THX 1138
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''THX 1138'' is a 1971 American
social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives from ...
science fiction film Science fiction (or sci-fi) is a film genre that uses speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial lifeforms, spacecraft, robots, cyborgs, interstellar ...
co-written and directed by
George Lucas George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker. Lucas is best known for creating the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' franchises and founding Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairm ...
in his
directorial debut This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many film makers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early work ...
. Produced by
Francis Ford Coppola Francis Ford Coppola (; ; born April 7, 1939) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the major figures of the New Hollywood filmmaking movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Coppola is the recipient of five A ...
and co-written by
Walter Murch Walter Scott Murch (born July 12, 1943) is an American film editor, director, writer and sound designer. With a career stretching back to 1969, including work on ''THX 1138'', ''Apocalypse Now'', '' The Godfather I'', '' II'', and '' III'', ''Ame ...
, the film stars
Robert Duvall Robert Selden Duvall (; born January 5, 1931) is an American actor and filmmaker. His career spans more than seven decades and he is considered one of the greatest American actors of all time. He is the recipient of an Academy Award, four Gold ...
and
Donald Pleasence Donald Henry Pleasence (; 5 October 1919 – 2 February 1995) was an English actor. He began his career on stage in the West End before transitioning into a screen career, where he played numerous supporting and character roles including RAF ...
, with
Don Pedro Colley Don Pedro Colley (August 30, 1938 – October 11, 2017) was an American actor. Some of his better known roles include Gideon on ''Daniel Boone'', Ongaro in ''Beneath the Planet of the Apes'', SRT in George Lucas' ''THX 1138'', Joshua in ''T ...
, Maggie McOmie and
Ian Wolfe Ian Marcus Wolfe (November 4, 1896 – January 23, 1992) was an American character actor with around 400 film and television credits. Until 1934, he worked in the theatre. That year, he appeared in his first film role and later television, as a ...
in supporting roles. The film is set in a
dystopia A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...
n future in which the populace is controlled through android police and mandatory use of drugs that suppress emotions. ''THX 1138'' was developed from Lucas's 1967 student film '' Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB'', which he made while attending the
USC School of Cinematic Arts The University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts (SCA) houses seven academic divisions: Film & Television Production; Cinema & Media Studies; John C. Hench Division of Animation + Digital Arts; John Wells Division of Writing for Sc ...
. The feature film was produced in a joint venture between
Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
and
American Zoetrope American Zoetrope (also known as Omni Zoetrope from 1977 to 1980 and Zoetrope Studios from 1980 until 1990) is a privately run American film production company, centered in San Francisco, California and founded by Francis Ford Coppola and Georg ...
. A novelization by
Ben Bova Benjamin William Bova (November 8, 1932November 29, 2020) was an American writer and editor. During a writing career of 60 years, he was the author of more than 120 works of science fact and fiction, an editor of '' Analog Science Fiction and F ...
was published in 1971. The film received mixed reviews from critics and underperformed at the box office upon its initial release. However, it has subsequently received critical acclaim and gained a
cult following A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...
, particularly in the aftermath of Lucas' success with ''
Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
'' in 1977. A
director's cut A director's cut is an edited version of a film (or video game, television episode, music video, or commercial) that is supposed to represent the director's own approved edit in contrast to the theatrical release. "Cut" explicitly refers to the ...
prepared by Lucas was released in 2004.


