# Please help ID these movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 12, 2009, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-id-these-movies/480919 "2009-01-12T16:13:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/46a35a/32.png) [@Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walker_in_Eternity)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-id-these-movies/480919/1 "2009-01-12T16:13:13Z")
There are two films I remember from my childhood that I would like to see again, but have no idea what they were called. The first was a generic sci-fi film produced IIRC after Star Wars Ep IV but before Empire. It had lots of stark white buildings and original series BSG style lasers. Can’t remember much else about it except it had lots of chases and a generic rescue type plot. The second either pre-dated or was a Predator knock off. The aliens looked very similar and the plot was similar except that the pseudo predators used an organic looking throwing weapon instead of the metallic predator weapons. No laser weapons either IIRC. Sorry not to have been able to provide more details, if I remember more I will post again. Maybe someone has a clue as to what these were. Thanks Walker. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-id-these-movies/480919/2 "2009-01-12T16:31:43Z")
Would the first one be “Logan’s Run”? I remember lots of futuristic white buildings, but don’t remember lasers. And of course there was definitely lots of chases, that was pretty much the whole point of the movie. ooh, I need to use my signature on this post! ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-id-these-movies/480919/3 "2009-01-12T18:17:49Z")
#2 is [Without Warning (1980)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081764/), a movie about an alien trophy hunter. Sound familiar? Check this out: The actor who played the alien (whom we get to see only briefly, at the very end) would later play the Predator. ---
**Author:** ![Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/46a35a/32.png) [@Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walker_in_Eternity)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-id-these-movies/480919/4 "2009-01-12T18:55:04Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Would the first one be “Logan’s Run”? I remember lots of futuristic white buildings, but don’t remember lasers. And of course there was definitely lots of chases, that was pretty much the whole point of the movie. > ooh, I need to use my signature on this post! Unfortunately not Logan’s Run is a favourite of mine, but thanks for trying. ---
**Author:** ![Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/46a35a/32.png) [@Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walker_in_Eternity)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-id-these-movies/480919/5 "2009-01-12T18:56:32Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > #2 is [Without Warning (1980)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081764/), a movie about an alien trophy hunter. Sound familiar? Check this out: The actor who played the alien (whom we get to see only briefly, at the very end) would later play the Predator. Thanks, that’s brilliant. I’m also pleased I didn’t imagine the whole thing, no-one I know had even heard of it. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-id-these-movies/480919/6 "2009-01-12T19:16:40Z")
> [@Walker\_in\_Eternity](#): > > The first was a generic sci-fi film produced IIRC after Star Wars Ep IV but before Empire. It had lots of stark white buildings and original series BSG style lasers. Can’t remember much else about it except it had lots of chases and a generic rescue type plot. Any chance that was _V_? I recall some sound FX re-usage from the original _Battlestar_ for that. ---
**Author:** ![Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/46a35a/32.png) [@Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walker_in_Eternity)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-id-these-movies/480919/7 "2009-01-13T09:27:41Z")
IIRC V came later and was a mini series (at least here in the UK), this film I saw at the pictures when I was young. As an additional detail the “baddies” all wore dark uniforms similar to those of the Federation in Blake’s 7. I’m hoping I didn’t dream this. It might have been around the same time as Spacehunter. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-id-these-movies/480919/8 "2009-01-13T11:53:46Z")
There was a _Logan’s Run_ TV series, different to the movie. There was also a _Buck Rogers_ movie, the pilot to the TV series, that had a lot of white buildings. ---
**Author:** ![Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/46a35a/32.png) [@Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walker_in_Eternity)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-id-these-movies/480919/9 "2009-01-13T12:22:35Z")
Thanks. I remember the Logan’s Run tv series and don’t think it was that. It may have been Buck Rogers, but I don’t remember the annoying robot being in it and IIRC the plot was darker than the average Buck Rogers plot. ---
**Author:** ![Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/46a35a/32.png) [@Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walker_in_Eternity)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-id-these-movies/480919/10 "2009-01-13T12:26:02Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > #2 is [Without Warning (1980)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081764/), a movie about an alien trophy hunter. Sound familiar? Check this out: The actor who played the alien (whom we get to see only briefly, at the very end) would later play the Predator. Sadly it doesn’t seem to be available in the UK on dvd, unless it was released under a different name here (as occasionally occurs). ---
**Author:** ![Scoundrel\_Swanswater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@Scoundrel\_Swanswater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scoundrel_Swanswater)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-id-these-movies/480919/11 "2009-01-13T16:22:30Z")
I think you are talking about THX1138, by a young and still promising George Lucas. ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-id-these-movies/480919/12 "2009-01-13T16:29:45Z")
[quote=“Walker\_in\_Eternity, post:1, topic:480919”] There are two films I remember from my childhood that I would like to see again, but have no idea what they were called. It might help if you told us when your childhood was. How old are you? 20? 40? 70? ---
**Author:** ![Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/46a35a/32.png) [@Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walker_in_Eternity)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-id-these-movies/480919/13 "2009-01-14T09:44:58Z")
I’m just about to turn 39. The time of the film was sometime after 1977 and before 1982 IIRC (which I may not given the amount of time that has passed). THX1138 sounds like a promising candidate, I’ll google it and see if the plot is similar to that which I remember. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-id-these-movies/480919/14 "2009-01-14T14:25:38Z")
> [@Scoundrel\_Swanswater](#): > > I think you are talking about THX1138, by a young and still promising George Lucas. For which one? The first movie the OP mentioned? Can’t be, not if the movie he’s remembering was after _Star Wars_. _THX1138_ was made before _Star Wars_. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2009, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-id-these-movies/480919/15 "2009-01-14T15:49:28Z")
Did you see the film in the theater just as it came out, or did you see it in a later release, or did you see it on TV? You could have been as young as 7 when it came out. I’d like to know if it was being released at the time or was already an old film. ---
**Author:** ![Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/46a35a/32.png) [@Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walker_in_Eternity)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-id-these-movies/480919/16 "2009-01-16T15:16:58Z")
As far as I remember it was at the cinema. If it was THX1138 it could have been a re-release on the back of the success of Star Wars. I have googled it and the plot is sort of similar, may have to see if I can track down a cheap vesion on Amazon or something to see if it is what I remember. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-id-these-movies/480919/17 "2009-01-16T15:32:17Z")
There aren’t any lasers in _THX_, though, unless I’m badly misrembering. Chrome-faced cops with gaffi sticks, but no lasers.