A tense, moody, atmospheric, dark and claustrophobic film with excellent cinematography and brisk pacing accompanied by a rousing and suspenseful musical score.
Directed by Peter Hyams
Written by Peter Hyams
Produced by Richard A. Roth, Stanley O'Toole
Cinematography: Stephen Goldblatt
Edited by Stuart Baird
Music by Jerry Goldsmith
Production company: The Ladd Company
Distributed by Warner Bros. (through Columbia-EMI-Warner Distributors)
Running time: 109 minutes
Budget: $18 million (approx)
Box office: $17–20 million
Cast
Sean Connery as Marshal William T. O'NielPeter Boyle as Mark Sheppard
Frances Sternhagen as Dr. Marian Lazarus
James Sikking as Sergeant Montone
Kika Markham as Carol O'Niel
Nicholas Barnes as Paul O´Niel
Clarke Peters as Sergeant Ballard
Steven Berkoff as Sagan
John Ratzenberger as Tarlow
Bill Bailey as Hill
James Berwick as Rudd
Norman Chancer as Officer Slater
Stuart Milligan as Officer Walters
Hal Galili as Officer Nelson
Anni Domingo as Officer Morton
Manning Redwood as Officer Lowell
Angus MacInnes as Hughes
Eugene Lipinski as Cane
Pat Starr as Flo Spector
Sharon Duce as Prostitute Attacked By Sagan
Marc Boyle as Nicholas Spota
Richard Hammatt as Russel Yario
P. H. Moriarty as Hitman #1
Angelique Rockas as Maintenance Woman
Doug Robinson as Hitman #2
Titanium ore mining outpost Con-Am 27, operated by Con-Amalgamate on the Jovian moon of Io.
Federal Marshal William O'Niel is assigned to a tour of duty at the mining colony.
Miners begin dying while suffering psychotic episodes.
Illegal selling of amphetamines takes place to increase productivity and bonuses.
Marshal O’Niel refuses to look the other way.
The new marshal now has a target on his back.
Trailer
This is not some bright and breezy optimistic scenario fueled by an eager spirit of discovery and exploration. Federal Marshal William T. O'Niel is assigned to a one-year tour of duty in a place infused with a dark and gritty pragmatism motivated by profit and self-interest. Corporate capitalism has accompanied and spear-headed humanity’s venture into outer space, the beginnings of which we are witnessing even in our own time as venture capitalist billionaires bounce about in zero-g and private enterprise takes over functions once performed only by NASA and state entities.
“Somebody help me get it out of my suit!”
Later while receiving a report on the above incident, O’Niel is informed by Sergeant Montone that “it happens every once in a while up here.”
“Things run smooth, they make their money.”
During the meet and greet session with the new marshal in town, Mark Sheppard, the head of the mining colony, boasts that since he took over as general manager of the facility, productivity has broken all previous records. There is a definite purpose behind his words and that is to provide the new marshal with a message. Sheppard points out that O’Niel is simply to there to “have a pleasant tour” and he’ll discover that “like every other mining town, there's never much trouble” and that “good work only comes from contented people.” The underlying message from the general manager is that the new marshal’s job is not to create waves. The exchange of looks between Sheppard and O’Niel suggests that the message has indeed been received loud and clear but foreshadows an inevitable conflict if and when the proffered advice is not followed.
Sheppard’s final comment, “Drop by my office; we'll talk some more” seems to imply that any doubts on O’Niel’s part will be sorted out and that he’ll be made to understand by this “powerful ass-hole” that his purpose is to simply to ensure that “things run smooth” so that those in charge “make their money.”
“I just can't take it anymore. That's what it amounts to.”
Later, O’Niel learns via a video message that his wife, Carol feels she cannot raise their son Paul on Io and that their relationship cannot endure the constant move from one assignment / posting to the next. Despite the assurances “that the next place will be different” she knows full well “it never is, it can't be.” Carol has decided to leave with their son to the Jupiter space station to await a shuttle that will take them back to Earth where Paul can have a real childhood and “a chance to breathe air, real outside air.”