Plot

In the future,
sexual intercourse Sexual intercourse (or coitus or copulation) is a sexual activity typically involving the insertion and thrusting of the penis into the vagina for sexual pleasure or reproduction.Sexual intercourse most commonly means penile–vaginal penetrat ...
and
reproduction Reproduction (or procreation or breeding) is the biological process by which new individual organisms – "offspring" – are produced from their "parent" or parents. Reproduction is a fundamental feature of all known life; each individual or ...
are prohibited, whereas use of mind-altering drugs is mandatory to enforce compliance among the citizens and to ensure their ability to conduct dangerous and demanding tasks. Emotions and the concept of family are
taboo A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, sacred, or allowed only for certain persons.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...
. Workers are clad in identical white uniforms and have shaven heads to emphasize uniformity, likewise with police androids who wear black and monks who are robed. Instead of names, people have designations with three arbitrary letters (referred to as the "prefix") and four digits, shown on an identity badge worn at all times. At their jobs in central video control centers, SEN 5241 and LUH 3417 keep surveillance on the city. LUH has a male roommate, THX 1138, who works in a factory producing android police officers. At the beginning of the story, THX finishes his shift while the loudspeakers urge the workers to "increase safety"—and congratulate them for only losing 195 workers in the last period—to the competing factory's 242. On the way home, he stops at a confession booth in a row of many, and relates his concerns and mumbles prayers about "party" and "masses", under the
Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
-esque portrait of "OMM 0000". A soothing voice greets THX, and OMM ends the
confession A confession is a statement – made by a person or by a group of persons – acknowledging some personal fact that the person (or the group) would ostensibly prefer to keep hidden. The term presumes that the speaker is providing information th ...
with a parting salutation: "You are a true believer, blessings of the State, blessings of the masses. Work hard, increase production, prevent accidents and be happy." At home, THX takes his drugs and watches holobroadcasts while engaging with a masturbatory device. LUH secretly substitutes pills in her possession for THX's medications, causing him to develop nausea, anxiety, and sexual desires. LUH and THX become involved romantically and have sex. THX later is confronted by SEN, who attempts to arrange that THX become his new roommate, but THX files a complaint against SEN for the illegal shift pattern change. Without drugs in his system, THX falters during a critical and hazardous phase of his job, and a control center engages a "mind lock" on THX which raises the level of danger. After the release of the mind lock, THX makes the necessary correction to that work phase. THX and LUH are arrested and THX undergoes drug therapy, and one of his kidneys is removed for donation purposes. He enjoys a brief reunion with LUH, disrupted shortly after she reveals her pregnancy. At THX's trial, it is stated that THX was clinically born. It is decided that it would be inefficient to terminate THX, so THX is sentenced to prison, alongside SEN. The prison appears to be an all white space with no walls. One of the prisoners is a "shell dweller", later called a "Wookiee". The other prisoners seem uninterested in escape. THX and SEN walk to search for an exit. They walk and walk, with only a white space to be seen all around them. Eventually they are joined by
hologram Holography is a technique that enables a wavefront to be recorded and later re-constructed. Holography is best known as a method of generating real three-dimensional images, but it also has a wide range of other Holography#Applications, applic ...
actor SRT 5752, who starred in the holobroadcasts. SRT 5752 shows them the exit and suggests to them that they may have been going in circles. During the escape, THX and SRT are separated from SEN. Chased by the police robots, THX and SRT are trapped in a control center, from which THX learns that LUH has been "consumed", and her name has been reassigned to her
fetus A fetus or foetus (; plural fetuses, feti, foetuses, or foeti) is the unborn offspring that develops from an animal embryo. Following embryonic development the fetal stage of development takes place. In human prenatal development, fetal deve ...
, numbered 66691, in a growth chamber. SEN eventually escapes to an area reserved for the monks of OMM, where a monk notices that SEN has no identification badge. SEN attacks him and later wanders into a child-rearing area, strikes up a conversation with children and sits aimlessly until police androids apprehend him. THX and SRT steal two cars. SRT struggles with figuring out how to drive the car. When SRT finally gets the car to move, SRT immediately crashes his car into a concrete pillar. Pursued by two police androids on motorcycles, THX flees to the limits of the city and escapes into a ventilation shaft. The police androids pursue him on motorcycles along the shaft to an escape ladder, but are ordered by Central Command to cease pursuit, on the grounds that the expense of his capture exceeds their allocated budget for THX. The guards inform THX that the surface is uninhabitable in a last-ditch attempt to convince him to surrender, but he is undeterred and continues up the ventilation shaft. The city is then revealed to be entirely underground, and THX has escaped onto the surface, where he then witnesses the Sun setting.


