Amazon.com video review:
Outland is another in a long line of Westerns retooled
for science fiction. Writer-director Peter Hyams (Capricorn One,
2010, Timecop) restages High Noon in outer space,
with Sean Connery as O'Neil, the marshal for a settlement on one of
Jupiter's moons. While investigating the deaths of some miners,
O'Neil discovers that mine boss Peter Boyle has been giving his
workers an amphetamine-like work-enhancing drug that keeps them
productive for months--until they finally snap and go berserk. When
Boyle sends killer henchmen to neutralize the lawman, O'Neil is unable
to get the miners to back him up. Outland is no classic, but
it offers solid suspense in an otherworldly atmosphere. Also starring
Frances Sternhagen, James B. Sikking (Howard on television's Hill
Street Blues), and John Ratzenberger (later to become famous as
Cliff on the sitcom Cheers). --Jim Emerson
Amazon.com video review:
Outland is another in a long line of Westerns retooled
for science fiction. Writer-director Peter Hyams (Capricorn One,
2010, Timecop) restages High Noon in outer space,
with Sean Connery as O'Neil, the marshal for a settlement on one of
Jupiter's moons. While investigating the deaths of some miners,
O'Neil discovers that mine boss Peter Boyle has been giving his
workers an amphetamine-like work-enhancing drug that keeps them
productive for months--until they finally snap and go berserk. When
Boyle sends killer henchmen to neutralize the lawman, O'Neil is unable
to get the miners to back him up. Outland is no classic, but
it offers solid suspense in an otherworldly atmosphere. Also starring
Frances Sternhagen, James B. Sikking (Howard on television's Hill
Street Blues), and John Ratzenberger (later to become famous as
Cliff on the sitcom Cheers). --Jim Emerson
