THX 1138 (1971)
83%RT Audience Score: 74%
Awards & Nominations: 2 wins & 3 nominations
George Lucas’ feature debut presents a spare, bleak, dystopian future, and features evocatively minimal set design and creepy sound effects
THX-1138 is a sci-fi classic that’s worth watching, especially if you’re a die-hard George Lucas fan. Sure, it may be a bit slow and confusing at times, but the restored version with enhanced special effects makes it much more enjoyable. Plus, the futuristic landscape is so oddball and campy that you can’t help but be entertained. And let’s be real, who doesn’t love a hologram that comes to life because he wants to? Overall, THX-1138 is a solidly entertaining and unique film that’s worth checking out.
Production Company(ies)
Distributor
Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros.
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
BART Operations Control Center – 101 Eighth Street, Oakland, California, USA
MPAA / Certificate
GP
Year of Release
1971
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Mono
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Aspect ratio:2.35 : 1
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Runtime:1h 28m
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Language(s):English
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Mar 11, 1971 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 14, 2004
Genre(s)
Sci-fi
Keyword(s)
starring Robert Duvall, Maggie McOmie, Donald Pleasence, Don Pedro Colley, Ian Wolfe, Sid Haig, directed by George Lucas, written by George Lucas, Walter Murch, sci-fi, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Stefan Kanfer, William Paul, A.D Murphy, Roger Greenspun, Nick Schager, David Nusair, Rachel Wagner, Kevin Carr, David Gurney, Cole Smithey, Russ Breimeier, PG rating, Warner Bros Pictures, Larry Sturhahn produced, free will, mandatory medication, dystopian future, underground cities, robotic police, love, outlawed, Orwellian dystopia, human emotion, minimal set design, creepy sound effects, THX 1138, LUH 3417, SRT, PTO, NCH, The Brother From Another Planet, An Everlasting Piece, Roger & Me, Quick Change, Night Shift, THX-1138 photos, English, 1h 28m, Mar 11, 1971, Sep 14, 2004, Warner Bros
Worldwide gross: $2,437,000
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $19,997,267
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,712
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 2,180,727
US/Canada gross: NA
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend:
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $777,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $6,375,821
Production budget ranking: 1,829
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $3,433,380
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $10,188,066
ROI to date (est.): 104%
ROI ranking: 920
Donald Pleasence – SEN 5241
Don Pedro Colley – SRT
Maggie McOmie – LUH 3417
Ian Wolfe – PTO
Sid Haig – NCH
Director(s)
George Lucas
Writer(s)
George Lucas, Walter Murch
Producer(s)
Larry Sturhahn
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
2 wins & 3 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (63) | Top Critics (14) | Fresh (54) | Rotten (9)
Despite his scenes of bland horror, Lucas offers the 25th century as a arch, campy place, a conception not satiric enough to be accepted as comedy and not quite insightful enough to be taken seriously.
February 8, 2018
Stefan Kanfer
TIME Magazine
TOP CRITIC
The empty space surrounding the vulnerable man emphasizes the exertion involved rather than the goal of escape: like the hologram who came to life because he wanted to, THX finally achieves his humanity by an assertion of will.
January 18, 2013
William Paul
Village Voice
TOP CRITIC
With political paternalism rampant at both extremes of the spectrum, Lucas is onto something. In any case, we’ll know for sure in about a generation.
June 5, 2007
A.D. Murphy
Variety
TOP CRITIC
Visually it is often extraordinary, with Lucas playing on perspectives and dislocations throughout, nowhere more brilliantly than in the ‘prison’ represented by a limbo of whiteness that seems to stretch as far as the eye can see.
June 24, 2006
Geoff Andrew
Time Out
TOP CRITIC
I have a good many reservations about the film’s ideas, but they are greatly outweighed by my admiration for a technical virtuosity that by fair means and foul achieves exceptional emotional intensity at the same time.
May 9, 2005 | Rating: 4/5
Roger Greenspun
New York Times
TOP CRITIC
A modest, somber vision of the future.
May 4, 2005 | Rating: C+
Nick Schager
Lessons of Darkness
TOP CRITIC
…devoid of even the most basic exposition designed to draw the viewer into its oddball futuristic landscape…
December 7, 2019 | Rating: 1/4
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews
THX 1138 isn’t a perfect sci-film but it is solidly entertaining and very unique.
March 13, 2019 | Rating: B
Rachel Wagner
rachelsreviews.net
long and cumbersome
January 19, 2014 | Rating: 2/5
Kevin Carr
7M Pictures
Slow sci-fi drama for die hard Lucas fans only.
January 1, 2011 | Rating: 3/5
David Gurney
Common Sense Media
Tedious pacing contributes to the confusing nature of the movie, but George Lucas’ restored “THX-1138” is essential viewing to distinguish his artistic vision before he transformed Hollywood.
May 7, 2009 | Rating: A-
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com
Enhancing the film with special effects and a clearer presentation, Lucas has turned something that was relatively unwatchable into something that can endure as a sci-fi classic.
November 2, 2006 | Rating: 3/4
Russ Breimeier
Christianity Today…
Plot
It’s sometime in the future in a state controlled society, where conformity and homogeneity are the rule. What is also the rule is that the populace follows the wants of the faceless state without question. How this is achieved is through a mandatory drug regimen, which also suppresses human desire, with sexual intercourse and human relationships banned. The law of the state is policed by a force of robocops. The physical environment is totally within a manufactured enclosure, what being outside of this unknown. THX 1138 is a loyal subject, he who goes about his business as a skilled factory working building robocops. And even when he begins to have strange feelings, he does what is obliged by going to the state run confessional, which further brainwashes through its reinforced mantra of happiness, loyalty and understanding. THX 1138 is given a glimpse into the other side through his computer matched and thus appointed female roommate, LUH 3417, and her surveillance colleague SEN 5241, LUH 3417’s vision which may be something that THX 1138 may want to continue despite its illegality. If THX 1138 is able to keep his activities from the authorities and the robocops, he will have to figure out what options are available to him.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
No goofy or funny or odd comments were found in the Fresh Kernels database for THX-1138.
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