2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY

When I first saw this film in 1968, as a CINERAMA movie at the RKO Theatre on Washington Street in Boston, you could still smoke in movie theatres. My smoke that particular night was marijuana instead of tobacco, which probably explains why I had no idea what the fuck was going on except for the amazing visuals and the powerful music which really blew me away. I think I may have nodded off a couple of times as well which didn’t help with my overall comprehension of the plot and the narrative. And there were points in the movie during which there was no sound at all - just total silence, which was very unusual in movies of that era and for a generation raised on television shows with laugh tracks.

So for all those years after, I never got around to watching it again. Until last week (again with the marijuana) and I’m still not sure exactly what message Stanley Kubrick was attempting to deliver with 2001. But it sure is pretty. And I’m even more concerned about the impact of computers than ever.