Cast

*
Robert Duvall Robert Selden Duvall (; born January 5, 1931) is an American actor and filmmaker. His career spans more than seven decades and he is considered one of the greatest American actors of all time. He is the recipient of an Academy Award, four Gold ...
as THX 1138 *
Donald Pleasence Donald Henry Pleasence (; 5 October 1919 – 2 February 1995) was an English actor. He began his career on stage in the West End before transitioning into a screen career, where he played numerous supporting and character roles including RAF ...
as SEN 5241 * Maggie McOmie as LUH 3417 *
Don Pedro Colley Don Pedro Colley (August 30, 1938 – October 11, 2017) was an American actor. Some of his better known roles include Gideon on ''Daniel Boone'', Ongaro in ''Beneath the Planet of the Apes'', SRT in George Lucas' ''THX 1138'', Joshua in ''T ...
as the hologram actor SRT 5752 *
Ian Wolfe Ian Marcus Wolfe (November 4, 1896 – January 23, 1992) was an American character actor with around 400 film and television credits. Until 1934, he worked in the theatre. That year, he appeared in his first film role and later television, as a ...
as the old prisoner PTO *
Marshall Efron Marshall Efron (February 3, 1938 – September 30, 2019) was an American actor and humorist originally known for his work on the listener-sponsored Pacifica radio stations WBAI New York and KPFK Los Angeles, and later for the PBS television sho ...
as prisoner TWA *
Sid Haig Sidney Eddie Mosesian (July 14, 1939 – September 21, 2019), known professionally as Sid Haig, was an American actor, film producer, and musician. He was known for his roles in several of Jack Hill's blaxploitation films from the 1970s, as well ...
as prisoner NCH * John Pearce as prisoner DWY *
James Wheaton James Wheaton (January 11, 1924 – June 9, 2002), was an American motion picture, stage, and television actor. Wheaton's credits include '' THX 1138'', ''Trouble Comes to Town'' and ''Sanford and Son''. In the early 1950s, he moved from h ...
as the voice of OMM 0000 Additionally, amongst several 'announcer voices' were
Scott Beach Scott Beach (January 13, 1931 – February 13, 1996) was an American actor, writer and DJ, best known for his performance in the 1960s-themed 1973 film ''American Graffiti''. Life and career Born Alvin Scott Beach, he appeared in numerous m ...
,
Terence McGovern Terence McGovern (born May 11, 1942) is an American actor, television broadcaster, radio personality and acting instructor. He is best known as the original voice of Disney character Launchpad McQuack from ''DuckTales'' and spin-off ''Darkwing Duc ...
, and David Ogden Stiers (billed as David Ogden Steers). They had ties to the San Francisco Bay area, as did Lucas.


