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Dune is a 1984 movie directed by David Lynch that was based on the book by Frank Herbert. It starred Kyle MacLachlan (in his first film role) as Paul Atreides, pop-star Sting as Feyd-Rautha and Patrick Stewart as Gurney Halleck.
There was also an attempt in the early 1970s to make Herbert's novel into a movie, but it lost funding before the director Alejandro Jodorowsky could complete it.
Adaptation
The movie is an adaptation of the first part of a series of novels by Frank Herbert, with elements from the later parts. Lynch originally wanted to create a much longer movie; his 135 page screnplay resulted in a three and a half hour long movie. During post production, producer Dino De Laurentiis did not want to risk releasing a 40 million dollar movie that was three hours long and had David Lynch cut the film down to 137 minutes.
Dune as a Lynch film
Lynch uses a number of elements from his earlier movies, for example the figure of the Space Guild Navigator, who has a strong resemblance to the alien baby in Lynch's first movie, Eraserhead, which also appeared in The Elephant Man. Fans of the novel regard this as a bastardization imposed by Lynch's ego, because Dune: Messiah clearly describes what a Guild Navigator looks like and it is not what Lynch's Navigator looked like. The Children of Dune miniseries most accurately portrayed what they really appear as: basicially near-humanoid, but mutated to the point that they have fins and look fish-like. Another Lynchian element is the use of low, humming sounds which create unease in spectators when used over a longer period of time.
The movie's failings
Box office failure
In financial terms, the movie was a disaster, renting only fifteen million dollars in its domestic run off an estimated 42 million dollar budget.
The film's chief flaw is its almost total lack of exposition; the audience is presented with a barrage of admittedly fascinating sounds and images, but unless they have read the book few of those sounds and images will make the slightest bit of sense to them.
The poor special effects were another problem. Many of the spacecraft look like cardboard cut-outs. And although large, expensive, and complex hydraulic Sandworm puppets were used, the visual effect of the Sandworms in the movie is poor: they look like rubber puppets. The Dune miniseries 16 years later used computer-generated Sandworms.
Departures from the novel
The film was not only unsuccessful with the general public: it also angered many fans of the novel with its numerous alterations.
A major fan complaint is that in the novel, the "Weirding Way", properly termed "prana-bindu training", is a sort of super-martial art form that allows an adept like Paul to move with literally blurring speed. The Lynch movie replaces this with "Sonic Guns" that a user shouts into, and the sound is then amplified into destructive force. Thus in the movie, Fremen followers of Paul shout his Fremen name, Muad'dib, into their weapons to power them. In the movie, this leads Paul to comment "my name has become a killing word". Fans of the novel found this cheesy in the extreme: in the novel, Paul says his name has become a death-prayer of sorts because the Fremen shout "Muad'dib!" before killing an opponent, like a battle-cry.
Furthermore, casting Sting as Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen was a somewhat shameless cameo: he was essentially eye candy and never did anything on screen. During the one scene from the novel where Sting has something to do, his final duel with Paul, fans regard his dialogue and delivery as melodramatic overkill. In the novel, Paul and Feyd get into a raging knife-fight. In the movie, Sting-as-Feyd holds up a knife and paces around the screen, shouting "I...will...kill...him!" in a hammy way, and there is little if any fighting. The Dune miniseries made the scene far closer to the novel scene; Paul and Feyd strip down and engage in a raging knife battle that degenerates into a fast-paced martial-arts face off.
The final scene of the film was also changed from that of the novel. In the novel, the final line, spoken by Jessica to Chani, is "Those of us who bear the name of concubine, history will remember as wives" (in reference to Paul's marriage to and refusal of Irulan). In the movie, the final line (spoken by Alia) are "He IS the Kwisatz Haderach!".
Further, the movie ends with Paul commanding it to rain on Arrakis. In the novel, this is only accomplished through years of terraforming, and it does not rain for decades after Paul ascends the throne. This is because there is nothing mystical about Paul's powers; he is the product of genetic breeding and training, and could not possibly command the sky to rain on Dune.
Many fans of the novel consider the movie an unfaithful adaptation that tainted the public's perception of what the book was actually about.
Dune was recently remade as a three part miniseries for release on cable and rental video/DVD; as noted above, it is considered to have come much closer to the philosophical and thematic point of view of the original.
Cult success and revisions
Despite the original complaints by some disgruntled Herbert fans, the movie has became an enormous cult favorite. Many science fiction fans enjoy the movie as an unusually dark and disturbing version of the Star Wars style space opera. There is much to enjoy in the film's brilliant art design and much to chuckle at in its camp dialogue.
The less-seen 3 hour "Alan Smithee" version is a cult classic on its own. Prepared originally for syndicated television (and later seen on basic cable networks), it has just been released into some markets (including Canada and Europe) on DVD. The missing footage includes a not-bad painted montage at the prologue, and some key scenes added back into the mix, including the "little-maker" essence-of-spice scene. The TV version was edited almost haphazardly (for example, certain shots were repeated throughout the film to give the impression that footage had been added). Lynch objected to these edits and had his name removed from the credits of the TV print (his name remains on the theatrical print as it is the only version authorized by the director).
Influence
The film inspired a praised series of video games, including Emperor: Battle for Dune, by Westwood games. Westwood also published Dune 2000, which featured live actors (including John Rhys-Davies as Thufir !), in cut-scenes. Westwood's ground-breaking games were obviously inspired by, and are faithful to, the Lynch film. Rumour has it that another Lynch-inspired game is in the works.
See also: All Dune universe articles
External link
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