User reviews

Kurt Vonnegut's story turned into an intriguing movie. Not a sci-fi classic but worthy of particular praise for its grim vision of the future. Not a future dominated by machines because man has taught them to evolve (Terminator), nor a future inhabited by docile, lazy epicures who have even lost the ability to read (The Time Machine). This is somewhere in between, a future where the average prevails and where excellence is looked upon with scorn.

After a second civil war, America's leaders have realised that war is idealistic, so they look to an age where ideology was at its lowest point. The golden age of mass consumerism - the 1950s. Children are taught at school to achieve mediocrity, grade C is best, grade A is very bad. Adults are force fed tv with no stimulating content, and strive to buy the newest durable product they see advertised. All brain patterns are controlled by thought suppressing headbands.

The premise is marvellous and keeps the viewer hooked. It is darkly comic, but seriously thought provoking. Not brilliantly acted but certainly worth a look.

It's easy to imagine Mike Judge's hilarious film "Idiocracy" as a dumbed down version of Kurt Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron". "Harrison Bergeron" is both darkly humorous, and at the same time frightening. This is intelligent science fiction, that extols the belief that mediocrity for everyone should be the goal of society. The government implements control over citizen's brains with electronic headbands. This diabolical system is overseen by Christopher Plummer, one of a few privileged citizens, not controlled by a headband. Sean Astin is Harrison Bergeron, a rebellious intellectual who tries to overthrow the system. The film has dark comedy, an excellent and appropriate soundtrack, and top notch acting. Recommended sci-fi viewing. - MERK

This is not the movie to watch right before you trust the government to do something that they say is in your best interest.

Living some years from now, Harrison Bergeron is a smart young man. So smart, in fact, that he's had to repeat grades, several times. That's because A's are bad, C's are good. Everyone is to be rendered average by a headband that moniters brainwaves and keeps intelligence level to average. Harrison, however, is so smart that the headband does not work for him. Recruited by the government, he learns that people have so much more potential than is allowed. Armed with this new knowledge, he feels compelled to act.

In a wonderfully hilarious supporting role, Eugene Levy plays the randomly selected president, who has no idea how to lead a country but loves wielding power. His conversations are little sub-gems sprinkled throughout a gem of a movie. This one is well worth the while, though quite disturbing.

Even though the film takes place in the future, it is an interesting and frightening look at our own times. It's a combination of 1984 and MATRIX with a 50s-style movie. The fact that we allow ourselves to be told what to think and do is played out in an interesting fashion. The Thoreau-like character sees the facade and learns how to break through. Sean Austin does a great job as the naive innocent who sees into the darkness behind the facade. Christopher Plummer is very effective as the "big brother" who actually has a soul. The film makes us confront the dilemma of whether we want to be "normal" or to be who we really are.

It's 2053 Madison, Rhode Island. The government's mandate is to make everybody average. The world exists in a 1950s Americana. Harrison Bergeron (Sean Astin) has been held back for 3 years in school because he is too smart. Everybody has an electronic headband dampening their intelligence. He gets paired up with the dim-witted Alma in hopes of having more average children. His doctor directs him to a headhouse of smart women. He is especially taken by chess-playing Phillipa. It's a setup and he is taken to the National Administration Center which is really the power behind the government. He is recruited to join.

I can certainly understand what Kurt Vonnegut is driving at with his short story. However, the movie fails to think through those ideas and stretch it out fully. It's also a little smug deciding what is lowly and what is superior. I find some of the leveling devices a little too jokey. I would prefer this premise taken much more seriously and the story much more intense.

I saw this movie on TV one evening, probably even missed the start of it. I had no idea what it was, and it had the familiar TV-movie feel but it also had something compelling which kept my interest so I sat and watched it through.

I was amazed by this film, partly because of the scope, partly because of the parallels I could see in the world around me (which have only increased since), partly because it was so apparently innocent and unassuming and partly because I had never seen or heard of it before. It took me by surprise. I think I realised shortly after that it was written by the respected Sci-Fi author K.V. and that I should really have read the story sometime. Oh well. You can't catch them all.

However, much time passed and I forgot the name of the movie (it doesn't exactly stick in the mind) and I forgot which of the famous authors seeded it - but I didn't forget the content. From time to time I would ask somebody 'did you ever see that film...' and always got a blank response. I just remembered the author today and traced the name, which brings me here.

All I can say is this - watch it, and at the same time think about the last time you watched mainstream television 'entertainment'. If the parallels doesn't make your skin CRAWL, well - put the band back on...

Having seen the film and red the comments in here, here's what I have to say about Harrison Bergeron: First of all, acting: Sean Astin is the obvious wrong choice for the lead in this TV film. A better choice from within the cast would be his brother Mackenzie, but I guess the perfect Harrison would be Jonathan Brandis as he has eyes that pour out intelligence, the convincing looks that he may be darn intelligent - and even athletic- as Harrison Bergeron is described in the original story. Sean Astin looks too old, too fat, too short for the part and most important of all, he looks as if he is Forrest Gump and it's definitely not what Harrison Bergeron should be represented as. Astin doesn't look smart enough to work at the till at the local supermarket and give the right change to you, never mind masterminding a third American Revolution. The scene when he takes over the broadcasting room and becomes excited about watching and broadcasting all those "gems" of the past is pretty bad and badly acted, but the part when he pretends to conduct an orchestra is, in one word, pathetic. It's the nadir of the film and any scene anytime can't be worse, to my opinion. Miranda de Pencier seemed too old for her role and surely doesn't look at all like the love interest able to create an obsession for someone as smart and (supposedly) cool as Harrison. Christopher Plummer was the best-cast actor, and I can't think of anyone better than him to play Klaxon. Secondly, in terms of dialogue, the script looked too confused to say anything at all: There were too many cheesy, useless dialogues, to the extent of rubbish like "You stupid boy. She was pregnant," as if Harrison's suicide was created by a problem of love, and no, it wasn't. Besides, the education system didn't really convince me at all for most seemed to deliberately forget the answers or answer wrongly to the teacher's questions. Anyone as smart as Harrison should learn in four years in the same class that he should shut up and say "I don't have a clue," instead of telling who did what in the American War of Independence. Besides, he looked as if he repeated stuff he had learned by heart, and it's not what I call smartness. Yet, it's a shortcoming of the Vonnegut story as well as of the film. I didn't bother too much about the now infamous Macaulay Culkin dialogue I red a lot about in the above comments, for I am sick of the fact that anytime someone mentions a film of quality from the 20th century, it must either be Casablanca -which is not credible enough in the year 2000 never mind 2053-, Citizen Kane -which is incomprehensibly boring for most people-, or It's A Wonderful Life. Why can't it be Star Wars, Silent Movie, or Apocalypse Now, for instance, for a change? Or, why should it be Beethoven who creates the immortal music but not Queen with Bohemian Rhapsody? And, if the rulers of the future so refined, why can't we see them wear better clothes than what Chairman Mao would prefer to wear? Why should the people of the future wear dull, grey clothes; work and live in dull, confined, grey spaces which look like the interior of a crowded submarine; and never seem happy or joyful and never make any jokes at all? One day, someone must portray a far different future than this. Overall, I guess Harrison Bergeron is a well-made TV-film, with an emphasis on the words 'TV-film'. The problem is it can't pass for a real movie. It is too crowded with too many ideas so that they are either misrepresented, mis-emphasised or look silly; besides the film looks cheap, it has terrible acting at parts, but it is surprisingly all right to watch most of the time, too. I was far less bored and irritated than I thought I would be, and I believe that's a good point on the film's behalf. Yet, I sincerely hope there will be a better director with more resources and a better cast who will try to remake it sometime, for it's too good a story to be told like this. Finally, after all is said and done, the film may still be considered a success when one compares it to what they've done to Grand-Master Asimov's Bicentennial Man with a big budget and with a star as famous as Robin Williams as its lead.

This is one of my favorite movies because it makes you think of the "what if" to the nth degree. It ranks up there in my mind with Matrix in terms of challenging your imagination to think outside the world as we know it. It is too bad it was only a made-for-TV movie because I think it would have done as well at the box office as many movies that are much less interesting have. The movie puts us in the future, where the not-so-intelligent have risen up against the intelligent and forced the government to create a mechanism (a head band) for ensuring that all citizens stay at the same level of intelligence - average. Our main character, Harrison, is, much to his family's dismay, above average and, despite the band, cannot contain his intellectual gifts.

