Comments on: THX 1138 (1970)

By: Felicity

Felicity — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 07:28:31 +0000

I first saw this movie in the early 1990s when it was on A&E. I might have had different expectations going in if I hadn’t known it was by George Lucas; because I did know, I expected THX 1138 to be like his better-known films, and what I got was a slow, confusing, depressing art film.

I wouldn’t mind watching it again sometime to see if, 17 years later, I can appreciate it more for what it is. I would need to see the classic edition, though, not the special edition where Lucas obsessive-compulsively adds aesthetically-inconsistent CGI.

Typo alert: “Francis Ford Coppola.”

By: Nathan Shumate

Nathan Shumate — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:20:36 +0000

If it weren’t for $10 words, I’d have no money at all.

By: Sardu

Sardu — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:00:24 +0000

I have always liked this film a lot even though it’s hugely pretentious twaddle. It looks great, but the real star is the sound design, courtesy of the fore-mentioned Mr. Murch. There’s little bits of ear candy in every second of the film. And who can’t get tickled over the constant ubiquitous exhortations (woah, there’s some $10 words) to “Buy! Consume! Be Happy.”

By: Nathan Shumate

Nathan Shumate — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 15:16:08 +0000

Don’t know how that got in there.

By: sandra

sandra — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 14:31:00 +0000

“He works in the android family” – shouldn’t that be ‘android factory”? Your Freudean slip is showing.

By: Nathan Shumate

Nathan Shumate — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:01:31 +0000

I shall bow before your expertise, then.

By: Christian Brimo

Christian Brimo — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 06:03:40 +0000

I dunno… me and most of my friends take drugs to help ‘numb our passions and emotions’ (and oddly enough anti-depressants also hurt your sex drive). We also buy alot of useless crap

By: Nathan Shumate

Nathan Shumate — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:03:28 +0000

Rjschwartz,

You’re right. The society of THX 1138 is lifeless and unappealing, and the drugs they take extinguish their emotions and passions — not the best basis for a consumption-driven society.

Fish Eye,

It’s total horse-puckies, you’re right. Lucas is no more able to put together an experimental film now than he is to get his virginity back.

By: fish eye no miko

fish eye no miko — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 19:30:34 +0000

“Lucas gives the impression that he was somehow shanghaied into commercial blockbuster moviemaking; he says that experimental cinema is where his heart lies”

That’s just crap. When he finally made money he… kept making the same types of films. What “experimental” film has Lucas made since Star Wars?

By: Rjschwarz

Rjschwarz — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 19:09:11 +0000

I’m not sure if the movie or the DVD case said it was a consumer society but the bleak landscape (devoid of Star Wars type blankets, lunch boxes, shirts, pijamas, toys, etc) shows Lukas didn’t know much a out consumerism at that point in his career.