THX 1138

"Mr. Lucas's film looks like a slightly old-fashioned anxiety dream—but if you can accept that (and you should), it becomes very potent material indeed."

"The movie's strength is not in its story but in its unsettling and weirdly effective visual and sound style."

"The satiric stabs and stunning design have a hypnotically unsettling effect."

"Muddled and hopelessly artsy, but at least Lucas got it out of his system early on."

"The real showcase is Lucas' still-percolating talent, which is apparent throughout the film."

"Duvall is almost Buster Keatonesque here, his seemingly blank face bespeaking subterranean subtext."

"A classic science fiction movie and one of the most remarkable debuts of the 70s."

"Masterpiece? I’d hazard to say so, for as much of what it says to what it leaves to the viewer."

"Overall the film is a little hazy, and inclined to fall back on familiar messages about humanity and inhumanity... But visually it is often extraordinary..."

"Lucas offers the 25th century as an arch, campy place, a conception not satiric enough to be accepted as comedy and not quite insightful enough to be taken seriously."