I read the Kurt Vonnegut short story "Harrison Bergeron" in the ninth grade, and in the tenth grade we tore it apart from beginning to end. I loved that short story; I found it fascinating, the idea of a civilization where equality exists in its base form, and yet nothing is right. Then I passed by this movie during one of my many continuing stints in a Hollywood video store. I raised my eyebrows in surprise, then furrowed them in disgust, and passed on. You see, book/story-turned-film adaptations and I do not have a pleasant history. But eventually, I broke down. What the hell?

I was dazzled immediately. Of course, the story Harrison Bergeron, as compared to Sean Astin, is as I said, Drastically Different (with capital letters included). However, he acts the role of the confused Harrison wonderfully. The film is nothing like the short story - the only things they have in common are the name and the base concept. But what the filmakers did with that base concept is extraordinary, very much deserving of the 10/10 stars I rated it with. You cannot argue with a film that answers all of your questions that the book merely skimmed upon, and yet remains true to the story. All of the actors were amazing, and played their roles with amazing vigor. The film was homely; you could connect with these people and these places. It struck me as Oscar-deserving, and it was made for television! Please, if you have read the story and are wary of this picture, don't be. I was, but I broke down, and I'll never regret it. And if you haven't read the story, watch the movie anyway. You'll get it right from the humorous beginning to a near tear-jerker ending.

Thanks for making a film adaptation that I, for one, could enjoy.

I don't know how this movie received so many positive reviews on this site! I'm a big vonnegut fan and am very familiar with the story this Showtime original film bastardized beyond belief, but even if I wasn't, the poor acting, VERY poor casting (Sean Astin as the brilliant, athletic, and all around individual, Harrison?? The guy's completely generic!) and sub-standard writing rendered this tripe barely watchable. Someone pointed out how cute that Maculay Culkin line was. If you read that and thought that was pure comic brilliance (sadly, it probably was the most INTENTIONALLY funny part of the movie), maybe you'll like this movie. But if you're a Vonnegut fan or not completely insane, don't see it. Please.

I saw this movie more than a year ago by chance. I didn't even want to watch it first, but somehow I just got stuck in front of the TV. It was late at night after the Olympics, so i don't think a lot of people saw it. Though I have always loved Sean Astin this movie is certainly a good reason to love him all the more. The "utopia" idea is no new thing in a movie, and usually it's quite interesting how they figure it out eventually. Let's admit: making a good future movie is like walking on eggshells, but I think the cast and crew of this small movie has nothing to be ashamed of. They did really well. It is very impressive how the story of Harrison and of his pure heart and mind talks about life, the equality of men, the lies, the love and of course the arts. I think this movie had become a shiny little secret of the soul of the relatively few people who is lucky enough to have seen it.

Bruce Pittman's intelligent and modest TV adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's short story is a wonderful and much under-appreciated piece of high sci-fi. Films of this kind are rarely made, simply because there's not much potential audience for low-budget science fiction - most people are in sci-fi mainly for special effects and impressive battles. Harrison Bergeron, though, is one of those few adaptations made of real philosophical sci-fi, the kind that creates an image of the future as a reflection of our own reality. And it succeeds quite well in delivering its message, and for what it is it could be enjoyed by almost everyone - though I doubt it could have done well in the theaters.

The film revolves around two wonderful lead actors - one is Sean Astin, who recently gained success and fame as Sam Gamgee in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy. The other is the wonderful British actor Christopher Plummer, remembered by sci-fi buffs as the Klingon General Chang from Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country. Brilliant comedian Eugene Levy gives an eerily funny performance as the President. The story is of a future America in which equality is achieved by discouraging exceptional talent or intelligence and creating forced mediocrity. Harrison (Sean Astin) is one of the exceptional few whose intelligence surfaces despite the government's best efforts and is therefore given the chance to work for the government. There he discovers the timeless Orwellian truth of Fascist regimes - all are equal, but some are more equal than others. Astin's interplay with Clummer (the classic 'Big Brother') is wonderful, and the ending is beautiful. The script does an excellent job of expanding Vonnegut's very short story into a 100 minute film.

