1972

This was a year of mixed sci-fi offerings. There were a few notable movies, but many more obscure B-grade films. 1972 was the year Nixon announced the Space Shuttle program, and the year he visited China. This was also the year of the movie: The Godfather that started a long franchise. This year marked the last manned Apollo mission to the moon, and the introduction of Atari's "Pong" arcade game. Below are the sci-fi movies of 1972, is fairly chronological order.

Silent Running -- Bruce Dern plays the lone (crazed) environmentalist willing to kill in order to save the last earth forests being stored in space.

Slaughterhouse Five -- Kurt Vonygut's story of a man "unstuck from time", living his life non-sequentially.

Z.P.G. -- "Zero Population Growth": a dystopian tale of earth's future when overpopulation makes babies illegal.

Beware The Blob -- A fragment of the original blob is brought back and causes similar mayhem.

The Groundstar Conspiracy -- A lone survivor from an exploded secret government lab. Is he a victim or a saboteur?

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes -- Caesar, adult son of Cornelius and Zira, leads the apes in a rebellion that overthrows human rule.

Octaman -- A legendary octopus-man is found in a remote jungle lake. It kills a few people, but is beguiled by the pretty scientist.

The Cremators -- A fragmented meteorite "seeks" out lost bits of itself, burning anything (or anyone) that gets in the way.

The Thing With Two Heads -- The head of racist Ray Milland is grafted on the very black body of Rosey Grier. Absurdity ensures.

Blood Freak -- Bizarre film with anti-drug message. Man turned on to drugs eats experimental turkey meat and becomes a ludicrous were-turkey that drinks the blood of addicts.

The Doomsday Machine -- A chinese bomb blows up the earth, but seven astronauts escape to Venus…maybe.

The MInd Snatchers -- A sinister and shadowy Army hospital experiments with electronic probes and mind control.

Solaris -- A Soviet film about contact with a sentient "ocean" on the distant planet Solaris, which communicates via hallucinations.

Solaris

This last sci-fi film of 1972 may not have actually had much exposure in the American movie market. Solaris is a Russian-made film that not have an english-dubbed release, which would hinder its market. It is actually the second film based on Stanislav Lem's 1961 novel of the same name. Eventually, there would be a third, an english-language remake in 2002, starring George Clooney. At a surface level, it is a sci-fi story, with space travel to a space station orbiting a distant planet. At a deeper level, it is a tale of "Contact" between humans and a very alien life form. Still deeper, it is a quiet examination of humanity.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Psychologist Chris Kelvin is enjoying a semi-retirement at his father's country cabin. He is visited by a former astronaut named Burton. He plays an old video tape of his testimony, given years before, at an inquest about the deaths of several members of the crew of space station in orbit around the planet Solaris. He described strange and fantastic sights -- things appearing on the surface of the Solaris ocean which seems to be sentient. The most fantastic was a 12 foot tall "baby". Burton was assumed to have had a breakdown. His career was over. Since then, the crew of 85 on Solaris station have dwindled down to just three. Kelvin is sent to Solaris to see if any real science is going on, or the last three are mad, or what. When he arrives, he finds only two men left alive: a Dr. Snaut and Dr. Sartorius. Kelvin's friend Gilbarian had committed suicide shortly before Kelvin arrived. Kelvin gets glimpses, or hears sounds of non-crew people at the station. Gilbarian's last taped message for Kelvin spoke of his thinking he had gone mad and seeing people. Snaut is dismissive. Sartorius is reclusive. Kelvin gets a phantom too, his wife, Hari, who died of suicide ten years prior. Think that she is a phantom sent by the Ocean to torment him, Kelvin tricks her into getting into a rocket and he blasts her off into space. This doesn't work. Hari returns the next day. On the one hand, she thinks she's Hari, and can remember some things in Hari's life. On the other hand, she's not sure who she is. Kelvin eventually develops strong feelings for this new Hari and thinks of her as his wife. Snaut and Sartorius argue that she's just a creation of the Ocean, not a real person. Nonetheless, Kelvin loves the new Hari and she apparently has genuine feelings for him. Sartorius, ever the cool scientist, figures out that the phantoms are made of neutrinos. He has constructed an Annihilator which is harmless to regular molecules, but will dissolve neutrino-based matter. Snaut and Sartorius beam X-rays into the Ocean using brainwave patterns from Kelvin. The various phantoms stop appearing. Kelvin's mission is done, but he wants to stay with Hari (who cannot leave Solaris). While Kelvin sleeps, Hari agrees to let Sartorius use the Annihilator on her so Kelvin will be free to return to earth. He has many disturbed dreams, talking with people from his past. The movie ends with Kelvin at his father's cabin (perhaps). He hugs his father. The camera lifts higher and higher to reveal that the cabin and woods are an island in the Ocean of Solaris. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
The visuals in Solaris are subtly captivating. Some of the philosophical thoughts that come through are quite deep. This is no "lite" action film, but a meaty, thought-provoking film.

