Edgar Allan Pooh
. . . to We Americans of (The Then) Far Future, THX 1138 proves uncannily accurate in forecasting the USA's current predicament. "Buy more. Buy more now. Buy. Be Happy," orders the ubiquitous P.A. announcer chick at 18:00, paraphrasing the then-diapered Kellyanne Conwoman's infamous exhortation decades later to "buy Iwanna Rump's stuff!" THX 1138 pictures a nation of spineless automatons dying by the droves under the mismanagement of unseen Big Brother Corrupt Corporate One Per Center Fat Cats, as instituted by U.S. Strongman Czar Vladimir I and his White House Sock-Puppet-in-Chief, Iwanna's Pops, Don Juan Rump during the past 12 months. Even the minutiae of once-private Sex Lives is splashed across screens on full public display in THX 1138, perfectly forecasting the deplorable Sex Police Voyeurs of the so-called Rump\Scents Administration and their State House Minions, who've moved to Outlaw Birth Control, require the forced-birthing of Hydroencephaleptic Watermelon-Headed Fetuses, and threatened the execution of Modern-Day Midwives and Endangered Moms. (The Harvey Weinsteins of this world must be free to sow their wild oats and sire the Majority of the New Generation, as Genghis Khan did a millennium ago.) All this and more is aptly predicted by Warner Bros.' masterful warning, THX 1138.
ironhorse_iv
Before, he became an over powerful studio head, after his surprise hit,1977's 'Star Wars', there was once a time, where director George Lucas was an experimental and non-conformist young filmmaker. This is seem in many of his early rare short films, that would later, carry over to his first feature, 1971's 'THX 1138'. For those familiar with Lucas's later family-friendly work, 'THX' will be something of a shocker. It is a very cold, cerebral film that tackles adult themes with lots of graphic nudity and drug use. It looks and feels more like a Stanley Kubrick film. Based on Lucas's earlier short movie 1967's 'Electronic Labyrinth THX 1138 4EB', this movie tells the story of a man named, THX 1138 (Robert Duvall) trying to escape from a totalitarian future society where extreme emotional, sexual desire, and the concept of family are taboo and everybody is control by mind-altering drugs, in order to ensure their freedom from conducting dangerous and over-demanding tasks. The film has three very clear acts, each of which concerns types of escapism. In the first act, THX is trying to escape his unsympathetic existent, by trying to falls in love with his mate, LUH 3417 (Maggie McOmie). The second act, has him, joining an eccentric man named SEN 5241 (Donald Pleasence) in order to bend the rules. Once, the third act comes, it become clear, that THX cannot survive in such a shallow society, so he chosen to escape from the means of prison. The only problem with that escape concept, is that it wasn't that, entertaining. Because of that, the film feels a lot longer than its short running time, with a lot of boring moments. Nevertheless, the slow pace does works for the subject matter. Yes, the performances of the actors and dark atmosphere in which, this movie was filmed, works well within the means of the story, however, since the characters are clearly defined by their repressed emotions and location, I never really got too engage with the story. It felt too alien to me. Yes, I get that THX's name is a reference to sex, while the name of his romantic interest, LUH, clearly means love. Even the character of Sen seem to match well with the personality of sin. However, while, Robert Duvall and Maggie McOmie able to effectually convey the lack of emotions of their characters, I never got the sense that these characters were really in love, or willing to change, even after they got off the drugs. Donald Pleasance is only person, who seem to have somewhat of a personality, but he wasn't really that sinful, it seem. Since, everyone is clothed in an identical uniform and have shaved heads to emphasize equality, it was hard to tell, who made up the rest of the supporting characters. Nobody really stood out, besides these three. Sadly, without much emotional depth, it's pretty hard to tell a well-delivered story with any of these type of characters, at all. Most of the time, their dialogue, even after the drugs withdraw, still sound too robotic and confusing. Despite that, the use of repetitive sentences does suggest the monotony of a bleak emotionless computer driven future, even if it get a bit annoying. Even phrase like, "Are you now, or have you ever been?" help scare the audience, as it recalls the Red Scares of the 1950's and Orwellian 1984 views. I also like how the film also has depicts a bizarre form of religion where people go into booths where a computer call "OMM 0910" (James Wheaton) dress as a painting of Hans Memling's '1478's Christ Giving His Blessing' gives them soothing, but empty answers to their problems, before wishing "blessings of the state" as if he was Jesus. Much of the film style, seem, very influence by the works of 1927's 'Metropolis', in the way, the characters are dress, and how they live in a subterranean society. The cinematography is impressive for the time; especially when the screen becomes virtually all white as THX is imprisoned, or the large crowd of extras. I love how well, they shot the not-yet-completed segment of the BART subway system in San Francisco. While, the movie doesn't have the budget to film, any good action sequence until the end. It was somewhat suspenseful and intense before it. One thing, I didn't like about the high power car chase, is the idea of a society such as this, would even have some. It seem kinda unrealistic. Still, I did like the robotic police villains. They look quite menacing, here, though this is somewhat negated by their clumsiness and silly voices. The shell dwellers also really spark my interest, but also were a bit dumb looking. It's also funny, how easily, they can die. Though some critics and moviegoers appreciated it for its artistic qualities, it remains the only financially unsuccessful film of Lucas' directorial career at the box office. It virtually nearly bankrupted, the new studios that Lucas and director Francis Ford Coppola was trying to create. Because of this, for his next film, Lucas was encouraged by Coppola to make something more family friendly. The result was 1973's 'American Graffiti', which became a huge hit, for its nostalgia value. Lucas became a millionaire from the film, and was free to do pretty much whatever he wanted for his next project. Since, there were around five minutes cut from THX by the studio against Lucas' wishes. He later restored them when he had the power and later create a high-fidelity audio/visual reproduction company call THX, for all things movies. Besides that, there has references to THX in most of Lucas's later films, showing the director clearly still has an affection for it. Most of the sound effects and visual style in this, are very noticeable in 1977's 'Star Wars'. Overall: While, THX is more known today, for it sound. THX, the film will an avant garde experiment that will continue to be under looked, even today.
