Colossus - The Forbin Project

  

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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Universal
EAN: 9781417026876
Format: Full Screen, NTSC
ISBN: 1417026871
Label: Universal Studios
Languages: EnglishOriginal LanguageRussianOriginal Language
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
MPN: MCAD26204D
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Universal Studios
Region Code: 1
Release Date: November 23, 2004
Running Time: 100 minutes
Studio: Universal Studios



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Editorial Review:

Product Description:
Dr. Forbins pentagon supercomputer links with its soviet counterpart to hold the world hostage for peace. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 11/23/2004 Starring: Eric Braeden Martin Brooks Run time: 100 minutes Rating: Pg Director: Joseph Sargent



Customer Reviews
Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - Classic science fiction at it's best
I first saw "Colossus: The Forbin Project" at a science fiction convention in the early 1980's, and Imediately felt that this "future history" belonges in the collection of any true fan of the genre. It is truely one of the founding fathers of the "Man vs Machine" era movies.


Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - Cold Logic: Obey And Survive...
This cold war masterpiece is right up there w/ DR. STRANGELOVE, FAILSAFE, and the 80s WAR GAMES. Actually, it may be better than any of these! COLOSSUS: THE FORBIN PROJECT is a cautionary tale about technology, war, freedom, paranoia, and security. I can imagine someone today coming up w/ the "brilliant" idea of centralizing all defensive / offensive capabilities into one massive underground complex. It would solve the world's problems immediately! No more worries! No fears! Society would hum along like a mechanized hive! We would no longer need to think. The central computer would make any / all decisions! Utopia at last! Unfortunately, as in COLOSSUS, we'd probably wind up as a slave race, but isn't that the price of total safety? No cares at all, just drones in the collective! C:TFP might be more real than I ever imagined...


Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - Colossus - The Forbin Project (1970)-Great Sci-Fi Film!
The first time I saw "Colossus - The Forbin Project" was on a 1973 curved screen TV where I could not see it in wide screen. However, it had such a great and timeless plot that I didn't know what I was missing. This film, made in 1970, featured some very dated computer technology but by no means dated sci-fi ideas. An excellent story about what can happen if you turn running your country over to a computer with artificial intelligence, give it the "go/no decision" on use of weapons but no plug to pull when things go very wrong. I recommend this movie for all sci-fans, students of "AI", "consciousness" or sentient computers. This was a great film and extremely well done and thought out for 1970.


Rating: 4 out of 5 stars - Classic Epic Scifi Film
This movie is a fantastic older film and one of my favorites. Having said that, the film is a bit dated and the technology portrayed will seem antiquated and ridiculous.

The basic premise is about a computer system designed to oversee the strategic defense of the United States in a completely logical manner. Predictably, things go wrong very quickly as the machine begins to dictate terms to the same people that built it.

But, the cast and director captures the enthusiasm of people who see technological solutions in what are primarily political problems. Its a great cautionary tale about looking in the wrong place for answers.

This film would also be a perfect candidate for Mystery Science Theater because its so dated. One of my favorite scenes is when they first realize the computer Colossus is thinking for itself and the project lead Dr. Forbin announces that the computer is better than they had designed it to be. In my opinion, this makes Forbin one of the worst defense contractors ever, buy highly entertaining.


Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - COLOSSUS IS THE MACK DADDY

.....Forget Skynet ...forget HAL ...they are pygmies compared to COLOSSUS ...

.....COLOSSUS is a quiet but highly effective little film. It was poorly distributed in its time and never quite found the audience it should have. The film was made right after 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and, although based on a 1966 novel by D.F. Jones, it could almost be a feature-lenght extension of the scenes aboard The Discovery with HAL 9000 conspiring against the humans. It was one of the foremost of the 1970s films that took up the theme of machines and our technological systems having become so perfected that they end up deciding that they can run things better than we do. (See also The Andromeda Strain (1971), THX 1138 (1971), Westworld (1973).

.....Although probably the 1960s was the only point such a film as this could have ever been made. It is hard to think that such an incredible premise would ever suceed in the 1990s and beyond where the computer has become seamlessly intergrated into the everyday world. For a start not only does Forbin build a system that seemingly has no shut off switch, but he seals it off inside an impenetrable bunker ...and without, it appears, ever having turned it on or done any tests on it. Moreover, what seems almost impossible to believe, the military seems perfectly happy to turn over the running of the entirety of the US military complex to this untested machine. Not too surprisingly the machine starts exhibiting errors within moments of its operation ...yet the creator of this system has no means of being able to do anything about it. In a modern version Forbin would surely be regarded as the villian and lionized for his incompetence for designing such a system, however here he remains the hero of the show.

.....Nevertheless on its own terms it is really one of the most unassuming and perfect of all lesser-budgeted of films. It was directed by Joseph Sargent, a former director on TV series such as "The man from U.N.C.L.E., Star Trek and the Invaders". The script is a marvel of economy and Sargent directs with tight precision where absolutely nothing is out of place. The interplays between computer and creator are wonderful. In what must be the most ingenious tying in of a love interest in a SciFi film, Forbin explains to Colossus the need to have his mistress Clark every night of the week for his mental health, in fact using her to relay messages to the CIA, the computer's sarcastic reply is, "I asked need, not want." Although this scene has been cut from the butchered print that screens on the Sci-Fi Channel ...the ending has the machine triumphant, announcing to Forbin, "In time you will come to regard me with not only awe and respect but love." ...Forbin's response is, "Never! Never! ...

.....Eric Braeden is great in the part, as is Susan Clark who balances Braeden with a spry, charming wit.

.....This movie deserves to be preserved and is a must have for the serious collector.