Silent Running

Amazing companions on an incredible adventure... that journeys beyond imagination!

1972 • 89 min • Adventure · Science Fiction · Drama

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Synopsis

After the entire flora goes extinct, ecologist Lowell maintains a greenhouse aboard a space station for the future with his android companions. However, he rebels after being ordered to destroy the greenhouse in favor of carrying cargo, a decision that puts him at odds with everyone but his mechanical companions.

Our family guide

Best from age 8

Movie Knight Score

652 reviews

33 Reviewers · 3 · 53%
64 Audience · 649 · 47%

In a future where Earth’s plant life is gone, a botanist aboard a space station tends the last forests. When ordered to destroy them, he rebels, embarking on a lonely journey with his robot companions to preserve nature.

Violence & peril: 2/10
Language: 1/10
Drinking, drugs & smoking: 0/10
Romance & sensuality: 0/10
Scary moments: 3/10

Heads up

Space station environments can feel confined
Some intense moments of chase and destruction
Themes of loss and the fate of humanity

What it models well

Environmental preservation
Care for living things
Loyalty and friendship
Defending what's right

Talk about it after

The importance of environmental conservation
What makes someone a friend?
Consequences of human actions
Life in isolation and loneliness

Written by the Movie Knight editorial team for Silent Running. Our own words, our own scoring — always double-check against your family's standards.

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Top billed cast

Director: Douglas Trumbull • Crew: Deric Washburn, Michael Cimino, Steven Bochco

Trailers & clips

Silent Running (50th Anniversary) | Bruce Dern Teaches Poker to Robots

Silent Running HD Trailer Remastered and Reconstructed

Silent Running (1972) - Saying Goodbye Scene (10/10) | Movieclips

Silent Running (1972) - Saving the Forest Scene (9/10) | Movieclips

Silent Running (1972) - Running Over Huey Scene (8/10) | Movieclips

Silent Running (1972) - Silent Running Scene (6/10) | Movieclips

Silent Running (1972) - Burying the Body Scene (5/10) | Movieclips

Silent Running (1972) - Through Saturn's Rings Scene (4/10) | Movieclips

Reviewer notes

Not recommended
A botanist (Bruce Dern) on a deep space mission tries to stop the corporate machine from destroying his small "forest" aboard his inter-planetary freighter. When his shipmates decide to implement the order he takes matters into his own hands. It is vaguely portentous of events yet to come - and has a poignancy about not knowing what you've lost until you haven't got it any more. It's the first film I recall seeing...
Geronimo1967, TMDB Community

Recommended
This was a thoughtful sci-fi story. Bruce Dern appears as a bit of a deranged scientist in what may be his most likable role ever, which says a lot about the roles he has played. He is a caring scientist, except he kills all his companions in a spacecraft. Well, can he still be likable? He has a motivation for doing this which is more than the motivation for his other villains. Here, he means to save plant lif...
drystyx, TMDB Community

Not recommended
Silent Running features another unhinged performance from Bruce Dern. He plays Freeman Lowell, a scientists aboard a spaceship looking after the only remaining examples of Earth's plant life as it heads off to Saturn. Lowell has become attached to the eco-system in the spaceship and less with his crew mates who he kills when they receive orders to destroy the plant life. On his own, alienated, staving off ma...
DanDare, TMDB Community