The Future Is Now: <i>Logan's Run</i>

The Future Is Now: Logan's Run

It's interesting just how many future-set science fiction films of the 1970s didn't look anything like the future would look. Instead, they looked like the 1970s.

Logan's Run (1976) is a fabulous example of this. Set in the twenty-third century—where society's remaining humans live under geodisic domes that resemble shopping malls, before having their lives terminated in the "Carrousel" when they turn thirty—the fashion and hairstyles, not to mention the dated special effects, of the 1970s still shine through.

This is not a criticism. I genuinely love that about the film. One of the great pleasures in watching comes from this tension between the film's futurism and its undeniably groovy seventies clothes and feathered hair styles.

The film is a science fiction cult classic, and much of the appeal for fans lies in the nostalgia it engenders. I was born in the seventies. I'm obsessed with the decade's culture, fashion, and media, largely because it's fascinating to consider the state of the world as I came into existence. It's oddly comforting to watch Logan's Run and feel transported back to toddlerhood, when so many of my mother's friends had haircuts like Jenny Agutter's. I'm reminded of hours spent at the then-new suburban meccas, shopping malls. In other words, Logan's Run ticks my nostalgic boxes, one after the other.

Sometimes it's nice to simply have an affinity for something because it reminds you of simpler times in your own life. Logan's Run doesn't make me think of the future—it makes me think of the future that people envisioned when I was still so new to this world, and it reminds me of the era in which they envisioned that future.

Let's end with a visual tour through the glorious 1970s future stylings of Logan's Run.

Jenny Agutter's work in Logan's Run and An American Werewolf in London (1981)—and her otherworldly beauty in both roles—cemented her status as one of my earliest, and most enduring, pop culture crushes. When she showed up in Captain America: The Winter Solider (2014), I just about flipped, which confused my wife until I explained and then, after rolling her eyes and laughing, "'nuff said," she completely understood.

This could easily be a 1970s fashion magazine spread, no?

Agutter and Michael York, striking a familiar science fiction/fantasy pose that we've seen countless times on countless movie posters and book covers.

"Welcome, my dear, but don't you think you might be a little overdressed?"

A classic, starkly beautiful 1970s shot, made all the better by Ms. Agutter's inclusion.

Ditto.

Nothing says the seventies quite like Farrah hair: feathered for your leisure-suit wearing pleasure.

Bonus: The captivating Angela Cartwright, from the short-lived television adaptation. Love the matching belt and choker.

Classic, 1970s Lite-Brite decor to denote The Future.

The warm glow of death.

"Oh my, your machine is so...big."

Another excellent set piece which strongly evokes that seventies sense of futurism at play.

The seventies bachelor pad, twenty-third century style.

"Is that a large gun in your pocket or are you just happy to see m--oh, never mind."

Bonus: Marvel's 1970s Logan's Run comic book series.

Now that is a 1970s science fiction movie poster.

"So long, and thanks for all the fish."

Comments

Paul SApril 25, 2018 at 12:53 PM
Logan's Run brings back happy memories for me too. Jenny Agutter... be still my heart. A true English rose!
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