"THX 1138" directors cut out Friday, Sept. 10

Patrocles

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in theaters on Friday and DVD on Sept. 14.

Has anyone seen THX 1138 recently? I think I will check it out when it hits Seattle or should I get a copy from the Library?
Interesting comments in the last paragraph about a path Lucas might have taken...




A George Lucas Far, Far Away
By DAVE KEHR

Published: September 5, 2004


IN 1971, a 27-year-old George Lucas released his first theatrical film, "THX 1138," a feature-length expansion of a 15-minute short that he'd made as a student at the University of Southern California. It may be set in a chilly, antiseptic future, but "THX" is a quintessentially paranoid reflection of the culture wars of its time, a tale of young rebels (with bald pates rather than long, hippie hair) defying an authoritarian state. Robert Duvall plays THX 1138, a worker in a robot factory who awakens to the forbidden joys of love and sex when his roommate, LUH 3417 (Maggie McOmie, in her first and only film), substitutes stimulants for the sedatives the state forces its citizens to take. Arrested for crimes of affection, THX is sent to a highly metaphorical prison without walls — a huge, echoing white space, from which THX and his fearful companion, SEN 5241 (Donald Pleasance) are determined to escape.

Though deeply in debt to Stanley Kubrick and George Orwell, "THX 1138" has elements of striking originality, particularly in the densely layered soundtrack assembled by Mr. Lucas and the editor Walter Murch (credited with "sound montage"). The overlapping dialogue is only one element in a concerto of buzzes, beeps and whirrs — imagistic sounds that expand the world of the film beyond the office-tower interiors and parking garages Mr. Lucas used as his locations.

"THX 1138" is opening in theaters on Friday and will be released on DVD on Sept. 14 in a digitally buffed and polished "director's cut." The new version, five minutes longer than the original release, includes several computer-generated enhancements (like a far more elaborate factory where THX works). Even in its sleek, reconfigured version, "THX" suggests the path that the protean Mr. Lucas might have taken, toward a subjective and subversive personal cinema. Instead, Mr. Lucas turned "THX" on its ear, and — six years and one "American Graffiti" later — delivered its polar opposite, the proudly traditional "Star Wars."
 

Jim H. Moreno

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I think it's a very good movie, and I'll be sure to look at this! Also, getting the rewashed Exorcist today...
 

Patrocles

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Brian King said:
I'd grab a copy from the library.
yeah, I think I will try that first. I'm sure I won't hurt Mr. Lucas' financial standings by not paying to see his film in a movie theater! :)
 

Richa333

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I've seen the original "THX 1138" several times & just love it... very close to "1984" (& even has some relation to "Logan's Run" or is that vice versa?) but of course it would be, since it's an Anti-Utopian film. Great stuff! Apparently this new release will include the student-film version that it came out of: cool. THX 1138 is actually quite complex, as well as a durn good story; for me I harbored secret suspicious about George Lucas' genius (did I just utter heresy?), but after seeing THX 1138 his brilliance was confirmed to me.

Buy it, rent it or borrow it -- it's a must see!
 

Patrocles

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Richa333 said:
I've seen the original "THX 1138" several times & just love it... very close to "1984" (& even has some relation to "Logan's Run" or is that vice versa?) but of course it would be, since it's an Anti-Utopian film. Great stuff! Apparently this new release will include the student-film version that it came out of: cool. THX 1138 is actually quite complex, as well as a durn good story; for me I harbored secret suspicious about George Lucas' genius (did I just utter heresy?), but after seeing THX 1138 his brilliance was confirmed to me.

Buy it, rent it or borrow it -- it's a must see!
With all the praise for THX1138 from fans and critics it is hard to believe it came from the man who also gave us SW episodes I and II.

copy that! I will see "THX138." Now I also want to see the student-film version, too! I hope it is on the DVD.

thanks for the info!
 

Richa333

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Patrocles said:
With all the praise for THX1138 from fans and critics it is hard to believe it came from the man who also gave us SW episodes I and II.

copy that! I will see "THX138." Now I also want to see the student-film version, too! I hope it is on the DVD.

thanks for the info!
SW I & II: ugh, ich, blech! Yeah, somehow he got all soft or something in middle age and lost his mojo (well at least for U & me he did). Just the thought of Jar Jar: :dead:
 

Patrocles

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Richa333 said:
SW I & II: ugh, ich, blech! Yeah, somehow he got all soft or something in middle age and lost his mojo (well at least for U & me he did). Just the thought of Jar Jar: :dead:

what? you gotta problem with the CGI characters, like Jar-Jar, created by Lucas that everyone else loves and cherishes? ;)
 

Richa333

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Patrocles said:
what? you gotta problem with the CGI characters, like Jar-Jar, created by Lucas that everyone else loves and cherishes? ;)
jar jar... guh! me no lika him, boss! cgi, me like fine...AH, Final Fantasy: Spirits Within...yum! but jar jar, bweeell, him be bad-bad, boss! :cheeky:
 

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THX 1138 (/me probes his mind) I think thats the number of a stormtrooper who is key to the plot... Either the "Look sir, droids" one or the "These aren't the droids you are looking for." one.
 

Richa333

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BarcelonaBlom said:
THX 1138 (/me probes his mind) I think thats the number of a stormtrooper who is key to the plot..."These aren't the droids you are looking for." one.
It was that Storm Trooper. I remember getting all excited, when I saw SW/New Hope for the 12th time, & I had just watched THX 1138 -- Lucas does reference earlier movies in his later ones!
 
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