Cultural Connection
Solaris is one of those films that is more about exploring the soul of man than about exploring the universe. This is one of the better traits of sci-fi. At one point, Professor Snaut observes
"We don't really want to explore the cosmos, we want a larger earth. We don't want new worlds, just a mirror of our own. We want "contact" but we pursue a goal we fear. Man needs man."

Notes
Four Times Telling -- Polish sci-fi writer Stanislav Lem wrote his novel "Solaris" in 1961. The movie adaptations follow the gist of the novel, but movies can never capture the depth of meaning a book can. In 1968, the Russians produced the movie adaptation. That Solaris was a made-for-television movie. It followed the basics of the story well enough, but had very low production values (sets, props, effects, etc.) and was filmed in black and white, giving the whole a very 50s look and feel. The 1972 production, directed by Andrey Tarkovsky and spun according to Tarkovsky's vision. The forth telling of Lem's tale came in 2002 when Steven Soderberg directed his own vision of Lem's novel.

Not Russia's 2001 -- It's been said, even on promotional posters, that Solaris is Russia's 2001. The two films have almost nothing to do with each other beyond both being longer than is customary and being full of enigmatic visuals and scenes. Since Lem's novel predates Kubrik's film, Tarkovsky was not producing a rival or a copy of 2001. In many ways, the two films very different takes on looking at mankind.

Not for ADHD -- Tarkovsky's film is not the sort of film American audiences have grown accustomed to. There are no running gun battles, explosions, car chases, etc. It is very long (2 hours plus, depending on the cut). It moves very slowly and deliberately. Many times, a scene will seem to make no sense, or appear to be a non-sequitur. There is very little in Solaris that is simple or obvious. The film must be approached as visual poetry, a Russian novel, but not a comic book. For example, a subtext in the latter half has to do with identity.Is the New-Hari just a copy of the original, or a second Hari in her own right. Note the poetic use of mirrors, shadows and reflections to play, visually, with the idea of copies and originals.

Lem-ite Life -- Stanislav Lem was fond of imagining extraterrestrial life forms as being very different from anthropoidal forms. Of course, human audiences tend to like their characters to be human too -- or at least humanoid. Lem's sentient Ocean is totally alien. I has no form to speak of, no apparent center (brain), nor does it communicate in the manner audiences have become accustomed to -- talk like an earthling. Instead, it tries to communicate with the strangers its own way, through experience and emotion.

"Guest" Notes -- The Ocean creates phantom beings from memories in each character's mind. The subtle intimation is that most people are haunted by terrible memories. As such, the Ocean tends to conjure up unwelcome ghosts from the station crew's past. Some think they're going mad because they see them. The guests have a vestige of the memories of the person they're modeled after -- at least as much as the crew member knew. Guest-Hari could recall experiences of Real-Hari, but they were fragments.

Coping -- Another complex subtext in Solaris is how the various humans deal with the Guests the Ocean has conjured from their past. Gilbarian was so haunted by his, that he killed himself. Sartorious, hides in his inner-sanctum laboratory (itself a metaphor for science), where he dissects and analyzes the midgets (?) the Ocean gave him. Professor Snaut copes with the ephemeral children from his past by staying more or less drunk the whole time. Kelvin, alone, seemed willing to accept Guest-Hari and love her.

Hari The Human -- Yet another complex subtext is how the replicated Hari develops. She comes to love Kelvin. She is, at first, more visceral than thoughtful -- tearing through a metal door out of fear of being separated from Kelvin, even to the point of nearly fatal injury to herself. (The Guests heal very rapidly). When Hari is terribly conflicted over just who she is (a mere copy, a unique being?) she can't handle the dissonance and commits suicide by drinking liquid oxygen. The recuperative powers of the Guests revives her. Near the end of the film, when she realizes that Kelvin will stay orbiting Solaris for the rest of his life, just to be with her, she willingly lets Sartorius us his Annihilator on her, so that Kelvin will be free. In this, she exhibits an almost Christ-like sacrificial love in being willing to die to save someone loved. The Ocean gave Kelvin a chance to confront a sad unresolved part of his life (Hari's suicide), but gave him a chance to say goodbye, tell her he loved her and understand, in the end, why she had to go. In the end, she's still gone, but Kelvin got the gift of closure.

