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Movies / On DVD / THX 1138
THX 1138

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THX 1138 (1971)

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Reviews Counted:44

Fresh:39

Rotten:5

Average Rating:7/10

Consensus: George Lucas' feature debut presents a spare, bleak, dystopian future, and features evocatively minimal set design and creepy sound effects.

Runtime: 90 mins

Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy

Synopsis: In George Lucas's fascinating debut feature (based on his short student film), the filmmaking wunderkind creates a futuristic, underground world in which bald, drone-like workers are forced to take... In George Lucas's fascinating debut feature (based on his short student film), the filmmaking wunderkind creates a futuristic, underground world in which bald, drone-like workers are forced to take drugs to regulate their moods and stifle their libidos. THX 1138 (Robert Duvall) and his mate LUH 3417 (Maggie McOmie) are factory workers, building the robotic police that keep order in their stark world. The soundtrack to their lives is a news service that continually lists information about factory accidents, as well as sex and drug crimes, ŕ la George Orwell's 1984. There are electronic confessionals where workers admit to mistakes they've made, outlets THX uses to express his unhappiness with his life. When LUH decides she and THX should stop taking their medication, their sense of humanity--and their desire and love for each other as a couple--is unleashed. It's not long, however, before they are imprisoned for this crime, and LUH learns that she is pregnant. Separated from LUH, THX embarks on a journey to find her, with the help of rebel SEN (Donald Pleasence) and hologram SRT (Don Pedro Colley), eventually attempting escape to the outside world. Combining complex editing and sound techniques with brilliantly subtle performances, THX 1138 is Lucas's less widely regarded vision of life in outer space, though it stands firmly as an awe-inspiring sci-fi spectacle. The film is also eerily prophetic, depicting a world in which television screens are bombarded with sensationalistic news, sexually explicit films, and vapid comedy shows. [More]

Starring: Robert Duvall, Donald Pleasence, Don Pedro Colley, Maggie McOmie

Starring: Robert Duvall, Donald Pleasence, Don Pedro Colley, Maggie McOmie, Ian Wolfe, Marshall Efron, Sid Haig, Irene Forrest

Director: George Lucas

Director: George Lucas
Screenwriter: George Lucas, Walter Murch
Producer: Lawrence Sturhahn
Composer: Lalo Schifrin

[See More Credits]

Reviews for THX 1138

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Visually it is often extraordinary, with Lucas playing on perspectives and dislocations throughout, nowhere more brilliantly than in the 'prison' represented by a limbo of whiteness that seems to stretch as far as the eye can see.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Geoff Andrew
Geoff Andrew
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Neglected on its initial release, this now stands as a classic science fiction movie and one of the most remarkable debuts of the 70s.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
10/06/04
Ian Freer
Ian Freer
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

chilling and inventive

comment Comment
09/19/04
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

[Lucas' 1970 debut] not only gives obvious indications of his glittering future career but also works in its own right as a terrific bit of sci-fi entertainment, creating a palpable sense of tension in its view of s futuristic dystopia.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
05/24/03
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Meditative and downbeat rather than crowd-pleasing, the film includes a few sequences that suggest the direction Lucas career later took.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
06/05/07
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

With political paternalism rampant at both extremes of the spectrum, Lucas is onto something. In any case, we'll know for sure in about a generation.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
06/05/07
A.D. Murphy
A.D. Murphy
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
10/29/06
Boxoffice Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Masterpiece? I’d hazard to say so, for as much of what it says to what it leaves to the viewer.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Mark Bell
Mark Bell
Film Threat

A high concept window in on the direction George Lucas could have gone.

comment Comment
10/27/05
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

No review available.

comment Comment
08/04/05
Robert Roten
Robert Roten
Laramie Movie Scope

No review available.

comment Comment
07/15/05
Bill Chambers
Bill Chambers
Film Freak Central

No review available.

comment Comment
07/06/05
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

I have a good many reservations about the film's ideas, but they are greatly outweighed by my admiration for a technical virtuosity that by fair means and foul achieves exceptional emotional intensity at the same time.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
05/09/05
Roger Greenspun
Roger Greenspun
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A modest, somber vision of the future.

Full Review Source: Lessons of Darkness | comment Comment
05/04/05
Nick Schager
Nick Schager
Lessons of Darkness

For a film that warns about the dangers of consumerism, one can only wonder how many more times will Mr. Lucas force this lesser work of his upon an uncaring public before he lets the film slip back into obscurity.

Full Review Source: FilmJerk.com | comment Comment
04/14/05
Edward Havens
Edward Havens
FilmJerk.com

THX 1138 shows that Lucas was once interested in letting actors act, and in letting the audience think for themselves. It reveals just how much his technological toys have crippled him as a storyteller.

Full Review Source: Looking Closer | comment Comment
02/26/05
Jeffrey Overstreet
Jeffrey Overstreet
Looking Closer

No review available.

comment Comment
01/05/05
Lori Hoffman
Lori Hoffman
Atlantic City Weekly

Lucas’ bleak debut is a film markedly dissimilar from his more famous trilogy.

Full Review Source: Not Coming to a Theater Near You | comment Comment
11/01/04
Rumsey Taylor
Rumsey Taylor
Not Coming to a Theater Near You

A pretentious regurgitation of worn-out sci-fi cliches by a novice filmmaker who had yet to find his way.

Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment Comment
10/19/04
William Arnold
William Arnold
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

The thought put into the world of THX 1138 clearly shows a respect for the audience who crave to know more than just basic plot and character development.

Full Review Source: Film Snobs | comment Comment
10/06/04
Jimmy O
Jimmy O
Film Snobs
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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