AllMovie

Architect, engineer, philosopher, author and poet Buckminster Fuller was one of the great iconoclasts of the 20th century, alternately revered and misunderstood, his ideas were far ahead of their time and even today have yet to be fully realized. Best known for creating the geodesic dome (examples of which can be found the world over), he was an important counter-culture figure during the '60s and was calling for people to act globally and care about the ecology long before it became fashionable. This is made-for-Public Television film is the first documentary to made about him since his death in 1983 and features off camera reminiscences from the wide variety of luminaries who knew him. Though he became most famous during the '60s, Richard Buckminster Fuller had been presenting his innovative designs and stridently claiming that science and technology could solve all human problems since the early '30s when he unveiled his radically different tri-wheeled Dymaxion Car. Considering the earth a giant spaceship, and deeply concerned about ecology, Fuller endeavored to create inexpensive living environments that made minimal impact upon the world by using natural heating and cooling and super strong structures that employed minimal natural resources. The geodesic dome was this magnum opus, but he also created the Dymaxion House, a pre-fab circular structure that was storm proof, earthquake proof and required no exterior maintenance and minimal interior maintenance. Punctuating his life story are interviews from the wide variety of famous people who knew him including Philip Bosco, E.G. Marshall, Arthur Penn and Marian Seldes. The body of the film is narrated by Morely Safer.