34) Logan's Run (1976)

(2.5  's out of 5)

"There is no sanctuary!" 

Director

Michael Anderson 

Cast
Michael York - Logan 5
Jenny Agutter - Jessica 6
Richard Jordan - Francis 7
Roscoe Lee Browne - Box
Peter Ustinov - Old Man
Farrah Fawcett-Majors - Holly 13

Apologies for the delay, dear reader - all three of you (four counting mom). December and the Christmas season demanded its customary, traditional wall-to-wall Christmas movie viewing. I had to...just had to...watch numerous Ebenezer Scrooges find his redemption again and again. Of course, just as I have done every Holiday season for the last nearly past 40 years, I had to watch Ralphie get his Red Ryder 200-shot range model air rifle again. I had to watch Kevin McCallister find himself home alone for Christmas. And I had to watch George Bailey do his thing again! All of that stuff. I "had" to see it again, hopefully not for the last time.

So, my science fiction movies were temporarily shelved in favor of  yuletide redemption arcs, and seasonal inevitability. But I’m back. The blog lives. And I still have some Holiday Celebration ale leftover in the fridge. So, that's a win for me!  

The 1976 sci-fi flick, "Logan's Run" was on my initial list of science fiction movies to watch back when I began this platform. 

It's a movie I've heard of before multiple times but never bothered to watch it or even look into what it's about. Of course, that just made me all the more curious about it.

Based on the 1967 novel "Logan's Run" by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson, the movie is a dystopian tale about a future filled with only youth and unconstrained pleasure. The powers that be and those who live in this hedonistic society want to protect their way of life to the extent that they're willing to kill for it. Everyone who reaches 30 years of age has to end their life. 

It's the year of the city 2274 and things are always crappy and deceitful in the future. As far as things go in "Logan's Run," which sounds more like a board game or a theme park ride than a title, everyone lives for self-gratification within a secluded supposedly utopian city enclosed under a dome. However, most residents don't realize, or don't simply want to realize, that their existence is a doomed one. They're fed the lie that when they have to forfeit their life, it's an act of "renewal" and "rebirth."

People go around with crystals called "life clocks" implanted in their palms which change color as they age. 

Once their clocks start blinking red marking their 30th year, they dutifully participate in a ritual called "Carousel" in which participates are vaporized in front of spectators. Most residents of the city participant in Carousel willingly as they believe this "rebirth" nonsense. 

However, some residents don't fall for it and attempt to run away. They're aptly referred to as
"runners." 

There's a whole police force of officers called "sandmen" who are tasked with stopping and destroying these runners.

Jenny Agutter and Michael York in "Logan's Run."

One of these sandmen, Logan 5 (Michael York), is rather content in this lifestyle. He, like a lot of the other residents, goes along with all of it. Afterall, it's the only way of life he knows.
After Logan 5 and another sandman, Francis 7 (Richard Jordan) attend one of these Carousel rituals, they're both called to go after and destroy a runner trying to escape. 

After they kill him, Francis discovers a strange emblem the runner had in his possession. Logan certainly doesn't know what it is. 

Later, he meets a girl named Jessica 6 (Jenny Agutter) who's wearing the same emblem. 

So, Logan consults a smart computer to figure out what the symbol is and what it means. According to the computer, it's known as an ankh - an Egyptian symbol for life. It turns out to be a symbol associated with a location known as "the sanctuary." That's where runners try to flee to for safety. 

Since Logan is a sandman, the supercomputer gives him a top-secret mission to find this sanctuary by disguising himself as a runner. In fact, the mission is so secret, the other sandmen are not to know about it. 

The computer changes the color of his life clock to red, thus cutting his lifespan short by four years. Logan doesn't get an answer from the computer as to whether he'll get those four years back or not. 

Nevertheless, he gets to work by convincing Jessica that he intends to run and asks her to help him escape to the sanctuary. 

Francis 7 thinks Logan really has become a runner and chases him as far as Logan and Jessica can go. 

And Logan runs a lot farther than he thought he would be able to, beyond the dome into a domain he never knew existed. And he doesn't know what that world used to be. 

They both meet an old man (Peter Ustinov) which astounds them as they've never seen someone past the age of 30 before. 

He tells them about aging and history which completely intrigues them. So much so, they want to bring him back to their city to show the other residents.  

For a dystopian movie, it sure feels like a disco flick minus the disco music. Still, there's quite a moral lesson regarding the consequences of exchanging morals and standards for a hedonistic lifestyle. Everyone is lied into thinking that fulfillment is obtained by unrestrained indulgence into whatever one's passions demand. The lesson somewhere in the story is that enslavement to passions is not fulfillment. And the intellect and reason of the residents of this domed city are too dulled and darkened to realize just how shallow this lifestyle is, how incurious they are to learn the truth of their way of life, and how controlled and enslaved they are. They'd rather accept an early death instead of jeopardizing their access to pleasures on demand. 

Where's the freedom in being a slave to your own passions? 

The powers that control the city, whom we never see, depend on these people unquestionably relying on the lie that they're renewed and reborn by being destroyed at age 30 to keep this way of life going. Don't ask. Just obey.   

The book was written as the fumes of the so-called "summer of love" were still stinking up the air. I think the premise of this summer of love was constructed on the fantasy that a society can be built upon self-indulgence, self-gratification, unhindered pleasure and the idea of constant liberation and refusing limitations. It spills into the premise of "Logan's Run." A society needs religious moral guidance and traditional moral order. As unrestrained pleasures of the flesh demand a heavy price, they also darken and dull a person's capability to reason well. I think the movie tries to capture this, with either some caution or simply not filled with exposition to beat the audience over the head with. I'll give the movie the benefit of the doubt and say it's the latter.  

I can't fault the movie for being a product of its time, but I couldn't get past the polyester feel and laser shooting atmosphere. A product of its time, indeed!

It's too quirky for a dystopian movie carrying a huge social moral commentary on its back. 

Instead of boring the audience with exposition, "Logan's Run" tells its story trusting the audience to understand the severity behind the plot. But despite the truly intriguing and thought stoking plot, the campiness gets in the way too many times.

The movie jumps from feeling like a cheesy adventure to a serious escape movie smothered with underwhelming performances. 

The scene involving the Carousel should be a horrific part of the film because it is, in fact, horrifying. However, it's treated more like an opportunity to impress the audience with artsy techniques as though it's more of a psychedelic far-out ballet instead of a terrible scene of unnecessary death. 

I was also disappointed by the ending. It came about with amazing and unbelievable ease undermining the entire premise. 

In the end, something amazing is revealed to the dome city residents. Then things shutdown almost right away without any apparent resistance, and everyone is happy. 

And when Logan and Jessica meet the old man in the outside world, it seems his role in the story ought to be a major part of the plot. However, his role feels like it wasn't used to the extent it could have. 

Behind the glossy joy and frivolities that end in death, there is an apparent sadness and ignorance that lingers through the scenes. Only when Logan is outside looking back does he see it. 

"Logan's Run" ends on the premise that freedom comes by accepting time rather than escaping it. It's a premise that's worth thinking about after watching the movie. However, I think "Logan's Run" is more remembered for its visuals and not much else. It missed a lot of opportunities all together.