The Black Hole 1979

The Black Hole 1979

Ah... movie nostalgia... What a wonderful feeling.  Since this is hopefully just a trip down memory lane for any proper sci-fi geek or child of the 80s, I will keep this review short and sweet.  The Black Hole directed by Gary Nelson came out in 1979, before I was born by the way, and was a staple Disney movie for me and most of the TV audience throughout the 1980s and early 90s.  It is now considered a science fiction classic and had some notable talent.  The Director Gary Nelson is most known for countless TV movies and his work on Disney movies and series.  I suppose he put on a good show with fun effects back when the film was new, but I don't think the directing stands out in any significant way.  The Director of Photography Frank Phillips was another Disney regular in the 1970s and he pulled some fun tricks with floating robots, but his best DP credit still has to be the 1971 childrens' classic Bedknobs and Broomsticks.  The score by John Barry is pure space gold, you might know him as the kinda creator of the James Bond theme song!

On the other hand, there are some good performances by some famous  actors.  The villain in the story Dr. Reinhardt, Maximilian Schell a famous German actor, delivers a really creepy performance as a scientist totally gone bonkers.  The biggest star from my childhood memory has to be the man who played Norman Bates, Anthony Perkins, coming out as a good guy.  He plays a scientist who is dead set on finding life or the next big discovery, but in the end sacrifices himself to save his colleague.

Yet in my view the stars of this movie have always been the robots.  These lovable characters are well voice acted, funny, and have more personality than the rest of the cast combined.  I think the two main 'bots were voiced by Slim Pickens and Roddy McDowell, but they weren't credited in my bluray copy so I am basing that on internet facts.  Either way Vincent and Bob make The Black Hole a classic gem.

If you like sci-fi and haven't seen The Black Hole then you totally were born in the 1990s!  Compared to today's computer graphically aided masterpieces The Black Hole will seem dated and cheesy, but that is also what makes it a classic.  The shootouts are a joke, but the characters are funny as heck.  Lastly, a few of the scenes of the spaceships viewed from space are still gorgeous to this day, but that can't quite rescue some of the interior settings.  I would recommend this movie to fans of classic science fiction movies or anyone who wants to do a Mystery Science Theater reenactment in their living room.