Sci-Fi Month: REDUX #8

The Top 10 Best Sci-Fi Movies You've (probably) Never Heard Of

#8: Outland (1981)

What It Is

Sean Connery (OH YEAAAHHH) plays Federal Marshal William O'Neil, a grizzly old veteran who has just transplanted his family from Earth to the rugged frontier of Io, where he joins the security detail of a major mining outpost. The outpost is managed by Mark Sheppard (Peter Boyle, of Everybody Loves Raymond), a cheery fellow who prides himself on achieving maximum efficiency in the workplace. Under Sheppard's watch, however, workers begin to exhibit bizarre and increasingly erratic behavior, resulting in several deaths. O'Neil doggedly investigates, despite growing opposition from his wife and son, and from every single member of the station's 2,144 personnel, with one exception: the station's chief medical physician, Dr. Lazarus (Frances Sternhagen).

O'Neil gradually uncovers the conspiracy behind the mysterious deaths, leading to a climactic confrontation with three mercenaries who are due to arrive on the weekly shuttle at 1200 hours. Sound familiar? No? What if I were to replace the word "shuttle" with "train" and "1200 hours" with...oh, I don't know, "High Noon?"

OH YEEEEAAAAAHHH

Why You've Never Heard of It

Outland was not unsuccessful, nor was it critically panned at time of release. It made back it's budget and a little bit more, and, from time to time, it DOES appear on sci-fi "best of" lists, and not as a necessarily unknown film. Yet not many people seem to know about it. My personal theory is that it just read as...good. Not classic. Not Alien, or Planet of the Apes. Maybe it was the timing, maybe it was the content, maybe it just didn't have the production values, but it just doesn't seem to resonate in the same way as the A-listers.

Does this mean it's not a great movie? Well, here's MY take:

Why It's Worthy of Inclusion

So at its bare bones basic level, Outland is exactly what I intimated earlier: High Noon...IN SPAAAAAACE. And, as a space western with great action, it succeeds beautifully. There's plenty of gunplay, plenty of running around, plenty of Connery.

(deep breath) OOOOOHHHH YEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH- sorry I'll stop this now.

On top of this, it makes use of the setting and atmosphere (or lack thereof, chuckle chuckle), to introduce some tense, riveting sequences involving low-gravity, spacesuits, pressure chambers...all the kinds of danger you'd expect on a frontier space colony. These were action set pieces the likes of which hadn't really been seen before, at least not with the suite of effects that were now available. Some of the practical effects that make up the gory aftermath of the depressurization scenes undoubtedly found their way into later movies like Total Recall.

But beyond the action and the brilliantly achieved "space western" motif, I have to say I genuinely enjoy the characterization.

O'Neil, in Connery's capable hands, is a perfect everyman. He's plain spoken, honest, devoted to his family, and - most importantly - not superhuman. When he faces down the bad guys, the fight scenes are realistically choreographed and play out how you'd expect. O'Neil isn't about style, he's about getting the job done, and if that means stepping on toes so be it.

His simple earnest desire to see a job through to the end might seem contrived coming from a lesser actor, but here it has a certain tragic malaise to it that evokes the "edge of civilization" lifestyle that frontier towns must have exhibited. O'Neil is told at every turn he will not and can not succeed, and on some subliminal level he seems to realize it. This is driven home especially well in his interaction with Dr. Lazarus.

Here is a relationship that could have so easily devolved into a problematic stock romance, yet it somehow transcends the ordinary boundaries of male/female one on one societal rules. Sternhagen presents Dr. Lazarus as the female equivalent of Bones McCoy: cantankerous, brilliant and cynical. She and Connery play off each other wonderfully, trading barbs and jokes with initial animosity, but slowly but surely transforming into something MORE than friends, but with no overt sexual tension.

Indeed, O'Neil's motivation for pursuing the mystery before him can't be found in any cliche Hollywood narrative: it's not for love, it's not for duty, it's not for money, it's not even for honor.

So why does he keep going? In the character's own words: "...because... maybe they are right. They sent me here to this pile of shit because they think I belong here. I want to find out if... well if they're right. There's a whole machine that works because everybody does what they are supposed to. And I found out... I was supposed to be something I didn't like. That's what's in the program. That's my rotten little part in the rotten machine. I don't like it. So I'm going to find out if they're right."

Wow. It's a surprisingly pointed message in a movie that at first glances seems to be about watching good guys blast bad guys with shotguns in space suits. That line, and the characters that back it up, are what elevate this movie from obscure action flick to sleeper classic, and I think sci-fi fans and film fans alike will find a lot to enjoy in it.