Review of Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)

Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970) is a film I racall seeing in my youth that I have wanted to see again, and with the advent of ChatGPT and the rise of Artificial Intelligence, I figured now was a good time to take a look at this classic film where both the United States and the Soviet Union build autonomous super-computers entrusted with the control of their respective nuclear arsenals, and the pople involved quickly learn what I bad idea that was. My Bonnie Bride had never seen it before, and she and I sat down and watched the film.

Colossus: The Forbin Project poster - IMDB

The opening scenes involve Forbin (Eric Braeden/Hans Gudegast of The Rat Patrol) activating the massive computer and the safety measures designed to protect Colossus’ hardware from being tampered with, then sealing off the bunker within the mountain housing it. The interior is massive in scale, and once sealed off, Forbin is off to celebrate his success with the President of the United States. Shortly there after, they begin to learn just how wrong they were about building such a device, and the futility of shutting it down.

That being said, it is interesting to see (again) how antiquated computer technology in 1970 was, and that Colossus used, among other things, magnetic tape reels (a bit of tech that needed constant cleaning in order to operate). The scenes of Colossus’ interior are, in some ways stunning, including a huge chasm that could only be crossed by a narrow, retractable bridge. Part of the safety measure there is once sealed off, we see that a radiation field is dumped into this chasm as one of the means to protect Colossus from intruders.

As a piece of film-making, it is top-notch in that there isn’t a single wasted shot. Every scene builds on the story; not one second is wasted filler, unlike some movies where there is a lot fo fluff added to extend the film out to 90+ minutes. Each bit works, from Forbin explaining to Colossus the monitoring system now in place to keep track of Forbin, to his need for privacy and a “mistress”, a ploy to be able to exchange information with the outside world monitored by the beast he had created, to the scene were two programmers were executed for attempting to shutdown Colossus. It all builds up to the terror that has been unleashed on an unwitting and unknowing world in the name of peace in our time, and the price that it was truly going to cost...in human lives.

By the way, the scene where Forbin has his first night with his “mistress”, Cleo (Susan Clark), where they are required to strip down to the buff in front of Colossus’ cameras, is exceptionally well done in how objects, like a wine glass, were strategically placed between the actors and the camera in such a way that nudity is implied, but not presented.

The film also includes a lot of familiar faces in the cast including Eric Braeden (aka Hans Gudegast) who also appeared in numerous films, including Escape from the Planet of the Apes; William Schallert (Star Trek “The Trouble with Tribbles”) as Grauber who is seen calmly smoking a cigar in his final scene in the film; George Stanford Brown (Bullit) as Fisher; and James Hong in more films than I can shake a fist at, as Chin. My Bonnie Bride recognized Marion ross (Happy Days) as Angela in the film, whom I failed to recognize (by virtue of never seeing more than a few episodes of that series). The entire cast did a great job in their respective performances.

Colossus: The Forbin Project is an excellent film, and, despite the dated technology used in the film, the story holds up well and can serve as a warning of what could happen in our own future now that the Pandora’s Box of Artificial Intelligence has been opened. And there is no putting that genie back in its bottle. And I agree with something Forbin says in the film: Frankenstein should be required reading for all scientists.

Thanks for stopping by.

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