Thursday, June 13, 2013

Halt, Runner!



“Never trust anyone over 30” was the mantra of the youth culture of the late 1960s and early ’70s. Logan’s Run (1976) takes that concept a step farther...when they turn 30, kill them.

Set in a futuristic self-contained city, protected by an enormous translucent bubble, Logan’s Run posits a creative if cold-blooded system for zero population control. The benefits: a life of hedonistic pleasure in a moneyless society...including casual sex, materialism and plastic surgery on demand. The drawback: when your number’s up, you must undergo a spectacularly staged pseudo-religious ceremony known as “Carousel”—Orwellian Newspeak for “Extermination”—and hope for "renewal". 






The city is peopled with impossibly beautiful actors of the 1970s, including Michael York as Logan, Jenny Agutter as Jessica and Farrah Fawcett-Majors as Holly. In a prescient sequence that foreshadows our current world of Internet hookups, they connect with each other for no-strings sexual pleasure via “The Circuit,” a kind of Star Trek transporter in every living room. 






As a “Sand Man,” Logan’s job is to terminate “Runners,” those who don’t want to be incinerated in the fiery Carousel arena and try to escape. But when the crystal on Logan’s palm changes color prematurely, making him a target for Carousel, he must become a Runner himself and find a mythical place called “Sanctuary,” where people are allowed to grow old.

"Sit facing the screen, Logan 5. Identify. " 

4 comments:

  1. Just getting around to browsing some of your older posts. You posted a whole hell of a bunch in June of 2013. What the hell, were you in bed sick or just bored...:-) You ought to write more. Keeps the brain in shape even when the body starts to go. I plan on writing until arthritis makes it a chore...

    This is a good one. Logan's Run the movie became a favorite after I saw the Logan's Run TV show. (like Planet of the Apes, another short-lived run on TV of a theatrical movie that got my interest, but the rest of the public just ignored. What is it about really decent sci-fi TV in the 70's, anyway...?)

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  2. Hi Quiggy, I loved the Logan's Run series, too!!
    In June 2013 I transferred a bunch of my writings from an interactive website called Do You Remember and put it into this blog. That's why there are so many entries that month...
    -C

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  3. I just watched this again for the upteenth time and was impressed at how well it has aged, in some respects, and is dated, in others but I still really dig it, esp. the scenes later on out in the world where see D.C. covered in vegetation - very striking images that reminded me a bit of the ending of PLANET OF THE APES. Good stuff!

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  4. This is one of my favorites - just got a Blu-Ray of this one too and it looks spectacular!

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