca."Ask yourself this: what or where is "sanctuary?"  Isn't that what we're all looking for?
But when his clock starts ticking, Logan and Jessica (Jenny Agutter) make a run for it.I had seen this film in the mid-1990s for a class, and thought it was pretty good.
Popular and lavish Sci-Fi with some nice effects sequences with imaginative sets about a futuristic society where young people are allowed to live an unending pleasure until the age of thirty (though Michael York, Richard Jordan and Michael Anderson Jr. were all over 30 when they made the film) that are compelled to die , adapted from a novel by William F Nolan and George Clayton Jackson .
As a day outside the bubble Logan along with Jessica (Jenny Agutter) discover new emotions .This classic Sci-fi contains suspense , thrills , action , breathtaking production design and is pretty entertaining though with some feeble stereotypes .
Impressive big-budgeted production by Saul David enhanced immeasurably by an enjoyable cast as Michael York , Jenny Agutter , Farrah Fawcett and special mention to great Peter Ustinov .
Logan questions the system and leaves the domed city with Jessica; in the outer world, they find and old man, changing their perspective of life beyond 30."Logan's Run" is one of the best sci-fi ever and absolutely ahead of time.
Logan's Run is an excellent stylish sci-fi film from 1975 starring the great Michael York and the beautiful Jenny Agutter.
Then Logan finds an Anck key and the master computer makes him search for Sanctuary by posing as a runner (some reviews of this film say Logan is 30, but he's "4-years-away", i.e. 26--York was really 32 though).The best thing about this is the stylish futuristic designs, the great believable acting of the stars, and the off-the-wall nonsensical speech of the senile old man (Peter Ustinov).
Michael York still gets people who come up to him telling him Logan's Run was their favorite film of his (even with all the other great roles he's had).
The story tells of a sandman (a state hit-man) who starts to have doubts about this and is sent on a mission to the outside world to find a place called Sanctuary.Over and above everything, what makes Logan's Run such a delight is the excellent set-design and detailed model work.
So sure, laugh at the costuming, the special effects, the sometimes inane dialogue, but watch the movie a couple of times before you jump all over it.The first time I saw Logan's Run was in a TV cut in the early 80s, and I didn't really get it.
Its been a long time since I watched this classic and how happy was I to find the dvd copy has made this film even more special, Looking around today at the lack of GOOD Sci-Fi I find myself going back to the classics, ( Forbiden Planet, Monolith Monsters, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, The Omega Man, Etc.
The model of the future city is delightfully overdone, the long scenes filmed in the Dallas Apparel Mart will make you gasp at the architectural horrors of bygone days, plus you get to see lots of iconic movie stars as very young people.
Cheesy At Times, But Fun. Michael Anderson's 'Logan's Run' is a fun little futuristic sci-fi, set in a 23rd century post-apocalyptic society, where overpopulation has been controlled by disposing of citizens as soon as they reach thirty years of age.Michael York ('Cabaret', 1972) is Logan 5, a "Sandman" who is responsible for tracking down and "terminating" Runners - people who attempt to flee from death once their thirty years are up.
In order for Logan to infiltrate the underground Runner refuge known as Sanctuary, the society's mother computer, unbeknown to all others, advances Logan's life-clock, and so Logan suddenly becomes a Runner himself.Jenny Agutter portrays Jessica 6, the young woman who decides to accompany Logan, whilst Richard Jordan ('The Hunt For Red October,' 1990) is Francis 7, the former Sandman friend of Logan, who must now track him down and "terminate" him.The special effects, one year before George Lucas' 'Star Wars' was to grace our screens, are excellently done, though some of the model-work of the Dome City is a bit transparent.
The effects of Logan's Run, (although I was only 2 at the time) were indeed state of the art at the time, with a few poor shots where I picked up the floor burts on a strip of brown painted wood and also cuaght a glimpse of an exit sign, I was transported into another world.Many comments suggested that the film dates itself during the sex shop scene and Farrah Fawcett, who was a 70's icon.
Meanwhile, people forget that the world has been destroyed and people have lived in this domed-city environment for centuries, perhaps since the 80's we don't know when the war happened, so since advancement has stopped it is logical to suggest that the people stayed with what they knew, as this also may have been framed by big brother.While people say the acting was poor in this primarily British Cast, I thought that Michael York who I have always enjoyed and Jenny Agguter were phenomenal in their roles.
