MOVIEmeter
SEE RANK
Up 429 this week

Silent Running (1972)

GP  -  Drama | Sci-Fi  -  10 March 1972 (USA)
6.7
Your rating:
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 -/10 X  
Ratings: 6.7/10 from 13,268 users  
Reviews: 178 user | 72 critic

In a future where all flora is extinct on Earth, an astronaut is given orders to destroy the last of Earth's plant life being kept in a greenhouse on board a spacecraft.

Director:

0Check in
0Share...

User Lists

Related lists from IMDb users

a list of 2369 titles created 4 months ago
 
a list of 10000 titles created 2 months ago
 
a list of 2654 titles created 11 months ago
 
a list of 553 titles created 09 Jun 2011
 
a list of 783 titles created 10 months ago
 

Connect with IMDb


Share this Rating

Title: Silent Running (1972)

Silent Running (1972) on IMDb 6.7/10

Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.

Take The Quiz!

Test your knowledge of Silent Running.
1 nomination. See more awards »

Videos

Photos

Learn more

People who liked this also liked... 

Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.7/10 X  

After an encounter with UFOs, a line worker feels undeniably drawn to an isolated area in the wilderness where something spectacular is about to happen.

Director: Steven Spielberg
Stars: Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Teri Garr
Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7/10 X  

A highly advanced robotic boy longs to become "real" so that he can regain the love of his human mother.

Director: Steven Spielberg
Stars: Haley Joel Osment, Frances O'Connor, Sam Robards
Metropolis (1927)
Drama | Sci-Fi
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.4/10 X  

In a futuristic city sharply divided between the working class and the city planners, the son of the city's mastermind falls in love with a working class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.

Director: Fritz Lang
Stars: Alfred Abel, Gustav Fröhlich, Rudolf Klein-Rogge
Starman (1984)
Adventure | Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.9/10 X  

An alien takes the form of a young widow's husband and asks her to drive him from Wisconsin to Arizona. The government tries to stop them.

Director: John Carpenter
Stars: Jeff Bridges, Karen Allen, Charles Martin Smith
Enemy Mine (1985)
Action | Adventure | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.7/10 X  

A soldier from Earth crashlands on an alien world after sustaining battle damage. Eventually he encounters another survivor, but from the enemy species he was fighting; they band together ... See full summary »

Director: Wolfgang Petersen
Stars: Dennis Quaid, Louis Gossett Jr., Brion James
Action | Sci-Fi
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.6/10 X  

A modern aircraft carrier is thrown back in time to 1941 near Hawaii, just hours before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Director: Don Taylor
Stars: Kirk Douglas, Martin Sheen, Katharine Ross
Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.3/10 X  

One of the first science fiction films to attempt a high level of accurate technical detail tells the story of the first trip to the moon.

Director: Irving Pichel
Stars: John Archer, Warner Anderson, Tom Powers
Stand by Me (1986)
Adventure | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.1/10 X  

After the death of a friend, a writer recounts a boyhood journey to find the body of a missing boy.

Director: Rob Reiner
Stars: Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman
Source Code (2011)
Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.5/10 X  

An action thriller centered on a soldier who wakes up in the body of an unknown man and discovers he's part of a mission to find the bomber of a Chicago commuter train.

Director: Duncan Jones
Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga
Walkabout (1971)
Adventure | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.6/10 X  

Two young children are stranded in the Australian outback and are forced to cope on their own. They meet an Aborigine on "walkabout": a ritualistic separation from his tribe.

Director: Nicolas Roeg
Stars: Jenny Agutter, Luc Roeg, David Gulpilil
Marooned (1969)
Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5.6/10 X  

Three American astronauts are stranded in space when their retros won't fire. Can they be rescued before their oxygen runs out?

Director: John Sturges
Stars: Gregory Peck, Richard Crenna, David Janssen
The Postman (1997)
Action | Adventure | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5.7/10 X  

A drifter with no name finds a jeep with the skeleton of a postman and a bag of mail and dons the postman's uniform and bag of mail as he begins a quest to inspire hope to the survivors living in the post apocalyptic America.

