Song by Mike and the Mechanics
The song 'Silent Running' was in this movie. I don't get how it goes with the plot of the movie. It seems more to me like a song that would go with a movie about a revolution.
sharePersonally I'm freaking out right now reading the various sites guessing about the lyrics of this song.
Hasn't anyone heard of the move "Silent Running" (1972)?????
Wikipedia (though not reliable) says that the song was written for the movie Silent Running and sung by Joan Baez. Not for anyone else.
Hollywood recycled the song for other movies since the lyrics are rather "generic". I remember it was common especially for TV as well.
Am I right kiddies?! :-)
I stand corrected. I finally found out that this group (Mechanics) used a similar title but few use the correct title to differentiate it:
"Silent Running (On Dangerous Ground)"
*sigh* 'taint the Joan Baez song written in 1972. When I was just a wee lad of 12.
i have seen paul carrack lead singer of mike and the mechanics live a number of times and he always says the same thing when performing silent running and he always mentions this movie, i always imagined it would be a sci fi coz of the lyrics but it is definately this movie, nothing to do with the awesome bruce dern movie
shareYoutube the M+ The Ms Silent Running video and you'll see clips of the movie mixed into an X-Tro type film of a young boy named Tommy, celebrating his birthday with his mother, and whose father needs help from him; he spends time at his window, peering wistfully into the night because his dad isn't there to celebrate with him; dad has important work to do, you see.
Later, a friend of his father suddenly appears, giving him a skeleton key, and vanishes, leaving Tommy to stare up at the night sky out the front door. Going upstairs, he peeks into a keyhole, preparing to use the key.
Apparently, Tommy's father has something to do with a bunch of rad-suited men in possession of a brilliantly shiny object, like the one in Tommy's father's room: a white cube sitting on a table.
Mike + The Mechanics are intercut, singing the song while being photograped in various poses, and whited out stylistically. In several shots, Mike sings from the cube, his head bobbing like a hologram, and other times it's Tommy's father. Daddy needs Tommy's help, and asks him to come with.
Finally, mom, having heard the noise from upstairs, bursts into the room just in time to see Tommy, in his pjs, teleport in a flash of blue/white light and static. She screams and can do nothing. In the end, Mike + The Mechanics wrap up on stage, in front of an appreciative audience, who cheer mightily. Happy ending (for some).
Apparently, according to my friend Ian, the original On Deadly Ground was a sci-fi film, but production was halted partway through, the script completely rewritten, and changed to an action film with dramatic elements. What little they show in the video of the original is mixed with a couple of shots of the remake, with the scientist rolling on the ground, dodging spotlights.
The sci-fi part ends like the original X-Tro, with the father, who'd been missing for some time, coming back to claim his son, and both teleport off of earth, leaving the man's wife reeling from the shock of her son and mutated, alien husband disappearing before her disbelieving eyes.
One wonders if the original, TV-style footage will ever make its way to video. An extra on the Choke Canyon DVD, perhaps?
Did you know that that 'Man in Black' at the beginning of the video that gives Tommy the key to the attic is actor Billy Drago?
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Hasn't anyone heard of the move "Silent Running" (1972)?????
A classic, under rated gem. The environmental premise was decades ahead of its time. A fine effort from SFX wizard Douglas Trumbull in his first job as director.
I think the Joan Baez song was called 'Rejoice to the Sun'.
You can't palm off a second-rater on me. You gotta remember I was in the pink!