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2001: A Space Odyssey, directed by Stanley Kubrick, from a screenplay co-written with Arthur C. Clark, opens nationally. Greeted by a chorus of bewilderment and condemnation from a coterie of critics predisposed to having their science fiction served with the rudimental B-picture schematics of a Forbidden Planet, Kubrick’s vast, extraterrestrial-themed epic, stretching from the dawn of civilization to the far reaches of space, has stood the test of time to become a classic of the genre. Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood star in the film’s standout narrative thread as two astronauts whose Jupiter mission is sabotaged by the sinister HAL 9000, the ship’s sentient onboard computer.
