Flashback Friday: LOGAN’S RUN

No, it’s not a jogging movie about a runner called Logan.  This 1976 Flashback Friday film was a story about a dystopian future and a guy named Logan, who lived in a society where people enjoyed the good life.  Everything was free and you could hook up with people just by dialing them up.  Drugs were legal, and work was fun and unstressful.  And the best part about it was everybody was 30 years old or less.  So what is the dystopian part about this future?  There was a reason nobody was over 30.  It was all due to a little colored crystal in everyone’s hand and a ceremony called Carousel that took you’re 30-year-old butt out.

When the crystal turned red, like a timer on a turkey, your time was up, which was on your thirtieth birthday.  Normally, you joyfully walked into a celebration called Carousel, where you floated up to a domed ceiling and… exploded.

But there were some that didn’t feel like blowing up in the city festival, so they became ‘Runners’, people who tried to avoid dying.  That’s where Logan comes in.  He’s part of the law enforcement that hunts down and kills runners.  Him and his partner Francis are good at their jobs.  Unfortunately, when Logan meets a girl named Jessica-6, and he starts asking the computer that controls the city about a secret society of runners, the computer turns him into a runner and sends him on a mission to find ‘Sanctuary’, and destroy it if possible.

“RUN, RUNNER!”

The huge 70s Sci-Fi film is based on a 1967 novel by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson.  I remember seeing it in theaters as a kid with my mom, who was a major factor in my growing up a geek.  The pre-Star Wars experience was rather dazzling to me because the extravagant set designs, props and futuristic miniature models (particularly the gun they used) left a big impression on my imagination at the time.  The Jerry Goldsmith score also complimented the grand futuristic look of the domed city.  Plus, the story had enough action, but was deep enough to make me wonder about a society gone wrong.  Logan was played by Michael York.  Looking back, I think he did a good job in the role, playing a naive ‘cog-in-the-wheel’ cop that gets a wakeup call.  Richard Jordan played his best friend turned enemy – Francis, who just couldn’t let Logan run away.  And English actor Jenny Agutter was adorable as Logan’s running partner and love interest Jessica-6 (she was in the Avengers also).  Farrah Fawcett, sex symbol back in the day, was touted as being in the film, but her role wasn’t all that big.

The story was also turned into a short-lived TV series by the same name.  I remember watching it a little, but only in bits and pieces.  I have to go back to check it out.

Well, there you go.  Another classic 70′s look at the future, and one of my childhood favorites.  Let me know if you liked LOGAN’S RUN, or if you see it for the first time, what you though about it.

Image source: impawards.com

Geek Soul Brother

Geek Soul Brother is here to give news and reviews from the geek old school. I love to talk about movies, television, books and comics featuring science fiction, fantasy and horror.

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