Bottom line? Solaris is not for everyone. In fact, it's probably not for most. It moves slow. It has little action. It has many obtuse scenes which merit watching again and again. Just accept that Solaris is very Russian and poetic. It is not a fast-paced simple story like Independence Day. Like a poem, different viewers will pick up on different elements. Therein lies the art.

The Mind Snatchers

This indie film gets listed as a sci-fi, though The Mind Snatchers (MS) is more of a drama with a dystopic hint of science. Mostly, it's a drama. A very young Christopher Walken stars as the troubled young man. Joss Ackland stars as the understated Frankenstein who seeks a scientific way to wipe badness out of the human condition. The title seems a direct allusion to Invasion of the Body Snatchers ('56). MS was based on a stage play, "The Happiness Cage" by Dennis Reardon. That is also one of the alternative titles to the film. A later re-release of MS got the misleading title "The Demon Within".

Quick Plot Synopsis
James Reese (Walken) comes home to a cocktail party already in progress. He acts like such a jerk that everyone decides to leave. He has some beef a female guest that he punches out some item of furniture. Later, a pair of MPs come to arrest him for assault. Private Reese resists, gets a broken arm, but is taken to an army hospital. There, he is evaluated as a good candidate for a Dr. Frederick's work. Reese is driven to a rural mansion which the Army has set up as a research hospital. There are only three patients: Reese, Miles and Tommy. The later has his head bandaged and screams periodically. Reese continues to be a petulant jerk, but eventually gets to know Miles. Tommy is wheeled away to surgery, but dies on the table. Miles is a loud mouthed braggart, but a lonely man afraid to die (he has terminal cancer). Dr. Frederick is conducting some brain experiments to ease brain ailments such as schizophrenia. Reese is exceptionally rude to Anna, a dowdy red cross nurse whose job it is to entertain the patients. After Reese leaves, Miles comforts the upset Anna, but he succumbs to his horniness and fear of death. He gropes her, then drags Anna away to rape her. Later, upset at his own bad behavior, Miles agrees to the brain probe. Dr. Frederick insists that only Miles can push the button. He does, and quickly becomes an addict, pushing the button continuously. Reese barges in and rips the wires from MIles' head. Miles dies without his pleasure-probe. Reese, now the only patient remaining, refuses to take the probe. He runs away, but is caught and subdued. The probe is inserted into his brain. He refuses to push his own button. The Army Major in charge of the experimental program grabs the button and pushes it. Reese drops. Later, at a press conference, a tidy and vacuous Reese is presented to reporters. He says he feels fine. (the Major is secretly pressing the button). Sociopathic Reese has been cured and is now a mild, polite, tidy young soldier. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
As with many dystopia films, MS is more thought-provoking than "fun." Walken's acting is skillful, even if the character is annoying.

Cultural Connection
Army-phobia: The hippy era's youthful distrust of authority morphed, via the unpopular Vietnam War, into a general mistrust of the military. Disrespect, if not outright condemnation of the military became quite fashionable in the early 70s. The mistrust/villainizing central to MS (and other movies) became popularized to the point that average citizens (of a left-leaning political persuasion) would vent their disapproval of all things military on the individual soldiers returning from duty. The ramifications of this lingers yet today.

Notes
Forced Conformity -- Many other movies also deal with the loss of individualism to the state's enforced norm. Orwell's 1984 had rebellious Winston broken into a docile party drone. Invasion of the Body Snatchers ('56) had emotionless pod-people replace the 'real' people. Kubrik's A Clockwork Orange had violent Alex subdued by State science. In 1975, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest would also use the format of a 'mental' facility and the anti-authority criminal Mac ultimately subdued by The System's science.

Jerk: The New Normal? -- While Walken's character, Reese, is described as a sociopath, he comes across more as an arrogant jerk in need of a good beating (or two). To 21st century eyes, Reese did not seem mentally ill so much as he was just egotistical (all that mattered was him). Were people in 1972 so much better behaved that a simple jerk stood out as a "sociopath?" Have people of the 21st century become so accustomed to jerks ("bad boys" such as Brad Pitt, et al.) that it's become accepted the norm?

