Plot
In the distant future, a man appears who may be the prophet that a long-suffering galaxy has been waiting for.
Release Year: 1984
Rating: 6.5/10 (51,106 voted)
Director:
David Lynch
Stars: Kyle MacLachlan, Virginia Madsen, Francesca Annis
Storyline In the far future, a duke and his family are sent by the Emperor to a sand world from which comes a spice that is essential for interstellar travel. The move is designed to destroy the duke and his family, but his son escapes and seeks revenge as he uses the world's ecology as one of his weapons.
Writers: Frank Herbert, David Lynch
Cast: Francesca Annis
-
Lady Jessica
Leonardo Cimino
-
The Baron's Doctor
Brad Dourif
-
Piter De Vries
José Ferrer
-
Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV
Linda Hunt
-
Shadout Mapes
Freddie Jones
-
Thufir Hawat
Richard Jordan
-
Duncan Idaho
Kyle MacLachlan
-
Paul Atreides
Virginia Madsen
-
Princess Irulan
Silvana Mangano
-
Reverend Mother Ramallo
Everett McGill
-
Stilgar
Kenneth McMillan
-
Baron Vladimir Harkonnen
Jack Nance
-
Nefud
Siân Phillips
-
Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam
(as Sian Phillips)
Jürgen Prochnow
-
Duke Leto Atreides
Taglines:
A place beyond your dreams, A movie beyond your imagination.
Release Date: 14 December 1984
Filming Locations: Churubusco Studios, Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
Trivia: David Lynch was originally signed to do two sequels to this film, based on Frank Herbert's novels Dune Messiah and Children of Dune. The box office failure ensured that the plans never came to fruition.
Goofs:
Revealing mistakes:
In the morgue scene in Arrakeen, the establishing shot shows two Harkonnen corpses, one in the foreground and one in the background. The body in the background adjusts his head to find a more comfortable position.
Quotes:
[first lines]
Princess Irulan:
A beginning is a very delicate time. Know then, that is is the year 10191. The known universe is ruled by the Padishah Emperor Shaddam the Fourth, my father. In this time, the most precious substance in the universe is the spice Melange. The spice extends life...
User Review
I come to praise 'Dune', not to bury it...
Rating: 8/10
Yeah, DUNE sure is the runt of the Lynch litter but there are still
aspects of it that I really love, even for all its cockeyed,
club-footed awkwardness.
I didn't see this movie for approximately a decade because it had the
reputation, still held in most quarters, of being one of the most
infamous bombs of recent memory. However, despite my initial
indifference I caught it - by complete accident - on free-to-air TV one
night and was immediately hooked from the first sight of its memorable,
unexpected future-baroque production design. From that point on, being
led through the strange world of the Emperor and his entourage on
Kaitain, the oddly-garbed Bene Gesserit Sisterhood, and the Guild
Navigator emissaries in all their variously-staged mutated splendour, I
was hopelessly infatuated with all things DUNE.
Now, I am fully aware that by most conventional definitions DUNE is not
a good film. Actually, since having read all the books in the DUNE saga
I am astonished to think that anybody thought that such a property
could ever be a commercially viable option for mainstream cinema. It
has concepts that tend to demand your full attention, which is mostly
box office poison. However I loved the sheer scope of it, the fact that
I was being bombarded with scores of unfamiliar terms and concepts
which to me had always been the essence of pure science fiction. That
it made for a choppy and often confusing cinematic experience mattered
to me not at all. I was too much in love with the idea of it all and
the weird, alien ambiance which only Lynch could have given the movie.
Atreides, Harkonnens, Mentats, Fremen, Sandworms - I just wanted more,
more, more. Superb cast, alluring music, stunning visuals - all
contributing to an uncommonly arresting, unquestionably unique,
cinematic experience.
For all its failures I can't even imagine what any contemporary of
Lynch might have done with the material. My point is this: David
Lynch's DUNE, warts and all, made me excited enough to want to read all
the books in Herbert's sprawling saga. These volumes had been around
for years. I'd seen them gathering dust in my local public library yet
I felt no compulsion to read them. After seeing DUNE I couldn't wait to
rush down and grab them off the shelves. That's why I'll always defend
the film and why I refuse to write it off as the disastrous failure
that so many regard it to be. In my mind DUNE is a success because it
completely sold me on Frank Herbert's universe - a no more strangely
beautiful, intellectually stimulating nor fascinating one had I ever
seen on film - and compelled me to go ever further into it. I do accept
most of the criticisms that the casual moviegoer has of the film but I
simply can't hate it.
In short, if you are curious about the film and are familiar with all
the bad and discouraging press it has received over the years, yet
remain a fan of exceptional fantasy or science fiction, do not be
discouraged. You may find that it has elements that may just move you,
bewilder you, or tantalise your imagination. You may come to agree,
like a growing number of us, that it really is not so deserving of the
excoriation that it has suffered at the hands - or pens - of its
harshest critics. If you go into it with a forgiving mindset then you
may be well rewarded. And then - if you haven't already - read the saga
itself. It is formidably great!
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