THX 1138 1971
I had heard about this movie in a documentary that talked about George Lucas. He directed the movie based on a short film project he had done in film school and this was one of the first movies that he and Francis Ford Coppola produced for American Zoetrope studios. It is kind of like 1984 or Brave New World with a dystopic view of the future and government control of individual life. The story is a little underwhelming, but the movie has a great look and uses some cool looking actual locations as its setting for the future. I was glad to get to see it on HBO Max. It is fun seeing what they thought computers would look like from the 1970 perspective (50 years ago!). And it is neat to see such a young Robert Duvall in an understated role, just before he made Apocalypse Now. Production values are better than I expected and the movie looks great. It is a pretty understated and kind of ambiguous movie for Lucas who would go on to make such big action movies about good and evil. Not a great movie, but it is well worth watching.
Written: 09 Jan 2021