Production

''THX 1138'' was the first film made in a planned seven-picture slate commissioned by Warner Bros. from the 1969 incarnation of
American Zoetrope American Zoetrope (also known as Omni Zoetrope from 1977 to 1980 and Zoetrope Studios from 1980 until 1990) is a privately run American film production company, centered in San Francisco, California and founded by Francis Ford Coppola and Georg ...
. Lucas wrote the initial script draft based on his earlier short film, but Coppola and Lucas agreed it was unsatisfactory. Murch assisted Lucas in writing an improved final draft. For some of SEN's dialogue in the film, the script included excerpts from speeches by
Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
.Lucas 2004. The script required almost the entire cast to shave their heads, either completely bald or with a
buzz cut Lovelytheband (stylized in all lowercase) is an American indie pop band that formed in 2016 in Los Angeles, California, United States. The band consists of vocalist Mitchy Collins, guitarist Jordan Greenwald, and drummer Sam Price. The band is ...
. As a publicity stunt, several actors were filmed having their first haircuts/shaves at unusual venues, with the results used in a promotional featurette titled '' Bald: The Making of THX 1138''. Many of the shaven-headed extras seen in the film were recruited from the nearby
Synanon Synanon is a US-founded social organization created by Charles E. "Chuck" Dederich Sr. in 1958 in Santa Monica, California, United States. It is currently active in Germany. Originally established as a drug rehabilitation program, by the early ...
, an addiction recovery program which became a violent cult. Filming began on September 22, 1969. The schedule was between 35 and 40 days, completing in November 1969. Lucas filmed ''THX 1138'' in
Techniscope Techniscope or 2-perf is a 35 mm motion picture camera film format introduced by Technicolor Italia in 1960. The Techniscope format uses a two film-perforation negative pulldown per frame, instead of the standard four-perforation frame usu ...
. Most locations for filming were in the
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
area,Pollock 1983, p. 91. including the unfinished tunnels of the
Bay Area Rapid Transit Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area in California. BART serves 50 stations along six routes on of rapid transit lines, including a spur line in eastern Contra Costa County which uses ...
subway system,Katie Dowd
"Before BART opened the Transbay Tube, they let George Lucas film a movie inside"
, ''San Francisco Chronicle'', March 10, 2019.
the
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is a federal research facility in Livermore, California, United States. The lab was originally established as the University of California Radiation Laboratory, Livermore Branch in 1952 in response ...
, the
Marin County Civic Center The Marin County Civic Center, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, is located in San Rafael, California, United States. Groundbreaking for the Civic Center Administration Building took place in 1960, after Wright's death and under the watch of Wrigh ...
in San Rafael designed by
Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...
, the
Lawrence Hall of Science The Lawrence Hall of Science is a public science center in Berkeley, California that offers hands-on science exhibits, designs curriculum, aids professional development, and offers after school science resources to students of all ages. The Hall ...
in
Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...
, the
San Francisco International Airport San Francisco International Airport is an international airport in an unincorporated area of San Mateo County, south of Downtown San Francisco. It has flights to points throughout North America and is a major gateway to Europe, the Middle E ...
, and at a
remote manipulator A remote manipulator, also known as a telefactor, telemanipulator, or waldo (after the 1942 short story "Waldo" by Robert A. Heinlein which features a man who invents and uses such devices), is a device which, through electronic, hydraulic, or mec ...
for a
hot cell Shielded nuclear radiation containment chambers are commonly referred to as hot cells. The word "hot" refers to radioactivity. Hot cells are used in both the nuclear-energy and the nuclear-medicines industries. They are required to protect ind ...
. Several scenes show a large
IBM System/360 The IBM System/360 (S/360) is a family of mainframe computer systems that was announced by IBM on April 7, 1964, and delivered between 1965 and 1978. It was the first family of computers designed to cover both commercial and scientific applica ...
multi-computer installation. Studio sequences were shot at stages in Los Angeles, including a white stage for the "white limbo" sequences. Lucas used entirely natural light. The chase scene featured two Lola T70 Mk III race cars being chased by
Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below). ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...
TA125/250cc two-stroke, race-replica motorcycles through two
San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...
automotive tunnels: the
Caldecott Tunnel The Caldecott Tunnel is an east–west highway tunnel through the Berkeley Hills between Oakland and Orinda, California. Its four bores carry California State Route 24. Named after Thomas E. Caldecott, former mayor of Berkeley, it opened in 19 ...
between
Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...
and Orinda; and the underwater Posey Tube between Oakland and
Alameda An alameda is a Avenue (landscape), street or path lined with trees () and may refer to: Places Canada *Alameda, Saskatchewan, town in Saskatchewan **Grant Devine Dam, formerly ''Alameda Dam'', a dam and reservoir in southern Saskatchewan Chile ...
. According to
Caleb Deschanel Joseph Caleb Deschanel, (born September 21, 1944) is an American cinematographer and director of film and television. He has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography six times. He is a member of the National Film Preservat ...
, cars drove at speeds of while filming the chase. Other cars appearing in several scenes of the movie include the custom-built Ferrari Thomassima cars; one of them is on display in the Ferrari museum in
Modena, Italy Modena (, , ; egl, label= Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. A town, and seat of ...
."Thomassima III is on display in the new Ferrari Museum in Modena". The chase featured a motorcycle stunt. Stuntman Ronald "Duffy" Hambleton (credited as Duffy Hamilton) rode his police motorcycle full speed into a fallen paint stand, with a ramp built to Hambleton's specification. He flew over the handlebars, was hit by the airborne motorcycle, landed in the street on his back, and slammed into the crashed car in which Duvall's character had escaped. According to Lucas, it turned out Hambleton was perfectly fine, apart from being angry with the people who had run into the shot to check on him. He was worried that they might have ruined the amazing stunt he had just performed by walking into frame. THX's final climb out to the daylight was filmed (with the camera rotated 90°) in the incomplete (and decidedly horizontal) Bay Area Rapid Transit
Transbay Tube The Transbay Tube is an underwater rail tunnel that carries Bay Area Rapid Transit's four transbay lines under San Francisco Bay between the cities of San Francisco and Oakland in California. The tube is long, and attaches to twin bored tunnels ...
before installation of the track supports, with the actors using exposed reinforcing bars on the floor of the tunnel as a "ladder". The end scene, of THX standing before the sunset, was shot at
Port Hueneme, California Port Hueneme ( ; Chumash: ''Wene Me'') is a small beach city in Ventura County, California, surrounded by the city of Oxnard and the Santa Barbara Channel. Both the Port of Hueneme and Naval Base Ventura County lie within the city limits. Port ...
, by a second unit of (additional uncredited photographer) Caleb Deschanel and Matthew Robbins, who played THX in this long shot. After completion of photography, Coppola scheduled a year for Lucas to complete postproduction.Pollock 1983, p. 96. Lucas edited the film on a German-made K-E-M
flatbed editor A flatbed editor is a type of machine used to edit film for a motion picture. Picture and sound rolls load onto separate motorized disks, called "plates." Each set of plates moves forward or backward separately or locked together to maintain sy ...
in his Mill Valley house by day, with Walter Murch editing sound at night; the two compared notes when they changed over. Murch compiled and synchronized the sound montage, which includes all the "overhead" voices heard throughout the film, radio chatter, announcements, etc. The bulk of the editing was finished by mid-1970. On completion of editing of the film, producer Coppola took it to Warner Bros., the financiers. Studio executives there disliked the film, and insisted that Coppola turn over the negative to an in-house Warner editor, who cut about four minutes of the film prior to release.Pollock 1983, p. 97.


