Shadow on the Land (1968)

When this film came out, it was decried by both critics and science fiction fans as being preposterous because in America such an event could never happen.Now the conspiracy theorists say that our current President is ready to have events occur which will bring this movie to a realization.I have always been surprised that this movie has never come out on tape or DVD as a warning that it COULD happen here.The movie is flawed in many ways, but having to show id at airports, being screened at airports, on roads, at bus & train stations was unthinkable 40 years ago, yet it has occurred.Sinclair Lewis was right. We did not learn from his book or take heed the warning of this film.Politicians once they have power will do anything to keep it, even usurp the Constitution which they have sworn to protect and defend.

Chalk me up as another view who saw this movie decades ago, and never forgot it. The parallels to the Bush regime are haunting.Unfortunately I have it on good authority that this movie will NOT be released on DVD unless an independent company is willing to take it on, a la Shout Factory! and SCTV.The problem is that SotL probably isn't well known enough. The potential sales are too low. On the plus side, the master film DOES still exist...and there has definitely been an increase in interest lately, thanks to Mssrs. Bush & Cheney.It has been a long time, but I still remember the final scene, when the flag was raised...the hair on the back of my neck stood straight up. What a powerful moment! A remake would be pretty mind-blowing, don't you think? I'm rating it a "9", because it has been so long since I saw it. There's a lot that I don't remember.

This film ought to remind everyone that freedom is never a thing to take for granted. I saw this film just once all the way through, and have never forgotten it.But if any administration has been parallel to the corrupt "Leader" of this film, then it was the Bill Clinton administration, not Bush. Janet Reno ran the Waco operation exactly the way General Bruce, head of the ISF, would have run it. And when the Murrah Federal Building blew up, and Clinton blamed domestic terrorists, many in the "militia movement" alleged that it was an FBI sting operation gone wrong, for a variety of reasons. (Of course, the culprits turned out to have been some truly whacked-out protesters who had plenty of the wrong kind of help--from Iraq. Their more sober-minded associates would have done better to thwart that operation, just like--well, never mind. If you ever get your hands on an ancient home video of this film, you'll find out what I'm talking about.)And if you want another real-life counterpart to the ISF, in addition to the Nazi SS, how about the KGB? Its name, "Committee for State Security," could also translate roughly as "Internal Security Forces." Furthermore, the KGB had a paramilitary arm just like that of the ISF, right down to the separate uniforms, superseding the Army, and so on. In short, this film could as easily have shown a bookstore limiting its sales to "Quotations from your Great Friend and General Secretary" as its chosen title, "Our Struggle." And when people try to pretend that totalitarianism can come only from one direction, that's often the first step in allowing it to take power--from the opposite direction.

I saw this movie on the ABC network movie on Friday night. I was just out of high school. I had always been interested in becoming futurist. Read many books and articles on how our futures will be if we are not mindful. This movie was so in time with the times. Even now if it were should it would makes us so aware of our freedoms and how much we take them as a matter of fact. It had a documentary feel to it. Marc Strange had a troubled feel of a man doing a job that it hated and saw it as being wrong. The powers that be had cut the links that make it answerable to it's citizens. I statement from the "Killers Elite:There is no government any where in the world that gives a damn about the people that it is suppose to service" This movie written before big government got married to high tech is a look into where we are on our way. It was a warning that I have never fail to me mindful of. I highly recommend, hippies where not just trouble makes they saw something that others didn't. If you get a chance rent it, study it, compare it to now, and remember always be mindful.