Films’ futures tend toward pessimism

Bill Knight column for 7-11, 12 or 13, 2019

Looking back at Hollywood looking ahead is as timely as marking the July 12 birthday of the late, great futurist Buckminster Fuller, inventor of the geodesic dome, the Dymaxion car and “synergetics,” and a one-time resident of Carbondale.

Fuller was an optimist, thinking technology could save the planet, but movies tend to be more “Handmaid’s Tale” and “Walking Dead” than “The Jetsons” or “Tomorrowland.”

“The Future” has been with movies since the beginning, so to speak. Filmmakers’ concepts of the future of civilization have been chilling and charming, with prognosticators offering doom or delights, hope or horror. There are adventures (“Flash Gordon”) and action yarns (“Logan’s Run”), dramas (“A Clockwork Orange”) and fantasies (“Barbarella”).

H.G. Wells’ classics provided some fodder (“The Time Machine”), and there even was a light-hearted 1930s musical, “Just Imagine,” that’s worth watching. Steven Spielberg’s “Minority Report” effectively blended a grim future with technological wizardry and the same old weakness: human beings

Future films sometimes issue warnings (“Robocop,” “Demolition Man”), or present opportunities for stars to bomb (Kevin Costner’s “Waterworld” and “The Postman”). Near-hits range from “Rollerball” to “Death Race 2000.”

For now (and tomorrow, I guess), here’s a Top 10 list of Future films:

“A Boy and His Dog” (1976). Don Johnson stars in actor/director L.Q. Jones’ intelligent, amusing version of an award-winning Harlan Ellison short story. On a post-nuclear Earth, a young scavenger and his telepathic dog seek food and females. Jason Robards co-stars in the cult classic, which won a Science Fiction Writers’ Hugo Award.

“Fahrenheit 451” (1967). Filmmaker Francois Truffaut’s first English-language movie is a lean, tense adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s fine novel of a future world where reading is banned.          Oskar Werner stars as a “fireman,” a public servant assigned to burn books, and Julie Christie co-stars in two roles – as a book lover who teaches him to appreciate reading, and as the fireman’s wife. (Notice how the technology predicted in this decades-old film and book are remarkably accurate to the flat/plasma, interactive, reality-based crap that passes for entertainment now.)

“Metropolis” (1926). There are several versions of director Fritz Lang’s magnificent masterpiece, from inferior prints with bad soundtracks to a restored print with original footage. A son of an autocrat falls in love with a labor leader, Maria, who’s eventually replaced with a lookalike robot when the subterranean working class starts to organize against elites above. The screenplay sometimes feels thin or dated, but the imagery is stunning. A silent movie, its 1984 re-release has a soundtrack featured Giorgio Moroder music performed by Pat Benatar, Loverboy, Freddie Mercury, Billy Squier and others.

“1984” (1984). John Hurt stars in this great version of George Orwell’s look at a bleak future. Working in a totalitarian state where emotions are controlled, Hurt’s Winston Smith nevertheless falls in love. The fantasy (superior to a well-intentioned but flawed 1955 version) co-stars Richard Burton (in his last movie role).

“The Road Warrior” (1981). The best in the “Mad Max” series, this stars Mel Gibson, helping refugees through a post-apocalypse wasteland peopled by violent punks who seek fuel, food, women and anything possibly useful in a scavenger society. George Miller directed.

“Sleeper” (1973). From writer/actor/director Woody Allen’s zany (funny) period, this spoof is set 200 years into the future, when a man frozen alive awakens to become an unlikely rebel in a weirdly authoritarian society. Diane Keaton co-stars.

“Soylent Green” (1973). This cautionary tale of environmental degradation and despair is set in the early 21^st century (!) in New York, which has too many people and too little food, and police officer Charlton Heston is investigating the government’s new “solution.” Co-starring are Joseph Cotton, Chuck Connors and (in his last film) Edward G. Robinson.

“THX 1138” (1971). George Lucas’ first movie is an atmospheric, provocative expansion of one of his student projects at USC. Robert Duvall stars as a man in a future world where the government controls people by drugging them and prohibiting emotion. Donald Pleasance co-stars.

“Things to Come” (1936). Raymond Massey stars in this early effort to bring H.G. Wells to the screen. Released years before World War II, it shows a devastating world war that lasts for years, followed by a renaissance of sorts and a hi-tech space age. Ralph Richardson and Cedric Hardwicke co-star in the thoughtful movie.

“Zardoz” (1974). Sean Connery is a husky survivor in the year 2293, bred to be a superman of sorts, strong and bright. Captured by a group of “Eternals,” he searches for answers to his – and the world’s – condition. John Boorman directed the quirky, visually noteworthy fantasy co-starring Charlotte Rampling.