Outland (1981)
Country: GB
Technical: col/scope 109m
Director: Peter Hyams
Cast: Sean Connery, Peter Boyle, Frances Sternhagen
Synopsis:
Miners working on Io, one of Jupiter's moons, start to self-destruct through drug abuse, and the station police chief traces the source back to the company, seeking to increase productivity.
Review:
High Noon in space', as it was dubbed at the time, and this pacey, good-looking sci-fi thriller has not got a lot more going for it than that it joins Alien in situating familiar genre elements in an outer space context. The conspiracy narrative had by now become de rigueur (cf. Hyams' own Capricorn One), and is treated perfunctorily, while there is perhaps too much weight given to production design over other considerations, such as decent dialogue. The shoot was centred at Pinewood, and the model work has dated a little now, but the atmosphere of menace is well sustained and nods to the picture's majestic source are a guilty pleasure for aficionados. Still, the Western borrowings, such as the firearms, do seem faintly silly. Frances Sternhagen, standing in for Katy Jurado, is fine as the brick of a pathologist ('Wanna go and get drunk?'), lending support to Connery in his last great mid-career role.
Country: GB
Technical: col/scope 109m
Director: Peter Hyams
Cast: Sean Connery, Peter Boyle, Frances Sternhagen
Synopsis:
Miners working on Io, one of Jupiter's moons, start to self-destruct through drug abuse, and the station police chief traces the source back to the company, seeking to increase productivity.
Review:
High Noon in space', as it was dubbed at the time, and this pacey, good-looking sci-fi thriller has not got a lot more going for it than that it joins Alien in situating familiar genre elements in an outer space context. The conspiracy narrative had by now become de rigueur (cf. Hyams' own Capricorn One), and is treated perfunctorily, while there is perhaps too much weight given to production design over other considerations, such as decent dialogue. The shoot was centred at Pinewood, and the model work has dated a little now, but the atmosphere of menace is well sustained and nods to the picture's majestic source are a guilty pleasure for aficionados. Still, the Western borrowings, such as the firearms, do seem faintly silly. Frances Sternhagen, standing in for Katy Jurado, is fine as the brick of a pathologist ('Wanna go and get drunk?'), lending support to Connery in his last great mid-career role.
Country: GB
Technical: col/scope 109m
Director: Peter Hyams
Cast: Sean Connery, Peter Boyle, Frances Sternhagen
Synopsis:
Miners working on Io, one of Jupiter's moons, start to self-destruct through drug abuse, and the station police chief traces the source back to the company, seeking to increase productivity.
Review:
High Noon in space', as it was dubbed at the time, and this pacey, good-looking sci-fi thriller has not got a lot more going for it than that it joins Alien in situating familiar genre elements in an outer space context. The conspiracy narrative had by now become de rigueur (cf. Hyams' own Capricorn One), and is treated perfunctorily, while there is perhaps too much weight given to production design over other considerations, such as decent dialogue. The shoot was centred at Pinewood, and the model work has dated a little now, but the atmosphere of menace is well sustained and nods to the picture's majestic source are a guilty pleasure for aficionados. Still, the Western borrowings, such as the firearms, do seem faintly silly. Frances Sternhagen, standing in for Katy Jurado, is fine as the brick of a pathologist ('Wanna go and get drunk?'), lending support to Connery in his last great mid-career role.