4-18-12 THX 1138
Bluesman Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown born 1924, S.F. bay area weirdo Skip Spence born 1946; The Blues.
Recently, I had the opportunity to watch a film that I saw as a youngster, “THX 1138” (1971). It’s a George Lucas film; 100% certain that I had no idea who he was at all when I first saw that film, likely in 1972.
The 2004 DVD re-issue is reasonably nice; I bought mine new @ Tower Records – the Tower sticker is still on the outer wrapper (I paid $19.99 for it, as it was “on sale”, being a new release). Disc 2 has 2 “Making Of” documentaries, one from then, one from more recently, as well as Lucas’ original “U.S.C. Student Film” version (which is all of 17 minutes long). And, yes – “THX 1138” is now re-mixed to 5.1 for the audio.
So, what did I think of this dystopian film when I first saw it as a young teenager in the early 70’s? I probably liked the nude scenes, and the over-all “look” of the film stuck in my mind; I believe I remember how the film ended. But – was what I sat through the other day the same as what I saw in a theatre all those years ago? The DVD clearly states “The George Lucas Director’s Cut”. Wikipedia says he re-shot some sequences, “computer enhanced” others? Whatever it was he did, it looked OK to me. I probably still have a Beta of this film in the archives; if I stumble across it, I should watch it and see if I can tell any ‘difference’.
I did plunk out $20+ for a DVD of this film, 30+ years after having first seen it. Did I realize that the guy who made “American Graffitti” made “THX 1138”? The 2 films could not have been more different, so I doubt it.
When older films gets dragged into 5.1, sometimes, it’s hokey – main dialogue in the center channel, a bit of music or F/X on the rear channels; but this re-mastering sounded pretty good, too!
It’s always fun to re-watch something that I saw as a youngster. Perhaps my adult mind can get a better handle of what’s on offer? Dang, I saw a lot of ‘adult’ (R-Rated) films as a kid!
Goodness knows I have issues with George Lucas as a filmmaker dabbling digitally to the detriment of his films, but the man knows how to remix a film’s audio with excellence! For the record, I’ve never seen this film, though I would probably like it.
I recommend this film. Rent it, or try the library, perhaps!
Avoid the film he did after this one. I think it was called “Space Wars” or something like that….