If SILENT RUNNING were literature instead of a film, it would be accused of being a short short story masquerading as a novel. Its greatest claim to fame is having been made by 2001 special effects guru Douglas Trumbull. And there is no question that this is visually the most interesting SF film between 2001 and STAR WARS. Like 2001 it was a SF film that was not intended to go directly to a drive in double bill. It was intended to be taken seriously.



There is no question that this is a film with good intentions and it was certainly made with great attention. And Huey, Dewey, and the posthumously named Louie are among the most beloved and fondly remembered movie robots (I suppose most people know that the robots were performed by multiple amputee humans). But the brute fact is that there simply isn't much of a story. And what little story there is, is pretty danged bleak. It is surprising that there is so little in the way of interesting story -- well, heck, that there is so little story at all, interesting or otherwise. This was a talented trio of writers. Michael Cimono and Deric Washburn would later win an Oscar for DEER HUNTER, while Steve Bocho would reinvent television with HILL STREET BLUES and other projects.



In the end, SILENT RUNNING ends up being a visually less interesting distillation of the duller parts of 2001. I will add that Bruce Dern is very good in what is essentially the only role in the movie (though I was amazed to see that I literally couldn't recognize Ron Rifkin in his small role). I suppose students of SF should see it because of its "classic" status, but to be honest, it is not a terribly interesting film.