Tonight we gathered the family together, grabbed some cheddar popcorn, and watched the 1972 film Silent Running.

Silent Running stars Bruce Dern, who plays botanist and misanthrope Freeman Lowell. The movie opens with Lowell tending to beautiful gardens filled with lush greenery, cute rabbits, juicy cantaloupes, and verdant forests. Surprise! These gardens are not on planet Earth. These gardens are in futuristic domes located on the spaceship Valley Forge in orbit around Saturn. The mission of the Valley Forge is to save and faithfully defend the natural resources of Earth – “its soil and minerals, its forests, waters and wildlife” – because there are no plants or wildlife on Earth any more.

One day Lowell and his crewmates receive orders to blow up the forest domes with nuclear bombs so that the spaceship can be used for commerce and industry. Lowell, being the fanatical Johnny Appleseed of Space that he is, decides to go renegade. He murders his crewmates and charts a course to the rings of Saturn with his robot friends Droid #1 and Droid #2 (also known as Huey and Dewey). The rest of the movie follows Lowell’s adventures as he travels through space with his Droids and tends his beloved forest.

Although one can’t help but be sympathetic with Lowell’s ambition to save the Earth’s remaining forests, it is impossible to be sympathetic towards Lowell the character. He’s a bit whiny and given to making incoherent speeches about the environment that would compel the most diehard environmentalist to burn down a forest rather than listen to more of his prattle. (Spoiler Alert!) In the end I wasn’t terribly sad when he blew himself up with a nuclear bomb. Good riddance!

Highlights of the movie include:

• Lowell teaching Huey and Dewey to play poker. Surprisingly enough, the Droids have amazing poker faces.
• The scene where Lowell is in his garden, blissfully fondling tender greenery, and accompanied by a very seventies-ish folk song by Joan Baez about children running wild in the sun. Then a hawk flies onto Lowell’s outstretched arm.
• The Droids. Brendan, my 11-year-old, was especially fond of Droid #2.
• The special effects. Not bad for 1972.

Tags: Silent Running . Bruce Dern