“Robot Invasion of Dobie Theatre”
September 14-15, 1996
The Day the Earth Stood Still directed by Robert Wise (1951). 16mm print.
The Day the Earth Stood Still directed by Robert Wise (1951). 16mm print.
Forbidden Planet directed by Fred M. Wilcox (1956). 16mm print.
Forbidden Planet directed by Fred M. Wilcox (1956). 16mm print.
Blade Runner directed by Ridley Scott (1982). 35mm Director's Cut
Blade Runner directed by Ridley Scott (1982). 35mm Director's Cut
| The Robot Film Festival will feature three films with the common theme of robots. From the 50’s era of classic sci-fi come the first two entries both of which will be 16 mm prints. The Day The Earth Stood Still is a 1951 release and is in black and white. Starring Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe, Sam Jaffe, Billy Gray and directed by Robert Wise. Robert Wise directed dozens of pictures. An early example of his work was Born to Kill (1947). His later credits include The Andromeda Strain (1970) and Star Trek The Motion Picture (1979). “Gort, Klaatu Birada Nikto” is the famous line uttered in this film by Michael Rennie who plays Klaatu. (Or something very close to this line.) Gort is an extremely large and powerful robot with the ability to destroy the Earth. Michael Rennie is just along for the ride and to warn the citizens of Earth that they are not alone in the Universe. The second sci-fi classic is Forbidden Planet a film in Eastman Color released in 1956. Directed by Fred M. Wilcox and starring Walter, Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen, Harry Harvey Jr., Earl Holliman, Morgan Jones, Jack Kelly , Roger McGee, and Peter Miller. Fred Wilcox’ other film credits include Lassie Come Home (1946) and I Passed For White (1960). Forbidden Planet introduced us to Robby the Robot probably the most recognized robot of the 50’s sci-fi movie classics. In this film Dr. Morbius (Pidgeon) and his daughter (Francis) insist on remaining on the relatively barren planet Altair IV. When a rescue mission arrives led by Commander Adams (Nielsen) Dr. Morbius warns them that their lives are in danger and that they should leave. They don’t listen and of course strange things begin to happen just like Dr. Morbius warned. Robby is pretty much just a household servant but he’s extremely loyal to his owners. Both of these films will be shown on Saturday the 14th as matinees. The third film of the festival will be shown on Sunday afternoon. The Day The Earth Stood Still will be shown at 2:00 p.m and Forbidden Planet will be shown at 4:00 p.m. Finally to cap off the weekend of the film festival and RoboFest 7 is perhaps the best film about robots ever made. At least that’s our opinion anyway. Blade Runner the 1982 release directed by Ridley Scott will be shown in the 35 mm “Director’s Cut” version. This version is Scott’s vision for what Blade Runner should have been and not what was officially released that year. If you’re a fan of the original movie and you haven’t seen this version on the big screen – you have to see it now. Ridley Scott whose direction credits have included some of the most powerful films of the past two decades brought his dark foreboding vision of Los Angeles in 2019 alive in this film. With an exceptionally good cast of Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young , Edward James Olmos, M. Emmet Walsh, Daryl Hannah, William Sanderson, Brion James, Joe Turkel, and Joanna Cassidy, Blade Runner became a cult classic almost overnight. The story is based loosley [sic] on a novel by Philip K. Dick called “Do Andriods Dream of Electric Sheep?”. The film screenplay was written by Hampton Fancher and David Webb Peoples and the haunting music score was composed by Vangelis. Ridley Scott’s other movie credits include Alien (1979), Black Rain (1989) and Thelma & Louise. The robots in this film are actually called replicants or artificially created humans. These replicants are quite sophisticated and appear very human like; so much so that it takes a special trained police person with special tools to identify them. This kind of police person is called a “Blade Runner”. The reason the Blade Runner force exists is because of a nasty little incident where replicants killed humans. That of course violates Asimov’s robot principals and is just not acceptable behavior in a robot, therefore all replicants are banned from earth. They are now only serving as slave labor in off world colonies. Deckard (Ford) is a retired Blade Runner who is forced back into action when 5 replicants, hijack a ship back to Earth with questions about their incept dates. The replicants want answers to the same questions we all want. “How long do we have to live?” “How can we live longer?” Rutger Hauer, Joanna Cassidy, Daryl Hannah and Brion James play the replicants who find life so precious that they risk meeting their maker. For real hardcore Blade Runner fans, may we suggest that you read K.W. Jeter’s excellent novelized sequel to the movie adaption. Blade Runner 2: The Edge of Human offers good insights to what might have happened after the movie. Another great book is Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner by Paul M. Sammon with behind the scenes coverage of the film from day one. Blade Runner will be shown at 5:30 on Sunday afternoon. All of the films will only have one showing during the festival. Admission prices are $3.50 for each film. |
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