2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

A beautiful, confounding picture that had half the audience cheering and the other half complaining. Kubrick clearly means to say something about the dehumanizing effects of technology, but exactly what is hard to say, but it. is an astounding visual experience—one to be enjoyed, if possible, only on the big screen. It's technological accomplishments set a new standard for science fiction films.

The story can be synopsized, but can it be understood? For the first half hour or so, we are treated to the sight and grunts of a group of early humanoids, circa 4 million years ago. Kubrick uses actors in ape suits plus a few real animals, and they happily cavort as vegetarians in their prehistoric world. Then a large black monolith appears and seems to be calling to the apes. The moment they touch the ebony slab, the peaceful simians become carnivorous, territorial, and begin using the bones of their prey as weapons to keep other apes away from their small domain. A bone is tossed in the air, begins to revolve in slow motion, and the film jumps 4 million years forward to 2001.

The rotating bone becomes the rotating spaceship Orion. Dr. Heywood Floyd (William Sylvester) is a scientist aboard the spaceship on his way to a lunar station. When he is questioned by Russian colleagues about why they have been banned from the space station despite having an agreement with the U.S., Dr. Floyd says he has no idea why they are not allowed. He arrives at the station and talks to several Americans. It turns out he knows full well why the Russians have been kept in the dark, but he has been forbidden to speak of it to anyone other than people cleared on the highest classified level.

There has been a tremendous discovery, and the U.S. government fears that any leak of the "discovery" might cause a panic back on Earth. Dr. Floyd and his compatriots use a lunar buggy to go to the site and come upon the monolith that is, as near as they can determine, 4 million years old. They approach the edifice, which lets out an ear-piercing screech that seems to be in the direction of Jupiter.

Dissolve to a year-and-a-half later, as a spaceship makes its way to Jupiter. David Bowman (Keir Dullea) and Frank Poole (Gary Lockwood) run the ship with the help of HAL 9000 (Move each letter back one letter in the alphabet and see if you recognize the initials.), the most sophisticated computer ever devised. The voice of HAL (Douglas Rain) has a pleasant tone but with the slightest malevolent edge. (Martin Balsam had originally recorded the voice but was replaced.) There are three other men in a deep freeze, and neither Poole nor Bowman knows the real mission. HAL knows, but he has been programmed not to tell them until they reach their destination. Poole and Bowman take care of the minor business aboard the ship, exercise, and try to keep from going nuts as HAL runs the voyage.

The computer is not supposed to ever tell a lie or make an error, so they take it as Gospel when HAL says there is a malfunction in the spaceship's antenna. They plan to go outside and do an on-site check. On Earth, the men at mission control report that HAL is wrong and that it is impossible for such a thing to have happened. Poole and Bowman wonder now about the efficacy of their on-board computer. Poole goes outside the spaceship, and HAL arranges to have the lifeline cut. Poole is floating in space, and Bowman attempts to rescue him but fails. At the same time, HAL shuts off the units that are keeping the deep-frozen astronauts alive. Bowman tries to get back on board but is being stopped by the machinations of HAL. He finally gets back on the ship by manually overriding the computer. Once on board, Bowman cuts off the electrical system that keeps HAL going and now learns about the slab found on the moon.

The ship approaches Jupiter, and Bowman sees a slab go past his ship. The next sequence has Bowman immersed in a light show, a vast array of many-colored oceans and seas and skies and explosions, none of which he can fathom (and all of which were sheer delight to the drug-laden viewers of the late 1960s, who thought this movie was heaven-sent). Next thing he knows, he is in a bedroom circa 1700, where he discovers an old man, himself at age 100. Bowman plays both characters, who have an enigmatic conversation. Then a monolith appears in the room and moves toward the bed. Finally, an embryo that looks vaguely like Bowman is seen floating toward Earth as the film concludes.

For sheer spectacle, it may be unsurpassed; for storytelling, it stays as dark and deep as the monolith that is its focal point. Kubrick was delighted by the confusion the movie caused and maintained that he deliberately kept questions unanswered because he wanted to pique the curiosity of audiences. The rebirth of Bowman at the film's end has been thought to signify the next leap forward of humankind, but that is still open for discussion. Some have said that it broke new ground by creating a new film "language." 2001 continues to annoy and delight audiences years later, and its real meaning cannot be explained to anyone's liking.

The casting of Lockwood, Dullea, and Sylvester, three undynamic actors (in these roles), must have been deliberate, as Kubrick didn't want anything in the way of his vision (whatever that was). The movie has many Woody Allen-like jibes at Howard Johnson's, Hilton Hotels, and others. Clarke's short story was first made into a novel, then into the screenplay that MGM financed for $6 million. The budget kept rising, and the studio feared a disaster. They didn't reckon with Kubrick's vision. Made at a cost of only $10.5 million, the film began to build slowly but eventually took in almost $15 million in North America, then about half that upon re-release in the slightly shorter version (141 minutes) in 1972. 2001: A Space Odyssey was followed by a sequel in 1984, 2010. Awards Understandably, the movie won the Oscar for Best Special Effects in 1968, and was nominated for Best Direction, Best Screenplay, and Best Art Direction. It also took the BFA Awards for Best Cinematography, Best Sound, and Best Art Direction.

Music Made at Boreham Richard Wood's British Studios in England, it featured many classical works as the background score: Aram Khatchaturian's "Gayane Ballet Suite" (played by the Leningrad Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Gennadi Rozhdestvensky), Richard Strauss's "Thus Spake Zarathustra" (played by the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Karl Boehm), Johann Strauss's "Blue Danube Waltz" (played by the Berlin Symphony, conducted by Herbert von Karajan), Gyorgy Ligeti's "Atmospheres" (played by the Southwest German Radio Orchestra, conducted by Ernst Baur), Ligeti's "Lux Aeterna" (played by the Stuttgart State Orchestra, conducted by Clytus Gottwald), and Ligeti's "Requiem for Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano, Two Mixed Choirs and Orchestra" (played by the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, conducted by Francis Travis).

Cast:

Performer, Character

Keir Dullea, David Bowman

Gary Lockwood, Frank Poole

William Sylvester, Dr. Heywood Floyd

Daniel Richter, Moonwatcher

Leonard Rossiter, Smyslov

Margaret Tyzack, Elena Robert

Douglas Rain, Voice of HAL

Production, Credits

Producer, Stanley Kubrick

Director, Stanley Kubrick

Screenwriters, Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke (based on the short story "The Sentinel" by Clarke)

Editor, Ray Lovejoy

Cinematographers, Geoffrey Unsworth and John Alcott

Production Designers, Tony Masters, Harry Lange and Ernest Archer

Art Design, John Hoesli

Special Effects, Stanley Kubrick and Douglas Trumbull