Soundtrack

The soundtrack to the THX 1138, conducted by
Lalo Schifrin Boris Claudio "Lalo" Schifrin (born June 21, 1932) is an Argentine-American pianist, composer, arranger and conductor. He is best known for his large body of film and TV scores since the 1950s, incorporating jazz and Latin American musical elemen ...
, was released in 1970. Recording took place on October 15 and 16, 1970, at
The Burbank Studios The Burbank Studios (formerly known as NBC Studios) is a television production facility located in Burbank, California. The studio is home to ''Days of Our Lives'', ''Extra'', the '' IHeartRadio Theater'', and was formerly home to the Blizzard ...
in Burbank, California, U.S.


Track listing

# Logo – 00:08 # Main Title / What's Wrong? – 03:14 # Room Tone / Primitive Dance – 01:46 # Be Happy / LUH / Society Montage – 05:06 # Be Happy Again (Jingle of the Future) – 00:56 # Source #1 – 05:18 # Loneliness Sequence – 01:28 # SEN / Monks / LUH Reprise – 02:44 # You Have Nowhere to Go – 01:12 # Torture Sequence / Prison Talk Sequence – 03:42 # Love Dream / The Awakening – 01:47 # First Escape – 03:01 # Source #3 – 03:34 # Second Escape – 01:16 # Source #4 / Third Escape / Morgue Sequence / The Temple / Disruption / LUH's Death – 08:31 # Source #2 – 03:17 # The Hologram – 00:56 # First Chase / Foot Chase / St. Matthew's Passion (Bach) (End Credits) – 07:40


