THX 1138 is a 1971 American social science fiction film co-written and directed by George Lucas in his feature directorial debut. Produced by Francis Ford Coppola and co-written by Walter Murch, the film stars Robert Duvall and Donald Pleasence, with Don Pedro Colley, Maggie McOmie, and Ian Wolfe in supporting roles. The film is set in a dystopian future in which the citizens are controlled by android police and mandatory use of drugs that suppress emotions. THX 1138 was developed from Lucas's 1967 student film Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB, which he created while attending the USC School of Cinematic Arts. The feature film was produced in a joint venture between Warner Bros. and American Zoetrope. A novelization by Ben Bova was published in 1971. The film received mixed reviews from critics and underperformed at the box office upon its initial release, but it has subsequently received critical acclaim and gained a cult following, particularly in the aftermath of Lucas's success with Star Wars (1977). A director's cut prepared by Lucas was released in 2004.
Plot
In the dystopian future, sexual intercourse and reproduction are prohibited, and mind-altering drugs are mandatory to enforce compliance among the citizens and to ensure their ability to conduct dangerous and demanding tasks. Workers wear identical white uniforms and have shaven heads to emphasize uniformity, likewise with police androids who wear black and monks who are robed. Instead of names, people have designations with three arbitrary letters (referred to as the "prefix") and four digits, shown on an identity badge worn at all times. At their jobs in central video control centers, SEN 5241 (a man) and LUH 3417 (a woman) keep surveillance on the city. LUH has a male roommate named THX 1138, who works in a factory producing android police officers. At the beginning of the story, THX finishes his shift, while the loudspeakers urge the workers to "increase safety"—and congratulate them for only losing 195 workers in the last period—to the competing factory's 242. On the way home, he stops at a confession booth. A Christ-like portrait of "OMM 0000" intones reassuringly as he worries that his sedatives are not working and LUH has been acting strangely. At home, THX takes his drugs and watches holobroadcasts while engaging with a masturbatory device. LUH secretly substitutes pills in her possession for THX's medications, causing him to develop nausea, anxiety, and sexual desires. LUH and THX become involved romantically and have sex. THX is later confronted by SEN, who attempts to arrange that THX become his new roommate, but THX files a complaint against SEN for the illegal shift pattern change. Without drugs in his system, THX falters during a critical and hazardous phase of his job, and a control center engages a "mind lock" on THX, which raises the level of danger. After the release of the mind lock, THX makes the necessary correction to that work phase. THX and LUH are arrested and THX undergoes drug therapy and medical analysis. He enjoys a brief reunion with LUH, but it is disrupted shortly after she reveals her pregnancy. At THX's trial, it is stated that THX was clinically born. It is decided that it would be inefficient to terminate THX, so THX is sentenced to prison, alongside SEN. THX and SEN walk to search for an exit. Eventually they are joined by hologram actor SRT 5752, who starred in the holobroadcasts. SRT shows them the exit and suggests to them that they may have been going in circles. During the escape, THX and SRT are separated from SEN. Chased by the police androids, THX and SRT are trapped in a control center, from which THX learns that LUH has been "consumed", and her name has been reassigned to her fetus, numbered 66691, in a growth chamber. SEN eventually escapes to an area reserved for the monks of OMM, where a monk notices that SEN has no identification badge. SEN attacks him and later wanders into a child-rearing area, strikes up a conversation with children, and sits aimlessly until police androids apprehend him. THX and SRT steal two cars. SRT struggles to figure out how to drive the car. When SRT finally gets the car to move, he immediately crashes his car into a concrete pillar. After the crash, SRT is not found in the vehicle. Pursued by two police androids on motorcycles, THX flees to the limits of the city. Android officers continue to pursue him as he briefly struggles with simian-like creatures identified as "shell dwellers" and arrives at a vertical shaft with an escape ladder. The android officers are ordered by Central Command to cease pursuit, on the grounds that the expense of his capture exceeds their allocated budget for THX. In a last-ditch attempt to convince THX to surrender, the officers claim that the area outside the "city shell" is uninhabitable, but he is undeterred and continues up the ladder. The city is then revealed to be entirely underground, while THX has escaped onto the surface, where he witnesses the sun setting.
Cast
Robert Duvall as THX 1138 Donald Pleasence as SEN 5241 Maggie McOmie as LUH 3417 Don Pedro Colley as the hologram SRT 5752 Ian Wolfe as the old prisoner PTO Marshall Efron as prisoner TWA Sid Haig as prisoner NCH Irene Cagen (as Irene Forrest) as prisoner IMM John Pearce as prisoner DWY Mark Lawhead as Shell Dweller James Wheaton as the voice of OMM 0000 The announcer voices include those of Scott Beach, Terence McGovern, and David Ogden Stiers (billed as David Ogden Steers).
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