Adolescent Manifesto -- Near the end of the film, Dr. Frederick tries to persuade Reese that his probe will clear up all his bad behaviors and unhappiness. Reese argues what sounds like a rebellious adolescent's manifesto to justify his jerk-hood. He says his violent, lonely, confused, frightened and unhappy qualities aren't sicknesses to be cured. "You can't burn 'em away like warts. You can't just cut 'em out…. I don't like pain, but it defines me. It's part of what I am. Who are you to erase that?…You can't change me. You wouldn't know where to begin. I am James. H. Reese. I am unique." A bit later, Reese laments the ultimate fear of the ego-centric, that his epitaph would read, "Here lies what's-his-name. He wasn't so unique."

Bottom line? MS is a bit obscure, and perhaps not worth great effort to find. It is fairly slow for 90% of its runtime. It can be very talky, with little action. The payoff is nearer the end, when Miles accepts the brain probe, then when Reese is fights it, but becomes a dutiful zombie. The implications are not new new to sci-fi, but still thought provoking. Fans of humanity-snatching films will enjoy it. Viewers accustomed to action films or laser battles will likely be bored.

The Doomsday Machine

This is another of those quilt-like film projects, revived from the dead. It was begun in 1967 with a tentative title of "Doomsday +7", but it was never finished. It sat on a shelf until 1972 when producer/director Harry Hope bought it. He added some footage to finish the story (sort of) and titled it Doomsday Machine (DM). The original footage starred Bobby Van, Ruta Lee, Mala Powers and Grant Williams. These were all well-known television actors who still had some market value in the early 70s. Grant Williams was The Incredible Shrinking Man ('57). Mala Powers played in a few 50s sci-fi films too. The eventual title, too, harkens to 1967, when it was the title of one of the episodes of Star Trek's second season. (though the two stories are completely unrelated, except that the two doomsday devices had a similar purpose (the ultimate Cold War threat weapon, and that both end up getting used and wiping out both sides.)

Quick Plot Synopsis
A chinese female spy sneaks into a secret facility. Far beneath the earth is a 'doomsday' device -- a nuclear weapon that Mao's China intends to use as the ultimate Cold War leverage tool. Her pictures are studied in Washington. Experts say that if the Chinese use their device, it will crack the earth and make it explode. The seven astronauts of Project Astra prepare for their upcoming mission to Venus. The launch date is moved up suddenly, and three of the male crew are replaced by three attractive female astronauts. The usual battle of the sexes lines ensue. They blast off. Aboard ship, there are tensions. They see the earth destroyed and realize they were sent as Adams and Eves in a Noah's Ark to save mankind. The destruction of earth and their new roles does not sit well. Kurt, in particular, turns into a jerk, trying to dominate Katie. Georgianna has a soft spot for Danny as the "boy" of the crew. Tough Marion and Tough Ron (the skipper) butt heads, but come to like each other. Old Doc is wise and sage. Dodging hunks of the blown up earth has reduced their fuel supply. Increased radiation means they must land sooner than planned. All this means that only three of them can land. But which? Doc programs the computer to make the most logical selections. Meanwhile, Kurt attempts to rape Katie. While fending him off, she accidentally opens the air lock. They are both sucked out into space and killed. The computer chose Doc, Marion and Georgianna. Danny wonders why people let computers run their lives. All agree, they'll all try a landing despite the risks. However, the spent booster stage won't disengage. Danny volunteers to pry it free, knowing he'll be left behind. He can't do it alone, so Georgianna joins him. The landing stage is free, so Doc, Don and Marion fly down. Danny and Georgianna spot a derelict Soviet spacecraft and 'fly' over to it. Aboard (they never take their helmets off and no longer sound like Van and Powers), they find a dead cosmonaut. Danny charges up the batteries and there is enough fuel to land. They lose contact with the others in Astra. A disembodied voice saying it is the collective voice of the Venusians tells Danny and Georgianna that they will not be permitted to land. They (humans) blew up their home. Instead: "Your journey will continue. Something very strange and very great awaits you beyond the rim of the universe. An now, last of man, your journey will begin." Stock footage of a second stage booster fires. There is a long look at some model planets in front of a star field. The End. Fade out.

