THX 1138 - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[tom]

This film was made as a result of George Lucas' student film short project at USC, Electronic Labyrinth THX 1138 4EB (1967). Having won significant praise and attention for what was, at the time, an unconventional short, Lucas was given the opportunity to direct a feature-length version starring Robert Duvall, produced by his mentor Francis Ford Coppola under his newly formed production company American Zoetrope. Zoetrope was a financial failure, as was this movie, but the attention was enough to win Lucas the opportunity to make American Graffiti (1973), the success of which paved the way for the opportunity to make Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977).

[ivan]

For the final sequence, in which THX is climbing up to the surface, it is a simple perspective trick. It is not a ladder, but rebar embedded in concrete. The cast members are crawling along a horizontal surface. By tilting the camera to appropriate angles, it appears that the characters are climbing upward.

[violet]

The interior of the face of the robot that THX1138 is working on resembles C-3PO from Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977).

[jeffrey]

The music playing during the end credits is the first movement from Johann Sebastian Bach's St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244.

[chad]

George Lucas considers this to be one of the greatest achievements of his career.

[phyllis]

There are several scenes which violate the "180° rule" in filmmaking. This is intentional to convey a sense of disorientation and confusion which THX experiences, now he has emerged from drug-induced sedation.

[kenneth]

Though it's obvious that THX works at a factory that makes his society's android police officers, the strange levers and thickly sealed glass screen he stands in front of at his job should be familiar to those who work in nuclear engineering facilities. George Lucas shot the scenes of THX at work in front of a functioning radiation containment chamber, also known as a "hot cell", which was used by those who must handle radioactive materials, like isotopes.