Silent Running features another unhinged performance from Bruce Dern. He plays Freeman Lowell, a scientists aboard a spaceship looking after the only remaining examples of Earth's plant life as it heads off to Saturn. Lowell has become attached to the eco-system in the spaceship and less with his crew mates who he kills when they receive orders to destroy the plant life. On his own, alienated, staving off…

This was a thoughtful sci-fi story. Bruce Dern appears as a bit of a deranged scientist in what may be his most likable role ever, which says a lot about the roles he has played. He is a caring scientist, except he kills all his companions in a spacecraft. Well, can he still be likable? He has a motivation for doing this which is more than the motivation for his other villains. Here, he means to save plant life…

A botanist (Bruce Dern) on a deep space mission tries to stop the corporate machine from destroying his small "forest" aboard his inter-planetary freighter. When his shipmates decide to implement the order he takes matters into his own hands. It is vaguely portentous of events yet to come - and has a poignancy about not knowing what you've lost until you haven't got it any more. It's the first film I recall seeing…