55 Years Ago, Robert Duvall Starred In The Most Pivotal Sci-Fi Movie Of The 20th Century
With THX 1138, George Lucas handed Duvall pure gold.
Without George Lucas, modern cinematic science fiction would look very different. But, without a fantastic leading actor in his first major film, it’s hard to imagine our current landscape of sci-fi at all. When we think of George Lucas and sci-fi, naturally, our minds go to Star Wars, and all the wonderful actors whose careers Lucas launched through that hugely important film. But in 1971, well before Star Wars, a hugely accomplished actor helped Lucas launch his first film. Without Robert Duvall’s fantastic performance in THX 1138, you can forget about the modern history of sci-fi as we know it.
Duvall passed away on February 15, 2026, at the age of 95. He is probably best remembered for his film roles in The Godfather and Lonesome Dove, as well as Apocalypse Now, a Francis Ford Coppola film that George Lucas initially wanted to direct. But, in 1971, before Star Wars and before what we now think of as a kind of modern age of sci-fi cinema, Robert Duvall led George Lucas’ first masterpiece. Today, THK 1138 is even more prescient and arresting than it was 55 years ago, and its excellence partly thanks to Duvall’s immortal performance.
For readers of dystopian science fiction classics — like Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World — aspects of THX 1138 will feel very familiar, but remixed with a brilliant minimalist arthouse flair. This is the kind of science fiction film Terry Gilliam wishes he could have made at some point, or, to put it another way, a non-campy version of 1976’s Logan’s Run.
In an unspecified future, humans are heavily medicated and live tightly controlled lives. Duvall’s titular character, only given the designation THX 1138, works on an assembly line, ostensibly creating robots of some kind. Early in the film, 1138 is picked up for not taking his pills because he and his “mate,” LUH 3417 (Maggie McOmie), are trying to free themselves of an oppressive day-to-day life. Is all of this crystal clear, say, with the kind of exposition you get from something like The Running Man or The Hunger Games? No. Not at all.
His very first feature, George Lucas wrote and directed THX 1138, which he adapted from his 1967 short film, Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB. Today, thanks to the success of Star Wars — and the critical and commercial failure of THX 1138 — this film is sometimes viewed as a stepping stone to the eventual mainstream sci-fi empire Lucas would later create. Few hardcore Lucas fans would say this is his best movie. And yet, it is almost certainly his most artistic and socially astute. And, on top of that, it might be one of Robert Duvall’s best performances, period.
George Lucas and Robert Duvall in 2004.
Part of what makes THX 1138 such a fantastic moment for Duvall is the fact that the entire minimalist nature of the film becomes a perfect vehicle for an actor’s interpretation. Duvall later recalled Lucas’s famous hands-off approach to directing, saying, “[He] leaves you alone...That’s always a welcoming thing...You felt you were in very safe hands.”
How does that play out in the film? Well, because the world-building is never really explained, Duvall’s naturalistic and sympathetic performance becomes the way the audience experiences the story. A common criticism of THX 1138 is that it's a film that puts its social commentary and bleak sci-fi ideas ahead of characters. But the reverse is true. Lucas knew then, as he knew with Star Wars, that character is story. And with the lead character of 1138, there’s more leeway for the actor to develop who that character is and how we, the audience, feel about him.
Duvall in THX 1138.
This is where Duvall’s performance in the film is so critical. Somehow, with very little, Duvall conveys various states of mind that 1138 experiences: complacent, rebellious, confused, boiling with rage, defeated, and so much more. All of this is done with a layer of profound realism unrivaled in similar science fiction films of the time. Duvall’s character and brilliant performance could be likened to Patrick McGoohan’s Number Six in The Prisoner, but with the dramatic, eyebrow-raising secret agent spycraft element removed. Instead of making this high-concept movie more hyperbolic and more bizarre, Robert Duvall made a critical choice: He decided to make it more real.
If there’s ever an example of Lucas writing as little dialogue as possible, and allowing his actors to embody and interpret a certain kind of vision, it's this film. It’s one of the most important sci-fi films of the 20th century, but 55 years later, it still feels tragically underrated. And, in the oeuvre of Robert Duvall, this is an incredible performance that hopefully lives on for decades to come.
