Logan's Run (DVD, 2000)

Rather than go into why I love the movie "Logan's Run", famous for being the last old-school sci-fi movie before Star Wars, I will try to shed light on what you actually get on this DVD version.

It is a nicely boxed, double-sided, DVD released in 2000, with a different display-width format of the entire movie on each side. You get no pamphlets or other extra things physically, though there are some good extra features on the DVD.

One side has the pan/scan version to fill a standard 1.33 aspect ratio TV screen. Flip it over to get the wider-screen version, on any normal DVD player.

While the other side is alleged (in the data called up into eBay listings via the UPC, no fault of anyone selling it...) to have the 2.35 aspect ratio "anamorphic widescreen" letterboxed version, it is actually far less wide/letterboxed than that. I didn't measure the blank strips on my TV to get the exact number, but it is pretty surely either the standard 1.66 movie format, or 16:9 (=1.78) intended for HDTV. It is absolutely, positively not 2.35:1, and I did check that the UPC on mine is the right UPC, etc.

So you get both the version which is the perfect screen-filling normal pan/scan for regular TV and the version which is the perfect (or nearly so, maybe very slightly boxed off on the sides) wide pan/scan for widescreen HDTV.

While movie aficionados pooh-pooh pan/scan versus watching the as-filmed widescreen aspect ratio, using screen-filling pan/scan has its benefits.

Namely, watching this movie at 1.33 instead of 2.35 on a standard TV screen, everything you see is physically 2.35/1.33 = 1.77x as big on the screen, covering 3.12x as much area. And 1.66 vs 2.35 is 1.41x as big and 2.00x the area.

Now I don't know about you, but I think this movie is worth watching in the 1.33 pan/scan mode on a big standard-shape TV at least once. Namely, having any given detail (including the beautiful Jenny Agutter's briefly-naked body at age 22-23) take up 3x the area that it would in fully letterboxed 2.35 anamorphic format, is probably more desirable than having extra scenery out in left field and right field.

On a widescreen TV, the 1.33 version has the same magnification as the 1.66 version, and just chops off the sides more than needed, so of course watch the 1.66 side if your TV is 16:9 widescreen, to catch more side scenery.

Last but not least, the sound is unusually good for a movie of this age, with it supposedly being the first movie recorded in Dolby 5.1 Surround.

Michael York and Jenny Augutter star in "Logan's Run" a classic take on a future gone awry. The population flees the outside world to live in a domed society with strict rules. No one lives past 30 - when you turn 30 you get sent to "carousel" where you are spun up into the air and shot with a laser gun. Everyone thinks its part of ascending to a higher plane of existence - but you're really just dead. As those who resist, called "runners" figure out for themselves. Logan is a "sandman", a type of cop who goes after runners. But Logan decides to become a runner himself - and upon escaping the city - finds out what became of the rest of the world. An interesting take on life and society. You'll have to watch to learn the end - I won't spoil it here - if you haven't seen it. The movie is dated by today's standards, but still a fun movie to watch.

1976: The year after the pull-out from Viet Nam. Long hair was getting a little shorter, rhythms were slowly evolving from psychedelic rock to lyrical disco, window pane blue jeans with flare were in, and halographs were the new cool technical reality. Logan's Run reflected the new idea that growing older doesn't mean slowing down and that old ideas could still be valued at any age. The story opens with those who are turning 30 going through Carousel; a means of reincarnation. The world has been devastated by nuclear war and the environment can only sustain a few; Carousel provides a means to limit the strain by limiting the population. No one is sure what happens when one goes through Carousel but Carousel has achieved the notoriety of a spectator sport. Little is valued in the way of how one's life was lived; lives are lived as "Live now for tomorrow will not come." Through a series of interesting twists, Logan becomes a hunted man running from Carousel before his appointed time. His run brings him to life outside of the world he has ever known to the presence of Old Man - something he has never seen before but something he would not forget.
2006: Logan's Run is an unforgettable "fun" movie with a deep undercurrent of meaning. For those of us who lived through the Viet Name era years, we can identify strongly with how very short life could be as America was in the throes of unrest. Young lives were being snuffed out too early as a war was being fought. Friends and family were failing to return home. As Viet Nam was closing, new ideas and new technology was opening a whole world of new opportunities as life was shifting literally back to different values. Americans could have it all - prosperity and some semblance of a decent family lifestyle. Logan's Run brought an interesting reflection of this time of transition for American lives and utilized some of the most interesting photographic technologies available in its day. Some early computerized animation and holograms add to the "transitional" theme of the movie. Thirty years later, Logan's Run provides "Fun Fantasy" for present day viewers. This is a movie worth having in your library.

This movie was released in 1976. It won a number of awards for special effects, and helped set a trend for science fiction movies for some time to come. It doesn't have the dynamic computer-driven effects we expect from movies today, but the movie is still entertaining.

The acting is a bit dry in places, but Richard Jordan does a really great job. It's too bad he didn't live more than 15 years or so after this movie was made. Miss Agutter does a pretty good job as Jessica 6, but she tends to be a little lacking at certain dramatic points. Michael York also does a pretty job, but is eclipsed by Richard Jordan.

There are rumors that the movie will be remade, and perhaps it is time to do so. Computer special effects would add a great deal more than what the miniatures provided 32 years ago, so the storyline would benefit tremendously.

Bottom line, this movie is now a classic. Buy it, watch it, and revel at how far movie-making has come since it was released.

This 1976 Saul David Classic stars Michael York, Richard Jordan and Jenny Agutter. Farrah Fawcett also appears in the movie. This is classic 1970's science fiction of the evil government versus the somewhat good and somewhat bad individual. While some of the special effects are quite campy, others are quite good. The acting is decent and the story was original and suspenseful. Logan's Run is an excellent addition to any Sci Fi fan's movie library and a fun film to watch!