Reception

''THX 1138'' was released to theaters on March 11, 1971 and was a commercial flop, earning back $945,000 in rentals for Warner Bros. but still leaving the studio in the red. A contemporary survey found seven favorable, three mixed, and five negative reviews.
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
of the ''
Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...
'' gave the film three stars out of four and wrote, "''THX 1138'' suffers somewhat from its simple storyline, but as a work of visual imagination it's special, and as haunting as parts of '' 2001: A Space Odyssey,'' ''
Silent Running ''Silent Running'' is a 1972 American environmental-themed apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, post-apocalyptic science fiction film. It is the directorial debut of Douglas Trumbull, and stars Bruce Dern, Cliff Potts, Ron Rifkin, and Jesse ...
'' and ''
The Andromeda Strain ''The Andromeda Strain'' is a 1969 techno-thriller novel by Michael Crichton, his first novel under his own name and his sixth novel overall. It is written as a report documenting the efforts of a team of scientists investigating the outbreak o ...
.''"
Gene Siskel Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune''. Along with colleague Roger Ebert, he hosted a series of movie review programs on television from 1975 until his d ...
of the ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
'' awarded two stars out of four and stated, "The principal problem with this film is that it lacks imagination, the essential component of a science fiction film. Some persons might claim that the world of ''THX 1138'' is here right now. A more reasonable opinion would hold that we are facing the problems of that world right now. Time has passed the film by."
Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...
of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' wrote, "It is not, however, as either chase drama, or social drama, that ''THX 1138'' is most interesting. Rather it's as a stunning montage of light, color and sound effects that create their own emotional impact ... Lucas's achievement in his first feature is all the more extraordinary when you realize that he is 25 years old, and that he shot most of the film in San Francisco, on a budget that probably would not cover the cost of half of one of the space ships in Stanley Kubrick's ''2001.''" Arthur D. Murphy of ''
Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' observed, "Likely not to be an artistic or commercial success in its own time, the American Zoetrope (Francis Ford Coppola group) production just might in time become a classic of stylistic, abstract cinema."
Charles Champlin Charles Davenport Champlin (March 23, 1926 – November 16, 2014) was an American film critic and writer. Life and career Champlin was born in Hammondsport, New York. He attended high school in Camden, New York, working as a columnist for the ...
of the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' praised the film as "a stunning deployment of the aural and visual resources of the screen to suggest a fearful new world of tyranny by technology," adding that "Lucas is obviously a master of cinematic effects with a special remarkable gift for discovering the look of the future in mundane places like parking structures and office corridors." Champlin stressed that the "real excitement of ''THX 1138'' is not really the message but the medium—the use of film not to tell a story so much as to convey an experience, a credible impression of a fantastic and scary dictatorship of tomorrow."
Kenneth Turan Kenneth Turan (; born October 27, 1946) is an American retired film critic, author, and lecturer in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California. He was a film critic for the ''Los Angeles Times'' from 1991 ...
wrote in ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'', "Fortunately, the film comes over not at all trite but rather as enormously affecting. Lucas obviously believed strongly in this futuristic vision, and the film draws its vitality and unity from his belief, and from the fact that it was not bottled up to meet arbitrary conditions but allowed the free rein necessary to reach completeness." Penelope Houston of ''
The Monthly Film Bulletin ''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 to April 1991, when it merged with ''Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those with a ...
'' commented, "Details of the future society—control panels, monitor screens, soothing TV commercial voices, unshakeably calm robot policemen, the human animal turned automaton in appearance and function, but breaking out into a doomed love affair—are all tolerably persuasive, but in sum total rather a pile-up of predictability. On the Orwellian level of ideas, Lucas' passive new world is too indeterminate to carry enough conviction and, consequently, enough of a menacing charge." The film has continued to earn critical acclaim and holds an approval rating of 86% on
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
based on 63 reviews, with an average score of 6.85/10. The consensus reads: "George Lucas' feature debut presents a spare, bleak, dystopian future, and features evocatively minimal set design and creepy sound effects." On
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
it has a
weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...
score of 75 out of 100 based on 8 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


