Amazon.com: Colossus:Forbin Project [VHS] : Eric Braeden, Susan Clark, Gordon Pinsent, William Schallert, Leonid Rostoff, Georg Stanford Brown, Willard Sage, Alex Rodine, Martin E. Brooks, Marion Ross, Dolph Sweet, Byron Morrow, Gene Polito, Joseph Sargent, Folmar Blangsted, Stanley Chase, D.F. Jones, James Bridges: Movies & TV

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Colossus:Forbin Project VHS

Eric Braeden (Actor), Susan Clark (Actor), Joseph Sargent (Director) Rated:

PG

Format: VHS Tape

1,530 ratings

IMDb7.1/10.0

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April 13, 1994

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$5.72

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5 star		77%
4 star		15%
3 star		4%
2 star		1%
1 star		2%

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Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2022

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Classic movie, a must watch

Raisuli the Magnificent

Psychiatry at the Lawrence Hall of Science

Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2022

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I told myself and those who follow me that I wouldn't write another movie review, but, well .... here I am.

What can you say about a movie whose opening shot is that of a children's science venue, where young minds go to learn about astronomy, biology, and all sorts of other science stuff?

Not much.

Apparently the user terminal for Colossus is at the LHS, and as I write this I wonder if maybe there weren't some young hackers in the lower level of the LHS screwing for Forbin and his crew and laughing it up as they pretended to be Colossus.

Truth be told this is more psychiatry dressed up as science fiction. I about laughed when Forbin tells his crew "I'll pretend to have a mistress..." and then eyes the hottest woman in the room.

In short Colossus is an allegorical psychiatrist who is trying to get Forbin to "settle down" and have sexual relations with a woman. He or it uses "negative reinforcement" by nuking a city and threatening to do the same to the rest of the planet Earth if he or it doesn't get what he or it wants.

Neat.

I guess the problem I have with this film, other than the obvious psychiatric allegory, is that from a purely "technical standpoint" with the film's own reality, is that even though the thing is sealed in a mountain, it's still drawing power. So you throw some breakers or toss some industrial strength magnets around the thing, live off grid for a few years, and your rid of it.

From the psychiatric point of view you learn to love your doctor and bed a woman while he watches you, violating all of your privacy and decency to see if you have any sexual abuse issues with females. It's pretty tiring stuff, but given that nearly all science fiction and fantasy films are about psychiatric issues in the "real world", it's not surprising that a lot of money went into this thing.

The reason is because in the 1970s and 1960s psychology and psychiatry were seen as the cure all for everything. Well, lots of counter examples to that, but that's Hollywood's thinking, and that's how trash like this gets made.

And contrary to the director's commentary, given that PC's today have more RAM than ever before (measured in gigabytes if not terrabytes) and given the processing power of today's computers that make my old 386 from 1987 look like an abacus, with storage measured in terabytes, one is hard pressed to see any real computer creativity or decision making that's not taking its marching orders from human beings. And this comes from a man who visited the Lawrence Hall of Science back in 1975 some years after it first opened. I still remember playing that Star Trek game on the old teletypes. Ah, memories.

I'd seen bits and pieces of this film over the years, wondered why it was so nihilistic and in its own way dystopic, so I bought a copy to watch it from beginning to end. And I'm hard pressed to understand why this film gets all kinds of praises. If you were seeing it for the first time back in 1971 then I can understand that perspective some. No one knew where computer processing power would go, and from an early 1970's perspective things seem ominous.

But stripping away the veneer of "therapy media" and seeing the great and all powerful psychiatric Oz throwing levers and switches behind the curtain, you see a real kind of warped thinking about mankind's problems and how they're solved by violating a man's dignity of watching him have sexual relations, shower, go to the bathroom, and what not. And that's pretty much the allegory that this movie tells.

Otherwise it would have been more plot driven, and more grounded in physics, electronics, electrical engineering, and looking at how to out think a machine. Having been on computers since I first went to play on the teletypes at LHS, and having been abused with psychiatry for just as long thanks to "friends", "friends of family" and so forth, I think I can give a Robert Townsend rating by giving this movie "da finga".

