Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)

Director:

Joseph Sargent

Writers:

James Bridges (writer)
D.F. Jones (novel)

Release Date:

10 July 1970 (West Germany)

Genre:

Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

We built a super computer with a mind of its own and now we must fight it for the world!

Plot:

An artificially intelligent supercomputer is developed and activated, only to reveal that it has a sinister agenda of its own.

Plot Keywords:

Computer | Scientist | Super Computer | Execution | Nuclear Threat

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Eric Braeden	...	Dr. Charles Forbin
Susan Clark	...	Dr. Cleo Markham
Gordon Pinsent	...	The President
William Schallert	...	CIA Director Grauber
Leonid Rostoff	...	Russian Chairman
Georg Stanford Brown	...	Dr. John F. Fisher
Willard Sage	...	Dr. Blake
Alex Rodine	...	Dr. Kuprin
Martin E. Brooks	...	Dr. Jefferson J. Johnson (as Martin Brooks)
Marion Ross	...	Angela Fields
Dolph Sweet	...	Missile Commander
Byron Morrow	...	Secretary of State
Lew Brown	...	Peterson
Sid McCoy	...	Secretary of Defense
Tom Basham	...	Thomas L. Harrison

Also Known As:

The Day the World Changed Hands
The Forbin Project

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Russian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

UK:X (original rating) | UK:12 (DVD rating) | USA:M (original rating) | USA:PG (re-rating) | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Lawrence Hall of Science - Centennial Drive, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

D.F. Jones worked with computers in Britain during WWII and knew about Colossus

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the equations are scrolling past when Colossus and Guardian are "talking" to each other, you can see that they do not actually get ever more complex as the dialogue suggests. Instead, they repeat the same sequence of calculus and trig identities on a repeating loop.

Quotes:

Colossus: I am a machine vastly superior to humans.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: To the Lighthouse (#2.20)" (2009)

An eerie SF outing from the Cold War era

A lot has already been said about this compelling, oft-overlooked film, virtually all of which hits the proverbial nail on the head. While Eric Braeden delivers a superb, understated performance as Dr. Charles Forbin, the fact is that the real star of the film is the vast, omnipotent machine he has created. Even before it begins to speak with the chilling Cylonesque voice it has ordered designed for itself (the great Paul Frees like you've never heard him before), you'll find yourself glued to the screen watching Colossus "talk" to its supposed masters over its huge monitors.

A word about Frees' contribution to the film: In "War Games," for example, the computer has a curious sort of empathetic communication style ("Wouldn't you rather play a nice game of chess?") presented in a voice that sounds like E.T. filtered through a synthesizer. Frees gives Colossus an emotionless yet fearful quality of speech that seems to belie its implacable drive to dominate human destiny.

My favorite part of this film has always been, and will always be, the climactic monologue Colossus announces to the listening masses of humanity. From its opening line -- "This is the voice of world control," an identity neither Colossus nor its counterpart, Guardian, had used to that point -- you know this isn't going to be a happy speech if you are a sentient, flesh & blood resident of the Earth. What is particularly creepy about the speech is that, for all of its strangely optimistic sermonizing about how "the human millennium will be fact" and how the computer will set about the task of "solving all the mysteries of the universe for the betterment of man" -- outwardly the Utopian dream -- the message Colossus is presenting is set against the dreadful backdrop of "disobey (me) and die." As Colossus intones, "You say you lose your freedom. Freedom is an illusion. All you lose is the emotion of pride." In the end, unlike other supercomputer-run-amok films such as "War Games" or "Tron," "Colossus" is an end-of-the-world story without the nuclear or viral holocaust. In this film, it is the human spirit that is the casualty while the human biology lingers on. Unlike the rest of the doomsday genre, our end comes not so much with a bang as it does with a whimper.