The Black Hole

The Black Hole is a 1979 science fiction movie directed for Walt Disney Productions by Gary Nelson . It stars Maximilian Schell, Robert Forster, Joseph Bottoms , Yvette Mimieux, Anthony Perkins, and Ernest Borgnine. The voices of the main robot characters in the film are provided by Roddy McDowall and Slim Pickens. The music for the movie was composed by John Barry. The plot was derived from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The film caused controversy when it had shown some violent scenes when it was first released.

Apparently Disney's answer to Star Wars, at $20 million it was the most expensive picture produced by the company to date and their first to be given a PG rating, which was the source of additional controversy. It was not well received by critics and did poorly in the box office, although the special effects and matte work were praised. The film was nominated for cinematography and visual effects Academy Awards and is now considered a classic science fiction film of the period.

This first PG-rated Disney film led the company towards experimenting with more adult-oriented films, which would eventually lead to the creation of its Touchstone Pictures arm to handle films considered too mature in nature to carry the Walt Disney label.

Plot

An Earth exploratory ship, the USS Palomino, discovers a black hole with a lost ship, the USS Cygnus, on its event horizon. To solve the mystery of the Cygnus, Palomino captain Dan Holland (Forster), his first officer Charlie Pizer (Bottoms), journalist Harry Booth (Borgnine), scientist and ESP-sensitive Kate McCrae (Mimieux), Dr. Alex Durant (Perkins), and the robot V.I.N.CENT board the ship where they meet its captain, Dr. Hans Reinhardt (Schell) and his army of robots, headed by the sinister Maximillian.

Reinhardt, a prominent scientist last seen twenty years ago, claims he is the only human aboard the vessel. But the Palomino crew's suspicion are raised as Booth observes one humanoid robot (who walks with a limp) tending an enormous vegetable garden and Holland observes a "space burial" being conducted by others. An older version of V.I.N.CENT aboard the Cygnus, Old B.O.B., reveals that the crew of the Cygnus mutinied against Reinhardt when he chose to keep the Cygnus in proximity to the black hole. After killing the ringleaders of the rebellion (particularly Frank McCrae, Kate's father), he used the fully automated robots aboard the ship, particularly Maximillian, to lobotomize the remainder of his crew and make them the humanoid robots on the Cygnus bridge. Durant is killed and McCrae is sent to be lobotomized when they discover this truth. While the rest of the crew goes to rescue Kate, journalist Harry Booth attempts to escape alone in the Palomino, but Reinhardt destroys the ship. The resulting firefight between the Palomino's crew and the Cygnus robots renders the ship vulnerable to the gravitational stresses caused by the black hole, which destroys the ship. Holland, Pizer, McCrae, and V.I.N.CENT escape aboard the Cygnus's probe ship, which Reinhardt had preset to enter the black hole itself, believing there was another universe through it. As the Palomino survivors reach the bottom of the Black Hole, they discover that have crossed over into an alternate dimension in which exists Heaven and Hell. As Reinhardt is condemned to eternal damnation (encased forever in the metal body of Maximillian), the crew of the Palomino passes through Heaven, encountering an Angel along the way, and then journeys on into a new reality of existence.

Trivia

The robot name "V.I.N.CENT" is supposed to be an acronym of "Vital Information Necessarily Centralized".