Silent Running
1972 · Movie · G · 89 min · ★ 6.4 · 69% critics
In a future where Earth’s plant life is gone, a lone caretaker tends the last living forests inside greenhouse domes aboard a space freighter, aided by a few service robots. When authorities order the domes destroyed so the ship can return to routine work, he refuses—setting off a tense standoff that leaves him increasingly isolated in deep space.
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Details
- Years
- 1972
- Release date
- 1972-03-09
- Language
- English
- Rated
- G
- Runtime
- 89 min
- Critic score
- 69/100
- TMDB rating
- 6.4/10 (641 votes)
- Budget
- $1,350,000
About
You’ll likely enjoy this if you want a reflective, message-driven sci‑fi with loneliness, moral gray areas, and a touch of warmth from robots; Not for you if you need fast action or tight logic like The Andromeda Strain.
Pros: strong environmental theme; memorable robot companions; striking space imagery | Cons: slow pacing; thin character depth; plot holes linger
Themes
- dystopia
- sunlight
- space travel
- saturn
- biotope
- plant
- greenhouse
- forest
- space
- food
- robot
- space station
- +2 more
Cast & crew
Bruce Dern
as Freeman Lowell
Cliff Potts
as John Keenan
Ron Rifkin
as Marty Barker
Jesse Vint
as Andy Wolf
- MP
Mark Persons
as Grey Drone #1 “Dewey”
- SB
Steven Brown
as Orange Drone #2 “Huey”
- CS
Cheryl Sparks
as Orange Drone #2 “Huey”
- LW
Larry Whisenhunt
as Green Drone #3 “Louie”
Joseph Campanella
as Neal - ‘Berkshire’ Captain (voice/uncredited)
- RE
Roy Engel
as Anderson (voice/uncredited)
Directed by Douglas Trumbull