Outland

O'Neil is not amused at being told how to do his job in Outland (1981)

****

Before Walmart become Supercenter in my home town, it was quite smaller, basically Freds in different clothes. In the late 90s, when money became available to me due to the fact I was at that age where I could work and earn money for “movie stuff”. Before $5 bins, four-to-six pack movie features in one sex for peanuts, and those Public Domain 50-pack releases, Walmart had these little holder racks nearby sections like the wall posters holder, notebook shelves, and wallet displays that would hold dvds (mostly barebones releases, skeletal options, with essentially the movie itself and little else). In them, I could find certain movies I had only VHSs on at that time. Outland was one of those sci-fi films that always left an impression on me. 

There are these movies you come across that aren’t all that recognized or critically lauded yet that have their fans nonetheless. I think I first watched Outland on a VHS recording thanks to my uncle. I offer thanks to him on numerous occasions because a lot of films are imprinted in nostalgia as I grew up (Spaceballs, Alien, Re-Animator, Return of the Living Dead, Scanners, etc.) thanks to his influence. Outland was also shown on CBS (I think) sometime decades ago when I caught it for a second time. So in one of the spinning racks was the 1997 dvd release of Outland, which would be one of the very first dvds I would ever own, actually. Still at the time of the late 90s (95 or 96 come to mind, specifically), I was purchasing VHSs, but as dvds came out, I realized they were much easier to store and keep out of the way.

I still have this dvd and was in the mood to watch it again. Alien’s influence on the film is obvious, and I could follow behind other reviewers talking about how this takes its story from High Noon. I will just say, I like the old fashioned approach even within a sci-fi setting and Connery in the lead has ALWAYS (along with a fun supporting part for Frances Sternhagen as the chief medical officer on staff) been why I return. The plot is not all that difficult: on the moon Io, orbiting Jupiter, is mined for titanium. The outpost on the moon is an unflattering, dead-end job for the miners, administrators, and other laborers on staff working to cut as much product for the company as humanly/mechanically possible. Marshalls over the police at the outpost come and go, with Connery’s O’Neil now the new federal marshal, sent in to keep the crime down, soon realizing that the General Manager (a sleazy Peter Boyle) is facilitating ongoing use of a dangerous amphetamine that increases workload (it gives laborers such a rush, they can work twice as long) which has led to record profits and substance mined for the company. 

The effects of the drug are starting to materialize as the laborers using the drug have fallen prey to psychosis and scary hallucinations causing an increase in deaths concluded as suicide until Connery starts to question the startling rise in deaths over a short period of time. Recognizing his police sergeant (James Sikking) is on Boyle’s payroll, and that few on the outpost aren’t corrupted by his influence, Connery’s marshal starts to visualize a no-win situation out of his investigations in the deaths. Soon Sikking is “removed” and a drug pusher’s apprehension (a good chase sequence, a footrace between marshal and criminal, throughout the outpost, coming to an end in the kitchen leads to his arrest) spoiled when he’s killed, leaving Connery with little left against Boyle’s Sheppard. 

Not to be deterred, no matter who questions why he’d play hero, even bother to try to bring Sheppard to justice for exploiting miners in favor of profits, having their bodies jettisoned so no proof of their narcotics use would implicate him, O’Neil will still take advantage of a message left to him (by Sikking prior to his “dismissal”) to find lots of hidden drugs (in cold meat in a food locker, earned the hard way when one of Sheppard’s goons attempts to strangle him with a wire; O’Neil smartly wore a neck brace as protection!), and flush them! So Sheppard loses a lot of narcotics that would not only benefit his continuing mining records but infuriate those producing them to him. Calling in two hired killers, Sheppard will try and make sure O’Neil no longer gets in his way. A conversation between Sheppard and his drug middle man is recorded under surveillance by O’Neil who learns of the hired killers and that one of his own cops is an inside man for the general manager. With no one but Sternhagen’s doc as an ally (and she does assist in sealing off doors that help to push the killers in areas that will help O’Neil vanquish them), O’Neil will need a lot of ingenuity and a little luck to gain any advantage whatsoever. A most satisfying wallop to Sheppard’s greedy, loathsome scowl awaits that bastard and O’Neil has every reason to lay it to his chops hard.

I like the setting, with all the cramped spaces of a constant flow of bodies (included in the mix are hookers for the men needing some female flesh when they’re lonely or in need of cheap gratification), as the essence of a blue collar environment –the gloomy factory arrangement where shifts of workers come and go, beds within these little, sad cubicles reach up stairs multiple levels, and the lunch room areas are seemingly always full –is all encompassing. I can’t imagine your dream as a child is to wind up as a miner/laborer/administrator/cop on some godforsaken moon cutting from the rock for titanium far from home. So imagine how alone you could be if on this moonbase Io without anyone on your side, in a mission of justice to stop the continuance of deaths and trafficking of narcotics to workers as the general manager of the company representing the place hiring killers to take you out? 

I think that bit of plot is pretty good; make the lone hero Sean Connery in tip-top shape, bringing all that star power and screen charisma to the film, and Outland continues to remain something of a cult sci-fi action thriller. I think it has that 80s VHS attachment that many of its ilk casts, an enchantment of memory than left its mark, a film hard to resist if you love those bleak sci-fi features with genre characters iconic. But honestly, despite how many consider it just a mediocre “sci-fi cash in on the Star Wars/Alien craze”, I still find it much to my personal liking. I do have an affinity for these kinds of films, though. I won’t lie: Connery alone (and his good chemistry with Sternhagen and Sikking), the design of the greenhouse and its outer structure, the blue collar approach to the design of the interiors of the moonbase, the large-helmet atmosphere suits (with the lights inside the helmet helping those inside them see), the depressing atmosphere of a life on the base, and the bad effects of the drug all contribute to why I will watch Outland years to come.

What I always thought to myself, though, is I don’t think anyone ever figured O’Neil would be on the moonbase for any prolonged period, nor would he allow this rather pitiful job to ruin his marriage and family. I can’t blame his wife for wanting to leave; could you imagine raising a son on this moonbase??? Connery all alone without them does carry a stain of sadness that doesn’t leave him. Sternhagen’s presence may be the saving grace for O’Neil. He needed somebody, and her sarcastic, cynical, gruff humor was perfect for the location they are currently stuck. She has a charm about her despite her rather snarky attitude that comes out when addressing situations on the moonbase. But O’Neil’s stubborn persistence and heroism leaves its mark on her. They make a fun team.

I wish Sikking had more time in the film, though. I knew he was a goner pretty soon after Connery started drawing in on Boyle. The scene where Connery puts it all together through the use of camera conversation where Sikking, Boyle, and the two drug dealers, linking all to the crime of narcotics, it was a given that anyone who could threaten the general manager’s position would pay with their lives…casualties of business.