Menu

Discover

Genres

Appearance

  • light/dark mode
powered by
moviedb

Silent Running

"Amazing companions on an incredible adventure... that journeys beyond imagination!"

1972-03-09 Adventure 1hr 29m

After the entire flora goes extinct, ecologist Lowell maintains a greenhouse aboard a space station for the future with his android companions. However, he rebels after being ordered to destroy the greenhouse in favor of carrying cargo, a decision that puts him at odds with everyone but his mechanical companions.

More
Trailer
Amazon Video

Watch on Amazon Video

close
Silent Running
Amazon Video

Watch on Amazon Video

Storyline

After the entire flora goes extinct, ecologist Lowell maintains a greenhouse aboard a space station for the future with his android companions. However, he rebels after being ordered to destroy the greenhouse in favor of carrying cargo, a decision that puts him at odds with everyone but his mechanical companions.

  • Released
    1972-03-09
  • Revenue
    n/a
  • Budget
    $1,000,000
  • Runtime
    1hr 29m
  • Genre
    Adventure, Science Fiction
  • Status
    Released
  • Language
    English
  • imdb-logo
    6.6
  • Production
    Universal Pictures, Trumbull/Gruskoff Productions

Crew

Douglas Trumbull
Director
Deric Washburn
Screenplay
Michael Gruskoff
Producer
Keywords:
dystopia sunlight space travel saturn biotope plant greenhouse forest space food robot space station enviromentalism biosphere

Stream and watch Silent Running

similar movies

Brother Bear 2

Brother Bear 2

District B13

District B13

Spy Kids

Spy Kids

Escape from L.A.

Escape from L.A.

Keep/Delete

Keep/Delete

Cascadeur

Cascadeur

Soldier

Soldier

Judge Dredd

Judge Dredd

A Bug's Life

A Bug's Life

Runaway

Runaway

Wing Commander

Wing Commander

How to Train Your Dragon

How to Train Your Dragon

Cypher

Cypher

Tomorrow

Tomorrow

Andromeda

Andromeda

HappyHead

HappyHead

A Clockwork Orange

A Clockwork Orange

The Terminator

The Terminator

A.I. Artificial Intelligence

A.I. Artificial Intelligence

You Only Live Twice

You Only Live Twice

Cast

Bruce Dern

Bruce Dern
Freeman Lowell
Cliff Potts

Cliff Potts
John Keenan
Ron Rifkin

Ron Rifkin
Marty Barker
Jesse Vint

Jesse Vint
Andy Wolf
Mark Persons

Mark Persons
Grey Drone #1 “Dewey”
Steven Brown

Steven Brown
Orange Drone #2 “Huey”
Cheryl Sparks

Cheryl Sparks
Orange Drone #2 “Huey”
Larry Whisenhunt

Larry Whisenhunt
Green Drone #3 “Louie”
Joseph Campanella

Joseph Campanella
Neal - ‘Berkshire’ Captain (voice/uncredited)
Roy Engel

Roy Engel
Anderson (voice/uncredited)

Videos and Photos

video-bd
video-bd
video-bd
video-bd
video-bd
Silent Running
Silent Running
Silent Running
Silent Running
Silent Running
Silent Running
Silent Running

Movie Reviews

Reviews for Silent Running
reviewer avatar

A Review by DanDare 5

Written by DanDare on 2017-06-16

Silent Running features another unhinged performance from Bruce Dern. He plays Freeman Lowell, a scientists aboard a spaceship looking after... read more

Silent Running features another unhinged performance from Bruce Dern. He plays Freeman Lowell, a scientists aboard a spaceship looking after the only remaining examples of Earth's plant life as it heads off to Saturn. Lowell has become attached to the eco-system in the spaceship and less with his crew mates who he kills when they receive orders to destroy the plant life. On his own, alienated, staving off madness, all Lowell has are three droids for company and then his plants start to die as they get less sunlight as the craft nears Saturn. Douglas Trumbull in some ways has directed a low fi science fiction film, in some ways the interior sets reminded me of a television series from the early 1970s. It also contains some folk songs to accompany its environmental message.

