Never Made

 

 (youtube)

JODOROWSKY'S DUNE-2013-This is a documentary about the "greatest film never made". Really, if you're interested in hearing about several happily insane individuals who all got together to try and make a film adaptation of Frank Herbert's “Dune” this is a great movie for you. Alejandro Jodorowsky Never (EL TOPO)  talks about his "dream" of making this adaptation, how he cajoled people like Salvadore Dali and Orson Welles into taking roles and other actors he wanted (David Carradine, Gloria Swanson, Udo Kier, Mick Jagger), hiring Dan O'Bannon, HR Giger, Chris Foss and Moebius to create the storyboards and scenery and how Hollywood studios liked the idea but "feared" Jodorowsky as the director. Since the humongous storyboard was shopped around so many studios, the film makes a good point that even though it was never filmed Dune influenced Star Wars, The Terminator and a whole host of others. Directed by Frank Pavich.

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Darkstar

DARK STAR-1974-John Carpenter's debut feature film (which he co-scripted and wrote the music for) is a low budget take off on 2001. 

 A spaceship led by a quartet of hippie like astronauts fly around space destroying planets. They have a female HAL type computer and can talk to their commander even though he's dead. An alien prisoner they picked up is an orange beach ball with feet (influenced by THE PRISONER?).

Everyone swears this is suppose to be a comedy but I'm not so sure. Co-writer Dan O'Bannon is Sgt. Pinback who spends a lot of time trapped in an elevator. I don't really find it that funny. It seems to me the filmmakers weren't sure which way they wanted to go with it. The acting is pretty bad. Maybe that accounts for part of it. It was originally a 45 minute short film that Jack H. Harris had the makers expand for theatrical release. 

Carpenter's next film was ASSAULT ON PRECINCT. O'Bannon penned ALIEN in 1979. 

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