General News

Disconnect HAL Monday at The Tivoli – 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY ‘Classics on the Loop’

By Tom Stockman | July 4, 2019

“Dave, this conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye.”

2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY plays midnights this weekend (July 8th) at The Tivoli Theater as part of the ‘Classics on the Loop’ series.
Showtimes are 4pm and 7pm. Admission is $7.

1968 was a watershed year in American history and cinema. Director Stanley Kubrick and writer Arthur C. Clarke combined their geniuses to create 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, a film that takes humans from the dawn of evolution to the edge of space and time. I saw this movie for the first time at the Esquire Theater on Clayton Road in a 1976 re-release. It was actually on one of their upstairs screens, a tight area that served as a balcony in that theater’s first decades. 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY left this 14-year old dazed and confused – and I still am to this day.

The special effects, even by today’s standards are impressive even though the film is nearly 46 years old. I’m still in awe of the over engineered mechanics on just about every device you see in the movie. The quality of the sets were stunning, if a little clinical (maybe it was thought we’d tidy our acts up by then), and Kubrick’s use of classical music is still unparalleled. And the “plot” is still not an easy one to fully embrace. What I take from the movie is the viewpoint that mankind took a quantum leap millions of years ago when, as only monkeys, it came in contact with the monolith (knowledge? ….God?) and learned how to use tools. We jump immediately to the “future” (at least it was the future in 1968!) and find technically-superior man has now discovered the mysterious monolith on the moon. The subsequent journey to Jupiter presents the opportunity for man’s own tools (HAL-9000) to utterly betray mankind. The viewer finds out that HAL already knew the purpose of the Jupiter expedition, in which an extraterrestrial intelligence could imply the end of the newfound superiority of machines over mankind (we view the scene in which HAL easily defeats Dave in a chess match – I think HAL is well aware of its superior powers over man). HAL has to exterminate this possibility, but ultimately fails due to man’s supreme willpower to live (I guess). Dave is able to complete the journey beckoned by the monolith, and ultimately attains the next quantum leap, to a “star child” which I can only remotely guess as to what that really means. Then again, I could be totally wrong about all this. Maybe I should read the book.

2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY is a great classic and lucky St. Louisans will have the chance to see it in all its big, wide glory when it screens Monday July 8th NOT at the Esquire, but at The Tivoli as part of their ‘Classics on the Loop’ series.