THX (1138) Movie Review

In the dehumanized world of the future, people live in underground cities run by computer, are force-fed drugs to keep them passive, emotions and sex are forbidden, and people no longer have names – just serial numbers. Robert Duvall is THX 1138. When the computer-matched couple THX 1138 and LUH 3417 discover true love, they attempt to escape their oppressive society in order to be together. The film borrows generously from such classics as George Orwell's 1984, Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, and Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Director George Lucas tells the story primarily through stunning sound (Walter Murch, the sound editor, co-wrote the screenplay) and visuals (almost everything in this future is gleaming white and everyone has shaved heads), and only sparse, almost catatonic, dialogue. Still, the film is more interesting as a preview of what Lucas would do than what he does here. The film only hints at Lucas’ story-telling talent. This was Lucas’ first film, inspired by a 20-minute student short he made at USC. The laserdisc version carries the film in widescreen format.

1971 (PG) 88m/C Robert Duvall, Donald Pleasence, Maggie McOmie, Don Pedro Colley, Ian Wolfe, Marshall Efron; D: George Lucas; W: George Lucas, Walter Murch; C: Dave Meyers, Albert Kihn; M: Lalo Schifrin. VHS, Beta, LV WAR, FUS