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The Black Hole



The Black Hole
(1979)

Director: Gary Nelson
Writers: Jeb Rosebrook & Bob Barbash (story)
Cast: Maximilian Schell, Anthony Perkins, Robert Forster, Yvette Mimieux, Ernest Borgnine, Joseph Bottoms
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi

1979's The Black Hole
is Disney's attempt to cash in on the Star Wars phenomena. The movie rips off several key ideas from Star Wars, most notable are the two 'cute' talking robots that look like R2D2. The lead robot sounds suspiciously like C3P0 with a soft spoken British actor Roddy McDowall providing voice.
V.I.N.CENT as the bot is called, even has the same know-it-all pretentiously annoying personality of C3PO.

Then there's the running laser blaster battle in the corridor. The laser blaster sound effects sound just like the famous scene from the first Star Wars. If all this isn't enough the digitally recorded music score (reportedly the world's first) has one score for the laser blaster fight scenes that sounds very similar to the triumph score used in Star Wars. The piece is called 'Laser' Give it a listen.



The movie itself ranks up there as one of the most stupidest sci fi's ever made. It's bad enough that they get the most elemental science facts wrong, like being able to breathe in space! and meteorites that glow red hot like a sun!



"In 2014, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson deemed the film to be the least scientifically accurate movie of all time."

But the worst is the lack luster script and acting that is just this side of a two dimensional universe. The only actor who had life in him was
Maximilian Schell. Schell plays a colorful mad scientist, who's hell bent - literally - to travel through a black hole with his ship of robots...very reminiscent of Disney's Captain Nemo in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Perhaps some of the dismal acting can be attributed to Disney having the entire movie looped in the studio. It's hard for an actor to deliver their lines naturally if they are watching themselves on a screen and trying to match the movement of their mouths. Looping a film is best not done.

The one saving grace is the visuals which really do look good. But that's not enough to keep the film from slipping down a gravity well.