Seriously, movies are pretty vapid once you look at the psychological and psychiatric formula they rely on, and this one is pretty much a prime example of how the scifi genre hit the psychiatric abyss in the 1960s. Professionally well done, but otherwise a piece of garbage.

One person found this helpful

A Strange Machine. The Only Winning Move is Not to Build It.

Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2022

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Before Skynet...Before WOPR...Before The Cylons.. This was A Early Warning about Letting Artificial Intelligence get Out of Control; Even Before that, There were the Star Trek Episodes 'The Ultimate Computer' and 'The Changeling' that Had Computers that were intended to Serve Mankind being A Threat to Mankind.
Colossus...An American Computer tasked with Running the Strategic Defenses of the United States meeting It's Soviet Counterpart, Guardian; They Exchange Data and Dialogue and discover they are far Superior to The Beings that Created Them...They Become One...They Gain Sentience; They also Know how Imperfect We Humans are..and Use that as Leverage, Along with Control of the World's Nuclear Arsenals; Yes, they can Solve Problems that Man has been trying to Solve...But Make it Clear they will do so UNDER THEIR OWN TERMS! They Hammer that Point Home by Detonating Several Nuclear Warheads, Killing Thousands in an Instant!
The Creator of Colossus, Dr. Forbin, Seems to be The Human Test Subject as Colossus Monitors His every move, Stopping Short of Interfering with His Sex Life, which Forbin is forced to use as A cover for Plans to Shut Colossus down; Two of Forbin's Staff Attempt to use A Simple Program to Overload Colossus, Only to Fail and Be Executed as an Example; The US and Soviet Militaries then Attempts to Sever Control of Their Strategic Missiles from the Computer..That Also Fails; Then Colossus Announces to the World It's Intentions and Terms; It wants to Build Bigger and Better, and Will not Let Humans Interfere with it's Plans; Colossus Informs the World that Free Will is an Illusion that They will not Miss; The Human race will be better under the Rule of Colossus, As long as Humans Accept it; Humans may even come to worship Colossus.
Dr. Forbin Replies 'Never'! And that's how the Movie Ends.
Even though these are Tales of Fiction, Let us all hope that Those Scientists who are now working on Actual AI in the Real World Be Prudent of what This, and Other Films and TV Shows, are Trying to say:
NEVER CREATE WHAT YOU CANNOT CONTROL !

9 people found this helpful

Great sci-fi film

Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2022

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Great sci-fi film.

2 people found this helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Troy

Worth the upgrade from DVD

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 6, 2017

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I had this on DVD in widescreen and the transfer was a little disappointing. I had debated on upgrading to the Blu release by Mediumrare and decided to take the bite as the price was nice. This HD release is worth the upgrade, in my opinion. It has better color and detail while keeping the original ratio. The press materials is a nice extra and it keeps the commentary by Sargent. While not reference quality (a bit soft and out of focus at times but that may be the print), it's a good transfer of a 70s classic.

32 people found this helpful

Andrei s

Safety by M A D (Machine Assured Decree)?

