THX 1138 (1971)

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George Lucas adapted this, his first film, from a short he made at University. THX 1138, LUH 3417, and SEN 5241 attempt to escape from a futuristic society located beneath the surface of the Earth. The society has outlawed sex, with drugs used to control the people. THX 1138 stops taking the drugs, and gets LUH 3417 pregnant. They are both thrown in jail where they meet SEN 5241 and start to plan their escape. (imdb)

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Directed By: George Lucas

Written By: George Lucas, Walter Murch

Starring: Donald Pleasence, Robert Duvall, Ian Wolfe, Sid Haig, Marshall Efron, Don Pedro Colley, John Pearce, Irene Cagen, Maggie McOmie

Genres: Drama, Sci-fi, Suspense/Thriller

Country: USA

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THX 1138 belongs to 38 collections

1. Features under 91 minutes (collaborative: moderated by epiphany - 56 stars)

2. The Guardian's 1000 films to see before you die (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 30 stars)

3. Dystopia (collaborative: moderated by Nouilles - 29 stars)

4. The 100 Greatest Sci-Fi Movies (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 19 stars)

5. Hard Sci-fi (collaborative - 18 stars)

6. Intellectual Sci-Fi (collaborative: moderated by BeeDub - 17 stars)

7. Edgar Wright 1000 Favorite Movies (Aug 2016) (collaborative: moderated by Aron Ericson - 17 stars)

8. Directorial debut (collaborative: moderated by djross - 16 stars)

9. 101 Sci-Fi Movies You Must See Before You Die (collaborative: moderated by von krogh - 15 stars)

10. Films available in HD (collaborative: moderated by kubricksucks - 13 stars)

11. Future (collaborative: moderated by djross - 12 stars)

12. New Hollywood (collaborative: moderated by saudade - 12 stars)

13. Alternate versions / cuts (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 9 stars)

14. THE WORLDWIDE CELLULOID MASSACRE: Recommended (collaborative: moderated by edkrak - 6 stars)

15. 500 essential cult films (not seen) (public: cayh - 5 stars)

16. Capsules, guest reviews, list candidates... (366weirdmovies) (collaborative: moderated by sesito71 - 4 stars)

17. Wikipedia's list of dystopian films (collaborative: moderated by ND Geek - 4 stars)

18. List: Empire's 50 Greatest American Independent Movies (collaborative: moderated by KasperL - 2 stars)

19. From short to feature (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed - 2 stars)

20. Non-Places (public: Ag0stoMesmer - 2 stars)

21. Sound Design (collaborative: moderated by paulofilmo - 1 star)

22. Moviedrome: Alex Cox (collaborative: moderated by Ag0stoMesmer - 1 star)

23. Timeout 100 Best Sci-Fi Movies (public: Ozancan - 1 star)

24. Metacosmic and sexorganological cinema (public: djross - 1 star)

25. Leaving Criterion Channel 1/31/20 (public: kubricksucks - 1 star)

26. Lalo Schifrin (composer) (collaborative: moderated by djross)

27. Films & Architecture (blog) (collaborative: moderated by Ag0stoMesmer)

28. Ratings (collaborative: moderated by cheapthrills)

29. Available on Divicast (collaborative: moderated by Dunstan-xxx)

30. Sci-fi worth watching (public: twisp)

31. 1971: Year in Review (public: polanski28)

32. AgostoMesmer thinks this is underrated (public: Ag0stoMesmer)

33. To See (public: Unsaintly)

34. Edgar 256 (public: caffe)

35. Djross major works of science fiction (public: djross)

36. Anna BNW (public: Ceekay19)

37. Rough Ratings (public: saudade)

38. Debuts (public: jonrock411)

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TCI | Percentile | Date Rated | # Stars (Reviews)

