Outland

Peter Hyams' fantastic directorial eye and superlative visual design make this obvious 'Alien' clone one of the more underrated, if not one of the best, science fiction films of the early '80s. Often referred to as 'High Noon' in space, Hyams, as writer and director, indeed borrowed heavily from the minimalist Western showdown films such as 'High Noon', but also from Budd Boetticher and most certainly the working class ‘trucker in space’ concept of Ridley Scott’s 'Alien'. Hyams’ thoroughly modern stylized visuals elevate this film above a mere copycat picture though. It's a riveting and beautiful-to-look-at sci-fi yarn.

Outland (1981) dir. Peter Hyams
Starring: Sean Connery, Peter Boyle, Frances Sternhagen, James B. Sikking

By Alan Bacchus

Sean Connery plays US Marshal William O’Neil, who is stationed for a one-year tour as chief policeman on the Io mining colony outside of Jupiter. He immediately butts heads with the station manager, Mark Sheppard (Boyle), who wants O’Neil to look the other way from the shady social discretions of his workers – namely rampant drug use and prostitution.

But when a number of workers inexplicably commit suicide or take on aggressively violent tendencies, O’Neil steps in to find justice, thus pitting him against the big corporate interests of the mining company that feeds its employees dangerous amphetamines to get them to work more efficiently.

The first two-thirds of the film build wonderfully to the final act, which fulfills the comparisons to High Noon, a taut homage to Gary Cooper’s dramatic confrontations with the three assassins en route in that film. Hyams’ builds up the tension of this fight not-so-subtly referring to the countdown to the arrival of the next passenger transport ship from earth. Armed with only a shotgun and his guile, and aided by the wily and inventive scientist played by Cheers’ Frances Sternhagen, Hyams’ crafts a terrific Western-style shootout in the bowels of the near-empty space ship.

While the production design of the ship’s interior is indeed intricate in its details, Hyams is not content to lock his camera down and admire the view. He moves his camera elegantly through the space, in and out of corridors and across the stacks and stacks of living quarters, which resemble shelves at a big-box store. Hyams' lighting scheme using primarily visible light sources in the frame certainly doesn’t predate Ridley Scott’s look from Alien, but certainly influences the later work of David Fincher and other fluorescently lit trend films of the '90s. The result is part and parcel to the mood and tone of the film. Watch the inspired design of the space helmets for instance. Each character’s face is lit by a circle of lights inside the helmet, enhancing the drama of the story.

Hyams was also one of the masters of the chase scene. He engineered a marvelous car chase in 1978’s Capricorn One. And despite being in the confines of a clunky tin can in space, Hyams choreographs an even more thrilling running chase through the base station.

If anything, the optical effects show its wear and don’t rise to match the film’s bigger budget contemporaries such as Alien and Star Wars. But for good old fashioned production design, lighting and visceral sci-fi thrills Outland overachieves admirably.

***½

Outland is available on Blu-ray from Warner Home Entertainment.

Hanover Street

Hanover Street (1979) dir. Peter Hyams
Starring: Harrison Ford, Lesley-Anne Down, Christopher Plummer

**½

By Alan Bacchus

A young Harrison Ford in a romantic lead makes this obscure wartime romance an interesting discovery of the past. Peter Hyams, director of some decent ‘70s/’80s action thrillers (Narrow Margin, 2010, Capricorn One), directs this hopelessly tragic romantic war film channeling the sweeping epic qualities of David Lean, unfortunately, at times, with the heavy bluntness of Joe Wright.

Harrison Ford is an American pilot, David Hallerin, stationed in London in 1944. He catches the eye of a beautiful and well mannered erudite British gal, Margaret Sellinger (Lesley-Anne Down), and immediately develops an infatuation with her. An illicit romance starts, dramatized with gentle touches, heavy breathing and all the guilt that follows. Poor Margaret is actually in a happy marriage to a dull but well meaning bore of a man, Paul, played by Christopher Plummer.

Meanwhile, David continues to fly his bombing missions into France, becoming more belligerent and disillusioned about the danger his superiors are putting him in. Coincidentally, David and Paul meet on a secret mission inside Germany and are forced to work together for the cause without knowing their connection with each other. Love, courage and heroism collide with full-on heartbreaking tragedy and exhilaration so often featured in these sweeping epics.

The picture was shot right after Star Wars, so it’s fun to see a young and spry Harrison Ford with maximum charisma, rebellious confidence and foolhardy innocence. He looks damned fine in military garb and Lesley-Anne Down's big doey eyes are also irresistible, so it's not hard to sell us on this romance, which is thrown at us without much set-up other than the fact that they are the two most beautiful people in the room.

Peter Hyams’ trademark photographic look is pastoral beautification personified. His long lenses crush the edges of the frame squeezing out the periphery of the populated London streets to concentrate solely on his two lovers. The opening scene on the trolley where David and Margaret first meet is poorly written, but with such lovely compositions, Ford at his charismatic best and John Barry’s grand swooning score it sets the mood appropriately.

There’s not much on-screen chemistry that isn’t forced down our throats with these other cinematic embellishments. The age and relative obscurity for a Harrison Ford-led picture allow us to excuse contrivances I would normally pounce on.

The third act climax is reverse engineered without much nuance. Out of the blue David is assigned to pilot his lover’s husband on a dangerous mission into France. And for much of the journey they get to know each other without knowing they’re sleeping with the same woman. We see where it’s going a mile away, but Hyams manages to make it all exciting by dulling us to the outrageousness of it all - he even throws in a well choreographed chase scene (also a specialty of his).

