Silver Age Movies are films starting with 2001 (1968) and continuing up to Star Wars (1978), the first sci-fi movie of the modern age.

SILENT RUNNING

(1971)

Directed by:
Douglas Trumbull

Writing credits:
Steven Bochco
Michael Cimino

CAST

Bruce Dern .... Freeman Lowell
Cliff Potts .... Wolf
Ron Rifkin .... Barker
Jesse Vint .... Keenan
Runtime: 89 Min.

SYNOPSIS

Keeping in tune with the ecological them of the 70's, Silent Running is movie with a messege.
Fortunetly, the messege does not get in the way of a good movie.

In the future, all of Earths natural habitats have been destroyed. Only a few remaining samples are left, preserved inside habitat domes aboard spaceships, with the hopes that someday they'll be able to replant them on Earth.

Aboard the Vally Forge, Lowell Freeman is a misfit. Of the four crewmembers, he is the only one with a true love of the plant life that he cares for. When the order comes to jettison and explode the domes prior to returning to Earth, he goes just a little crazy. Instead, he jettisons the other crew members and takes the ship out of orbit and toward deepspace. With only the three little robots as company, Freeman takes on the task of saving the only forest left.

Bruce Dern has always played the unstable character quite well, and this role is no exception. The special effects are very good, especially when you consider that the state of the art was not what it is today. And the robots are very cool. When you see them, you might just suspect that Lucas saw this film before coming up with R2D2s design. A must-see for fans of silver age sci-fi.