The director Peter Hyams wanted to make a
Western but was told that Westerns were no longer in vogue - so he just basically
transferred the Western concept into a sci-fi film. Halfway through the film
this becomes much more evident when it turns into High Noon in space. Not
to knock this for its influences - take from the best I say and it is so
obvious that clearly Hyams was doing a tribute to one of the greatest Westerns
ever made. One of the main traditions of Westerns is individualism - a man
(most of the time) stands alone against the lawless as the citizenry looks
away. High Noon is the best known example but this was ingrained into the
Western myth.
A new Marshall comes to town. Town being a mining operation on a moon off
Jupiter. Inhospitable, claustrophobic and the end of the line for a lawman.
A shithole. The Marshall is O'Niel played by Sean Connery who leaves his
charm and light banter back on earth - Connery plays it totally straight
with nary a smile to be seen. He is all business. He brings his wife and
son along but they leave for home after two weeks. As an audience member,
I was only too happy to see them take off - nothing worse than domestic scenes
in a film like this. The complex where they all live and play (prostitutes
are provided) is a zigzag labyrinth of levels, corridors, air dockets that
feels impenetrable to understand. Shephard runs the operation and he is played
with less theatrics than you might expect from Peter Boyle.
Something is wrong. Men are going mad and killing themselves in rather gruesome
ways. No one seems to notice or care. A year in this place could drive any
man crazy. But O'Niel senses something is just not right and digs and comes
up with a powerful amphetamine operation that may be coming from the top.
There is no one he can trust other than the burnt out female doctor (Frances
Sternhagen) and he discovers that professional killers have been sent for.
As the clock ticks down to their arrival time you can almost picture Gary
Cooper walking the streets waiting for the train to arrive and the clocks
ticking down to the inevitable showdown.
It took me a little while to get into this but once I did I found it quite
suspenseful and exciting. There are a few terrific action scenes - one a
foot chase all over the complex that is wild and beautifully shot and paced
- and then the final 20 minutes after the killers arrive. I was floored by
what seemed like huge sets - till I read that this was special effects using
a technology that I had never heard of called Introvision. I don't really
understand this stuff but from what I gather much of the movement around
the complex was just special effects. Whatever it was, it worked pretty well
and this was the first film in which it was used.
