The Black Hole - Review - Part 1

With Dwayne's Robot Romper Room concentrating on the robots from Disney's Black Hole, I thought I would write a review of it.  However, I have not seen the movie since it was in theaters.  That fact made me want to do a two part review.  The first part -- this one -- would be my recollection of the movie from that time.  The second part would be from me watching it today on DVD.

The 14 year old Doug's review:

It seems to me that there was a time when Science Fiction was taking over the westerns.  After all, Gene Roddenberry pitched Star Trek as Wagon Train in Space.  Thus, many of the western stories were being recreated in scifi.

One common western trope was that of a town run by man with a secret of some sort.  He hires the sheriff who is ruthless and keeps order.  The town is ruled with an iron fist of the sheriff.  In this town is a wily old prospector who steers clear of the trouble in town.  Then, some outsiders show up looking for someone or something.  With the help of the old prospector, they solve the mystery.

That sounds very much like the plot of the Black Hole.  The ruthless sheriff is the robot Maximilian. The ruler of the city is the Dr. Reinhardt.  The prospector is of course B.O.B played by Slim Pickens.  The group coming to visit the town (the Cygnus) is the crew of the research ship USS Palomino.   It pretty much fits.

So, the 14 year old in me remembers fondly this plot.  Whether it is actually the plot or not, I will find out when I watch it.  I remember liking the robots.  At least, B.O.B. and V.I.N.Cent.  I was not suppose to like the evil robot Maximilian.  I found him quite ominous.  In this way, the story and the movie worked for me.  I remember very little about the movie except the robots and Dr. Reinhardt.

I have the thinnest memory of Anthony Perkins in the movie.  (I had not seen Psycho yet, so I did not know him from anything.)  Ernest Borgnine was in it.  I have no memory of him in it at all.  I had been a McHale's Navy fan (in reruns) so I knew who he was.  Thus, the protagonists other than the robots, left little impression on me.  That scares me a little.

The movie sucked the 14 year old me in.  The fairly simple plot, the good characterizations of the robots, and the awe of the spectacle were enough.  I am sure the effects are cheesy by today's standards, but they worked for me back then.  Maximilian scared me to the proper degree.  Thus, most of the elements worked for the 14 year old me.

The only thing that I did not like about the movie was the end.  Not sure what they were going for or what they intended.  I left the theater with a what was that? feeling about the ending.  In fact, I was so curious as to what they meant by the ending, that I read the novelization of the movie.  Well, to be honest, I just read the last chapter of the book.  I am still not sure what they were thinking, but reading the book made a little more sense, but just a little.

Fighting away all the negatives, I think I would give it 3.5 stars out of 5 (the modified netflix system).  It was entertaining for the 14 year old me of the time.  We will see if it holds up to the nostalgia waves that are likely clouding my judgment of the film.