Hyams certainly does not reach the mark of the David Lean-inspired romantic grandeur, but with top notch production values and a handsome and young Harrison Ford as an anchor, Hanover Street is rendered watchable. Enjoy.

Hanover Street

Hanover Street (1979) dir. Peter Hyams
Starring: Harrison Ford, Lesley-Anne Down, Christopher Plummer

**1/2

A young Harrison Ford in a romantic lead makes this obscure wartime romance an interesting discovery of the past. Peter Hyams, director of some decent 70's/80/s action thrillers ('Narrow Margin', '2010', 'Capricorn One'), directs this hopelessly tragic romantic war film channeling the sweeping epic qualities of David Lean, unfortunately, at times with the heavy bluntness of Joe Wright.

Harrison Ford is an American pilot, David Hallerin, stationed in London in 1944. He catches the eye of a beautiful and well mannered erudite British gal Margaret Sellinger (Lesley-Anne Down) and immediately develops an infatuation with her. An illicit romance starts, dramatized with gentle touches, heavy breathing and all the guiltiness which follows. Poor Margaret is actually in a happy marriage though, to a dull but well meaning bore of a man, Paul, played by Christopher Plummer.

Meanwhile David continues to fly his bombing missions into France, becoming more belligerent and disillusioned to the danger his superiors are putting him in. Coincidentally David and Paul meet on a secret mission inside Germany and forced to work together for the cause without knowing their connection with each other. Love, courage, and heroism collide with full-on heartbreaking tragedy and exhilleration that goes with these sweeping epics.

The picture was shot right after “Star Wars” so it’s fun to see a young and spry Harrison Ford with maximum charisma, rebellious confidence and foolhearty innocence. Ford looks damned fine in military garb and Lesley-Anne Down's big doey eyes are also irresistible, so it's not hard to sell us on this romance which is thrown at us without much set-up other than the fact that they are two most beautiful people in the room.

Peter Hyams’s trademark photographic look is pastoral beautification personified. His long lenses crush the edges of the frame squeezing out the periphery of the populated London streets to concentrate solely on his two lovers. The opening scene on the trolley where David and Margaret first meet, is poorly written, but with such lovely compositions, Ford at his charismatic best and John Barry’s grand swooning score it sets the mood appropriately.

There’s not much on-screen chemistry that isn’t forced down our throats with these other cinematic embellishments. The age and relative obscurity for a Harrison Ford-led picture allow us to excuse contrivances I would normally pounce on.

The third act climax is reverse engineered without much nuance. Out of the blue David is assigned to pilot his lover’s husband into a dangerous mission into France. And for much of the journey they get to know each other without knowing they’re sleeping with the same woman. We see where it’s going a mile away, but Hyams manages to make it all exciting dulling us to the outrageous of it all - Hyams' even throws in a well choreographed chase scene (also a specialty his).

Hyams certainly does not reach the mark of the David Lean-inspired romantic grandeur, but with top notch production values and a handsome and young Harrison Ford as an anchor, "Hanover Street" is rendered watchable. Enjoy.

2010: The Year We Make Contact

2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984) dir. Peter Hyams
Starring: Roy Scheider, Helen Mirren, John Lithgow, Bob Balaban

***

Let's just get it out of the way: Peter Hyams is not Stanley Kubrick. With that in mind you can then accept the 1984 "sequel" to Kubrick's landmark film as a surprisingly good sci-fi adventure, with Hyams both paying reverence to the original and bringing his own look and tone to the story.

With a more traditional style, "2010" jumps nine years forward from the original film, following Heywood Floyd (played this time by Roy Scheider) and a team of Russian and American astronauts on a mission to find the derelict Discovery spaceship, which was left orbiting Jupiter. Typical of the '80s, late Cold War U.S./Soviet relations provide the ticking clock drama on Earth, as a Cuban Missile Crisis-like conflict in Honduras threatens the mission. Their journey allows them to confront once again the mysterious monolith, which has become active again, and is building towards another phenomenal event.

A technical marvel in its day, with today's eyes, the film has, surprisingly, lost little of its visual power. Richard Edlund's special effects and Albert Brenner and Syd Mead's production design are some of the best of the decade. Eighties cine fan-boys will instantly recognize Hyams' distinct softly lit anamorphic cinematography. Though it's a more formal style, reference is continually paid to Kubrick, specifically in the recreation of the Discovery set, HAL's voice and Keir Dullea returning as Bowman in his red spacesuit.

Roy Scheider as Heywood Floyd is a solid anchor; his warm, amiable persona reminding us of how underrated an actor he was. Solid actors like John Lithgow and Bob Balaban also appear, as well as a young Helen Mirren doing a surprisingly good Russian accent. Hyams smartly stays away from the obtuse cinematic flourishes of Kubrick, though the lack of any discernable overriding scientific or philosophical theme is perhaps the reason why this film has largely disappeared from the pop culture consciousness.

As a result, "2010" is good but not special. The lasting emotional connection in the film is the exploration of the relationship between man and machine — another common theme of the '80s. In the end, as the monolith threatens to destroy our heroes, HAL is given a chance to redeem himself, thus completing with satisfaction his narrative arc from 2001. Enjoy.

This review first appeared on Exclaim.ca