Fish, plankton, sea greens… protein from the sea!
Today on Classic Movie Rev, we are taking on Logan’s Run (1976).
I think this movie is one of the eminent futurist society movies of all time. I have heard some criticism of it lately with people saying it doesn’t hold up. I say poppycock. This movie is fun and exciting.
iMDB.com gives this movie a pretty low 6.8 rating[1]. Boy, people don’t like this movie. Rottentomatoes.com has it at 61 percent on the Tomatometer and 67 percent audience approval[2].
Great film critic Roger Ebert gave the movie three stars and said:
“‘Logan’s Run’ is a vast, silly extravaganza that delivers a certain amount of fun, once it stops taking itself seriously. That happens about an hour into the film, but even the first half isn’t bad if you’re a fan (as I am) of special effects and cities of the future and ray guns and monorails whizzing overhead.”[3]
New York Times film critic Vincent Canby didn’t care for the film much saying:
“This “Logan’s Run,” which is quite different from the novel by William F. Nolan and George Clayton, is harmless fun enlivened by a couple of sequences that are as good as the entire film should have been. One, early in the movie, shows us the carousel ceremony, which is a kind of aerial ballet, fireworks display and skeet shoot. The other is a sequence in which Logan and his girl, played by Jenny Agutter, explore the ruins of Washington, which, though overgrown by vines, could easily be restored to its ancient splendor with the help of a pair of pruning shears, a lawn mower and a little plaster and paint.”[4]
Did I mention that I like it?
Actors – Logan’s Run (1976)
Returning
The lovely Jenny Agutter played Jessica-6, a green with connections to the runner underground. Agutter was first covered in An American Werewolf in London (1981).
Richard Jordan was terrific as Sandman Francis-7 and the best friend of Logan. Jordan was first covered in The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973).
The great actor with a very distinctive voice, Roscoe Lee Browne, played the robot food collector Box. Although Browne was not seen, his voice was a great asset for the role. Browne was first covered in the western The Cowboys (1972).
Michael Anderson Jr. had a small role as the plastic surgeon Doc. The son of the director was given this role so he could appear to have a youthful look because of his talent. Anderson was first covered in The Glory Guys (1965).
New
Michael York played Sandman Logan-5. York was born in England in 1942. His father was a former military man that turned to business. His mother was a musician. York’s education consisted of Bromley Grammar School for Boys, Hurstpierpoint College, and finally, Oxford. He had performed with the National Youth Theatre and had done some touring. He acted with the Oxford University Dramatic Society and Laurence Olivier’s National Theater Company.
His first film was The Taming of the Shrew (1967), but I first remember him in Romeo and Juliet (1968). Another significant film was Cabaret (1972), but I still haven’t watched it all the way through. He put on the tights for The Three Musketeers (1973) and The Four Musketeers: Milady’s Revenge (1974). He then turned in an excellent performance in Murder on the Orient Express (1974).
He went to sci-fi with Logan’s Run (1976), Horror with The Island of Doctor Moreau (1977) with Burt Lancaster, and comedy with The Last Remake of Beau Geste (1977). He was prolific on television. He returned to tights with The Return of the Musketeers (1989). Of course, he was Basil in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997), Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999), and Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002).
York was made a knight in 1996, and he currently has a movie in post-production.
Peter Ustinov played the Old-Man that lived outside of the dome. This great actor was born in 1921 in England. Ustinov’s family was multi-ethnic and immigrated from Russia before he was born. His father had been a pilot in World War I for the Germans. His mother worked as a designer in Russian ballet and opera.
Ustinov attended Westminster College from 1934–37 and studied acting at London Theatre Studio from 1937–39. He made his stage debut in 1938. His feature film debut was in One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942).
But by then, those damn Nazis had messed everything up. Ustinov served as a batman (driver) for David Niven. They spent time in the cinematic units and acted in and wrote movies. After the war, he got busy on stage and in film directing, writing, and acting.