Why she never became a major world-class star and icon I do not know, she is beautiful and a wonderful actress in Logan's Run and her other work.Bos was an excellent transition into the outside world, Peter Ustinov could not have played "Old Man" any better.
The action scenes are well done, and there is some fairly shocking (but not THAT gory) violence for a PG rated film.Then the oppressive atmosphere gives way to a whole second act that is, comparatively speaking, on the boring side, as Logan and Jessica see what life is REALLY is like outside the dome, encountering a senile old man, played to the hammy hilt by Peter Ustinov.
He meets a pretty runner played by Jenny Agutter and the two find themselves pursued by Logan's closest friend and fellow Sandman Francis (Richard Jordan).A smart, creative, and fun science fiction classic from the '70s.
Those who try to avoid renewal by running are terminated by the 'sandmen'.When the super-computer that controls the city learns of a place called Sanctuary, where many runners are rumoured to have fled, it tasks sandman Logan 5 (Michael York) with discovering its whereabouts, forcing him to pose as a runner by turning his life-clock red.
I'm not going to pretend that it's the greatest film of it's ilk—it has dated rather badly in places and seriously loses momentum during the second half—but there are just so many memorable things about this imaginative sci-fi film that it's impossible not to enjoy: the basic premise is rather brilliant, if a little flawed; the film's '70s vision of the future is so cheesy that it proves utterly irresistible; Jerry Goldsmith's bold score ranges from sterile bleepy electronica to fully blown orchestral grandeur; there's some wonderful matte paintings and impressive model-work; ditzy blonde Charlie's Angels actress Farrah Fawcett-Majors plays a ditzy blonde and gets blown up; Box, the killer robot that tries to freeze our heroes, is a truly menacing creation (despite his clunky appearance); and best of all, lovely Jenny Agutter gets naked (now that's the sort of thing an eight year old doesn't forget in a hurry!).7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb..
If you're thinking there'll at some point be a compulsory shot of a well-known Earth landmark now derelict, you are sure enough right.Michael York is Logan 5, a government button man in a control force called Sandmen who, much like the Sonderkommandos in Nazi concentration camps, acquire utmost social bonuses in return for imprisoning or incinerating any "runners," old people of thirty who attempt to escape from state-required execution.
His mission becomes increasingly difficult because : 1) People are wary of others and are hateful of the Sandmen (only members of this society dressed in all black)2) Francis 7 (Logan's best friend and also a Sandman) discovers Logan's run and pursues to terminateThe future world looks much like a mall.
And once it is over, you feel like cheated because the whole time you expect something to eventually happen, but nothing does.Logan's Run is a failure on all cylinders and if you feel you need to watch a great Sci-Fi movie from the 70's, I recommend Westworld, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, or Star Wars..
Don't get me wrong; I think many of the old, lower-budget sci-fi {futuristic} films are brilliant; "Fahrenheit 451", for example  but "Logan's Run" falls far short of the mark set by such 'genuine' classics.
"Logan's Run" was the first Science Fiction movie I saw in the theaters, and to this day - it is still one of the best!!Although very different from the book, the movie version does a great job of telling a similar story.
And the late Richard Jordan does a superb job as Logan's former friend and ruthless pursuer, Francis 7.With outstanding cinematography, pioneering special effects (for which it won the '76 Oscar) and marvelous direction by Michael Anderson, Logan's Run is a trip you'll want to make again and again!Although the film does show its age at times, the storyline more than makes up for it!
the last big science fiction epic before George Lucas changed the face of that genre on film.Michael York and Jenny Agutter are good in their roles (I've always though jenny was a hottie anyway <grin>), and the story is interesting, but as somebody else pointed out, it all looks WAY too 1976, in the same way that the Buck Rogers television show from the same era remains a relic of that era, rather than a "glimpse of the future."One of the big selling points of this movie when it came out was that Farrah Fawcett-Majors was in it ...
He was sent on a mission to find and destroy sanctuary outside the dome, and was deliberately made a runner.The film, although it looks soo dated, is a wonderful sci-fi yarn about how a society run by machinery totally stagnates the human mind.