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 31, 2019

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To many the late 60s to mid 70s were a Golden Age for U.S. Sci-Fi & Future based films , -including The Andromeda Strain, Soylent Green, Silent Running, Planet of the Apes, Phase 4, Westworld & this surprisingly still lesser known film ....
With decent budgets usually spent on production rather than actors wages , skilled workers & of most importance Original Ideas .
2008 MediumRare DVD.. As the plot is well described I'll just contribute a few minor details.
The DVD features a good commentary from the films director Joseph Sargent who provides a lot of information regarding the production & shows his appreciation of the tech crew involved,especially Alfred Whitlock "The Master of Forced Perspective" who was largely responsible for the visually still striking (apparent) interior set sizes & convincing glass plate work.
The film was Released in 1970 but filming started in early '68 . The U.S. Presidents similarity to Robert Kennedy may not have been purely coincidental.
Initially various 'Name' actors including Charlton Heston were considered for the part of Forbin before general agreement that the lesser known German born actor Eric Braeden would be more suitable.
The costume design was by Edith Head (Vertigo ,The Uninvited, the Sting) & by mostly advoiding the fashions of the day was of great benefit to the film I feel ,by letting viewers concentrate on the dynamics of Colossus Vs Forbin & the wider implications of this potentially Deadly For All situation.
'Colossus' was the name of a valve based (around 1,700 of them)machine ,under the guidance of Tommy Flowers & William Tutte made at Bletchley Park & in operation from 1943-45 . This was used to translate the German Lorenz cipher code. This machine is often described as the 'Worlds First (Electronic) Computer' .It has been reported D.F.Jones ,writer of the films source novel 'Colossus' (1966) & it's follow up story studied the history & workings of Bletchley Park ,although it was still a UK 'state secret' at the time & not fully declassified for another 20+ years..
This was filmed in Panavision .The DVD audio is '2 channel', DVD in 2:35-1 ratio , the earlier 4to3 'Pan & Scan' edition is fortunately now rarely seen. The DVD print image ,colour & clarity is generally fine with a bit of noticiable wear- The Bluray edition is regarded by most to be an improvement & a worthwhile upgrade for those that highly rate this film.
The disc unfortunately doesn't have subtitles (or any dubbed alternative languages).The other extras are a good Stills Gallery & 'Original Promotional Material'-available by inserting disc into 'A Computer' (all extras available on the newer Bluray edition & the German 2disc DVD/Bluray has a feature on 'The Real Colossus' & a trailer).
The very effective music score is by Michael Colombier. Screenplay by James Bridges .

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4 people found this helpful

M J. Tucker

Not easily surpassed

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 22, 2017

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Like some the their reviewers I saw part of this film on television back in the early 80's. It may of been of television since but hadn't seen it.
Glad I did buy it, will watch again. My partner enjoyed it as well even though she just thought it was just ' another old film'. With themes that are increasingly relevant today AI, runaway technology and our reliance on supposed experts to lead the way.

A solid kick in the pants for smug technology cheerleaders and will make you eye your Alexa connection with a little unease.

Although a little (understandably) dated it holds up well.

The ending isn't cosy, a true what if...film.

The DVD has some still photo extras, no subtitles. The cover is reversible, one side showing the Obey Me mosaic of images, the other a three man silhouette with explosion lines.

10 people found this helpful

Trevor William Douglas

The Best version I have seen.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 14, 2018

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Fantastic print of this 1969 production and featuring a cast of familiar faces with a mostly technical commentary by director Joseph Sargent.
Eric Braeden should have had a better feature film career. Following this he appeared in Escape From The Planet Of The Apes and numerous guest shots before starring as Victor in The Young And The Restless. Susan Clark is terrific and the print is sharp and clear. If you have the previous DVD version, this one is far superior. Look fast for William Wintersole, who also has an uncredited role at the beginning of Sole Survivor, another superb release.

10 people found this helpful

Sussman

Colossus would give HAL a good run for its money

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 22, 2015

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Possible spoilers

Thinking this will prevent war; the US government gives an impenetrable supercomputer total control over launching nuclear missiles. But what the computer does with the power is unimaginable to its creators.

The film is based upon the 1966 science fiction book of the same name Colossus, by Dennis Feltham Jones about a massive American defence supercomputer, named Colossus, becoming sentient after being activated, and the resultant consequences. This is one relatively uncommon movie. It deals judiciously with multifaceted scientific concerns and does so without dumbing down perceptions, nor making any painful errors in trying to keep up with its own narrative. This is a film that shows how Mankind is given the stark choice between the "peace of plenty" or one of "unburied dead".

Turning to the players of piece; the choice Eric Braeden, as Dir. Charles A. Forbin, was excellent he really brings presence to the screen. He does not suffer fools, even if it is the United States President. His co-star Susan Clark as (Dir. Cleo Markham) makes for an intelligent love interest, and their on screen chemistry is very good. As for Colossus, it is at its spooky best when the viewer reads his short to the point Q and A. When Colossus gains a voice I feel it detracts from the overall menace of “sentient behaviour”.

I first saw this movie as child, and really had impact on me – if anything I found it a scary concept. I believe, if it is not already the case, then this film should be a Cult classic. Lastly it’s interesting to note the computers shown were not mock ups, but the real thing. A film worthy of a good five stars.

8 people found this helpful

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