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Logan's Run (1976)

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Logan's Run (1976) Empty Logan's Run (1976)

Post  BoG Fri Mar 26, 2010 9:42 pm

Logan's Run (1976) LogansRun-1Logan's Run (1976) LogansRun-2
Arrow  Arrow oh, yes there is... just one catch.
Logan's Run (1976) Logans-run-jessica
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I'll have to be honest here...the reason I went to see Logan's Run a 2nd time in theaters back in 1976 was Jenny Agutter...plain & simple. I couldn't get the picture of her in that diaphanous attire - hardly concealing anything in her first scene with Michael York - out of my mind. That said, there were other very attractive elements to this: big budget Sci-Fi pictures were still rather rare (just before Star Wars) and I was impressed with the scope. It all takes place in the far future of the 23rd century, showing us an enclosed Utopian society of exclusively young people (under 30 yrs old), but policed by a force of "Sandmen" - fairly ruthless, callous enforcers who hunt down "Runners" or those citizens who choose an escape attempt when their time in paradise is up. The society is run by some sort of super-computer to keep the population always correctly balanced; it's female-voiced.
Logan's Run (1976) LogunsRundomecity
Unfortunately, this film began on the downside with the opening credits - the shots of the multi-domed city were too obviously a model and threw me out of the picture before it even began, really. I tried to get those opening shots out of mind as the film progressed and mostly succeeded. Some of the interior long shots of the city weren't much better, however; though, they looked OK back in the seventies.
Logan's Run (1976) LogansRun-1Logan's Run (1976) LogansRun0-2Logan's Run (1976) 2f3bc99a-81aa-45ad-bd73-6e544f95dd4f
I'm also not too thrilled by the lack of any substantial backstory for this entire set-up; it's almost like some godling created this magical city one day and set up all the rules. Many details are missing - we see a baby hospital in the beginning but rarely any adolescents or teens, except as wild urchins in one section of the city no one else goes to. Who raises the kids here? (my guess is the computer). Also, Logan himself (Michael York) is problematic: he's presented as one of the Sandmen villains at the start, then sent on a secret mission by the ruling computer. His motivations from then on are either ambivalent or self-serving; he is, after all, seeking to escape his own turn at Carousel (death) out of self-preservation - there's nothing heroic about that. Yet, he is depicted as the hero of the story for most of it, almost noble in his attitude (this may be the fault of actor York, who can't help but act in a certain manner; he's British, you know - that D'Artagnan ideal).
Logan's Run (1976) LogansRun4Logan's Run (1976) LogansRun3
But the film was quite entertaining. I was kept hooked for most of it, as Logan & Jessica began their quest and moved from one interesting locale to the next (and Agutter even had a brief nude scene later). There was always something strange or wondrous going on. I liked the tense conflict that developed between Logan and fellow Sandman Francis (Richard Jordan). Farrah-Fawcett was already becoming famous in the first season of Charlie's Angels. And it was great to see Peter Ustinov appear amid all those cats in an otherwise-deserted Washington D.C.    cat But, again, there's a lack of details: why only Ustinov in this decaying city? (see ZPG-1972 for one intriguing possibility as a prequel).  BoG's Score: 7 out of 10
Logan's Run (1976) LogansRunAmazVideo8-1
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Besides the short TV series which followed, Marvel Comics adapted this into a 6-issue series, art by George Perez. There were 2 more issues that attempted to continue the story without Perez (art by Tom Sutton), but the series was then canceled.
Logan's Run (1976) LogansRun1Logan's Run (1976) LogansRun6Logan's Run (1976) LogansRun Logan's Run (1976) LogansRun2
Some Trivia on the casting:
Jon Voight was in talks to play Logan but nothing ever came of it. William Devane actually signed on as Francis but felt he was wrong for the part and bowed out. Lindsay Wagner was considered for the role of Jessica, the part that went to Agutter. William F. Nolan is very proud of his baby (Logan's Run and the sequel novels, Logan's World and Logan's Search), referring to it by such descriptions as a 'global phenomenon.' I'm going by dim memory, but I think he (or Johnson) got very upset at writer David Gerrold way back in the day (late seventies) after Gerrold said some unkind words about the concept; Gerrold may have been referring more to the movie, less the novels.
Logan's Run (1976) LogansRunAmazVideo9


Last edited by BoG on Tue Nov 18, 2014 8:28 pm; edited 13 times in total
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Logan's Run (1976) Empty Logan's Agutter

Post  BoG Fri Aug 06, 2010 4:50 pm

Logan's Run (1976) Logans-run-film-poster

Logan's Run (1976) LogansRunAGUTTER Logan's Run (1976) LogansRun1Logan's Run (1976) LogansRunfight


Here's a fan-made trailer that imagines what Logan's Run would have looked like if it were originally released in 1936