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{{Infobox Film| name = The Black Hole| image = Black hole ver1.jpg| caption =| director = Gary Nelson| producer =
Ron Miller (story)
[Richard Landau (story)
Gerry Day
Jeb Rosebrook
[Anthony Perkins
Ernest BorgnineRobert ForsterJoseph BottomsYvette Mimieux| cinematography = [Frank Phillips| distributor = [Walt Disney PicturesBuena Vista, [1979| budget =| preceded_by =| followed_by =| website =| amg_id = 1:5884| imdb_id = 0078869-->
The Black Hole is a 1979 [science fiction
film directed by Gary Nelson (director) for The Walt Disney Company. It stars
Maximilian Schell, Robert Forster,
Joseph Bottoms,
Yvette Mimieux,
Anthony Perkins, and
Ernest Borgnine. The voices of the main robot characters in the film are provided by
Roddy McDowall and
Slim Pickens. The music for the movie was composed by John Barry (composer). The plot was inspired by Jules Verne's
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Alan Dean Foster novelized the screenplay.
Overview
Widely regarded as Disney's answer to
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (though work on the film was already underway as early as 1975), at $20 million (plus another $6 million for its advertising budgetCinefantastique Magazine, "Black Hole Special Issue", Spring 1980) it was the most expensive picture produced by the company to date. It was generally not well-received by critics, although the special effects were highly praised. The movie earned $36 million at the US box office, making it the 13th highest grossing film of the year. The film was nominated for
cinematography and
visual effects Academy Awards and was notable for being the first Disney film not to have a universal rating, due to mild language (being the first Disney film to include profanity of any type) and scenes of human death never seen in a Disney production before (e.g., Anthony Perkins' character is drilled to death). To that end, it was rated
MPAA film rating system in the U.S. Along with frequent subtexts, there were also metaphysical and religious themes expressed through the film. This film led the company towards experimenting with more adult-oriented films, which would eventually lead to the creation of its Touchstone Pictures arm to handle films considered too mature in nature to carry the Walt Disney label Buzz Cinema - Touchstone Pictures.
Black holes in fiction has been released several times on VHS and DVD. It was also one of the very first Disney titles ever released on video (1980).
Tagline: A journey that begins where everything ends.
Plot
In the year 2130, an Earth exploratory ship, the USS
Palomino, discovers a
black hole with a lost ship, the USS
Cygnus, just outside its event horizon. To solve the mystery of the
Cygnus,
Palomino Captain Dan Holland (Forster); First Officer Charlie Pizer (Bottoms); journalist Harry Booth (Borgnine); scientist and Extra-sensory perception-sensitive Kate McCrae (Mimieux), whose father was one of the
Cygnus 's officers; Dr. Alex Durant (Perkins); and the robot
V.I.N.CENT attempt a dangerous fly-by of the darkened ship. As they come within close range of it, the buffeting they are experiencing due to their proximity to the black hole suddenly ceases. They bring more instruments to bear on the derelict, but do not realize the gravity-free zone is artificial, and as they slip outside it, are almost drawn into the hole.
Some tense moments follow as V.I.N.CENT goes Extra-vehicular activity to close an outboard door that has been compromised while the human crew fights to keep
Palomino from falling into the hole. After they have regained control of their ship,
Cygnus lights suddenly andis illuminated. Though the crew of
Palomino does not know who is aboard, they need parts to repair their ship, and they dock. As they board the ship where they meet its captain, Dr. Hans Reinhardt (Schell), a prominent scientist last seen twenty years ago, and his army of robot troopers, headed by the ominous, mute
Maximillian (robot).
Reinhardt reveals to the
Palomino crew his most ambitious project, for which he has prepared for the last 20 years: to steer the
Cygnus into the black hole and explore its beyond. While most of the crew react with incredulity and skepticism upon this announcement, Durant comes to worship Reinhardt as a hero and is even willing to accompany him into the black hole.
Reinhardt claims he is the only human remaining aboard the vessel. But the
Palomino crew's suspicions are raised as Booth observes one humanoid robot (who walks with a limp) tending an enormous vegetable garden large enough to feed thousands, and Holland observes a "space burial" being conducted by the humanoids. An older robot model similar to V.I.N.CENT, named Old B.O.B., reveals that the crew of the
Cygnus mutinied against Reinhardt when he refused to obey a recall order and return to Earth. After killing the ringleaders of the rebellion (particularly Frank McCrae, Kate's father), he used the fully automated robots aboard the ship, particularly Maximillian, to lobotomy the remainder of his crew and make them the humanoid robots on the
Cygnus.