Wonderful performances all round, especially Richard Jordan (Francis) as the "friend" who chases Logan all the way to Washington.Don't watch the film, expecting a Star Wars epic.
For a film supposedly way off into the future, no one who worked on the film thought that people should evolve to create some sort of futuristic society instead of producing a film about as interesting as a group of sheep in a cheap department store.The dialogue was certainly lacking, no true inner thought from the characters was forthcoming.Perhaps the director of this film should have watched The Time Machine and learned something.Definitely a movie with severe financial constraints.It was almost as bad as the Planet Of The Apes TV series.
The gun effects are nice, but I suppose lasers were out of the question due to budgetary restrictions, let alone FX considerations.Nothing great or particularly bad about the film, though Jenny Agutter's scene with Peter Ustinov where she sees someone old for the first time is rather cringe-inducing.The robot, Box (imaginative name) is truly pathetic.
Picked this up on DVD recently as haven't seen it in countless years, I remember enjoying it when young as I did the TV series but as I was 6 or 7 at the time the telly version aired I wasn't exactly critically inclined!So how does my 48 year old self see the film?.Sadly it's rather plodding with holes in it you could drive a truck through, a lot happens because of plot rather than logic.I ended up watching Jenny Agutter's tights which spend a lot of the film appearing and disappearing - she looks stunning throughout (if you are still allowed to say such things).Some here decry the special effects but I prefer model work to cgi - the ice cave collapse looks terrible but I don't think it ever could have looked good even in 1976.Peter Ustinov steals the scenes he's in even though they slow the film to crawling speed.Sometimes you shouldn't go back..
When Sandman Logan 5 (Michael York) is sent on a mission to track down the mythical "Sanctuary", where runners hope to find salvation outside of the dome, he is set on a course that will not only bring him love in the form of runner-sympathizer Jessica 6 (Jenny Agutter), but will also ultimately make him question his blind devotion to the systems at play...I really do have to give the film a lot of credit.
I've finally seen the movie Logan's Run more than 30 years after watching the short lived TV series version.
From the wonderful cinematography by Oscar nominated Earnest Llazlo, terrific direction by Michael Anderson, cool special effects (especially that real working prop - the Sandman gun!) and a great cast, this movie is the last great SciFi film before Star Wars would redefine the genre the following year.Agreed, must be watched in Letterbox format to enjoy the sheer 'magnitude' of the terrific cinematography!!!
He may not the next HAL 9000, but Box is somewhat special, even though he may be the most unlikeliest movie robot I've seen, beside the fact that he's voiced by Roscoe Lee Browne.The acting in Logan's Run is good, but at certain times in the movie, I felt that the actors were simply enjoyed being in this future world.
I'm not sure if Fawcett is in the right role in this movie, but I accepted what was the screen because of the film's zany and quirky view of future values.Logan's Run won a Special Achievement Academy Award for Visual Effects and was also nominated for 2 Oscars.
The MGM Sci-Fi flick Logan's Run (which was theatrically released on June 23, 1976) is one of those films that relates the idea of isolated society versus the outside world, just as seen in the movie "The Truman Show".
The concept of the performance of the movie is pretty much the same way as the acting from the old 1930s & 40s Sci-Fi short subject films just like Flash Gordon.
There is, however, a more vital plot-hole in "Logan's Run", one which I think does affect our enjoyment.The film is (like "Brave New World" and Orwell's "1984") an example of dystopian science fiction.
There is no equivalent character in "Logan's Run", so we never find out exactly what the ruling value-system of Logan's city is, why it is considered necessary to kill off the entire population in the prime of their lives and why so many people accept this fate uncomplainingly.When I recently saw this film for the first time in many years, I realised that I had confused its plot with that of the spin-off TV series.
Logan's Run predates Star Wars by only one year, but the latter's advancement in the art of special effects makes the former look like it was clumsily manufactured decades before the George Lucas space saga..
I would recommend this movie to anyone who loves sci-fi, a great story and film as an art.It is truly a masterpiece, and Peter Ustinov plays one of the most endearing roles ever seen on the silver screen..
Michael York, Jenny Agutter (24 at the time, she looks fab!) and Peter Ustinov (the 55 year old actor caked on the makeup to play an older man living outside the hermetically sealed city) all do a good job.