Harrison Bergeron is well worth watching - if you can get your hands on it. As far as I know there isn't a DVD available, but the VHS can be ordered on Amazon and the movie plays occasionally on television. If you're interested in science fiction literature of authors like Vonnegut, Philip K. Dick, or Isaac Asimov, this wonderful little think-piece is a good purchase.

It's been over two years since Ive seen this movie and I can still remember it. the movie was just so mezmerizing, I couldn't stop watching it if I wanted to! I had to know what happened to harry. The movie was able to be depressing and funny at the same time, great tongue and cheek stuff. Its all in how you take it with this film. it can be precieved in so many ways. In short I loved it! this deserves to be a classic.

Harrison Bergeron is a movie that illustrates something most people don't realize. People are ignorantly happy entertained and their lives controlled for their "safety." Transgressions against our freedom for better protection against ourselves are consistently voted in. The Bill of Rights has torn apart by democracy and "for the children." In the movie, victimless crimes deserved capital punishment... for the protection of the people.

The Romans managed a large populace not with armies but with bread and circuses. The people were fed and entertained. Today we have Welfare and TV. Harrison was in control of the all powerful Television... and the minds of the viewers. The average person prefers reruns of "Seinfield" over the Opera. "Wag the Dog" was a perfect example of political control through stimuli and news. Wag the Dog is today, Harrison Bergeron may be tomorrow.

"Nostalgia by proxy."

Harrison B. is a delightfully witty commentary on the constraints placed on the common man by government and sociological ideals. This movie is for the thinking viewer as well as an enjoyable flick to veg out on. Appeals to everyone. The kind of movie that will have you thinking and talking about it days and weeks later. The excellent character development will leave you feeling very understood and perhaps somewhat paranoid. It is an excellent movie with an outstanding performance by Sean Astin. The turmoil Harrison endures as he realizes his life has been one of blind acceptance of the propaganda perpetrated by the 'controllers' is a very profound message. His agony over the truth of what mankind has inflicted upon each other is a lesson well learned by all.

Quirky, off the wall, and brain-warping. Exactly what you'd expect of a short story by Vonnegut. From the opening credits, which scroll across the screen in all directions with "Lollipop" playing in the background, to the opening scene, in which the time is set as the mid 21st century, but the look is 1950's, this HBO made for TV movie promises to be strange, and it delivers. And it Works. The second American Revolution has occurred. The new government is based on the principal that Not all people are created equal, and it is the government's job to interfere to make them so. To this end, everyone wears headbands that fire random shocks into people's brains to keep them from being too smart. Dancers have lead weights tied to one leg. Football quarterbacks have flashing lights mounted in their helmets to keep them from seeing too well... The goal in life is not to excel, but to be perfectly average. But what happens when one boy's brain is too good for the band? No matter how high they crank the voltage, his brain finds a way to work around it. No matter how hard he tries, Harrison Bergeron keeps getting straight A's in school. A Dark Fairytale packed with wit and satire, you may have to hunt for this one, but it is worth the effort. A good allegory on some of our current social problems. And tame enough younger children if you don't mind them hearing profanity. Not exactly the happy ending, but there is promise of a better future.

For those of you who are Forever Knight fans, Nigel (Laquois) Bennet has a great role as the doctor...

There are many great things about this version on Harrison Burgeron. The aesthetic has become a perfect time capsule for a nostalgic sci look at the 1950s, 1990s and... The future. The lesson in the school about the world wide recession is worrying accurate. It's a shame this gem doesn't get more attention.

Ever since the idea of "Political Correctness" became stylish, I've

warned that it was just the beginning. Such manipulation only

leads to an increasing loss of individual freedom. It's a stealthy

process that takes over the political organism the way a cancer

takes over a physical one. The end result of such a "politically

correct" process is clearly illustrated in Harrison Bergeron. The

plot is simple, yet chilling in its display of cavalier inhumanity.

Watch the movie for its unhidden message; enjoy it for its plot and

turn of (tragic) events, but above all, learn from it – ideologies such

as political correctness and its first cousin, affirmative action, are

inhumane at their foundation, insidious in their progression, and

decidedly real in their ultimate danger.