Durant and Kate have meanwhile accompanied Reinhardt to the
Cygnus's bridge. Via her implanted ESP module, McCrae learns about Reinhardt's crimes and informs Durant, who immediately checks the bridge personnel and is shocked to find the accusations true. When Durant confronts Reinhardt, he is killed by Maximillian, and McCrae is sent to be lobotomized. While the rest of the crew goes to rescue Kate, journalist Harry Booth attempts to escape alone in the
Palomino, but Reinhardt shoots the ship down. The resulting collision of the
Palomino destroys parts of the ship. In a twist of fate, an asteroid storm occurs and starts damaging the ship even further, especially the anti-gravity generator shielding the
Cygnus from the black hole's effects.
The forces caused by the black hole cause the ship to fall into ruin. When Maximillian and Reinhardt plan to escape the
Cygnus in a probe ship which they have used to scan the black hole, the large video screen on the bridge falls on Reinhardt and pins him down to the control panel. When Reinhardt calls for help from Maximillian, the robot does not come to his master's aid and goes to the probe ship.
The fight between V.I.N.CENT, the
Palomino crew (who escape the fight thanks to V.I.N.CENT) and Maximillian (who is defeated) leaves Old B.O.B. damaged beyond repair, and he parts ways with V.I.N.CENT as he shuts down for good. Holland, Pizer, McCrae, and V.I.N.CENT escape aboard the
Cygnus's probe ship, but discover that Maximillian had pre-programmed it to enter the black hole itself.
Ending
The film's ambiguous and rather cosmic ending, not unlike that of
The Day After Tomorrow (TV special), has been the subject of some debate. As the
Palomino survivors reach the bottom of the black hole after a harrowing flight, they appear to enter Heaven and
Hell. Does The Black Hole still suck? Movie review by Joshua Moss, June 2, 2000. We see Reinhardt condemned to eternal imprisonment in the metal body of Maximillian in Hell (a sequence foreshadowed in Booth's line early in the film, that the Black Hole was like something "right out of
Dante's Inferno"), then the crew of the
Palomino are guided by an
angel through Heaven. Eventually they emerge from a white hole into what appears to be a new universe.
The film doesn't make it clear if the crew is literally journeying through Heaven and Hell, or if they've entered another dimension.
In the novelization of the book, Kate's ESP links the minds of the
Palomino's crew and allows them to survive (after a fashion) as the atoms of their bodies diffuse and are scattered throughout the universe. The comic book version of the film bypasses the whole issue of what happens inside the black hole by having the crew enter the black hole on one page and emerging apparently unharmed on the next page into a universe where they encounter alternate versions of Reinhardt, Old B.O.B. and Maximillian.
The Black Hole theatrical release history
US release dates
- December 21, 1979 (original release)
- March 6, 1982
- August 16, 1985
- December 25, 1990 (11th Anniversary edition rerelease)
Video release history
- 1980 (VHS & laserdisc)
- May 10, 1981 (VHS (UK only))
- August 3, 1984 (VHS & laserdisc)
- April 20, 1985 (VHS & laserdisc)
- August 22, 1985 (laserdisc (Japanese version))
- 1986 (VHS and laserdisc)
- 1987 (videodisc (Chinese version)
- 1989 (VHS and laserdisc - Walt Disney classics)
- 1990 (VHS and laserdisc - 11th Anniversary Edition (re-release))
- June 18, 1997 (laserdisc)
- May 27, 1999 (VHS & DVD)
- May 7, 2000 (DVD (Japanese version)
- May 17, 2000 (videodisc (Chinese/Japanese version)
- June 8, 2002 (VHS & DVD)
- January 5, 2006 (DVD 5-box set)
- 2007 (DVD 6-box set, Blu-ray DVD)
Cast
* Not credited on-screen.
Plot holes
The Black Hole contained a number of factual errors relating to space, and at least one major mistake in dialogue. During the (re)discovery of the
Cygnus, Kate McCrae states that it held the same mission as the
Palomino: to search for "habitable life" in the universe. Other issues included glowing-red meteors (which are, in reality, cold rocks) and the appearance of the crew in the vacuum of space without space suits, yet without asphyxiating from a lack of oxygen, or suffering from a lack of pressure. (It has been rumored that suits were designed but refused by the cast because of their appearance.)
The producers of the film addressed these issues in various magazine articles prior to the release of the film. It was stated in
Starlog magazine that the black hole had accumulated an atmosphere, in addition to all the debris that was continually showed spiraling into it in the film, and that this atmosphere was breathable by humans, at least for short periods. The glowing meteors were said to be glowing because of friction they encountered while flying through that atmosphere. Neither of these are scientifically plausible, although
The Black Hole is, at root, an action/adventure story rather than a work of serious science fiction.