Why is this movie fun?
The basic premise, the story and the execution are so thoroughly 50s, it's hard not to enjoy them. The original concept was very much in the ethos of 50s B sci-fi. In fact, if viewed in black and white, it would virtually indistinguishable. On that note, the very "mod" vibrant 60s colors used in the rocket interior sets, have a nostalgia value too.

Cold War Angle
As a product of the mid-60s, Cold War themes were much more in vogue. The commie Chinese are behind it all. Their nuke takes on the symbolic power of all nukes. Yet, by the early 70s, dystopia was more in vogue, so a "doomsday" spin was still marketable. Nukes would reduce mankind back to an Adam and Eve state -- a theme explored since the early 50s, (q.v. Arch Obelor's Five, '51).

Notes
Patchwork Project -- The movie project started with a story outline by Stuart J. Byme with a working title of "Deadmen in Space." According to a post on imdb, two men, Fred Long and a Henry Blum acquired the rights to the screenplay and began producing the work in 1967 as an Allied Artists production. Originally retitled as "Armageddon 1975", it was re-retitled as "Doomsday + 7". Herbert J. Leder was the director of the '67 footage. Cost overruns, mismanagement, and perhaps some other intrigue apparently killed the project before it was finished. Little of the film's ending had been shot yet. Five years later, producer Harry Hope acquired the rights and the shelved footage. None of the original actors were available (or interested) in completing the film, so Hope had to improvise. Harry and a Lee Sholem directed the new footage, but with very little skill (or care).

Saving White Bread -- A friend of mine, with a particularly sensitive eye regarding ethnic diversity, would probably have kittens at the premise in DM. The all-white crew aboard the space ark in When Worlds Collide ('51) caused him to label WWC as "racist" film. DM would get the same tarred brush, no doubt. The saving of the human race comes down to white Americans. Granted, it was a NASA project that was hastily reconfigured as Eden 2, but still. Only the presence of Major Bronski keeps it from being an all USA Eden.

New Via Hope? -- Some of the "new" 1972 footage is obvious. There is a clear break between when Danny and Georgianna spot the derelict Isvestia 2 and when they board Isvestia 2. Once aboard, they never take their helmets off and the voice-overs are not Bobby Van's or Mala Powers' voices. One might also suspect that the Mission Control footage with Casey Kasem was also shot in 1972. Kasem was a frequent voice talent for TV shows in the 60s, but his first film appearance was in 1967 in a tiny bit role. By the early 70s, however, Kasem had done some more prominent roles (in less prominent films). Thus, it seems the mission control footage was probably "new" via Harry Hope.

Non-Ending -- The film, as Hope finished, stops without any resolution. The collective Venusian voice monologues about how Danny and Georgianna aren't allowed to land on Venus, but that they'll have some other amazing fate "beyond the rim of the universe." Then it ends, or at least stops. This non-ending does not fit with all the build-up and character development by Byrne and Long. Everything up to the point where Long's production ends suggests that the five remaining people were to have a happier ending on Venus. Danny has Georgianna, Marion has Don and the wise old Dr. Perry as their Moses-figure. Imagining Venus as a prehistoric earth would have been par for the course in the mid-60s. Compare with Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet ('65) and Voyage to the Planet of the Prehistoric Women ('68). Having our two Adams and two Eves land on a "prehistoric" planet smacks of Eden. This would have been a very logical conclusion for Byrne's story.

Four Rockets In One -- An amusing detail to watch for is how the Astra ship is shown as four different ships. One of them is the JX-1 rocket from Gorath ('64). Other clips were re-used from Gorath too. There are two different hub-and-ring craft (yet to be identified), and the rocket from Wizard of Mars ('65). Other clips, especially the whole avoid-the-meteorite segment were also lifted from WoM. This last is not too surprising, as David Hewitt was the "special effects" man on WoM as well as DM. Perhaps he got some rights to the material in lieu of payment.

Bottom line? Don't watch DM as a single entertainment item. Instead, watch it as a frankenfilm, brought back from the dead with a few spare parts. In its 1972 completion, it is a mediocre film that can be confusing if one expects smooth continuity. Bobby Van is as annoying as he usually was, but the ladies are rather nice mid-60s ladies. The film, in its 1967 trajectory, would have been a bit banal, but not too bad. The non-ending (see above) drains out what little B-grade power the '67 project had created.