While O’Niel struggles within to cope with his new posting on Io and with sorting out his priorities in terms of work duties and his commitment and responsibilities to his family, another another incident involving a miner occurs. On this occasion, a miner named Cane has entered a lift to the mine without wearing his work-suit, and as a result dies horribly from decompression. He too seems to have suffered a psychotic episode, the cause of which we are well aware from the drug deals that have been taking place.
During a debriefing session among the security personnel, Cane’s death is dismissed as having had to be a suicide seeing that the airlock had been sealed from the inside. Suddenly, the atmosphere becomes a bit more tense as O’Niel asks if Cane had left a note, otherwise how would they know for certain it was suicide? It appears, however that O’Niel has been assured that the verdict of suicide is the only explanation, but it is obvious that asking difficult questions is not part of established procedure on Io.
O’Niel next pays a visit to the cynical and acerbic Dr. Lazarus in order to continue his investigation of the recent deaths whereby “yesterday, a man went into the atmosphere without his pressure suit” and “a couple of days before, another man cut his suit open on purpose.”
As O’Niel aks Lazarus for “a report of all of the incidents happening over the past 6 months,” he is now definitely set on the path of “becoming a nuisance.” To whom and why will soon become clearer.
While these incidents and the difficulties on the personal domestic front occupy O’Niel’s mind, Montone comes across as being someone who understands what he’s going through and that he will be there for him. One has to wonder at his motivation behind telling O’Niel to call him if he needs anything, even just to talk. It seems that Montone is perhaps trying to gain O’Niel’s confidence and keep tabs on this potential trouble-maker.
Just to show that things tend to happen in three’s, there is yet another incident. This one involves a worker named Sagan who is threatening to kill a prostitute he is holding hostage with a knife. The strange aspect of this incident, is that Cane is a crane operator who has been on Io for 11 months, and has “never caused trouble.”
When O’Niel arrives at the scene, he attempts to calm the man and enter the room by the main door, while sergeant Montone makes his way to the room via an overhead air duct. Just as O’Niel completes a countdown to entry, Montone exists the air duct and shoots Sagan dead before O'Niel can have a chance to talk with him. Very convenient indeed!
O’Niel continues the investigation by returning to Lazarus where he discovers there has been 28 such cases in the last six months and 24 in the six month period before that. Go back a further six months and there were only 2 cases. Added to this interesting and suspicious pattern of deaths is the fate of the bodies. Lazarus informs O’Niel that “they usually ship them out on the next shuttle. They wrap them up and jettison them halfway to the station.” Which begs the question: why the haste and why in that manner?
“I did good, didn't l? For a wreck”
Being a synthetic drug, it has to be shipped in. Those who die after using it don’t have autopsies performed on their remains but nobody asks any questions so long as “the workers are producing more” and “the Company's making bigger profits.”
Dr Lazarus’ cynical façade is beginning to melt away as a mutual bond of respect is building between her and O’Niel and as the good doctor realizes that there is indeed at least one person who is prepared to show that he cares about what goes on. Larzarus now has a purpose in her life apart from the meaningless and compliant one constructed for her by the Company.
“I don't want you. I want him.”
O’Niel uses good old police investigative work to uncover the drug ring responsible for distributing the drug to the miners. Employing surveillance cameras, O'Niel observes the obvious connection between Sheppard, Montone and two drug dealing miners with criminal records. One of the miners is Nicholas Spota, whom O’Niel captures after a spectacular chase through the facility. The sheer determination of O’Niel can be gauged by his willingness to plunge his hand into a pot of boiling sauce to retrieve a vial of the drug that had been cast into the pot by Spota.
O’Niel points out to Montone that he is only interested in getting Sheppard and that the sergeant should just keep taking his money and continue “looking the other way.”
“You meddle, I want you to know what you're meddling with.”
O’Niel places Spota in isolation in cell 36. The effect is psychological in which O’Niel lets Spota know that;
• He was in possession of “4 ounces of Polydichloric Euthimal, which is 400 doses.”
• Sheppard had been paying him.
• Given time in the cell he’ll “start to go crazy at night.”
• He might suffocate if the air tether gets knotted.
• O’Niel has witnesses and evidence to convict him.
• Sheppard will just laugh “his ass off” while Spota does his hard time.
