There is a moment in George Lucas' fantastic dystopian science fiction outing THX 1138 that is far too excellent to make it into the director's later films, Star Wars, American Graffiti or Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Our eponymous hero is being tormented by a group of faceless, android police, while he is imprisoned, as can happen, in a white void.
"Have you now, or have you ever been?", they demand impossibly, as they torment him with "electrostaffs".
THX 1138, played by the always fabulous Robert Duvall, lives in the sort of future I am so very fond of, where there is no outside, and everything is white, clean, and utterly devoid of nature.
Also, everybody is bald.
The populace is controlled by the android police officers and the mandatory use of drugs to suppress emotion, and, in particular, sexual desire.
"Take four red capsules. In 10 minutes take two more. Help is on the way," THX 1138 is told.
From the medicine cabinet, a female voice exhorts: "If you feel you are not properly sedated, call 348-844 immediately.
Failure to do so may result in prosecution for criminal drug evasion."
THX 1138 is screening on Sky channel MGM (7.05pm on May 29, and at midday on May 30).
I'm warning you early, as it is essential you find time to watch.
It is a movie so excellent, it passed a series of the most difficult tests all good movies must pass.
It passed the executive test: studio executives strongly disliked all the scripts, and insisted on cutting five minutes from the film.
It passed the success test: THX 1138 was released on March 11, 1971 and was commercially unsuccessful.
The film was re-released with the five minutes edited back in by Lucas after the success of Star Wars in 1977, but passed the test again, proving no more popular with the public.
THX 1138 was the first feature-length film directed by Lucas, developed, apparently, from a student film he made in 1967.
Duvall, as THX 1138, works in a factory producing the androids that function as police officers, with the drugs he is fed helping him deal with the radioactive hazards.
LUH, THX's female roommate, becomes disillusioned and decides to not only break the law and stop taking her drugs, she secretly substitutes THX's medications for pills that don't work.
As the drug's effects wear off, THX finds himself experiencing authentic emotions and sexual desire - annoying aspects of life I have long objected to - for the first time.
Things, of course, become complicated.
I can't tell you the end, but it involves the sort of strict accounting practices that would appeal strongly to chartered accountants everywhere.