Early on, Ustinov was nominated for best actor when he portrayed Nero in Quo Vadis (1951). Other films include Beau Brummell (1954), We’re No Angels (1955) with Humphrey Bogart and Aldo Ray. Ustinov won the best supporting actor Oscar for Spartacus (1960). However, I much prefer his role in The Sundowners (1960), where he was paired with Robert Mitchum, Deborah Kerr, and Michael Anderson Jr., in this tail of itinerant sheep shearers in Australia.
Among others, he continued with Romanoff and Juliet (1961), which he wrote based on a William Shakespeare play, directed, and starred in the film. He did the same for Billy Budd (1962), which was based on a Hermann Melville story. Topkapi (1964) gave him another best supporting actor Oscar win. The next year he was in the irreverent slapstick comedy John Goldfarb, Please Come Home! (1965), as the ruler of an Arab country in possession of a downed U-2 spy plane forcing the pilot to coach his local football team against The University Notre Dame Fighting Irish team.
More great films include The Comedians (1967), Disney comedy Blackbeard’s Ghost (1968), Hot Millions (1968) where he was nominated for a Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Oscar, Viva Max (1969), Robin Hood (1973) where he was phenomenal as the voice of the thumb sucking lion Prince John, One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing (1975), and of course, Logan’s Run (1976).
He was hilarious in the Marty Feldman directed The Last Remake of Beau Geste (1977), Death on the Nile (1978) where he played Hercule Poirot for the first of 6 times in film and on television, Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen (1981), The Great Muppet Caper (1981), Evil Under the Sun (1982), Appointment with Death (1988), and Lorenzo’s Oil (1992).
Ustinov was knighted in 1990 and died in 2004.
Farrah Fawcett had a small role as Holly, an assistant to the plastic surgeon. Fawcett was born in Texas in 1947. In 1965, she graduated from W.B. Ray High School in Corpus Christi and then attended the University of Texas in Austin. Fawcett won an on-campus beauty contest, and she was encouraged to move to Hollywood.
The perky blonde quickly began getting roles in commercials and some television series. In 1968, Fawcett met and later married Lee Major, not yet the six million-dollar man. He helped her get into movies beginning with Love Is a Funny Thing (1969) and Myra Breckinridge (1970). After these duds, she obtained a recurring role in the crime show ‘Harry O’ 1975-1976.
Logan’s Run (1976) was the first role where she received major attention. She obtained one of the lead roles as a detective on “Charles Angels” 1976 but only stayed one year. It was around this time that her nipped out poster appeared on the walls of most teenage boys in America. At the same time, the girls all got their hair cut in wings that could be held in place if you added enough hair spray.
After she left the show, she had three more dud films; Somebody Killed Her Husband (1978), Sunburn (1979), and Saturn 3 (1980) before appearing in the successful The Cannonball Run (1981). She received some shade for this last film because her stunt double was paralyzed, something that was clearly not her fault.
She was in the immensely popular “The Burning Bed” TV special in 1984. Some of her later good movies include Extremities (1986), The Apostle (1997), and Dr. T & the Women (2000). She had a short-lived reality show in 2005 called “Chasing Farrah.”
Fawcett appeared nude in “Playboy” at the age of 48 in 1995 and again at age 50 in 1997. In 2006, she was diagnosed with cancer. Her friends made a documentary about the end of her life, Farrah’s Story (2009). Sadly, she died in 2009 at the age of 62.
Story – Logan’s Run (1976)
Opening screen:
“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 carrousel.”
The domed city is shown from the outside as the credits roll. Inside it is beautiful and modeled like a design from Disney’s Tomorrow World. Sandman Logan 5 (Michael York), with a red crystal in his palm, is looking at the babies in the nursery area. They have a clear crystal in the palm of their hand. Sandman Francis 7 (Richard Jordan) comes to see his friend and is curious why Logan is looking at the babies because there is never a link with the parents.
Logan and Francis head to work as a type of policeman. Francis says a couple of Sandmen are going on carrousel that night, and he says Sandmen always get renewed. Francis expects the people that make it through carrousel to be babies in the nursery the following morning. Logan is a little more skeptical. When someone is born, someone has to die. Francis warns Logan not to be so curious. A red, a person wearing red, bumps into Francis and Francis glares at the man. He later tells Logan that the red will be running that night.
