It is a performances centric movie

Best movie ever!

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

There is something undeniably appealing about the art direction of Silent Running. Its Apple-Esque set design is simple, white and functional, and the spaceship crew in 70s Formula One style boiler suits completes the effect. Bruce Dern gives an interesting performance and the film begins with real verve and good humour. Dern is given the con for the rest of the proceedings and the story of an uncomplicated man faced with awesome, uncomplicated situation is made quite well, and entertainingly. His beloved eco-system in the end is nothing without people and although there is an inevitability to this, it is enjoyable to watch it unfold. The special effects are never tiresome, nor dated, and there is an interesting poignance about a future civilisation that underpins the story.

In the not so distant future Planet Earth has been virtually denuded due to industrialization, technology and over-population. A task force of several Astronauts and three robots are sent out into space to man several giant cargo ships containing Greenhouses stored in biospheres. Lowell Freeman (Bruce Dern), is among the four crewman, and apparently, the oddball who wants to preserve these habitats in the hopes of returning them to Earth to restore the now deforested and sterile planet. I recall seeing this film many years ago as a child. Of course the message was over my head, but the humanity and touching moments of the waddling robots. Interestingly, the movie serves much better as an allegory on the human condition rather than a campaign for Environmentalist concerns. Silent Running fails mainly from its primary theme in that there are questions that aren't reasonably addressed: why was it necessary to launch these nature pods into space anyway? why couldn't the US government form a biosphere on Earth? wouldn't it be more convenient and cost-efficient? Was this a precarious excuse to provide a premise for a Science Fiction film? Unfortunately, Silent Running falls flat on these crucial questions.Instead, the plot becomes a tour de force where our supposed hero goes berserk after receiving the disappointing news of getting orders to destroy the pods. Sure, we understand this guy is an Eco-fascist who has a soft spot for nature, but the guy goes homicidal. Thus, ruining any empathy. His actions are problematic and so his his rationale for carrying them out. This is the only Sci-Fi movie I know of where the protagonist is a raving lunatic and the villains are regular guys who just want to finish their job and return home. But we must consider this movie as a relic of its time. The Hippie era in the early 70's had reached its status quo and concerns such as these were in their seminal stages. Forty Five years later, with all of the lobbying for Natural wildlife preserves and Eco-Friendly progress, this movie seems pretty inconsequential for its own good. Scientists have learned that natural fauna and flora are essential to man's existence and our global concerns are much different now.I thought the acting of Bruce Dern was over the top. He is too weird and frantic even in casual conversations among his few interactions with the fellow crew members. The implausible drama is what turned me off the most with Silent Running. The special effects are pretty good for 1971 although the outer view of the ships look very fake by today's cinema technology.But the overall message of humanity is what strikes a chord with me the most. The Environmental message is merely incidental. The main character's pathos from Nature loving zealot to maniacal killer to remorseful loner is what's most tragic. When we are driven by our ideals to the point of alienation, isolation and estrangement, we realize that it's human contact that mattered most to us. Lowell's personal journey was a lesson in and of itself. The final scene where the only remaining survivor (Dewey) the drone) tending his forest is both beautiful and touching.

Was it the early Seventies when the world was first made aware of the potentially devastating environmental disaster that civilisation was spiralling towards? Certainly, when you place this 1972 movie alongside the lyrics of Joni Mitchell's 'Big Yellow Taxi,' there is a case to be made for it being the time when "They paved paradise and put up a parking lot." The movie has a lot going for it. To begin with, there's a performance from Bruce Dern that is worthy of comparison with Gene Hackman's Oscar-winning performance that year in a way the other nominees simply were not. He provides a passionate and intelligent performance in which he is hardly ever off-screen and makes the viewer share his anger at the treatment of his mission. Then, too, there is the rarity of a science-fiction film which does not attempt to overwhelm the viewer with unnecessary special effects – one in which the drama is driven by the character and the scarily believable story. If you are looking for a film about environmental concern that works on every level, then forget about Al Gore's worthy but dull contribution and watch this beautifully-realised film. Then watch it again... and again. It really is that good!

I kind of liked this movie. It is always captivating that mankind has destroyed earth, and more so that they are growing trees in orbit to make earth green again. The main character is a nerdy garden freak, and the other guys at the space station make fun of him and run go carts through his flower beds. But he still beats them in poker, and he has a cool hair do. The best thing about this movie is the unconventional plot, where the gardener kill his mates to save the forest. He then kills himself because he gets lonely. Even though people are imperfect, we need each other. That is a nice theme. Even nicer is the final shot of the robots continuing to tend the trees and water the plants. In wait for an improved mankind?