DUNE (1984)
Directed by
David Lynch
Writing credits
Frank Herbert
David Lynch
Cast overview:
Francesca Annis ....
Lady Jessica
Leonardo Cimino ....
The Baron's Doctor
Brad Dourif ....
Piter De Vries
José Ferrer ....
Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV
Linda Hunt ....
Shadout Mapes
Freddie Jones ....
Thufir Hawat
Richard Jordan ....
Duncan Idaho
Kyle MacLachlan ....
Paul Atreides
Virginia Madsen ....
Princess Irulan
Silvana Mangano ....
Reverend Mother Ramallo
Everett McGill ....
Stilgar
Kenneth McMillan ....
Baron Vladimir Harkonnen
Jack Nance ....
Nefud
Siân Phillips ....
Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam
Jürgen Prochnow ....
Duke Leto Atreides
Runtime: 137 / USA:190 (special edition)
Soundtrack:
Written,
composed, and
performed by
TOTO.
Prophecy Theme by
Brian Eno,
Daniel Lanois, and
Roger Eno. All selections produced by TOTO except Prophesy Theme by Brian Eno.
1.
Prologue 1:47
2.
Main Title 1:55
3.
Robot Fight 1:18
4.
Leto's Theme 1:43
5.
The Box 2:37
6.
The Floating Fat Man (The Baron) 1:24
7.
Trip to Arrakis 2:35
8.
First Attack 2:43
9.
Prophecy Theme 4:19
10.
Dune (Desert Theme) 5:30
11.
Paul Meets Chani 3:04
12.
Prelude (Take my Hand) 0:59
13.
Paul Takes the Water of Life 2:48
14.
Big Battle 3:06
15.
Paul Kills Feyd 1:51
16.
Final Dream 1:25
17.
Take My Hand 2:35
PLOT:
"I see two Great Houses -- House Atreides, House Harkonnen -- feuding... I see you behind it." - A
Third Stage Guild Navigator to
Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV.
The planet
Arrakis, also known as
Dune, an inhospitable
desert world and is also the only source of the rare
spice,
melange, that allows for the
folding of time, which is a necessity for
interstellar space travel. The
Spacing Guild, the
ancient and
mutated navigators who control all space travel, suspect that there may be a plot developing to halt
spice production while the
Emperor feels that the noble House
Atreides is becoming too
powerful with their new '
weapons'.
When a third stage
Navigator from the
Spacing Guild meets with the
Emperor, a
solution seems to be forthcoming for the Emperor. Remove House
Harkonnen from
Dune, and replace with House
Atreides, all the while
plotting with House Harkonnen for a final
takeover and the
annihilation of House Atreides.
The
Bene Gesserit Women do not wish this to be, as in House Atreides is one of the
tools of their
political and
religious breeding program.
House Harkonnen is not completely successful and one member of House Atreides survives, and lives among the local
fremen (desert people, who are vastly underestimated by House Harkonnen).
Paul takes on the name Paul
Muad'dib, and becomes the religious leader of the vast fighting force of the fremen also the final goal of what the Bene Gesserit breeding program was looking for, a little before his time, and out of their control.
In a
final confrontation between the Emperor, House Harkonnen and Paul Maud'dib, Paul gains control of planet Arrakis.
My Opinion:
Despite the movie
straying from the way the book tells the story, it still gets the
basic story across. You become
familiar enough with the
characters, the story, also the
politics aren't gone into as deeply as they are in the book which is both a
relief and a
loss. Unfortunately, I felt that the movie was too '
hurried along' the pace to
fast, the ending too
abrupt. Yet somehow I still came away from watching the
movie for the first time, too young to even remember how old I was, with a
good impression, and the second I again came off with an overall
positive feeling about the movie, but this time I noticed its
downfalls.
Worth the watch if you
liked the books, but be prepared to witness it jump to the ending in
leaps and bounds, and make unexpected
bridges to cover the
plot holes they got through cutting the book down into a short movie.
"When I first read the script I was disappointed. I came in saying, "I want Dune." It took me a little time to get used to the differences. I finally said, "It's not going to be Dune by Frank Herbert. It's going to be Dune by Frank Herbert, adapted by David Lynch, put on film and conveyed by actors." -
Kyle MacLachlan (
Paul Atreides).
I got the cast list from the video, and the soundtrack listing from the CD (both of which I should give my dad credit for).