In 1972 Bruce Dern made two films that would make me a lifelong fan and they couldn’t have been more different. In The Cowboys he was the sadistic outlaw who shot John Wayne in the back while Silent Running saw him playing a killer again but this time one filled with remorse.
The aptly named Freeman Lowell is one of the crew of the Valley Forge, a space freighter that’s carrying earths last forests contained within huge domes. When the order comes through to destroy the domes and return home, Lowell can’t do it. He kills his three fellow crew members and sets off for Saturn’s rings with only two robot drones for company.
Several elements combine to make this a science fiction classic. Dern’s performance, played for the most part opposite the expressionless drones’ is a thing of wonder. The film is full of moving moments, Lowell’s speech as the drones bury one of the murdered crew and the scene where he “operates” on one of the damaged drones, are just the most powerful. It’s not all doom and gloom though, the film has plenty of humour as well, with Lowell taking on Hewie and Dewie (the names he gives the drones) at poker being a perfect example.
The film boasts a trio of amazing screenwriters, Deric Washburn and Michael Cimino who would go on to write The Deer Hunter together and Steve Bochco who went on to TV fame with Hill Street Blues amongst others. Their screenplay manages to engage both the heart and the head, a rare accomplishment particularly in this genre.
The films other big pluses are director Douglas Trumbull and composer Peter Schickele. You’d expect Trumbull to be good at the effects scenes, after all he was one of the men behind 2001: A Space Odyssey’s groundbreaking special effects, what’s surprising is how good he is with the emotional side of the story. It’s Trumbull’s direction along with Schickele’s simple but incredibly effective score and Dern’s heartfelt performance that help turn Hewie and Dewie into characters in there own right. Without any bleeps and whistles they are as essential to Silent Running as R2D2 is too Star Wars.
This may be the ultimate hippy SF movie but its conservation message is even more relevant today than when the film was made, we’re still bent on destroying our planet. What the world needs is men like Freeman Lowell.
Horror and Western film buff, Marvel comic geek, music lover and occasional gamer. 