In the year 2274, the human civilization lives in a sealed city. When someone reaches the age of thirty, they must undergo a ritual where their lives must come to an end in order to maintain the city. Who so refuses to participate gets hunted down by Sandmen and killed. One of the Sandmen, Logan 5, is given an assignment to find sanctuary where the missing runners have run off to. In order to do that Logan must become a runner seeking sanctuary. Logan seeks the help of a citizen, Jessica, believing she knows something about this sanctuary. Little does Logan know that this assignment goes far beyond anything anyone’s expected. It opens his eyes to find out there is a world outside the dome that is more beautiful. Outside, Logan and Jessica meet an Oldman and they learn something from each other.
Blaine: Director Michael Anderson had a great relationship with MGM studios and after he read the script for “Logan’s Run”, he got in his car the next morning, rushed to the studio and told them how much he wants to do it. Michael told them of what kind of film he wanted to make and he had a lot of enthusiasm for it. Shortly after, Michael got a call saying he got the job. Jon Voight was in mind at first for the role of Logan, but turned it down because he didn’t feel comfortable with it. Michael Anderson had worked with Michael York in his previous movie, “Conduct Unbecoming” and they got along well.
Jenny Agutter felt very lucky when she first moved to Los Angeles because “Logan’s Run” came up. Jenny was screen tested along with Lindsay Wagner. Jenny had a chemistry with Michael York. He knew her as a young actress in England and the director felt they were great together. She also had a vulnerability in her style approach and the decision was made to go with Jenny. Jenny was scared because she was going for a major MGM movie with Michael York. That first dress you see Jenny wear in “Logan’s Run" is one of the costume designer’s favorite outfits in the film and Jenny was a great model for it. The first time I saw “Logan’s Run”, I thought she would wear that dress through the whole movie, but then it changed to an outfit that is somewhat similar to all the other extras’ outfits. The idea of nudity comes across in her first outfit because the right side of it shows a lot of skin. It was a look the costume designer wanted all the women to have in the film, but because there was tones of extras it would have been impossible to dress them to get the look they wanted.
In the original screenplay, they were going to start the film off with the Sandmen chasing a runner. He would get shot and fall into water. The crystal on his hand would turn black for death and then it would cut to the white crystal of a newborn baby’s hand. Michael Anderson said there was very good reasons for changing that opening scene because there was another sequence of a runner being chased and killed.
The colors of the outfits the people wear in the film represent an age group and red is supposed to be 30. In the 23rd century, people at the age of 30 either accept death or renew it and that’s why Logan is doing everything he can to find the sanctuary in order to renew his life. But this mission changes the way he is and he becomes a new man. The reason why Logan has Jessica assist him in finding sanctuary is because he notices she wears this ankh around her neck and he believes it could be in use for what he is looking for.
Michael Anderson said the love story between Logan and Jessica is very interesting and that it doesn’t exist in the beginning because there is no love society, it’s just sex. Love is something they haven’t experienced, there is no marriage, they have not herd of the expression husband and wife. It is a gradual changing of emotion for Logan and Jessica that were a challenge to them and Michael Anderson.
The sex shop scene became very controversial because the original choreograph ran three times as much as the original scene in the movie. They felt they would give it an R rating instead of a PG rating, but they wanted a PG rating so they decided to make the cuts. Michael regrets that they didn’t keep that scene in it’s original form and full nudity was never shown. You can see women’s breasts, but that’s it. They had to strip all the extras down and cover all their private parts with tape and use body makeup over that. Most of what they shot ended up in the cutting room floor and it was a little too racy for the censors back then.
The ice set, Michael and Jenny had to pretend the ground was slippery. It wasn’t easy for them, but they did a good job. The people who are frozen in the background are real people and not manikins or still images. They had to stand perfectly still during that scene. And those people who are frozen in the movie are the missing runners. Actor Roscoe Lee Browne not only provided the voice of the robot in that scene, but also was inside the suit the whole time with the actions and movements. The movement of the box bellow his waist was a mechanism that can be operated by feet. There was times Roscoe would almost fall down and people had to rush to catch him.
Peter Ustinov was a dear friend of Michael Anderson. Peter gave Michael his first directing job many years earlier to co-direct with him on the 1949 film, “Private Angelo”. Michael said Peter gave the Old Man character a childlike innocence. He’s someone who has his own way of life and accepts it. The fight scene between Logan and Francis in the Senate would cut from closer shots of Michael York and Richard Jordan to wide shots of their stuntmen. But Michael York really hit Richard Jordan at the end of the fight where Logan hits Francis with a flag pole because it had to look as real as it possibly could. Fort Worth Water Gardens is the location they shot for the scene when Logan, Jessica and the Oldman show up outside the dome and Logan and Jessica have to dive into the water in order to get back inside.
The whole ending was difficult to do because it was all special effects from when Logan and Jessica swim through the passage to when the people emerge outside the dome and back then special effects were done by models and mechanisms long before CGI. Michael Anderson said that making “Logan’s Run” was unique because not only did it have a multilayered story to tell, but it had a special effects canvas that was impaneled at the time. They were nervous about making a big special effects picture and there hadn’t been one in a really long time. This was before “Star Wars”. It was a big challenge both technically and artistically.
My rating on “Logan’s Run” is five out of five stars.
