Posted on 05/26/2026 10:30:39 AM PDT by Angelino97
Logan’s Run was the last great sci-fi movie of the the “tinsel/synthesizer” era — camp, fun, brightly-lit movies where production design communicated THE FUTURE with shiny interiors, rainbow colors, boop-zoop sounds, and (in the case of Zardoz and Barbarella) sets that were sometimes literally just tinsel.
In the Hollywood imagination from 1968-1977, it was expected that the third millennium would look like The Cher Show, or that Peter Brook production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream but with even more multicolored robes, wires, and tubes that made cool space sounds.
Logan’s Run is a capstone for this era, a fantastic high note on which the tinsel age would unwittingly end. No movie has done mirrors, neon, or that “extremely shiny airport” type of futurism better — every woman gets her own Sabrina Carpenter wardrobe, and you shuttle from environ to environ in little bubble domes like it’s Epcot.
Farrah Fawcett’s cameo as a medspa beautician is spot-on — her signature smile, flirtatious and innocent but weirdly sinister in its perfection, makes her the perfect symbol for this youth-obsessed world where an entire population’s energy is channeled into consumption and frivolity...
Logan’s Run had the cruel blessing of premiering one year before Star Wars. Cruel because the VFX of Star Wars singlehandedly “aged Logan’s Run a century overnight.” But in obscurer ways a blessing, because the arrival of Star Wars froze Logan’s Run like amber, dooming and preserving it at the same time.
The two represent a sharp divide in aesthetics and sensibilities — mirrors and lights vs. “used future,” middling social commentary vs. distant galaxy adventure, schlock New Age aesthetics (ankhs!) vs. deeper Campbellian mysticism.
Star Wars and Logan’s Run are enshined together as contrasts — one era of sci-fi on its last legs, another just beginning.
(Excerpt) Read more at orbnews.substack.com ...
The parts I liked best?
The trip to and discoveries in the dead and nature-over-grown Washington D.C.
They had trouble bringing it for a landing, IMHO.
I think the Time Machine is the real warning of what could happen with run-a-way technology, and what could happen over time between those running the machines and the humans served by all the machines.
I think the Time Machine is the real warning of what could happen with run-a-way technology, and what could happen over time between those running the machines and the humans served by all the machines.
Especially now given A.I.
Why think at all, the machines and A.I. can take care of all your needs.
Logan’s run is one of those bad movies that you just can’t change the channel on.
It’s not so bad that it’s good. It’s not good.
It’s not quite a train wreck that you can’t take your eyes off of. It’s more like some kind of bizarre surrealism that isn’t fascinating nor trippy nor mind-blowing, yet somehow it’s just campy and surreal enough to make you want to see what’s next.
It’s appeal is more akin to a tabloid than a comic book. You just want to understand just how dumb the future can be. LOL
She was smoking hot.
Too right wing.
I liked it back in 76... I watched it again recently and realized this cheesy little pic didn’t age well.
The story’s a pretty cool one though and I’m surprised that Hollywood hasn’t remade it yet.
I couldn't agree more. I always hated the way they did her hairstyle too. I never liked teased hairstyles on women.
I re-watched it recently and in the end, when all the people emerged from their shattered dome world, the thought occurred to me that most of them would probably be dead from starvation in a couple of weeks.
Not entirely true. "Box" was the venerable Roscoe Lee Browne, a popular black actor of his day. Like James Earl Jones, Browne had a deep authoritative voice that made him perfect for some roles.
As soon as I saw the carousel I recognized that it was a 70’s style shopping mall. Ruined the whole idea of a brave new world. Was more like, how much did the producers have to pay to use the mall? Or was the use free as long as they plugged the mall in the credits?
Michael York seemed out of place and time. A foppish flop. Peter Ustinov as the old man seemed to be sleepwalking. The robot in the ice cave, pretty bad, even for the time. Jenny Agutter...cute, and had solid acting chops. Didn’t need the nude scene, though. Seemed gratuitous. Farrah Fawcett had a very small part....looked better after she got famous.
My unsolicited rating: A solid C. Only worth watching to study film making sensibilities in the 70’s. Had some thoughtful parts, more useful as a decent time waster.
Jenny was also the world’s hottest nurse in “An American Werewolf in London”.
The robotic villain in the ice tunnel was named “Box”. I have to fight past him in the grocery store’s wine area every time I go shopping (”no Box, I WILL pass without buying you”).
Peter Ustinov reciting of T.S. Eliot’s take on the three names of a cat lent much needed human warmth to an otherwise brutal story. He stole the movie from the moment he appeared.
That, and the plethora of cats who had taken over DC. I am cat lover, so I would have liked the set up just fine. He was, however, the definition of a “Crazy ol’ cat geezer”.
Which begs the question, what and why were they being fed when on the inside?
Seems like people had jobs (such as the protagonist being a cop, or Farah in the parlor), but like America today, so much of it is tertiary and service sector economics. What did they produce?
I hate to be one of those people who nit-picks science fiction cosmogonies (actually, I enjoy it), but the setting here seems to be some kind of disneyland city without the attractions besides bars, restaurants, drugs, and that carousel event.
So, aside from the more obvious question about why people are being terminated after a certain age, my question is more along the lines of why they are being kept alive at all? What is the point of their society? What is the meaning of their existence?
Perhaps learning to survive and struggle on the outside is exactly what they needed afterall, for all it’s hardship
I think comparing the two films is apples and oranges. I’d expect a high tech effort for a Star Wars but Logan’s Run doesn’t require much more than superficial touches like the film had.
I think I saw that once on late-night TV on one of the old cable "superstations" (the first ones that didn't sign off after midnight). All I can recall are Cindy Williams and dune buggies.
I agree that they needed to be free from their existing society, but the cost would be very high. I compare it to the hardships of the Jamestown and Plymouth colonies and how many died then, when they found themselves in a harsh environment. It seems like no one had any practical skills there.
And obviously Jenny Agutter
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