Logan's Run (1976)

An idyllic sci-fi future has one major drawback: life must end at the age of 30.

Director:

Michael Anderson

Writers:

David Zelag Goodman (screenplay), William F. Nolan (novel)

Stars:

Michael York, Jenny Agutter, Richard Jordan

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 7 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael York	...	Logan
Richard Jordan	...	Francis
Jenny Agutter	...	Jessica
Roscoe Lee Browne	...	Box
Farrah Fawcett	...	Holly (as Farrah Fawcett-Majors)
Michael Anderson Jr.	...	Doc
Peter Ustinov	...	Old Man
Randolph Roberts	...	2nd Sanctuary Man
Lara Lindsay	...	The Woman Runner
Gary Morgan	...	Billy
Michelle Stacy	...	Mary 2
Laura Hippe	...	Woman Customer
David Westberg	...	Sandman
Camilla Carr	...	Sanctuary Woman
Greg Lewis	...	Cub (as Gregg Lewis)

Storyline

It's 2274 and on the surface, it all seems to be an idyllic society. Living in a city within an enclosed dome, there is little or no work for humans to perform and inhabitants are free to pursue all of the pleasures of life. There is one catch however: your life is limited and when you reach 30, it is terminated in a quasi-religious ceremony known as Carousel. Some, known as runners, do try to escape their fate when the time comes and it's the job of Sandmen to track them down and kill them. Logan is such a man and with several years before his own termination date, thinks nothing of the job he does. Soon after meeting a young woman, Jessica-6, he is ordered to become a runner himself and infiltrate a community outside the dome known as Sanctuary and to destroy it. Pursued by his friend Francis, also a Sandman, Logan and Jessica find their way to the outside. There they discover a beautiful, virtually uninhabited world. Logan realizes that he must return to the dome to tell them what ...

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Plot Keywords:

cult film | cat | runner | sanctuary | computer | 

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Taglines:

The only thing you can't have in Logan's world is your 30th birthday. Unless you run away.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 June 1976 (USA)

Also Known As:

Flucht ins 23. Jahrhundert

Filming Locations:

Dallas, Texas, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$9,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$25,000,000 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

119 min

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) Dolby (35 mm prints) (as Dolby System Noise Reduction-High Fidelity) 4-Track Stereo

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Publicity for this picture stated that the sets built for this movie were the biggest and most expensive made at the MGM studios since the great musical spectacles of its halcyon days.

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Goofs

Logan's Sandman uniform top is a form-fitting body shirt with a gray collar and a matching tunic that fits over this with a gray band across the chest. After Logan and Jessica remove their clothes and get under the furs to keep warm, Logan only puts on the body shirt with the gray collar and discards the tunic. When they're shown shortly thereafter in a long shot at the top of a waterfall, however, Logan is wearing the tunic with the gray band across the chest (which disappears thereafter).

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Quotes

[first lines]
Logan: [tapping on a glass window of maternity room] Wake up.
Francis 7: Logan, you are here. I couldn't believe it when they told me. What are you doing?
Logan: [indicates baby] Logan 6. Well it's not everyday that they authorize a new sandman. I tell you Francis,
[indicating baby]
Logan: that's him.
Francis 7: Well maybe, maybe not. What does it matter? Anyway, he isn't yours anymore.
Logan: [continues tapping lightly on the glass]
Francis 7: All right, you want me to wake him?
[bangs loudly on the glass with his baton]
[...]

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Connections

Featured in Nightmare Theatre's Late Night Chill-o-Rama Horror Show Vol. 1 (1996)

User Reviews

And I Thought Turning 40 Was Supposed To Be the Bad Age....

I must admit that I should be ashamed as a sci-fi fan: I hadn't seen this film until recently, and I wanted to better understand the parody from "Free Enterprise".

But I enjoyed the film.

Watching this film against the more recent glut of sci-fi films, I have to say that they made them a little more original back in the 70's-80's, instead of everything being techno-computer-CG-spaceship fights. A grim look at the downside of maintaining an "ideal", utopian society. When you hit 30, you either have the option of willingly submitting yourself to be killed under a pretense of renewal, or having the Sandmen play with you before they go in for the kill. Neither option seems really appealing. But the idea of one of the killers having to face their mortality is an interesting idea.

A little slow in places (but I did keep wanting to see what would happen next), and some of the special effects look really dated (even to '77's "Star Wars"), but the story holds up well, and it's an entertaining ride overall.

It's truly a classic of the genre, and I wish I had seen it sooner.