Review: Silent Running


Bruce Dern is a botanist on a space station that houses the last vegetation samples taken from Earth after man has finally gone and buggered everything up and the forests have died. Dern is picked on by his immature colleagues (veteran slimeball Ron Rifkin, Jesse Vint, and Cliff Potts), but things really go south when orders come in for the men to return home...after they destroy the forests! Now, Dern’s a peace-minded fella (albeit a little insular, preferring the company of plants and specially programmed robot worker drones he later affectionately dubs Huey, Dewey, and Louie). However, when he’s given orders to destroy the very things he’s lovingly tended to for so long...well, he’s about to go postal in outer space.


Thoughtful, ecologically-minded 1971 sci-fi flick from former FX man Douglas Trumbull (his directorial debut, he would later helm the ill-fated “Brainstorm”, the last feature film of Natalie Wood), is a one-of-a-kind, ‘flower power’-fuelled experience (that actually plays quite well in today’s climate change-obsessed society). Uber-intense Dern is ideally cast in the lead, and although very little really happens in the film, his terrific performance (he’s crazier than a loon, but somehow you want to be on his side- he’s saving the plants!) makes you forget its shortcomings (including a little dodgy science and even dodgier Joan Baez songs). Call it fascinating or thoughtful, rather than invigorating or exciting, but this is a damn interesting and unique sci-fi film. The screenplay is by Deric Washburn (“The Border”, “The Deer Hunter”), Michael Cimino (director of “The Deer Hunter” and “Heaven’s Gate”), and legendary TV producer Steven Bochco (“NYPD Blue”).


Rating: B

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