Stars	User	Rating
4	jimmynmu	73 _64th
Lucas could have had something special here (and in a way he did), although it really doesn't reach it's potential. I think that all things wrong and all things right with George Lucas are nicely displayed in THX 1138. Some of the compostions (and photography in general) are really nice in this film, plus the atmosphere and art design are really neat.
4	teknicolor	75 _68th
Like a chocolate mousse, pretty and delicious at first, but ultimately unsubstantial. The movie is gorgeous but SO dull.
2	MartinTeller	57 _14th
Lucas brings little new to dystopian stories, but at least he executes it with a little style. There are occasional scenes that show insight, but most of them are either tedious or clichéd (or perhaps they just seem cliché from a modern viewpoint?), and the film ends with a lengthy car chase of all things.
2	djross	65 _70th
I heard that 18-year-old Xi Jinping saw this...and liked it! The scene with two operators blandly discussing their equipment as their subject is assaulted on their screens really foreshadows Collateral Murder. In short, it seems, half a century later, that this film deserves more credit for anticipating the future (a world where efficient causality has eliminated all others) than perhaps it was given at the time. Impressively austere and dreamlike. The later addition of CGI monkeys was an error.
2	mendeljef	75 _71st
great movie and like Lucas says "it isn't a movie about the future it's a movie from the future".
2	Luna6ix	78 _66th
Lucas does a fantastic job in the direction, and writing departments, if only this movie had more happening in it, but unfortounately, it's an amazing vision with not enough filler in it.
2	Obdurate	80 _66th
A beautiful and inspired film visually with shoddy pacing. White is angelic but feels oppressive and hellish here. Up until a certain point I was really into the mystery of this and felt that it was almost a horror movie (without jump scares) at times. But then it gets to the extended scene in the white background and it loses some steam from that point on. Still a great flick, but this was trending towards a 90 for me at first.
2	glumpy_99	47 _9th
Ultimately an irritating debut effort from Lucas - while the film is strikingly if coldly designed (if Radford's 1984 was too warm and fuzzy for your taste, you may respond to this more), the dense and confusing storytelling feels like being assaulted by a gloomy pedant at a party. Typically unsettling Schifrin score feels like a page from the Lynch songbook - in fact, the whole film could be described as Lynchian (before that was a style), without the flash. May reward a second viewing.
2	Ryan Lueders (ReelRyan)	45 _6th
Getting through this movie was like pulling teeth. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of George Lucas, but this movie was just really boring. THX 1138 played by Robert Duvall has been under sedation his whole life. His whole community has. When his roommate LUH snaps him out of his mental fog, he decides to escape the colony that he lives in. This sounds all neat and everything but the movie is a lot of white rooms and annoying sound effects that sound better used in Star Wars. Don't waste your TIM
2	nobamba	60 _61st
Driector's cut. George Lucas had vision once upon a time. I love retro-futurism and the style in this dystopian society is well-polished. It does get a bit Orwellian and drags in the middle. Fav scene: stylish bike chase in the tunnel and the ridiculous stunt of getting hit midair by the motorcycle and then being slammed into the car.
2	doyler29	60 _18th
Lucas does a good job of what he's best at ... world creating. This film is set in a vividly designed dystopia created on a low budget using striking Brutalist architecture to stand in for the future. Sadly, the story set in this world is a dreary blend of "Brave New World" and "1984" with the incompatible parts of those stories stuffed uncomfortably into a 1 1/2 hour film.
1	mrparallel	32 _27th
Feh. Student film, portentous sci-fi "film of ideas." Spare me.
1	svicciarelli	65 _8th
Wacky stuff. 1984-ish but not as intelligent as that book.
1	Kavu	87 _89th
The story is decent, but visual style and the score are where this movie really shines. Among Lucas' best.
1	Ytadel	5 _57th
Fascinating if only to see that once upon a time, the infamous commercial Blockbuster king George Lucas was an experimental and trippy as fuck filmmaker. Dystopian futures have been done better before and since, but Lucas fans should all check out the man's roots.
1	tinythedogg	50 _33rd
It is kind of neat watching George Lucas' first movie. It is kind of boring, but when Duvall and Pleasance make their escape, it gets very interesting and fun to watch. Even the scenery was awesome.
1	Suture Self	5 _43rd
I saw the Special Edition with the extra/expanded sets, new cgi and new scenes: Lucas wrote the story, which means the dialogue and characters are shallow as hell and the plot is underdeveloped and disjointed. The atmosphere, on the other hand, is very cool and many sound bites, visual cues and set designs are an obvious stepping stone to Star Wars. I liked the ending. Sci-fi fans will probably enjoy this.
1	frederic_g54	6 _35th
LOGLINE: Lonesome, disaffected young woman drugs unsuspecting male victim in her rabid pursuit for sexual gratification; DIALOGUE/STORYLINE: Poor; CHARACTERIZATION: Fair; CONCEPT: Excellent; RECOMMENDATION: Yes
1	Vandelay1	66 _69th
good movie
1	XakkMaster	77 _54th
The first half of this movie is gorgeously shot with tons of intrigue, but then it loses track of the narrative and is squandered in the final act by an odd and over-long chase scene. Lucas had tons of great ideas and there are flashes of things he would perfect with Star Wars. Worth a watch for sure, Duvall in particular is great, but don't expect too much.
1	Okkervil	78 _79th
Lucas' first major production is seriously classy. The photography, design, artwork and musical score are good enough for anybody to feast their eyes and ears upon. The screenplay in true Lucas fashion is nothing special whatsoever, but really that's not too important when a film has as much to treat the senses as "THX 1138" does.
1	wetwillies	75 _26th
George Lucas doesn't offer many answers in his first film, instead choosing to let the audience try and adapt to the norms of this society. Visually, the film is astounding (everything is so empty and sterile), but I simply didn't find the story interesting at all, so it became a bit of a chore after a while.
1	Huah	67 _26th
Obviously, yet sadly, this is George Lucas at his best. I wasn't expect any original premise and that was exactly the case. Although, it was interesting to see a film that regardless of where you were in the plot, whether rising action, climax, or Dénouement, it never changed it's pace or stylistic approaches which made it utterly predictable. A shallow and lackadaisical performance from Duvall didn't add substance to the film either.
1	Trooth	61 _33rd
It's ahead of its time in terms of special effects and general sci-fi filmmaking, but it's also pretty dense. Not the easiest to sink your teeth into. It was hard for me to get an overall picture of this sci-fi world and how their society works, which is probably because the movie dives fully into that world, not making any effort to give you a frame of reference for how it diverged from modern society.
1	Yiannos	75 _84th
(Viewed in 2022): Visionary set design, brilliant use of sound, and extraordinarily focused for a film debut. It's over 40 years old now but its retro-future look hasn't really dated. The problem is with some of the acting, which is standard for Lucas, and a real dead patch in the middle that slows an already casually paced film to a crawl. Thankfully the final escape-chase scene compensates and in many ways foreshadows what Lucas would later do with Star Wars.
1	Pratchett3	8 _72nd
incredibly cool world he created, tons of cool environments and eye candy, but the emotional sterility, even though it fit the lore, was a downside for me, the human viewer, and the ending chase was underwhelming.
1	jarobmul	51 _17th
Points for costumes and visuals. Nothing else really to say

Average Percentile 50.51% from 2013 Ratings