O'Niel then confronts Sheppard in his office while he practices his golf putting but the general manager appears to be completely unphased and smugly proceeds to put the situation that O’Niel has found himself in plainly before him. Sheppard points out to O'Niel that he runs a franchise in which he is “hired to dig as much ore as possible out of this hellhole.” He goes on to inform O’Niel that when the workers are happy, they dig more ore. They get more bonus money. When they dig more ore, the Company's happy. When the Company's happy’ so is he. That is the status quo arrangement set by the corporate establishment and when someone like the marshal with his 'big mouth’ tries to upset this system of criminal vested interests they are simply “sent from one toilet to the next.” If they continue to persist with upsetting the apple cart the by vowing to expose the entire scheme, then......
“Marshal. You're dead. Do you hear me?”
Back at Sheppard’s quarters while he is woking on his golf swing on the golf simulator, O’Niel informs the general manager that he “threw the hamburger in jail and the PDE in the toilet.”
Sheppard’s earlier smugness is toned down a bit and is replaced with something like bravado tinged with menace. To his way of thinking O’Niel is not stupid but is obviously crazy and that he is out of his league as he’s chosen to deal with the “grownups.” O’Niel knows full well that he has hit the mark when he informs Sheppard that “whoever sent that shipment will be mad that you lost it.”
As O'Niel leaves Sheppard’s quarters, it is clear that he die is now well and truly cast….
O'Niel has clandestinely arranged to have Sheppard's communications monitored. He observes Sheppard as he contacts his supplier, Bellows aboard the orbiting space station who is obviously less than pleased about what has taken place. It is arranged that professional hit-men will be sent to Io to take care of the marshal. Sheppard also tells his contact that he has an inside man “who'll spread the word.” He assures the contact that O’Niel will not receive help from anyone as “no one here will stick their neck out for anyone.” The contact warns Sheppard that if the hit on O'Niel fails, the next assassins the company sends will be coming after Sheppard himself.
“Don't worry. He's a dead man”
From now on the countdown is really on with the tension being gradually ramped up as the time to the shuttle’s arrival is repeatedly revealed over the 70 hours duration it takes from the shuttle to travel from the space station to arrive at Con Am 27.
Apart from pure self-interest and gain being a motivating factor in O’Niel receiving no support, there is also the element of fear. When O’Niel asks sergeant Ballard how many he can count of from the security force to assist him, the sergeant replies, “well, you see… most of us are...most are young. We have families. I have a family.” There are indeed many ways that those in charge can get at the individual and enforce compliance.
“You're a stubborn son of a bitch”
With the odds stacked against him, why does O’Niel persist with his current course of action? He confides in Dr Lazarus, the only person who is prepared to support him and the only one who can understand. He realizes that he has been sent “here to this pile of shit” probably because those in charge think he belongs in such a place where the “whole machine works because everybody does what they're supposed to.” O’Niel simply wants to know if they are right in their assessment of him and of their ability to force him to be something he didn't like.
Lazarus replies with the observation, “your wife is one stupid lady.” Even O’Niel’s wife failed to grasp the fact that O’Niel as a man has to prove something important about himself to himself and to those closest to him. Somehow he could never explain this adequately to his own wife. Even when she contacts him later and asks him “what is so important?” all he can muster by way of explanation is, “I'm too tired to try to explain.”
O’Niel’s wife questions whether O’Niel can make any difference by doing what he’s doing and that he’s merely giving up his family by pursuing his current course of action. The effect of the enormity of what O’Niel has elected to do is apparent from his demeanor when he speaks to his son, Paulie. His son is the very reason he has chosen to stay on Io and perform his duty as sheriff. By doing what is right will set the example for his boy and hopefully his son will have a future where compromise, corruption, greed and selfishness is not the order of the day.
The countdown is about to run out when the shuttle arrives early. O'Niel observes via the surveillance cameras two assassins disembarking. They are armed and separate from the rest of the miners and proceed to track down their quarry - O'Niel.
“I'm not displaying character...just temporary insanity.”
O'Niel wearing a space suit, exits the facility where he manages to dispatch one of the assassins when Dr. Lazarus traps him in a pressurized corridor. O'Niel then activates a bomb, causing an explosive decompression that kills the assassin.
