Silent Running is a 1972 American environmentalist Sci-fi film. It was the directorial debut of Douglas Trumbull.
Plot[]
The film takes place in a future where the Earth no longer has any form of plant life. Although the U.S. government has tasked spaceships to carry multiple greenhouses that carry the last remnants of flora for preservation. One of these ships “The Valley Forge” as it is called is home to Freeman Lowell, played by Bruce Dern, and three other crew members John Keenan, Marty Baker, and Andy Wolf.
The crew receives a transmission from command that they are to jettison each greenhouse and destroy them with a nuclear blast. Lowell is opposed to this action as he cares deeply for the plants as wishes they be preserved with the hope of using them to restore to Earth to its former natural beauty. When his pleads fail Lowell resorts to murdering his crew-mates one of which he kills in an altercation involving a shove. His other two crew-mates are trapped in one of the Greenhouses and launched into space which is then destroyed in an explosion.
Lowell with the help of the three robots Huey, Dewey, and Louie (all are named after the three nephews of Donald Duck) works on preserving the forest and making a get away from the rest of the fleet. Along the way the ship travels through the rings of Saturn an event that result in the loss of Drone Number Three (Louie).
Once through the rings Lowell is reconnected by his commander officer who tells him that a rescue is underway. Lowell decides that he is going to have Drone Number One (Dewey) remain aboard the last greenhouse and care for the forest it houses. While Lowell stays aboard the ship with a damaged Drone Number Two (Huey) and launches the greenhouse into space. The film ends with Lowell blowing up the ship with him on it in order to save the greenhouse from being destroyed.
Cast[]
Bruce Dern- Freeman Lowell
Cliff Pots- John Keenan
Ron Rifkin- Marty Barker
Jesse Vint- Andy Wolf
Mark Persons- Drone 1 (Dewey)
Cheryl Sparks and Steven Brown- Drone 2 (Huey)
Larry Whisenhunt- Drone 3 (Louie)
SoundTrack[]
The soundtrack was written by Peter Schickele, a Bassonist and P. D. Q. Bach creator. There are two songs, "Silent Running" and "Rejoice the sun" both were written by Peter Schickele and Diana Lampert. The songs were preformed by the American singer songwriter Joan Baez.