Awards

The film received a nomination at the 1971
Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...
from the
International Federation of Film Critics The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI, short for Fédération Internationale de la PRESse CInématographique) is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the world fo ...
in the
Directors' Fortnight The Directors' Fortnight (french: Quinzaine des Réalisateurs) is an independent selection of the Cannes Film Festival. It was started in 1969 by the French Directors Guild after the events of May 1968 resulted in cancellation of the Cannes festiv ...
section.


Versions


1967 student film

The first version was a student film for
USC School of Cinematic Arts The University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts (SCA) houses seven academic divisions: Film & Television Production; Cinema & Media Studies; John C. Hench Division of Animation + Digital Arts; John Wells Division of Writing for Sc ...
titled '' Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB''. The run time was 15 minutes. It was released as a bonus feature on the 2004 Director's Cut.


1971 studio version

The 1971 studio version, distributed to theaters, had five minutes taken out (apparently against Lucas' wishes) by Warner Bros. studios. This version (81 minutes long) has never been released on any home media format.


1977 restored version

In 1977, after the success of ''Star Wars'', ''THX 1138'' was re-released with the footage that had been deleted by Warner Bros. edited back in, but it still did not gain popularity. This version was subsequently released on VHS (88 minutes) and
LaserDisc The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as DiscoVision, MCA DiscoVision (also known simply as "DiscoVision") in the United States in 1978. Its diam ...
(86 minutes).


2004 director's cut

In 2004, ''The George Lucas Director's Cut'' of the film was released. Under Lucas' supervision, the film underwent an extensive restoration and
digital intermediate Digital intermediate (typically abbreviated DI) is a motion picture finishing process which classically involves digitizing a motion picture and manipulating the color and other image characteristics. Definition and overview A digital intermediat ...
process by
Lowry Digital Lowry Digital was a digital film restoration company based in Burbank, California. John D. Lowry (June 2, 1932 – January 21, 2012) was a Canadian film restoration expert and innovator who founded Lowry Digital Images in 1988. Company Histor ...
and
Industrial Light & Magic Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) is an American motion picture visual effects company that was founded on May 26, 1975 by George Lucas. It is a division of the film production company Lucasfilm, which Lucas founded, and was created when he began pro ...
(ILM), where the film's original negative was scanned, digital
color correction Color correction is a process used in stage lighting, photography, television, cinematography, and other disciplines, which uses color gels, or filters, to alter the overall color of the light. Typically the light color is measured on a scale kno ...
was applied, and a brand new digital master was created.
Computer-generated imagery Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is the use of computer graphics to create or contribute to images in art, printed media, video games, simulators, and visual effects in films, television programs, shorts, commercials, and videos. The images may ...
and audio/video restoration techniques were also applied to the film. At Lucas' request, the previsualization team at Skywalker Ranch worked in concert with ILM throughout the summer of 2003. The team also planned and executed a single day shoot, which would form the basis for new digital visual effects, mostly to expand scenes by extending crowds, filling out settings, and adding detail to the backgrounds of many scenes. These changes increased the run time of the film to 88 minutes. This
director's cut A director's cut is an edited version of a film (or video game, television episode, music video, or commercial) that is supposed to represent the director's own approved edit in contrast to the theatrical release. "Cut" explicitly refers to the ...
was released to a limited number of digital-projection theaters on September 10, 2004, and then on
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
on September 14, 2004. The film was released on
Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...
on September 7, 2010. At that time, the film received an "R" rating (for "sexuality/nudity") from the
MPAA The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, as well as the video streaming service Netflix. Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distribu ...
, due to the changes to the ratings system since the original release (the original film was rated "GP", later changed to "PG"). It is the only film directed by Lucas to carry an "R" rating.


