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THX-1138 George Lucas' Masterpiece?

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Posted 13 August 2007 - 07:28 PM

I've always prided myself on owning a copy of THX-1138, especially considering it's not well known outside of certain circles.

Made some years before Lucas started work on American Graffiti, and long before even the words Star Wars popped into his head, THX is a slice of pure, unadulterated Lucas -- and it's facinating to watch.

Starting with the retro Buck Rogers opening, the film assures us that we will not be watching a comfort food-movie (that is, a movie we are reassured by in its sterile dependability). The scrolling green credits, reminiscent of the old Lucasfilm logo, is made incredibly eerie by Lalo Schifrin's haunting score, and the first scene, a montage of security images and sound bites, jolts us out of our comfort zone and into a place of rapid uncertainty.

The wonderful performances by Robert Duvall, Maggie McOmie, and Donald Pleasance (everybody's favorite Blofeld) bring a certain depth and life to Lucas' somewhat stilted lines, and the gorgeous cinematography (remember, this was the man's first feature) lend a robust maturity to the film -- the final shot (of THX staring into the setting sun for the first time while a haunting chorus fills the air) would be reused, in a way, by Lucas (twice, no less) in his epic Star Wars films.

Well, now that you know I simply adore this stunning masterwork, what are your thoughts on the film?
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Posted 13 August 2007 - 09:53 PM

It's not bad. The narrative is derivative as hell, and the film comes nowhere close to the literary sources it parrots, but it's amusing enough.

Lucas was always a better Producer than Director. You can give credit for the Cinematography to the DOP.
"I had a lot of different ideas. At one point, Luke, Leia and Ben were all going to be little people, and we did screen tests to see if we could do that." -George Lucas, in STAR WARS: the Annotated Screenplays (p197).
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Posted 13 August 2007 - 09:56 PM

Well, I think he's been quoted as saying somewhere that he's "never been good with dialogue". The movie might be long, but it's eerie how close it is to society today, what with sound bites and endless consumerism and such... unsure.gif
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Posted 14 August 2007 - 07:39 AM

I remember that when I came out of the theater all the sounds of the theater suddenly sounded like the movie. sporradic intercom mumbling, people din, beeps and clicking and stuff. it was in one of those giant movieplexes.. THX had it moments for me but it was mostly imagery more than like a gripping well told story or significant allegory for modern society and what not. though it is kind of weird that Everybody seems to be taking some kind of drug to control their personalities or allergeries or whatever, but it's not as though anyone but a buch of self-important psychiatrists are deciding what everybody takes, right?
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Posted 14 August 2007 - 08:45 PM

QUOTE (OhNo_Stereo @ Aug 14 2007, 07:39 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Everybody seems to be taking some kind of drug to control their personalities or allergeries or whatever, but it's not as though anyone but a bunch of self-important psychiatrists are deciding what everybody takes, right?


Not psychiatry, society. People are taking these things so they can keep on being controlled, and they don't even know it. ohmy.gif
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