People clothing matches their age as shown by the crystal: yellow for children, green at 16, and red nearer then end of life.
They arrive at carrousel with a large crowd wear reds, greens, and pinks. The Sandmen wear a distinctive black and gray uniform. The birth date for those to go on carrousel is announced. When people approach 30-years old, the crystal in their palm begins to flash red. Robed 30-year old enter carrousel. They are levitated toward a white crystal disco ball. The crowd shouts renew as the 30-year old’s rise. Suddenly they begin to explode. No one makes it to the top, but the crowd believes.
Logan gets a call about a runner, and Francis follows behind. They use tricorders and guns for hunting. They treat chasing the running red as a game, not trying to kill him but toying with him. They really shot more holes in the walls than a squad of Imperial Storm Troopers. The red runner finally falls to his death as the last person on carrousel is blown-up.
Logan searches the dead man and finds a silver ankh, which is the ancient Egyptian symbol for life, clutched in the dead man’s hand. The clean-up crew comes and sprays the body, which then dissolves.
Later that night, Logan turns on his circuit, which works something like a Tinder teleporter. He rejects the first choice. The second person to arrive is Jessica-6 (Jenny Agutter). She is wearing, barely, a sheer green outfit. She is wearing an ankh on her choker. Logan welcomes her into the apartment, and she seems somewhat disoriented. Then she refuses his advances. She says she put herself on the circuit because she was sad about losing a friend on carrousel. They get into a semantic debate about Sandmen killing versus terminating people. She asks him why it wrong to run. He gives her the party line.
Francis shows up with two female greens that are in the mood for a party. Jessica escapes.
The next day a work Logan and Francis see a friend who has been mauled by a group of cubs in the cathedral area. Logan later mentions to Francis that it looks like the red runner had a face change on his last day. Francis has the material he took from another runners dissolved by the computer.
Logan goes in with the items he took from the red runner. The computer takes longer than normal and finally calls Logan forward. He sits in a chair facing the computer. The computer asks about the ankh. He does not know the object or the word sanctuary. The computer tells that the word ankh and the word sanctuary are both related to runners that have not been accounted for. He is told that there are over 1000 missing runners.
The computer affirms to Logan that no one makes renewal on carrousel. Logan is given the authorization to leave the doom to search out and destroy sanctuary. He is told he will get no help and must pretend to be a runner.
The computer sets his hand crystal to flashing red. He asks if he will be given the years back after the mission. The computer intimates that he will not get his four years back and that he should take the ankh and leave for his mission. No Sandman has ever been a runner.
Logan asks Francis if he has ever seen anyone renewed. Francis says yes, but Logan knows that no one they know has made it.
Logan remembers that Jessica has an ankh and calls her in. She thinks it’s about sex. He shows his crystal and says he is going to run. He tries to get information about sanctuary. He shows her the ankh he has. Logan follows her when she leaves.
Jessica meets with her group, and they plan an ambush for Logan. She gets Logan to follow her to arcade. Her group members are all around. Before the trap can take place, Logan receives a call that there is a woman runner in cathedral. She goes with Logan in the tube cars. Two male ambushers follow. Francis goes to help Logan and Jessica asks about the cubs. The cubs are very violent, and the cause may be because they were raised in breeders. On the wall is writing that says Cathedral Plaza as if it were an old subway stop.
Logan has the door open to the area that contains the cubs. He and Jessica enter the destroyed and unkempt area. A small smiling girl tells them not to be afraid. The child steals Jessica’s bracelet and flees.
Logan’s tricorder beeps, and he calls for the runner. A woman in red pops up and runs away. A mob of ratty children of all ages rush in and surround Jessica and Logan. The group is like Peter Pans lost boys. Logan gets to the leader of the group because the cubs throw out or kill anyone that turns 15. Logan pulls out his gun and drives the group back.
Logan goes back to tracking the runner. He finds the frightened woman hiding behind some debris. Logan shows her his crystal, and she calms down a bit. He shows her the ankh and asks about sanctuary. The woman knows nothing about it.
Francis comes creeping up behind the group. After Logan and Jessica leave, Francis terminates the runner.
