Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)

Note des utilisateurs:

7.1/10   

Réalisateur:

Joseph Sargent

Writers:

James Bridges (writer)
D.F. Jones (novel)

Release Date:

10 juillet 1970 (West Germany)

Genre:

Sci-Fi | Thriller

Accroche:

We built a super computer with a mind of its own and now we must fight it for the world!

Plot:

An artificially intelligent supercomputer is developed and activated, only to reveal that it has a sinister agenda of its own.

Plot Keywords:

Computer | Scientist | Super Computer | Threat | U.S. President

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Avis des utilisateurs:

A thought provoking film that stubbornly refuses to be dated

Ensemble

Eric Braeden	...	Dr. Charles Forbin
Susan Clark	...	Dr. Cleo Markham
Gordon Pinsent	...	The President
William Schallert	...	CIA Director Grauber
Leonid Rostoff	...	Russian Chairman
Georg Stanford Brown	...	Dr. John F. Fisher
Willard Sage	...	Dr. Blake
Alex Rodine	...	Dr. Kuprin
Martin E. Brooks	...	Dr. Jefferson J. Johnson (as Martin Brooks)
Marion Ross	...	Angela Fields
Dolph Sweet	...	Missile Commander
Byron Morrow	...	Secretary of State
Lew Brown	...	Peterson
Sid McCoy	...	Secretary of Defense
Tom Basham	...	Thomas L. Harrison

Autre(s) titre(s):

The Day the World Changed Hands
The Forbin Project
Le cerveau d'acier (France) [fr]

Durée:

100 min

Pays:

USA

Langue:

Anglais | Russe

Couleur:

Couleur (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Son:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Classification:

UK:X (original rating) | UK:12 (DVD rating) | USA:M (original rating) | USA:PG (re-rating) | Australia:PG

Emplacements De Pelliculage:

Lawrence Hall of Science - Centennial Drive, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Anecdotes:

The outside views of the "Colossus Control Center" are images of the Lawrence Hall of Science, just opened in 1968 when this film was being made. LHS is a science and computer museum still open to the public in the hills just above the University of California Berkeley campus and is a university managed facility.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Colossus is learning math, Harrison is standing across from Forbin. He is asked to get a printout. When he comes back to Forbin he stands next to him, yet there is a quick shot of him standing across from Forbin and then in the next shot he is standing next to Forbin.

Guillemet:

Dr. Forbin: I think your mother was right. I think Frankenstein ought to be required-reading for all scientists.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Master Ninja II (#4.24)" (1992)

A thought provoking film that stubbornly refuses to be dated

I have recently watched Colossus for the first time in many years and find it still a classic for sci-fi purists. It seems sad to me in these days of 'explosion' sci-fi that there is little or no room for this type of 'conference room' drama.

Although the premise is a very old one in the manner of man creating machine in his own image, this film presents the story in the psychological and political arenas. The film is not overlong, yet the characters and their futility to stop the unstoppable is clearly developed. Although the technology of 1969 is the back drop for this tale, the message of Colossus comes through to us in our modern age of computers in every home. Like a Shakespeare play in a manner of speaking.

We are much wiser about computers nowadays though, and we grudgingly admit that trusting the red button is far better in the hands of men than machines if such things must be. So commissioning a project of this type would be ludicrous and far from plausible in the first place.

So why is this movie good then to myself and the other reviewers? Even though we may not create a defense system in this way, it seems to predict a visage of something that is yet to come. And it's a frightful one. The first words of Colossus says it best 'There is another system'.