Silent Running
Science Fiction
Image  (1971) 89 mins G

6.8 (5,808 votes)
In a world where all plant life is gone, Freeman Lowell (Bruce Dern) is in charge of a huge greenhouse in space. Lowell is ordered to jettison the domes containing the forests, but he decides to try and save them instead. He has a fight with a crew mate who is trying to destroy the forest and ends up killing him. Two remaining crew members are trapped in another dome and Lowell destroys it killing the crew members. The ship has three service robots that Lowell teaches to plant trees and take care of the greenhouse. Lowell soon realizes that the forest he fought so hard to save is dying and he must try to figure out the reason. He finally figures out what is killing the forest and comes up with a plan to try and save it....

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Cast and Crew
Steve Brown  ......  Drone
Bruce Dern  ......  Freeman Lowell
Mark Persons  ......  Drone
Cliff Potts  ......  Wolf
Ron Rifkin  ......  Barker
Cheryl Sparks  ......  Drone
Director  .....  Douglas Trumbull
Producer  .....  Douglas Trumbull; Michael Gruskoff; Marty Hornstein
Writer  .....  Michael Cimino; Deric Washburn
Notes
Goofs:
Miscellaneous: During the second Joan Baez song there is a brief shot of the Valley Forge traveling in space, but it is turned around and traveling backward. (more)

Trivia:
After the success of Easy Rider (1969), Universal Studios hit upon the idea to let young filmmakers make "semi-independent" films for low budgets in hopes of generating similar profits. The idea was to make five movies for low budgets (one million dollars or less), not interfere in the filmmaking process, and give the directors final cut. The movies were: this movie, The Hired Hand (1971), The Last Movie (1971), Taking Off (1971) and American Graffiti (1973) (more)

Filming Locations:
Aircraft Hanger, Van Nuys Airport - 6590 Hayvenhurst Avenue, Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California, USA (more)

Quotes:
Freeman Lowell: [to Huey and Dewey] Poor Louie, God bless him... he's not with us anymore. (more)

Awards:
1 nomination (more)