Sex, drugs, and Robert Duvall. Roy and I enjoy a warm chat about a chilly dystopia, in our conversation about “THX 1138” (1971). Miraculously, the show didn’t simply devolve into George Lucas bashing. Take your medicine, and see for yourself here:
Next week, we’ll continue with the winter of our discontent, when we discuss “The Abominable Snowman” (1957), with the unlikely team of Forrest Tucker and Peter Cushing. You ain’t seen nothing yeti. Join us next Friday evening at 7:00 EST!
IN THE MEANTIME, tomorrow night, Roy will host a visit from actor CARL HELD. Held will talk about his prolific career in classic television, including appearances on “Star Trek,” “The Outer Limits,” “The Invaders,” “Mission: Impossible,” “Perry Mason,” “The F.B.I.,” “The Lotus Eaters,” “The Saint,” “The Big Valley,” “Space: 1999,” “The Incredible Hulk,” “Charlie’s Angels,” and “Falcon Crest,” among others.
Don’t miss this special appearance, on the next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner. The conversation with be HELD, this Sunday evening at 7:00 EST!
In researching the music for tonight’s discussion of “THX 1138” on Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner, I was interested to note Israel Baker among the film’s musical personnel. In addition to working in the movies, Baker made many recordings for Columbia Records (now Sony), with the likes Jascha Heifetz, Bruno Walter, Glenn Gould, and Igor Stravinsky.
At different points of his career, he was concertmaster of Stokowski’s All-American Youth Orchestra, a member of Toscanini’s NBC Symphony (where he would have played with flutist Carmine Coppola – father of Francis Ford Coppola – also listed among the “THX” personnel), leader of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and concertmaster of the Columbia Symphony. In addition, he led the classical and jazz ensembles at Capitol Records.
Baker was Stravinsky’s first choice to record his Violin Concerto, but Columbia overruled in favor of the more marketable Isaac Stern. Alongside his work in the film and classical music fields, Baker appeared on hundreds of recordings by artists such as Benny Carter, Ella Fitzgerald, Johnny Mathis, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Mel Tormé, Sarah Vaughan, Tom Waits, and The Dameans.
Perhaps his most notorious contribution to film was as concertmaster at the recording sessions for Bernard Herrmann’s score to Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” (in which capacity he played in the infamous shower scene). Baker also worked with Alfred Newman, Franz Waxman, André Previn, Elmer Bernstein, Maurice Jarre, John Barry, John Williams, and – in the case of “THX 1138” – Lalo Schifrin.
He died on Christmas Day, 2012, at the age of 92.
Baker plays the opening of “Scheherazade” with Erich Leinsdorf and the Concert Arts Orchestra
Stravinsky’s “Pastorale”
The dream team of Jascha Heifetz, Israel Baker, William Primrose, Gregor Piatigorsky, and Leonard Pennario, in César Franck’s Piano Quintet in F minor
Playing Schoenberg with Glenn Gould
An interview with Baker at the age of 90
More about tonight’s discussion of “THX 1138”
PHOTO: Baker with his frequent duo partner, Yaltah Menuhin, sister of the famed violinist Yehudi Menuhin
Before Indiana Jones… before “Star Wars”… before “American Graffiti”… there was “THX 1138” (1971).
Under the guidance of Francis Ford Coppola, Lucas expanded a 1967 student film into his first feature, an eerily-prescient piece of sci-fi dystopia, in which a faceless corporatocracy controls every aspect of human existence. Productivity, consumption, and subservience are all strictly enforced, through drugs, dehumanizing entertainments, and if necessary, android police. Personal relationships are forbidden and citizens – shorn of their hair and their individuality – are all identified by serial numbers.
This is hardcore sci-fi, the way it used to be. “THX 1138” may feel a lot longer than its 85-minute running time, but there’s a kind of excitement to be found in a 25-year-old director exploring the power of the medium in an era when people still really cared about film. What “THX 1138” lacks in narrative excitement, it makes up for in believable world-building. It’s fascinating to speculate what kind of artist Lucas might have been had he not devoted most of his career to reediting “Star Wars.”
Definitely don’t go into it expecting any joyrides on souped-up space freighters, witty repartee, or lightsaber battles of a kind that marked a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. This one cuts awfully close to the bone.
Roy and I will be doing our best Donald Pleasence impressions, on the next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner. Let your holograms do the driving in the comments section, as we livestream on Facebook, this Friday evening at 7:00 EST!
ROY’S TIE-DYE SCI-FI WEEKEND BONUS! This Sunday night, Roy’s special guest will be actor Carl Held. Held’s television credits include appearances on “Star Trek,” “The Outer Limits,” “The Invaders,” “Mission: Impossible,” “Space: 1999,” “Perry Mason,” “The F.B.I.,” “The Lotus Eaters,” “The Saint,” “The Big Valley,” “The Incredible Hulk,” “Charlie’s Angels,” “Falcon Crest,” and many others. He’ll be talking about his career and taking your questions. Don’t miss this special appearance by Carl Held, this Sunday night at 7:00 EST!
It turns out that low blood sugar is my kryptonite, so I’m not sure if we ever came to a consensus on “Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut.” It sure was fun talking about all the behind-the-scenes drama, though. If you missed it, the show has been archived on a crystal at the Fortress of Solitude, but through the miracle of the internet, you can view it here:
Next time, we’ll tackle George Lucas’ first feature film, “THX 1138” (1971). This sci-fi curio, produced by Francis Ford Coppola, features Robert Duvall, Donald Pleasence, and Don Pedro Colley as the future’s hungriest hologram. It’s been decades since either of us have last seen it, but I recall it being a rather chilly piece of dystopia, light years away from intergalactic exuberance of “Star Wars.”
We’ll be reading off everyone’s license plate numbers during our discussion of “THX 1138,” on the next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner. Shave your heads in the comments section and maintain obedience to the state, when we livestream on Facebook, next Friday evening at 7:00 EST!
