Thx 1138 (1971)

[Hector]

That's the Webster Street tunnel that connects Alameda to Oakland, I drive through there almost everyday...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?ebc=ANyPxKr3CW2c0pbyAbeqMD_43qiB_mufaUrB1NsIgZTRuAvEr2Y5EmtEWIcfPXAse_7pd1Nd0rVc2Ur6LyXkIPQvTNtHcM28ww&v=VEmTvlSC4U0&time_continue=1

[wise guy]

Movies like this remind me of why that era of sci fi was so bad and boring.
I was much happier when Star Wars, Alien, Predator, Terminator brought Sci-fi
back to greatness

[mickeymoosemego]

I'll take a Pass on THX. Now his next movie after that one was an American Classic. American Graffiti!

[Nostalgiabuff]

I tried watching it once and it bored me to tears so I turned it off

[JediJaida]

I just watched it last night, and I didn't think it was boring at all.

A little slow paced in some areas, but not boring.

Donald Pleasance's character was just SO annoying! He didn't shut up the entire time, and he rapidly became tiresome.

Naturally, they had to kill the ONE black guy that had more than one line by making him crash his stolen car into a concrete pillar, but this was the 70's and that was pretty much standard for a lot of movies.

The nudity was a bit of a shock, but with clever camera angles and other people getting in the way, you didn't really see much except for a couple of naked bosoms and Robert Duvall shirtless, which is tame compared to some stuff today.

The movie really makes you think about some things: How did the City get established in the first place? Who came up with all of the laws against emotions and sex? WHY were there laws against emotions and sex to the point where most of the population was sedated to a fare thee well? Since there is no sex going on, where do the kids come from? I know that they came from an incubation area, but where did the City get the raw genetic material from? Did they require women to donate ova every month?

What in the world were those creatures in the Shell? They looked a bit like baboons, but were a little too big, and there weren't any closeups of them.

The one Shell dweller that was brought into the prison wasn't really explained. Why was he in the prison in the first place? Did he get caught in the wrong place at the wrong time?

What was the central Control center's real goal? JUST to maintain the human race in a physical sense? Without any real evolution of the minds, or spirits?

[Brazoo]

I haven't seen it in a long time - but I remember liking it quite a bit. I remember thinking it was fun to see a movie obviously made by a young artist exploring lots of political ideas and fueled by youthful frustrations with society. Also fun to see a young filmmaker trying out all kinds of new influences from film school and foreign films.

I don't remember the pacing being that bad - I remember it being consistent. If anything I thought the movie suffered a bit from characters who were hard to connect with, but that seems to be a flaw of the main concept of the movie - since the movie is about characters who are robbed of their individuality - it's just hard to connect with or care too much about drones.

I remember thinking it was technically fantastic. So many sci-fi movies fail by trying to reach beyond their budgets with special effects, but I remember thinking this movie did a great job of using the costumes, sets and the way it was shot to convey the sense of a new world. I think it's incredibly ironic that Lucas later became synonymous with spectacle over substance.

I have never seen the redux version - seems like such a pointless idea. Did anyone here like it better than the original? Maybe it's the excuse I need to rewatch it.

[Brazoo]

Has some NSFW stuff in it.

Okay - that looks terrible. Maybe I'll just re-watch the original instead.

[Bruce Banner]

Well, I guess I'm in the minority, but I genuinely think most of the additions in the redux version do enhance the film, particularly the expansion of the cityscape and the alteration of the feral ape-like creatures which now look much more frightening and disturbing.

For me, it's one of the examples of a redux actually working quite well... other examples in my opinion would be Robert Wise's director's cut of ST:TMP, and Spielberg's third and final cut of CE3K.

[JediJaida]

I got a hold of the book the other day, and it filled in a lot of spots that the movie didn't go into. I thought that it was a nice complement to the movie itself.

I tell you this, the movie was far and away better than 'The Avengers' with Ralph Fiennes. THAT movie REALLY tanked!