From the Rental Vault: The Black Hole

Judging by the December 1979 release date, I saw The Black Hole when I was 15. I remembered next to nothing about it except that I didn't enjoy it very much. I think I liked the novelization better, but that memory may be colored by the fact that I was a big fan of the author, Alan Dean Foster.

Recently viewing it again, I can see why I wouldn't have liked it at 15 -- it's waaaaaay too talky, and even a sci-fi nerdboy like me can only be wooed so far by some snazzy special effects. But when I view it today, I don't find myself better able to pay attention during long talky spells -- I just find more about it to dislike, such as plot holes, laughable dialogue and clunky performances and some absolutely ridiculous set pieces, even in the midst of some neat scenes and effects.

Our story opens as the exploratory ship Palomino makes an unexpected course correction due to encountering the intense gravitational field of a black hole -- an object in space with gravity so strong that not even light can escape it. Scanning the area around the hole, they see a ship they eventually identify as the long-lost Cygnus, commanded by Dr. Hans Reinhardt. The crew explore it and find the Cygnus somehow generates an anti-gravitational field, but their ship is damaged when they drift out of the field. They dock with the apparently deserted Cygnus, only to find Reinhardt has survived but claims the crew abandoned ship when it became damaged by the black hole. He chose to remain and was eventually able to repair the ship as well as develop the anti-gravitational field. He intends to use that field to protect the Cygnus and safely explore the black hole. But as Reinhardt's plans come closer to reality, the Palomino crew discovers all may not be as they have been told.

The Black Hole boasts a pretty strong cast -- Maximilian Schell plays Reinhardt, Robert Forster the captain of the Palomino, Anthony Perkins and Yvette Mimieux two scientists on his crew and Ernest Borgnine a journalist covering the voyage. Some of the physics of the Palomino's problems at the Cygnus and how it returns to the safety of the antigravity field are nicely done, and the Cygnus itself is very impressive. It probably was even more so on a big screen. Several other shots when the big ship encounters a meteor storm rank with probably all but the top pre-CGI special effects.

But as mentioned above, the story is lame and the cheesy dialogue forces these good actors into clunky line readings that ring mostly false whenever the action slows down a little. The movie's use of robots is just bizarre, with an attempt to capitalize on the R2-D2 and C-3PO popularity from Star Wars, as well as the idea that the brilliant Reinhardt can develop antigravity but can't make a sentry robot that doesn't walk like something from Night of the Living Dead. The uncredited Roddy McDowell sounds fine as the Palomino's robot, but Slim Pickens as the voice of an older model serving on board the Cygnus? Really? Whoever scored the shootout scenes paired them with music so wildly inapt you actually notice it instead of it underlining the action -- the cardinal sin of the movie composer.

The Black Hole made $36 million, coming in the top 15 grossers of that year. Today, it's noticeable for being the first Walt Disney film released with a PG rating, the first movie recorded with a digital soundtrack and for the first use of a computer-controlled camera that could scan across matte-painted backgrounds. Other than that, there's not much reason for keeping it from drifting into the black hole of forgetfulness, which I had already allowed to happen once and will now do again.