2001: A Space Odyssey [HD] DVD

2001: A Space Odyssey
A mind-bending sci-fi symphony, Stanley Kubrick's landmark 1968 epic pushed the limits of narrative and special effects toward a meditation on technology and humanity. Based on Arthur C. Clarke's story The Sentinel, Kubrick and Clarke's screenplay is structured in four movements. At the "Dawn of Man," a group of hominids encounters a mysterious black monolith alien to their surroundings. To the strains of Strauss's 1896 Also sprach Zarathustra, a hominid invents the first weapon, using a bone to kill prey. As the hominid tosses the bone in the air, Kubrick cuts to a 21st century spacecraft hovering over the Earth, skipping ahead millions of years in technological development. U.S. scientist Dr. Heywood Floyd (William Sylvester) travels to the moon to check out the discovery of a strange object on the moon's surface: a black monolith. As the sun's rays strike the stone, however, it emits a piercing, deafening sound that fills the investigators' headphones and stops them in their path. Cutting ahead 18 months, impassive astronauts David Bowman (Keir Dullea) and Frank Poole (Gary Lockwood) head toward Jupiter on the spaceship Discovery, their only company three hibernating astronauts and the vocal, man-made HAL 9000 computer running the entire ship. When the all-too-human HAL malfunctions, however, he tries to murder the astronauts to cover his error, forcing Bowman to defend himself the only way he can. Free of HAL, and finally informed of the voyage's purpose by a recording from Floyd, Bowman journeys to "Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite," through the psychedelic slit-scan star-gate to an 18th century room, and the completion of the monolith's evolutionary mission. With assistance from special-effects expert Douglas Trumbull, Kubrick spent over two years meticulously creating the most "realistic" depictions of outer space ever seen, greatly advancing cinematic technology for a story expressing grave doubts about technology itself. Despite some initial critical reservations that it was too long and too dull, 2001 became one of the most popular films of 1968, underlining the generation gap between young moviegoers who wanted to see something new and challenging and oldsters who "didn't get it." Provocatively billed as "the ultimate trip," 2001 quickly caught on with a counterculture youth audience open to a contemplative (i.e. chemically enhanced) viewing experience of a film suggesting that the way to enlightenment was to free one's mind of the U.S. military-industrial-technological complex. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

Cast Keir Dullea as Bowman Gary Lockwood as Poole William Sylvester as Dr. Heywood Floyd Daniel Richter as Moonwatcher, the Man-Ape Douglas Rain as HAL 9000 Leonard Rossiter as Smyslov Margaret Tyzack as Elena Robert Beatty as Halvorsen Sean Sullivan as Michaels

Crew John Hoesli - Art Director Hardy Amies - Costume Designer Derek Cracknell - First Assistant Director Stanley Kubrick - Director Ray Lovejoy - Editor Alex North - Composer (Music Score) Stuart Freeborn - Makeup Tony Masters - Production Designer Harry Lange - Production Designer Ernest Archer - Production Designer Geoffrey Unsworth - Cinematographer Stanley Kubrick - Producer Victor Lyndon - Producer Tom Howard - Special Effects Bruce Logan - Special Effects Douglas Trumbull - Special Effects Stanley Kubrick - Special Effects Wally Veevers - Special Effects David D. Osborn - Special Effects Bryan Loftus - Special Effects Stanley Kubrick - Screenwriter Arthur C. Clarke - Screenwriter John Siddall - Draftsman Peter Childs - Draftsman György Ligeti - Featured Music Richard Strauss - Featured Music Arthur C. Clarke - Book Author

2001: A Space Odyssey
Stanley Kubrick rewrote the book on what a mainstream, major-studio motion picture could look, sound, and feel like with this groundbreaking work. At a time when science fiction onscreen meant bug-eyed monsters menacing scantily clad women, 2001: A Space Odyssey was a visually dazzling and intellectually challenging experience. Kubrick abandoned narrative convention to tell four tangentially related stories about man's destiny, reflected in the conquest of space. Kubrick also insisted that a story set in outer space should look like it was taking place in outer space, and his special effects team (headed by Douglas Trumbull) created some of the most stunning visual effects to appear onscreen before or since. Unlike the effects-laden films that followed in the wake of Star Wars, the imagery in 2001 doesn't slow the story but helps move it along, and it creates a genuine sense of wonder about the beautiful, dangerous vastness of space. Kubrick's embrace of avant-garde music and abstract visual textures brought experimental art to an audience that had no exposure to the works of such '60s avant-garde filmmakers as Stan Brakhage or Jordan Belson, and the film's resulting "trippy" atmosphere greatly increased its popularity (and revenue) as a late '60s drug movie. Still as richly thought-provoking as ever, 2001: A Space Odyssey remains a watershed work in '60s cinema and lives up to its billing as "the ultimate trip." ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
 

Arthur C. Clarke: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Original Screenplay (nominated) Ernest Archer: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Art Direction (nominated) Ernest Archer: British Academy of Film and Television, Best Art Direction (winner) Geoffrey Unsworth: British Academy of Film and Television, Best Cinematography (winner) Harry Lange: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Art Direction (nominated) Harry Lange: British Academy of Film and Television, Best Art Direction (winner) Stanley Kubrick: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Director (nominated) Stanley Kubrick: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Original Screenplay (nominated) Stanley Kubrick: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Visual Effects (winner) Stanley Kubrick: Directors Guild of America, Best Director (nominated) Tony Masters: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Art Direction (nominated) Tony Masters: British Academy of Film and Television, Best Art Direction (winner) Winston Ryder: British Academy of Film and Television, Best Soundtrack (winner)

American Film Institute, 100 Greatest American Movies (winner) British Academy of Film and Television, Best Picture (nominated) Library of Congress, U.S. National Film Registry (winner) National Board of Review, Best Picture (nominated)

General Specifications: Language Options: English, French, Spanish Subtitle Options: English, French, Spanish, KO, Por Sound Processing: DD5.1: Dolby Digital w/ sub-woofer channel Additional Features: Commentary by Keir Dulla and Gary Lockwood Channel 4 documentary 2001: The Making of a Myth 4 insightful featurettes 2001: FX and Early Conception artwork Look: Stanley Kubrick! Audio-only bonus: 1966 Kubrick interview condected by Jeremy Bernstein Theatrical trailer MPAA Rating: G DVD Discs Included: 1 DVD Sides: 1 DVD DVD Region Code: Content Length: 148 min