Silent Running

1972
PG
1h 29m

IMDb RATING

6.6/10

32K

YOUR RATING

Play trailer2:53

2 Videos

91 Photos

Dark Comedy Dystopian Sci-Fi Space Sci-Fi Drama Sci-Fi

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

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.6/10

32K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 2 nominations total

Videos2

Trailer 2:53

Trailer

Featurette 3:04

Trailers From Hell - Silent Running w/Edgar Wright

Featurette 3:04

Trailers From Hell - Silent Running w/Edgar Wright

Photos91

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'Silent Running': By Director Douglas Trumbull

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
To keep costs down, Trumbull hired college students for modelmaking and other such special effects work. One of them, John Dykstra, went on to a distinguished special effects career of his own.

Goofs
In the finale, the detonator held by Lowell has a misspelled label "Nuclear Detornator."

Quotes
Freeman Lowell: It calls back a time when there were flowers all over the Earth... and there were valleys. And there were plains of tall green grass that you could lie down in - you could go to sleep in. And there were blue skies, and there was fresh air... and there were things growing all over the place, not just in some domed enclosures blasted some millions of miles out in to space.

Alternate versions
In the Italian version, the three drones are named after "Paperino", "Paperone" and "Paperina" ("Donald Duck", "Uncle Scrooge" and "Daisy Duck") because calling them "Qui", "Quo" and "Qua" ("Huey", "Dewey", "Louie") would have been cacophonous: "Vieni qui, Qui!" ("Come here, Huey!").

Connections
Edited into The Making of 'Silent Running' (1974)

Soundtracks
Silent Running
Lyrics by Diane Lampert
Music by Peter Schickele
Performed by Joan Baez

User reviews279

Featured review

7/10

When humanity(and scifi) forgets its roots

Imagine a future where Earths forests are gone, and the only greenery left floats around in giant domes in space. Thats the world Silent Running drops you into.

Bruce Dern plays Freeman Lowell a guy tasked with taking care of these last living forests and when the order comes to destroy them, he loses it and i mean really loses it. Sure its a bit slow at times, and you might laugh at some of the dated visuals but theres something heartfelt about it. Those little robots Huey Louie and Dewey are great. Long before the likes of the Star Wars movies and WALL-E they gave mechanical sidekicks humanlike mischief and puppy-dog eyes.

Whats wild is that legendary filmmakers like Akira Kurosawa and Yasujiro Ozu once called this "the best American film ever made." It might not hit the same for everyone, but there's something about it that leaves a mark. If youre into oldschool scifi give it a shot.

Edit: I had to add that i love the general aesthetics of the retro 60/70s scifi style.