Novelization

A
novelization A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, stage play, comic book or video game. Film novelizations were particularly popular before the advent of ...
based on the film was written by
Ben Bova Benjamin William Bova (November 8, 1932November 29, 2020) was an American writer and editor. During a writing career of 60 years, he was the author of more than 120 works of science fact and fiction, an editor of '' Analog Science Fiction and F ...
and published in 1971. It follows the plot of the movie closely, with four notable additions: * An additional character, Control, is the accountant-like ultimate administrator of the city. Several passages depict the events from his point of view. * After having sex with LUH 3417, THX 1138 consults a psychologist and admits everything. This psychologist transfers the confession to Control, leading to the overriding mindlock and arrest in the factory. * LUH 3417's trial and death are depicted first-hand from her point of view, and from that of Control. * Instead of climbing outside to witness a sunset, THX 1138 climbs up and spends the night in the superstructure, and exits in the morning to find other humans living outside.


Etymology and references

The significance of the name THX 1138 has been the subject of much speculation. In an interview for the DVD compilation ''Reel Talent'', which included Lucas's original ''4EB'' short, Lucas stated that he chose the letters and numbers for their aesthetic qualities, especially their symmetry. According to the book ''Cinema by the Bay'', published by LucasBooks, Lucas named the film after his telephone number while in college: 849-1138—the letters THX correspond to the numbers 8, 4, and 9 on the keypad. However, Walter Murch states in the DVD's audio commentary that he always believed Lucas intended THX to be "sex", LUH to be "love", and SEN to be "sin".
John Lithgow John Arthur Lithgow ( ; born , 1945) is an American actor. Lithgow studied at Harvard University and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art before becoming known for his work on the stage and screen. He has been the recipient of numerous ...
, in "The Film School Generation" segment of the DVD series ''American Cinema'', described the title THX 1138 as "reading like a license plate number." Numerous references to "1138" or "THX 1138" appear throughout the ''Star Wars'' films, as well as other films by George Lucas. For example, THX 138 is the license plate number of John Milner's hot rod in ''
American Graffiti ''American Graffiti'' is a 1973 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by George Lucas, produced by Francis Ford Coppola, written by Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz and Lucas, and starring Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard (billed as Ronn ...
''. Lucas also founded THX Ltd., developer of the "THX" audio/visual reproduction standards.


See also

*
List of American films of 1971 A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Organizations * List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America * SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
*
List of films featuring surveillance There is a significant body of films that feature surveillance as a theme or as a plot arc. These are a number of these films produced in the United States and other countries. List of films References Bibliography * * * * * * * External l ...
* Calling All Girls (Queen song) *
Utopian and dystopian fiction Utopian and dystopian fiction are genres of speculative fiction that explore social and political structures. Utopian fiction portrays a setting that agrees with the author's ethos, having various attributes of another reality intended to appeal to ...
*
Andor (TV series) ''Andor'', also known as ''Star Wars: Andor'', is an American science-fiction action-adventure television series created by Tony Gilroy for the streaming service Disney+. It is the fourth live-action series in the '' Star Wars'' franchise, ...


References


Further reading

* * *


External links

* at lucasfilm.com * at warnerbros.com *
Interview with Don Pedro Colley about his experiences working on ''THX 1138''
at LucasFan.com
White on White
Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the creat ...
review April 8, 1971 * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thx 1138 1970s science fiction films 1971 films 1970s dystopian films American science fiction action films American Zoetrope films Android (robot) films Cinema of the San Francisco Bay Area American dystopian films 1970s English-language films Features based on short films Films about mind control Films about rebellions Films about security and surveillance Films directed by George Lucas Films scored by Lalo Schifrin In-jokes Religion in science fiction American robot films Films with screenplays by George Lucas Social science fiction films 1971 directorial debut films Films shot in San Francisco Warner Bros. films Films with screenplays by Walter Murch 1970s American films