reviewer avatar

A Review by DanDare 5

Written by DanDare on 2017-06-16

Silent Running features another unhinged performance from Bruce Dern. He plays Freeman Lowell, a scientists aboard a spaceship looking after... read more

Silent Running features another unhinged performance from Bruce Dern. He plays Freeman Lowell, a scientists aboard a spaceship looking after the only remaining examples of Earth's plant life as it heads off to Saturn. Lowell has become attached to the eco-system in the spaceship and less with his crew mates who he kills when they receive orders to destroy the plant life. On his own, alienated, staving off madness, all Lowell has are three droids for company and then his plants start to die as they get less sunlight as the craft nears Saturn. Douglas Trumbull in some ways has directed a low fi science fiction film, in some ways the interior sets reminded me of a television series from the early 1970s. It also contains some folk songs to accompany its environmental message.

reviewer avatar

A Review by drystyx 7

Written by drystyx on 2023-04-03

This was a thoughtful sci-fi story. Bruce Dern appears as a bit of a deranged scientist in what may be his most likable role ever, which sa... read more

This was a thoughtful sci-fi story. Bruce Dern appears as a bit of a deranged scientist in what may be his most likable role ever, which says a lot about the roles he has played. He is a caring scientist, except he kills all his companions in a spacecraft. Well, can he still be likable? He has a motivation for doing this which is more than the motivation for his other villains. Here, he means to save plant life for Earth. His companions didn't even understand the need to save plant life, which tells you about the horrible times they live in. All this happens fairly early in the film. Afterwards, his companions are robots whom he empathizes with as if they are human beings. Earth has decided to destroy all plant life, so in essence, he plays a hero/villain, hard to tell. But does he manage to salvage something for humanity?

reviewer avatar

A Review by Geronimo1967 5

Written by Geronimo1967 on 2023-05-28

A botanist (Bruce Dern) on a deep space mission tries to stop the corporate machine from destroying his small "forest" aboard his inter-plan... read more

A botanist (Bruce Dern) on a deep space mission tries to stop the corporate machine from destroying his small "forest" aboard his inter-planetary freighter. When his shipmates decide to implement the order he takes matters into his own hands. It is vaguely portentous of events yet to come - and has a poignancy about not knowing what you've lost until you haven't got it any more. It's the first film I recall seeing where there are droids - in this case, drones - Huey, Dewey (Louie has broken) that are given some semblance of personality and they do inject some much needed bursts of humour into this rather slow-moving sci fi story. It certainly has a message (climate change, warming etc.), but after a while it becomes quite laboured and slows down to a snail's pace before quite an abrupt ending. Interesting, but no classic...

Read Full Review (The thoughts and opinions expressed here are solely those of the reviewer.)
A Review by DanDare

Silent Running features another unhinged performance from Bruce Dern. He plays Freeman Lowell, a scientists aboard a spaceship looking after the only remaining examples of Earth's plant life as it heads off to Saturn. Lowell has become a...

reviewer avatar

A Review by DanDare 5

Written by DanDare on 2017-06-16

Silent Running features another unhinged performance from Bruce Dern. He plays Freeman Lowell, a scientists aboard a spaceship looking after the only remaining examples of Earth's plant life as it hea...

read more
reviewer avatar

A Review by DanDare 5

Written by DanDare on 2017-06-16

Silent Running features another unhinged performance from Bruce Dern. He plays Freeman Lowell, a scientists aboard a spaceship looking after the only remaining examples of Earth's plant life as it hea...

read more
reviewer avatar

A Review by drystyx 7

Written by drystyx on 2023-04-03

This was a thoughtful sci-fi story. Bruce Dern appears as a bit of a deranged scientist in what may be his most likable role ever, which says a lot about the roles he has played. He is a caring scie...

read more
reviewer avatar

A Review by Geronimo1967 5

Written by Geronimo1967 on 2023-05-28

A botanist (Bruce Dern) on a deep space mission tries to stop the corporate machine from destroying his small "forest" aboard his inter-planetary freighter. When his shipmates decide to implement the ...

read more