In 1979, Disney were also throwing their hat into the post-STAR WARS boom in much the same way Paramount were with STAR TREK – THE MOTION PICTURE with a revived script which was originally titled SPACE STATION ONE.
Retitled THE BLACK HOLE, the film was budgeted at $25 million, nearly three times the cost of STAR WARS and chronicles the tale of a deep space exploration vessel, the USS Palomino.
On board are Captain Dan Holland (Robert Forster, JACKIE BROWN, ALLIGATOR), Officer Charles Pizer (Joseph Bottoms), Dr Kate McCrae (Yvette Mimieux), Dr. Alex Durant (Anthony Perkins, PSYCHO, MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (1974) and journalist Harry Booth (Ernest Borgnine, THE WILD BUNCH amongst others) A robot, V.I.N.CENT (voiced by Roddy McDowall, PLANET OF THE APES) aka Vital Information Necessary, CENTralised)) is also on board.
It’s the 22nd Century and whilst the Palomino is travelling through space, the crew encounters a black hole – and more significantly, a ship called the USS Cygnus, which apparently disappeared two decades before. Going in closer to investigate, the ship is damaged from the gravitational pull of the hole, but manage to break free and make their way to the Cygnus, where they dock.
On board, they discover Dr. Hans Reinhardt (Maximillian Schell) and an ominous red robot called Maximillian. Kate knows that her father was a crew member on board and asks if he is still alive, but Reinhardt informs her that he has died.
They stay on board to ensure they repair the ship, but an old robot, BOB (Slim Pickens, BLAZING SADDLES) confides in VINCENT that there is more to the ship’s history than meets the eye…
Although the climax of the film is a little weird, THE BLACK HOLE is one of the better and more elaborate science fiction offerings of the 1970s to have emerged from that period. It was an attempt by Disney to branch out into more mature fare – and up to a point it works.
John Barry’s score is one of the best he ever did and a little different from the James Bond scores he was doing at the time (he scored MOONRAKER around the same time)