Jessica tells Logan about the planned ambush. Jessica sees the little girl and gets her bracelet back. The door is open, and they get back in the tube car. Logan says he is going to get a new face. Jessica says that no one will help a runner. He says at ‘New You 483’ it can be done. She says, maybe your right.
Jessica and Logan enter ‘New You 483.’ The receptionist Holly (Farrah Fawcett) sends him directly back to see the doctor (Michael Anderson Jr.). The Doc looks to Jessica for approval. The doctor explains the Escilaptor Mark-3 before getting Logan inside. The machine uses automated lasers to create a new look.
The doctor says to Jessica that she shouldn’t have brought a Sandman to the shop. The machine cuts and heals instantly. The would-be assassins call and warn the doctor. The doctor turns off the healer and begins cutting Logan. In a fight, Logan beats down the doctor.
Francis grabs Logan and confronts Logan about letting a runner go. Logan hits Francis, and the pair escape. They cut through an orgy room for a little gratuitous nudity. Jessica leads him out the back. Francis is hot in pursuit. BTW this all in slow motion. They go through a door and lose Francis.
The pair descends a long stairway and arrive at the first stop on the way to sanctuary. Logan signals the other Sandmen. The group has a great debate about Logan, and Jessica speaks for him. Holly comes in and tells about Logan killing doc. Holly finally says that another Sandman was hunting Logan. The group decides to pass them through. He is told to follow the tunnel ever downward.
He tries to send Jessica back, but she refuses. A large group of Sandmen blow the door and begin killing off the runner group. Francis catches up with Logan and tries to get him to terminate Jessica. Logan fires at Francis and runs into the tunnel with Jessica.
Jessica and Logan get to a gate and are told to use their key, the ankh. Jessica drops her ankh, but they use Logan’s ankh to open the door as Francis runs after them.
Further, into the tunnel, they find water flowing in from the ocean.
Francis finds the other ankh and follows after them.
Francis shots at Logan and breaks a giant fish tank open. Jessica and Logan escape the water. They ride on a freight elevator until they enter a frozen part of the complex. There is a frozen walrus, penguins, and birds sculptures.
Jessica and Logan find some furs to wear, but they decide to get naked first. A robot called Box (Roscoe Lee Browne) welcomes them, says “fish and plankton and sea greens and protein from the sea!” Logan questions Box about sanctuary. Box leads them to a place where all of the missing runners are frozen. Box says, “fish and plankton and sea greens and protein from the sea!” stopped coming, and the runners began showing up. He just stores them, in the same manner, he was programmed to store food. Box comes after them to start the freezing process, but Logan shots and destroys Box.
Jessica and Logan make it outside and see the rising sun. They follow the water flowing out of the cave. Francis is shown passing by Box.
Jessica and Logan follow an old toll roadbed and are not too happy with the healed world they have found outside. They keep traveling until late in the night. Slowly they realize that they may be the first humans to make it out. Jessica still thinks sanctuary is ahead.
The next day they find a lake where they swim, and their faith is renewed. They strip again, and while swimming, they realize their time crystals have become clear, and they are free of the mandatory death. They make love and head onward.
Holy Planet of the Apes (1968)! They come upon the ruins of Washington, D.C. They have to wade through the reflecting pool to reach the city. They arrive at the Lincoln Memorial, and they both shocked at the aged look on the statue of Abraham Lincoln. The pair walk through a cemetery and do not understand ‘beloved husband’ or ‘beloved wife.’ But they can read it. Odd!
Finally, they reach the Capital Building. They hear a noise and investigate. They find a very old and strange man (Peter Ustinov) who lives with what I would have to guess is a herd of cats. Everyone speaks the same English. Jessica asks the Old-Man if this is sanctuary. Logan looks at the Old-Man’s hands, and he doesn’t have a crystal.
The Old-Man quotes from Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot. He gives them the bit about cats having three names. The last one being the name that the cat itself knows. The Old-Man only remembers his parents and no other humans. Jessica and Logan don’t understand the concept of buried. The Old-Man wants a hand crystal, so Jessica gives him a ring. He tells them that the building belongs to the people.
