The New York Times
Mr. Lucas's film looks like a slightly old-fashioned anxiety dream—but if you can accept that (and you should), it becomes very potent material indeed.
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THX 1138
George Lucas gave the world advance notice of his formidable talent with his classic debut feature Thx-1138, adapted from his award winning short film with encouragement from Francis Ford Coppola.
Robert Duvall is Thx-1138, a humble worker in a soulless, sprawling subterranean society where each person has a number, not a name, sex is outlawed and laws are enforced by constant surveillance and sinister, silver faced androids. His discovery that there is more to life than the state-required drug stupor and the loss of his mate to a sinister technician finally gives him the courage to recover from his nightmare world.
Less1971Rating: PG84 minsUSA
Science FictionClassic
THX 1138 | Reviews
86%63 reviewsRotten Tomatoes® Score
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Roger Ebert
The movie's strength is not in its story but in its unsettling and weirdly effective visual and sound style.
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Chicago Reader
Muddled and hopelessly artsy, but at least Lucas got it out of his system early on.
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San Francisco Chronicle
The real showcase is Lucas' still-percolating talent, which is apparent throughout the film.
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The Washington Post
Duvall is almost Buster Keatonesque here, his seemingly blank face bespeaking subterranean subtext.
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Empire Magazine
A classic science fiction movie and one of the most remarkable debuts of the 70s.
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Film Threat
Masterpiece? I’d hazard to say so, for as much of what it says to what it leaves to the viewer.
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Time Out
Overall the film is a little hazy, and inclined to fall back on familiar messages about humanity and inhumanity... But visually it is often extraordinary...
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Time Magazine
Lucas offers the 25th century as an arch, campy place, a conception not satiric enough to be accepted as comedy and not quite insightful enough to be taken seriously.
Full reviewTHX 1138 | Release Details
THX 1138 is available to stream in Australia now on Apple TV and Prime Video Store.