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Outland (1981) — Sci-Fi Sean Connery
By ChazWolf | February 15, 2009
‘Outland’ is one of those movies that you probably remember seeing on late-night TV as a kid (I know I did, several times) but had probably forgotten about over the years, in the wake of increasingly hi-tech science fiction cinema. Despite being nearly 30 years old, the film still has a lot to offer. The purpose of this review is not to critique the picture or recap the plot (you can get all that from IMDB.com, anyway), but to advise you why you ought to give it a spin if you haven’t seen it, and why it’s worth watching again if, like me, it’s been a couple of decades since you last did so.
While sometimes, rather unfairly, summed up by commentators and critics as ‘High Noon in Space’, Outland is a lot more than any mere unimaginative remake. First of all, watch it together with Alien and Blade Runner, and you’ll see a rounded, consistent and very believable picture of what the future of Earth could really be like in the not too distant future. Familiar but effective themes permeate the background, such as heavy industrialization, the pursuit of profit, man’s continuing exploration (and exploitation) of the known solar system and the shadowy “Company” who seem to run everything, fulfilling the old cyberpunk cliche that the true governments of the future will be the global corporations, and most individuals give a damn only about themselves and their next pay cheque.
The film is very simple, and that’s why it works. There’s no mushy romantic entanglements, no smirking post-modern irony, no hokey shock tactics, no annoying Top 40 rock music score and certainly no pretty but useless teenagers cluttering up the works. This is a man’s movie of the old-school variety. In some ways the Western references are writ large into the background – men work, drink, fight and let off steam with prostitutes, while living on a harsh frontier on the edge of known civilisation – in this case, the satellite Io, one of the moons of Jupiter. Pioneers like those who built the first railroads across America, their lives are hard and they need a firm hand to keep them in check. This is where Sean Connery’s Marshal William T. O’Neil comes in. However, like many a classic Western, it’s not those at the bottom of the pile who are the true “bad men” and in need of discipline, but those in authority…a fact O’Neil gradually discovers during his unwelcome tour of duty. By refusing to turn a blind eye to the inherent corruption around him and take the bribes like all his predecessors, O’Neil makes himself persona non grata among the whole Io colony in double-quick time. To his superiors, he’s a tall poppy; a dangerous one at that, and in need of being cut down.
This was one of a large bunch of lesser-known films Connery made in his post-Bond meanderings, before going bald and becoming the thinking woman’s fantasy man again in the late ’80s, thanks to a sequence of Hollywood blockbuster appearances. (Other worthy outings from this period include the criminally-overlooked Rudyard Kipling adaptation of The Man Who Would be King, the weird but intriguing Zardoz and the revisionist Robin Hood epic Robin and Marian. On the other hand, Cuba and Meteor are probably best left where they are.) In some ways Outland is more a character study than anything – centering on the uncompromising O’Neill’s stubborn, laconic sheriff dedicated to making a difference and standing up for his principles despite the odds, and the possible consequences that accompany those actions – the horse-opera stock character of the tough but fair lawman “cleaning up his town”, with or without support or sanction. Given the grit and growly demeanour of this performance, Connery would have made a superb addition to any Western movie cast of this time, and it really makes one regret that the genre was all but dead in the early ’80s. Connery fills every scene in the movie, and in that respect it’s virtually a star vehicle for the almost-ex 007 (the unwise Bond bootleg Never Say Never Again came along 2 years later).
Connery isn’t the only Brit in the cast either, which gives the film another point in the “one world, one corporation” box. Mad English skinhead Steven Berkoff, now better known in Britain for his challenging theatrical productions, turns up unexpectedly as a worker under the evil influence of the colony’s deadly recreational drug, in an intense scene which underlines O’Neil’s uncompromising approach to his responsibilities. O’Neil’s wife is played by Kika Markham, although if she’s as dull at home as she is in her video conferencing to her husband, methinks Connery’s character would be better off with someone else in his life. Even the strung-out workcamp Doctor Lazarus, played to the hilt in a memorable (and almost completely show-stealing) performance by Frances Sternhagen. Proving to be O’Neil’s only ally in his one-man-fighting-the-power quest, Lazarus uses dry humour and her few remaining medical scruples in her effort to make her life and nosediving career represent something more meaningful than keeping the workcamp hookers free of STDs. She’s certainly one of the few characters with even trace levels of humanity, and that’s what cements her place as one of the film’s most memorable aspects.
Jerry Goldsmith, Hollywood’s perennial unsung composer (at least until he got his just deserts for the Omen) captures the sense of empty, hostile deep space and the plot’s gradually-increasing tension with a score that remains generally in the background, without grandiose themes or over-elaboration. Like the story and its characters, it’s low-key in tone. Outland is not what would be called an action-packed movie by today’s standards, but all the better for it, as the suspense pay-offs really do work. The final confrontation in the bar is a classic – and probably your last chance to hear the respected Sir Sean mouthing profanities into his beard.
Director Peter Hyams does a good job in building the claustrophobia, helped along by the now-familiar tight sets, consisting of metal grilles and walkways, hexagonal tunnels and stark, cold lighting. Everything looks functional, even basic, as befits the cold corporate nature and industrial nature of the location. Besides, post-Star Wars, sci-fi directors could not really get away with the kind of artistic indulgences heaped upon viewers by Kubrick in 2001 – space was no longer beautiful and balletic but run-down, grimy, tarnished and rusty, the technology mere background detail rather than the focus of attention.
Hyams would revisit science-fiction territory later with 2010: The Year We Made Contact and Timecop, but Outland remains the most resilient of that bunch (although his earlier Capricorn One is a wonderful conspiracy theory effort, made even more feasible by recent paranoid rumblings concerning the veracity of the Moon landings.) Like it’s star, it has aged well with all its grit intact, unlike some glossier features of the time. This is thanks in part to the film’s reliance upon a tight script delivered by a solid cast, rather than special effects, to carry the story and entertain the viewer. Ultimately, Outland proves that sci-fi can be intelligent, exciting and adult without having to beat the viewer about the head with overblown visuals and a second-rate script padded out with whiz-bangs.*
SIDENOTES: On a visual effects sidenote, according to the production notes on my DVD release of the movie, Outland was the first film to utilise a special effects process termed Introvision, which helped to make seamless the transitional shots between a visual effects model and a full-scale set. This helps to account for the very effective exterior scenes of the colony and the mining vehicles.
Topics: Retro Movie Comments | 1 Comment »
August 18th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Chaz
You are so right Outland was/is a fabulous film. I got in to see it at the cinema (underage) so many years ago. Showing my age.
Dirt, grime, hookers and drugs. A far cry from Battlestar Galactica and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. I just loved the realism. I don’t recall any weak links in the acting. Connery superb as usual, and believable as a noble but weary and reluctant ‘hero’. I loved Berkoff too – Joker level scary.
I really must unearth a copy and watch it again, thanks