Director: Kevin Costner
Stars: Kevin Costner, Will Patton, Larenz Tate
Edit

Cast

Complete credited cast:
...
...
John Keenan
...
Marty Barker
...
Andy Wolf
Mark Persons ...
Drone 2 - Huey
Steven Brown ...
Drone
Cheryl Sparks ...
Drone 1 - Dewey
Larry Whisenhunt ...
Drone
Edit

Storyline

In a future Earth barren of all flora and fauna, the planet's ecosystems exist only in large pods attached to spacecraft. When word comes in that the pods are to be jettisoned into space and destroyed, most of the crew of the Valley Forge rejoice at the prospect of going home. Not so for botanist Freeman Lowell who loves the forest and its creatures. He kills his colleagues taking the ship deep into space. Alone on the craft with his only companions being three small robots, Lowell revels in joys of nature. When colleagues appear to "rescue" him, he realizes he has only one option available to him. Written by garykmcd

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Taglines:

Amazing companions on an incredible adventure... that journeys beyond imagination! See more »

Genres:

Drama | Sci-Fi

Certificate:

GP | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
Edit

Details

Country:

Language:

Release Date:

10 March 1972 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Running Silent  »

Box Office

Budget:

$1,100,000 (estimated)

Gross:

ESP 21,077,972 (Spain)
 »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

(70 mm prints)| (35 mm prints) (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

(Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1
See  »
Edit

Did You Know?

Trivia

Some of the actual corporate logos visible throughout the movie include (but are not limited to) Dow Chemical, Coca-Cola, AMF, American Airlines, Rockwell International, and Ditch Witch. Most of the logos can be seen on the storage modules in the main cargo deck. The Ditch Witch can be seen digging the hole to bury Keenan. See more »

Goofs

In all the forest domes, entry to the forest is shown to be through a tunnel in the rim of the dome. However, no connection of this kind can be seen in any of the exterior shots of the domes. Moreover, when the domes are jettisoned, the shots of the pylons connecting the domes to the ship reveal barely enough room for the ejection system engines. There does not seem to be any kind of connection which would indicate an access tunnel. See more »

Quotes

Freeman Lowell: [after jettisoning the last dome with Dewey] You know when I was a kid, I put a note into a bottle and it had my name and address on it. And then I threw the bottle into the ocean. And I never knew if anybody ever found it.
[presses button on nuclear charge, destroying his ship]
See more »

Connections

Referenced in Iron Man 2 (2010) See more »

Soundtracks

"Silent Running"
Lyrics by Diane Lampert
Music by Peter Schickele
Sung by Joan Baez
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

See more (Spoiler Alert!) »

User Reviews

 
Unique and memorable science-fiction classic
8 February 2002 | by (Switzerland) – See all my reviews

Sometime in the future all the forests on Earth have been destroyed. The last forests are transported in giant greenhouses aboard space ships near the planet Saturn. Freeman Lowell, crew member of the space vessel Valley Forge, is an outsider and the only one who cares about what is left of our planet's nature. When orders reach their vessel to destroy the forests, he goes mad. He kills off the other crew members and starts a lonely odyssey...

There's something to be learnt in this movie. More than 30 years old now, it stands the test of time with its message, as mankind is still working on what possibly could end in a scenario like this. Bruce Dern may be overacting in some scenes, but his character is still much more likeable than his crew comrades. Scenery and music are beautiful, fitting well to the dark, moving and unique story. And this is the movie that made "Star Wars" possible. Director Douglas Trumbull and other SFX masters like John Dykstra and Richard Yuricich were chosen to work on "Star Wars" because of the state-of-the-arts special effects they did for "Silent Running". In 1971, they were ahead of their time. In fact, they are easily as good as today's CGI effects, but much more memorable for their time. Even the droids that help Lowell are predecessors of the ones in "Star Wars"... A must-see movie for SF fans and everybody interested in Hollywood classics.


46 of 55 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?

Message Boards

Recent Posts
Why is this board suddenly filled with comments in 2012? Alfabeta
Avatar or Silent Running? fortean2
I didn't see our lead as the hero fontroy5
I can't believe so many people take this movie so seriously craig-809
This is a bad movie. zee944
Off the Wall Question JimSpy
Discuss Silent Running (1972) on the IMDb message boards »

Contribute to This Page

Create a character page for:
?