In the future, sex and reproduction are prohibited, but mind-altering drugs are mandatory to enforce the compliance of the citizens in dangerous and demanding tasks. Emotions and the family are taboo. All the workers wear identical white uniforms and shave their heads for the sake of uniformity. But the police are androids dressed in black and there are robed monks. People have no names—just a number with a three-letter prefix.
Working at Central Video Control Centers, SEN-5241 (Donald Pleasance) and LUH-3417 (Maggie McOmie) monitor the city. LUH has a male roommate THX-1138 (Robert Duvall), who works in a factory producing android police. At the end of his shift, a loudspeaker praises everyone for losing only 195 workers last period, when the competitors lost 242. On the way home, he stops at a confession booth and mumbles about party and masses under the portrait of OMM-0000, who looks remarkably like Jesus. A soothing voice congratulates him on being a true believer in the blessings of the State and the Masses, and exhorts him to work hard, increase production, prevent accidents, and be happy.
At home, he takes his drugs and watches TV while masturbating. LUH has monkeyed with his meds, and he has developed nausea, anxiety, and sexual desires. THX and LUH have sex. Later, he is confronted by SEN, who wants to be his roommate. But THX files a complaint. Without drugs in his system, he falters during a hazardous phase of his job and the Control Center engages a mindlock on him. Later, THX and LUH are arrested. THX is given drug therapy. When he meets with LUH, she reveals that she is pregnant.
He and SEN are sentenced to prison. Most prisoners are drugged and content, but they find an exit and are joined by SRT-5752 (Don Pedro Colley). THX and SRT are separated from SEN and trapped by the police in a Control Center, where THX learns that LUH has been consumed and her name assigned to her fetus in a growth chamber. THX and SRT steal cars, but SRT crashes. THX is pursued by androids on motorcycles, but they exceed their budget and are called back. Warned that the surface is uninhabitable, THX nevertheless climbs to the surface and sees the setting sun.
The film was directed by George Lucas, his first, and produced by Francis Ford Coppola from a script by Lucas and Walter Murch. It was developed from Lucas’s 15-minute student film called Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB, made when he was at the USC School of Dramatic Arts. It was a joint venture of Warner Brothers and American Zoetrope. Warner Brothers disliked the film and made four minutes of cuts. The music was by Lalo Schifrin. It was not a success until George Lucas became famous for Star Wars.
Some of the dialogue was copied from Richard Nixon’s speeches. Most of the cast was required to shave their heads. Maggie McOmie cried but did it. Much of it was filmed in the unfinished tunnels of the Bay Area Rapid Transit System, the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, and the Marin County Civic Centre designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Stuntman Ronald Hambleton crashed his motorcycle, flipped over, and landed on his back. He was perfectly fine, but angry with the people he thought had run into the shot to help him. One of the robots was played by Johnny Weissmuller Jr.
Most reviews were unfriendly, except for Roger Ebert. It received a nomination at the 1971 Cannes Film Festival. Later, when Lucas had Skywalker Ranch to work with, he produced a director’s cut with more background details. THX and 1138 appear throughout Lucas’s work, supposedly based on his phone number, but some say THX is Sex, LUH is Love, and SEN is sin. THX 1138 was a license number in American Graffiti. The sound of the motorcycles was women screaming in the bathroom. Needing extras, Lucas turned to the Synanon Drug Rehab Facility, where people’s heads were already shaved.
The image of OMM in the confessional booth is from “Christ Giving his Blessing” by Hans Memling (1481). This was David Ogden Stiers first film. One of the motorcycle cops ad-libs, “I think I ran over a Wookie back there.” Later, Lucas made good use of the word. This was American Zoetrope’s first film. The ladder to the surface was really horizontal concrete with rebar in it. The huge control room was the Circuit Switch Room of San Francisco’s Pacific Bell Telephone Company. The place was about to be dismantled because the whole technology had become obsolete.