Outland (1981)

"I need those files by tomorrow or I'll kick your nasty ... all over this hospital, that's a Marshall joke" Sean Connery
Sure it's "High Noon" in space, but it works well with a very powerful star turn by Sean Connery as a Marshall of a mining town on Jupiter's moon Io. Backing him up are Frances Sternhagen as the "town" doctor and his only help, and Peter Boyle as the bad guy who runs the mine and the drugs that are killing the miners.
Miners are going mad on Io and they are killing themselves in very strange ways(exposing themselves to the outside and being blown to bits) and new Marshall O'Neil(Connery) wants to know why. With the help of the town doctor(Sternhagen, who almost steals this movie from Connery) he learns that a drug that makes you work harder and is very illegal is being given to the works and the town manager(Boyle reeking with venom) is the one getting it to him. Connery then begins to shut the system down.
I won't say anymore, but it is really quite good. The production design has an "Alien" look about it and the tension is very well done. All in all a hidden "gem" worth a look.

"Think it over..."
Released in the space between "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Blade Runner," "Outland" is a decent if slightly lacking film.

The plot concerns Marshall O'Niel (Sean Connery) being appointed the head officer on a mining colony on Io, a moon of Jupiter. As if his grudging family wasn't enough, he's got reports of miners dying after suffering psychotic episodes. With help from his only real ally, Dr. Lazarus (Frances Sternhagen), O'Niel discovers the miners are being supplied with a performance-enhancing drug that has some nasty after-effects. Mine manager Sheppard (the late Peter Boyle), after suffering a loss of product at O'Niel's hands, calls in some corporate thugs to fix things.

Director Peter Hyams (2010, Timecop) has on his side excellent production design and decent special effects for the 80s. But the plot, while inventive, isn't much else. Connery, Boyle and the rest do good with their roles, but the script has some pointless filler and awkward talk. Aside from one excellent chase scene through the station, the action is limited and slow. The film also plods at 109 minutes, with several interesting scenes balanced out by several patches of empty downtime.

Connery, post-Bond but pre-Untouchables, is probably the real saving grace of this film. Whether smart-talking Lazarus (Sternhagen is also excellent), taunting Sheppard (Boyle does what he can with limited screen time), or staring dumbly at his wife's video message, Connery is one of the few actors who makes a credible action hero. He gets hurt, he gets abandoned, he is left on his own to fight the mercenaries, whatever. In the hands of a lesser actor, O'Niel would be generic, but Connery makes him human.

One more thing: bodies explode in this film (probably the only reason it was rated R). You might think I'm telling you this as a warning, but it's also because it's physically impossible.

Overall, you should see the film at least once for its ambiance, but don't expect to be blown away. Good performances and effects can't compensate for slow pacing and limited action.

On a scale of 1 to 10, this film gets a 6.
On a scale of 0.0 to 10, this film gets a 6.4.
On a scale of A to F, this film gets a C-.
On a scale of 1 to 5, this film gets a 3.

Outland
Crime drama in outer space--inside a mining installation squatting on Jupiter's third moon, Io, to be exact. The new Marshal in town, played by Sean Connery, actually arrives with a conscience (and a family that deserts him when the going gets tough, which is apparently right after the opening credits--but the conscience never deserts him) and when he tries to curtail the rampant use of a killer amphetamine that's being smuggled into the colony, it's pretty much him versus, well, everybody. The mine's General Manager, Sheppard, played by Peter Boyle, rules with quiet arrogance and it seems that when he wants a minor inconvenience like O'Niel tagged and bagged, it's best to just step out of the way.

This film is assisted--over twenty-five years later--by four key elements: Sean Connery, Peter Boyle, James B. Sikking, and Frances Sternhagen, not necessarily out of that order. Two of those people don't have all that many scenes (Boyle is effective both in direct confrontation with Connery, and as an unseen controller of his many pawns; and I won't tell you who ends up strangled and bound in a locker), but all these actors slowly reveal their true characters to us as the tension mounts. Sikking and Sternhagen, in supporting roles, each go through very different metamorphoses before the viewer's eyes, and both do wonderfully well at playing people who are not necessarily saying at all what they're thinking.

Special mention should go to Sean Connery, who probably doesn't get enough credit for the tight-lipped, stubborn but honourable old goat he plays in this eerie, claustrophobic film. One of my favourite Connery moments is when he gets home after a hard day's work only to be greeted by a video message from his wife explaining why she has taken the kid and abandoned him. Connery's facial reactions to all the woman's comments say as much as any of his Untouchables rantings--feeling like a dope for not seeing it coming that morning (all the clues were there for him and the viewer); feeling anger and hurt; feeling truly alone; feeling like quiting the job and running after her. But if a silent Connery doesn't work for you, he's got some great lines here, especially when trading dry wit with his one reluctant ally, Sternhagen as the crusty old doctor.

Meanwhile, the sets, the music, and the action sequences still maintain a vigorous pulse even today. I wish O'Niel had had to do a bit more deducting rather than simply watching bad guys reveal themselves on monitor screens if you sit there monitoring them long enough, and I wish the writer/director had not made some things a bit too obvious well before they were officially revealed (the wife's planning to bail out being hinted at four different ways; lingering camera shots on faces turning from friendly to sinister at the end of scenes, as Connery walks away). And I wouldn't have minded if there were SOME kind of a subplot to make the whole affair a bit less straightforward. But the hectic chase through what seems to be the entire installation, ending in Connery sticking his hand in a boiling pot of liquid rather than let crucial evidence melt away (while the bad guy goes for the nearest knife), was cool--as was the revelation of one final villain (unless the director tips you off on that surprise, too).

If you haven't seen this film, then it's a no-brainer: check it out.