In a badly-overpopulated future, where each couple is only allowed one child and where people over 65 are forbidden medical care under a very draconian set of laws, a young couple, pregnant ... Read allIn a badly-overpopulated future, where each couple is only allowed one child and where people over 65 are forbidden medical care under a very draconian set of laws, a young couple, pregnant with their second child (the first died shortly after birth) enlist the help of an elderly... Read allIn a badly-overpopulated future, where each couple is only allowed one child and where people over 65 are forbidden medical care under a very draconian set of laws, a young couple, pregnant with their second child (the first died shortly after birth) enlist the help of an elderly former US Senator to help them escape to Canada.
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- Sergeant O'Connell
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Of course, in the case of "The Last Child", it's best not to set the expectations too high. This because it's a made-for-television movie, and more particularly an Aaron Spelling "ABC Movie of the Week" production, and these were by definition very low-budgeted. To draw a realistic picture of a bleak and depressing future, you need some money. The lack of budget is the biggest constraint of the movie, for sure. To illustrate just how badly overpopulated the world is, the opening sequences simply show crowded metro stations. Everything else, like apartments and cars, looks contemporary and not the least bit futuristic. I certainly wasn't expecting another "Logan's Run" or "Soylent Green", but some effort would have been nice.
Apart from this, however, "The Last Child" is definitely worth seeing. John Llewellyn Moxey is an always-reliable professional, the script is preachy but atmospheric and tense, and there are couple of fabulous performances. The plot is very similar to the awesome but terribly underrated "Z. P. G" (Zero Population Growth) but this obscure TV-dystopia flick surprisingly came first. People over 65 are denied medical treatment and couples are prohibited to have more than one child. If your first child dies after having lived for more than 10 days, and this is what overcame Alan and Karen Miller, you're not allowed a second child neither. Karen is illegally pregnant, and since the heartless law commands for her baby to be killed "kindly", the couple flees.
You obviously cheer for the couple on the run, simply because the "legislation" is so inhumanly cruel, and because the world doesn't seem too overpopulated at all! When they are heading for Canada, they don't even encounter a single soul. The performances of Van Heflin (as good Samaritan) and - especially - Edward Asner (as the Pitbull police officer) are excellent.
What I don't like about this movie is that they tried to make it look justified by introducing two elements that are not realistic: the forbidding of medically treating old people and the fact that the couple had a child before that died. I am pretty sure that if overpopulation becomes a problem, old people will be continued to be medically treated AND families that they lost their first child will be allowed to have a second chance.
But because overpopulation restrictions might actually make sense, the writers of the movie tried to give justification to their own knee-jerk reaction kind of movie by adding non-realistic, *truly* fascistic elements in it. That's what bothers me with the plot.
If it seemed somewhat fantastic [3. imaginary or groundless in not being based on reality; foolish or irrational: fantastic fears] then, 40 years later it's not so unrealistic. While "death panels" are not mentioned per se in the film, cutting off medical aid to folks over 65 can be problematic if you're diabetic - as was the character of Senator Quincy George played by Emmett Evan Heflin Jr, and, as the trivia section notes "This TV movie was Van Heflin's final performance. He died of a heart attack three months before the original broadcast..." BTW - to avoid a spoiler don't read all of the trivia - I've truncated it so the spoiler doesn't show.
I don't want to write much more without seeing it again - memories of films forty years past may not be entirely reliable - but it made quite an impression on a young teenager raised in an extremely conservative environment. I've read most if not all of Philip Kindred Dick's short stories written in the 1950's and wonder at how prescient he was with many of them. "The Last Child" was the first produced script by Peter S. Fischer, to my knowledge. He won an Edgar Allan Poe Award for an episode of "Murder, She Wrote" and several Emmy nominations for other of these episodes. He would go on to work with the director, John Llewellyn Moxey, on a number of the "Murder, She Wrote," episodes.
I am guessing that concerns about overpopulation were rife back in the 70's, seeing as there were other science fiction films that dealt with this issue in slightly different ways (Soylent Green and Logan's Run spring to mind). It's a very bleak picture that The Last Child paints of the future in the USA, where the government has become somewhat fascistic in this issue at least and people are forced to flee to the more reasonable land of Canada! The movie's TV origins are pretty self-evident. For a sci-fi film it has a pretty contemporary look, with little in the way of futuristic sets or costumes. But it's the drama that propels this one, with a decent enough script. It isn't essential stuff by any means but it's certainly one that should interest sci-fi buffs, primarily those that have a love of the 70's strand.
Did you know
- TriviaPeter S. Fischer, later a very prolific TV writer and producer, made his television scriptwriting debut with this TV movie.
- Quotes
Doctor Young: I'm Doctor Young. I suppose this might seem very frightening and confusing to you but, er. let me assure you that no one here is going to hurt you. In a sense we're here to help.
Doctor Young: Now then, you came here from Syracuse?
Alan Miller: Yes, the last year. After our first child died.
Doctor Young: Yes, I see - Miller baby, female. She was only 15 days old. That's unfortunate. Yet, I observe from Mrs. Miller's condition that the mandatory hysterectomy wasn't performed?
Alan Miller: Well, we made the appeals to the government office, and no one would listen so we just decided it was hopeless and left town to move down here.
Doctor Young: I understand. Not a very palatable law is it? Perhaps if we'd practised planned parenthood in the past, it wouldn't be necessary. But now it's the law. One child per family. No more. And no exceptions.
Alan Miller: But our baby's dead.
Doctor Young: After having lived longer than ten days. The law's very specific, Mr. Miller. I know how unfair this must seem to you. The child is gone, now your wife is facing an operation that will end her ability to bear children. Not so sure I wouldn't have done the same thing, if I'd been in your place. Now, when is the child expected, Mrs. Miller?
Karen Miller: The end of November.
Doctor Young: Hmm-mm. Have you been experiencing any pains of any kind? Or any difficulties?
Karen Miller: No.
Doctor Young: Good. Now, we're at a very difficult period in the pregnancy, Mrs. Miller. I suppose we could bring on a miscarriage. But at this point, that always carries a danger to the mother. On the other hand, we could wait until the child is actually delivered and then immediately dispose of it.
Alan Miller: Disposal? You're not talking about a piece of garbage.
Doctor Young: I'm sorry. I apologise, I didn't mean it to sound that way. Now look, both of you, I promise you, there is no pain for the baby. There's no life to speak of really, it's just a fleeting moment. It's all done with kindness. Quickly, efficiently.
Alan Miller: You're murdering a baby, but you're doing it kindly?
Doctor Young: We don't think of it as murdering. We simply can't let...
Alan Miller: You're taking a human life. That is murder. Every human being has the right to live.
Doctor Young: No, Mr. Miller. You're wrong. In this day and age, not every human being has a right to live. You and your wife knew that when you conceived this child. You're free to go, Mr. Miller. Mrs. Miller will have to remain with us. We simply have to make sure that you don't disappear again. You'll find it very comfortable here, I assure you.
Alan Miller: Can I ask you a question? Do you sleep at night?
Doctor Young: Sometimes. If it's of any help to you Mr. Miller, sometimes with vast difficulty.
- ConnectionsReferences Assassin of Youth (1938)