Soundtrack
Highlights of the score, as conducted and composed by John Barry, were released on an LP by Walt Disney Records in 1979. It was the first-ever digitally recorded score for a film, although using digital equipment different from what is used today. Because of the early low digital bit-rate used during recording, the soundtrack has never been issued on CD, although it is rumored that such a release is in the works. In the meantime, a CD-quality version of the soundtrack can be purchased and downloaded through
iTunes.
As issued, the following tracks were listed on the album:
- "Overture" (2:27)
- "Main Title" (1:46)
- "The Door Opens" (3:38)
- "Zero Gravity" (5:53)
- "Six Robots" (1:59)
- "Durant Is Dead" (2:31)
- "Start The Countdown" (3:51)
- "Laser" (2:15)
- "Into The Hole" (5:00)
- "End Title" (2:34)
Trivia
- Along with Star Trek: The Motion Picture, this was one of the last few mainstream Hollywood productions to have an overture (although it could only be heard in 70mm prints).
- The robot name "V.I.N.CENT" is supposed to be an acronym of "Vital Information Necessary CENTralized". B.O.B.'s name stands for "BiO-sanitation Battalion," while S.T.A.R.'s is an acronym for "Special Troops/Arms Regiment."
- The robot Maximilian was already named before the filmmakers cast actor Maximilian Schell as Dr. Hans Reinhardt.
- An alternate ending was conceived but never shot. The final scene would have involved a slow panning out from what would be revealed to be the Sistine Chapel painting of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling#Creation. Kate's face would be recognizable in the background of the painting, suggesting that the crew experienced the beginning of time. The scene would end showing Kate looking up at the painting, suggesting that the Palomino crew did eventually return safely to Earth.
- The name of Dr. Reinhardt's ship comes from the first black hole that was discovered, which was found in the constellation Cygnus.
- In his last-ever interview (transcribed in the book, What if our world is their heaven?), Philip K. Dick referred to this movie as "crap."
- This was The Walt Disney Company's first PG-rated production, and its second overall release with that rating. (The first was the sports drama Take Down, an outside production Disney distributed in early 1979.)
- Although Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope had popularized the use of computerized motion control photography miniature effects, The Black Hole was largely shot using the old-fashioned technique of models on wires in front of painted backdrops. The film was something of a swan song for many special effects artists from Hollywood's "golden age", and although their techniques were hardly cutting-edge the results were widely praised.
- The film's opening titles, with their vertigo (medical) music and graphics, were inspired by the Alfred Hitchcock film Vertigo (film).
- When the Palomino first examines the Cygnus, the rear of the model of the Cygnus has structural differences from the model used throughout the rest of the film, including the first silhouetted shot of the Cygnus.
- One of the S.T.A.R. robots was used in a short screen test of a project that would eventually become Tron (film).
- The track "Zozobra" by post-metal/hardcore band Old Man Gloom contains samples of dialogue from the movie. The track "It's Not Too Beautiful" by electronica group The Beta Band utilizes a section of the film's overture.
- The meteor storm sequence was used as background during the science fiction portion of Dreamfinder's School of Drama at EPCOT Center's Journey Into Imagination ImageWorks (Disney) entitled Acrobatic Astronauts in Galactic Getaway. Smith, Dave, Disney A to Z: The Official encyclopedia (New York, 1996: Hyperion), p. 151 Children would perform behind a bluescreen and their performance would be shown on monitors with the meteors crashing through the ship.
External links
References
The Black Hole
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The Black Hole
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The Black Hole (1979)
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Directed by Tibor Takács. With Kristy Swanson, Judd Nelson, David Selby. An atomic research experiment goes awry in St. Louis, Missouri unleashing not only a big black hole, but ...
Black Holes - Introduction
This site is intended for students age 14 and up, and for anyone interested in learning about our universe.
The Black Hole - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Black Hole is a 1979 science fiction movie directed by Gary Nelson for Walt Disney Productions. It stars Maximilian Schell, Robert Forster, Joseph Bottoms, Yvette Mimieux ...
Black hole - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A black hole is a region of space in which the gravitational field is so powerful that nothing, not even light, can escape its pull after having fallen past its event horizon.
BBC News | Sci/Tech | The home-made black hole
A physicist has suggested that a peculiar type of black hole could be made in the laboratory. ... Tuesday, November 16, 1999 Published at 16:04 GMT Sci/Tech The home-made black ...
YouTube - The Black Hole film clip-two
clip of an action packed scene from The Black Hole, fantastic Sci-Fi movie from 1979. It wasn't a big hit in theaters but its good entertainment.