Logan begins to tell Jessica that there is no sanctuary. She wants to hold on to the belief. The Old-Man comes back with some pictures. While they are distracted, Francis shows up and grabs Jessica. Francis is convinced Jessica is the one that led Logan astray. Francis takes Jessica to the gallery and calls for Logan. Logan convinces Francis to look at his palm. When he sees the crystal, he is so shocked he drops his gun. Jessica kicks the gun away, and Francis jumps to the Senate Chamber floor to fight Logan.
Logan mostly gets the crap beat out of him. Francis grabs a flagpole, and they fight until Logan gets the pole. He beats Francis into submission. As Francis dies, he looks at Logan’s hand and says, “Logan, you renewed.
Jessica, Logan, and the Old-Man bury Francis. Later the Old-Man asks Jessica to bury him when he dies. Logan says he must go back to let the other in the bubble know the truth. Jessica wants to stay and have a long life. Logan tells the Old-Man that they are leaving, and he gets mad. Jessica invites the Old-Man to come back to the city with them.
They make the hard trek back to the domed city. When they camp, the Old-Man tells them a fire is worth its weight in gold when your cold. The Old-Man explains what ‘beloved husband’ and ‘beloved wife’ means. Jessica and Logan call themselves beloved husband and wife. The Old-Man calls himself beloved son.
The trio walks by an ocean and finds the place where the water coming from the sea enters the city. Logan tells the Old-Man that he can’t follow into the water entrance. Logan says he will bring the people to the Old-Man. They dive in without knowing what is below. Maybe a grinder or steel bars. Anyway, they make it and come out in the power plant area.
Logan and Jessica make their way back into the city, where another carrousel is underway. Logan screams to the people to stop and look at his crystal. Jessica tries also, but the crowd thinks they are crazy. Sandmen capture the pair.
Logan is taken to a machine where his brain is analyzed. Jessica is held by two guards. The hologram of Logan says there is no sanctuary, and all of the runners are frozen. He also talks about the Old-Man and ruins. The computer freaks out and begins to shut down.
The computer releases Logan. He fights until he gets a gun and kills a half dozen or so Sandmen. He also shots the computer, which causes the city to start exploding.
Inside, people are running around in a panic, while Outside, the Old-Man fells the shaking from the explosions.
Finally, beautiful young people begin to arrive outside where the Old-Man is waiting. The Old-Man is surrounded by young women, who, much to his delight, touch his hair and beard. Jessica and Logan make it out alright.
I’ll be right back with conclusions and the World-Famous Short Summary following a word from our sponsors.
Summary – Logan’s Run (1976)
The pre-CGI carrousel scene was extraordinarily complex. At first, they tried to raise all the stunt people on a single winch. This resulted in a mess of tangled wires and the lowering of stunt people using a lift system. They next used a winch for each flyer with a master kill switch. The last part of the shoot as they rose towards the white crystal was done by placing the crystal on the ground and hanging the stunt people from the top. They then inverted the film to make them appear to be going upward.[5]
After the domed city explodes, and the people find the Old-Man outside, a young lady walked up and shyly touched his wrinkled skin. The actress was Ashley Cox, who was the Playboy Playmate of the month for December 1977.[6]
‘Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats’ by T.S. Eliot, which the Old-Man was quoting in the movie introduces Jellico cats, and at one point in the film, Ustinov as the Old-Man offers Jessica and Logan a Jellico cat. This is horrible because the book is responsible for that Cats (2019) movie.[7]
I can’t end it with that, so I will relate a Ustinov story. Ustinov was lamenting to a famous makeup man that he would have to be at makeup at 5:00 every more to appear as a 100-year-Old-Man. Westmore “No no, I think ten minutes will be enough.[8]
World-Famous Short Summary – Boys gives up everything for a girl
Beware the moors
[1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074812/
[2] https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/logans_run
[3] https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/logans-run-1976
[4] https://www.nytimes.com/1976/06/24/archives/the-screen-logans-run-a-sciencefiction-fantasy.html
[5] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074812/trivia
[6] https://www.wikiwand.com/en/List_of_Playboy_Playmates_of_the_Month
[7] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5697572/
[8] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074812/trivia
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