The second assassin enters the colony's greenhouse where O’Niel tricks him into shooting at a panel he has dislodged and cast down outside the glass. The greenhouse rapidly depressurizes after one of the glass windows is shot out and the assassin is sucked out to his death into the vacuum of space.
A short time later to everyone’s surprise, a wounded and battle-weary O'Niel confronts Sheppard in the bar. Too exhausted to inform Sheppard of his rights before arresting him, O’Niel knocks him out with a punch and then limps slowly and unsteadily out of the bar.
Presumably, Sheppard will either be brought to justice or liquidated by his criminal associates, or the entire criminal executive arm of Con-Am will face prosecution. Whatever the case, one single individual who tried to do the right thing may indeed have made a difference.
“You were a good friend”
O'Niel's tour of duty is now at an end and he is free to retire. Before leaving on the shuttle to the space station to accompany his wife and son back to Earth, O'Niel bids a fond farewell to Lazarus – his one true friend during his torturous journey to finding himself.
Points of Interest
As to the oft-mentioned reference to Outland simply being a sci-fi rehash of the classic western High Noon story, I say ‘who cares?’ Science fiction lends itself well to incorporating and combining multiple genres such as in the case of this film – sci-fi, western, crime, mystery, murder, detective, thriller and so on. Besides we would be hard pressed to find a totally original idea in any field of endeavor whether it be in cinema, literature, politics, music, art and more.
The character of Dr Lazarus strikes me as the female equivalent of the irascible doctor McCoy from the Star Trek series. One could be forgiven for thinking that had circumstances been different in terms of time, place, situation, circumstances, chronology, etc., Lazarus might have been the perfect partner for O’Niel. Although O’Niel does love his wife, there appears to be a lot more of a connection or synergy between he and Lazarus in terms of understanding, temperament and regard. I bet many of us have at one time met that one person we instinctively know we have a connection with but due to circumstances have been unable to do anything about it.
It is refreshing to see on film a positive male role being depicted in the character of O’Niel. Here is a man who is prepared to stand by his principles and not compromise them by taking the easy option of playing the game and looking the other way when wrong deeds are committed. He is introspective and seeks to make himself a better person by not simply being a part of the collective bovine stupidity of the herd happily chewing the cud of compliance, compromise and collusion. O’Niel is someone who does care in a world that has become jaded and cynical, where wrong-doing is tolerated and where greed and self-interest are the prime motivating forces.
Instead of the expected 21st century depiction of the absent / deceased father / husband, the abusive spouse or the limp lettuce irrelevant goofy male, we have in O’Niel a strong positive role model for his son. And who better to play that character on screen? Why none other than Sean Connery, not as a traditional screen version James Bond-style hero, but as a very human, fallible and vulnerable human being with strength of character.
Outland’s special effects and the depiction of the mining colony on Io employing the use of miniatures are very effective.
Outland was released theatrically with the "Megasound" sound system format, a movie theater sound system created by "Warner Brothers." Theaters equipped for Megasound had additional speakers mounted on the left, right, and rear walls of the auditorium. Selected soundtrack events with lots of low-frequency content such as thuds, crashes and explosions were directed to these speakers at very high volume, creating maximum impact for the audience.
Outland was also the first movie to use the “IntroVision” front projection process, which allowed an actor or other live-action element to be sandwiched by a projected background and foreground element, all in the same shot. In the film, the foreground, mid-ground and background elements are combined in the camera, enabling the characters to convincingly walk around miniature sets of the mining colony.
Full Film Link
©Chris Christopoulos 2022
Artemis, Space-X, Virgin Galactic! My, the future of mankind’s venturing into space seems so technologically optimistic, shiny and squeaky clean! Outland probably may prove to be closer to the truth about our presence in space in terms of the grubby and sordid aspects of human nature that will accompany human beings as they depart Earth and spread like a virus through the cosmos. Despite treaties, stay tuned for the inevitable militarization of space, the corporate carve-ups, the spread of neo-venture capitalism and geo-political maneuverings and game play. The ‘alien’ space monsters we will encounter in the future may indeed be ourselves.
Jupiter's moon - Io
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