Silent Running

Silent Running (1972)
Director: Douglass Trumbell
Cast: Bruce Dern, Ron Rifkin
Memorable Line(s): "You know when I was a kid, I put a note into a bottle and it had my name and address on it. And then I threw the bottle into the ocean. And I never knew if anybody ever found it."

Bruce Dern pretty much carries this movie as he portrays a crew member caring for the last trees and plants from the planet Earth. These trees and plants exist in space domes floating in space above Earth, but they have been deemed expendable.

Dern's character, Freeman Lowell, is one of a skeleton crew responsible for caring for the Earth's final vegetation, but when the order comes down to jettison the domes into space, he becomes unhinged and decides he will do anything he can to protect them -- even kill. Aided by three robot drones he calls Huey, Dewey and Luey, he cares for the trees and plants and determines he must use the ultimate force to protect them.

Dern is wonderful as he has the most of the lines in the movie. Trumbell is the special effects genius for many of Hollywood's best sci-fi films shows he has deftness for directing also. His handling of the robot trio is a tribute to his skill as he imbues them with as much personality as any actor.

Some might say that this movie is a prophetic view of the future, but whatever it is, it is an effective movie.