Director
Jim McBride took his first step from the avant garde underground to Hollywood with this beautifully photographed bit of thoughtful science fiction. Glen (Steven Curry) and Randa (Shelley Plimpton) are a couple in their early twenties who forage for survival after an unspecified apocalypse has wiped out civilization. Drifting from one camp of survivors to another, Glen and Randa behave like arrested adolescents with limited knowledge of the world that existed before their birth, which now seems like folklore. Glen has heard of the cities which existed many years ago and is convinced that they still exist. When they encounter a self-styled traveling "magician" (
Garry Goodrow) who demonstrates ancient home appliances and plays old Rolling Stones records for his tiny audiences, Glen asks him about "the city." After the magician warns him that the cities are in ruins, Glen pilfers his collection of maps and Wonder Woman comics and sets out with a now-pregnant Randa to find Metropolis. After months of traveling, Glen and Randa arrive at the seashore where they are befriended by Sidney Miller (Woodrow Chambliss), an elderly man who gives them a place to stay and tells them tales of the world that once was. Originally rated X for several non-exploitive scenes of nudity, Glen and Randa starred Steven Curry and Shelley Plimpton who first worked together in the original Broadway production of the rock musical Hair. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide