THX 1138

THX 1138 (also spelled THX-1138). George Lucas, dir. USA: American Zoetrope (prod.) / Warner (dist.), 1969 (completion), 1971 (US release). Based on Lucas' student film, THX-1138-4EB (vt ELECTRONIC LABYRINTH)[1]). George Lucas and Walter Murch, script; story by George Lucas. Francis Ford Coppola, exec. prod.

Features a technocratic, computerized, white and aseptic underground culture. Note esp. the sequence in which THX (Robert Duvall) is trapped and tortured by machines and machinelike men. Novelized by B. Bova (see entry under Fiction). Cf. and contrast METROPOLIS and A BOY AND HIS DOG (listed in this Category) and E. M. Forster, "The Machine Stops" (listed under Fiction). THX is discussed in TMG[2] by L. Heldreth (see under Literary Criticism) and by V. Sobchack in Limits of Infinity/Screening Space (see Sobchack's Index).[3] For THX in dialog in the psychiatrist booth, see ELIZA entry. For possible influence of THX 1138, cf. and contrast handling of the motifs of the Underworld and escape in the 2015 EX MACHINA.

For an update on the evolving reputation of the film, see the tribute upon the death of Robert Duvall in 2026, here.[4]

RDE, initial, and finishing 18Feb26