Blood Freak

This film gets listed as a sci-fi, but it is really a low-Z-grade amateur horror / exploitation film. Blood Freak (BF) is included here, partially out of a grudging sense of completeness to the sci-fi journey. And partly because it has a tiny bit of salience as a low-level echo of the Jekyll & Hyde trope just covered in previous posts. There is a drug-induced transformation from good to evil. There is also the good-girl / bad-girl thing going on too. The production is so horribly (pun intended) amateur that is hard to believe those involved in the production were in any way serious. The cast are almost entirely non-actors (most likely students from a film class that producer Brad Grinter taught.) None of them have any acting ability whatsoever, except for Dana Cullivan, who plays Ann, and she has little.

Very Quick Plot Synopsis
Herschell is a hunky Vietnam vet, riding his chopper down a Florida interstate. He helps a pretty woman with car trouble. He needs a place to stay, so Angel has him follow her home. Angel quotes the Bible. Her sister, Ann, is into drugs and parties. Ann has the hots for Herschell. He resists her advances and offers of pot, until she calls him a coward. He tokes and is hooked instantly. Angel gets him a job at her father's turkey farm. The two "scientists" at the farm convince Herschell to eat some turkey meat laced with mysterious chemicals. (no idea why). He goes into spasm seizures. He awakes to find he now has the head of a turkey. He goes to Ann for help. She still loves him, despite his new abnormality. She worries about their future children. He leaves to satisfy an insatiable lust for the blood of addicts (young women). He kills a few and drinks their blood. He frightens off a drug dealer who is trying to rape Ann. He pursues the dealer and cuts off his leg with a radial arm saw. (no easy task) Ann, meanwhile, has enlisted the aid of two hippy friends. They find Herschell and cut off his head. (This is helping?) Cut to footage of a real beheaded turkey flapping in the dirt. Herschell awakens from his drug-induced hallucination. (It was all a dream) Angel convinces him to pray for deliverance from drugs. He does. Herschell later meets Ann on a windy pier. Smiles. They walk off together. The End.

Passing Notes
Hoax? or Bad Art? -- Some features of BF suggest it is a farce -- a scam to generate a few quick bucks. The ludicrous turkey-head "monster" prop makes The Giant Claw look like serious art. Yet, everyone is acting (as badly as they do) as if the whole endeavor is serious. No winks or nods like Abbott and Costello or other campy spoofs. The narrator (also one of the writers, producers, directors) blathers contradictory pop philosophy, reading from cards on the desk. His blather seems much like the narration in Beast of Yucca Flats, which seems to be trying to say something that continues to elude. (more on that below)

Two Times Zero -- The two principal powers behind BF are Steve Hawkes and Brad Grinter. Hawkes had some prior acting in a few spanish-language "Tarzan" films. He shows zero acting ability in BF, but he does get to kiss the pretty girl and unhook her bra. Grinter did some acting in "naturist" (nudist) films, and produced/directed a few trash horror films. These two cinematic zeros combined their talents to produce…a zero. One might suspect that Grinter was largely responsible for the bizarre screenplay, though Hawkes (who also stars as Herschell) may have kibitzed a bit. Dialogue does not appear to have been his forte.

Pro-Christian Film? -- Several reviews on imdb.com label BF as a pro-Christian / anti-drug / horror film. The attempt at horror is plain. The anti-drug motive is possible (more on that below). But BF cannot be considered intentionally pro-Christian. Angel (the supposed Christian character) tosses out cliche verses (Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit) or random verses which some sincerely trying to evangelize (via film) would not be using. It's like a if the macho hero of a film said, "I grabbed my really big rifle by the handle and jammed some shells in the hole so I could shoot." Viewers would KNOW that the writers had no clue about guns. That's how Angel's random spoutings sound. Clearly, the writers (Hawkes and Grinter) did not have a pro-Christian agenda, but were just a couple of non-Christians writing what they thought a Christian character would say.

Priceless Blather -- After Herschell has become the vampire wer-turkey, he goes to Ann for help. She screams and faints, of course, but comes to. Herschell can only gobble, so writes her notes. She is remarkably calm for having a monster in her darkened bedroom, and goes into a rambling monologue. "Gosh you're ugly, Herschell, but I still love you. What will I tell our children about you? (apparently, she's reconciled herself to life with a wer-turkey.) What will our children look like?" She's obviously trying to make the best of a bad situation.

Rambling Rant -- Akin to Beast of Yucca Flats, the writer hadn't the talent to get his characters to deliver his message, so he just tells the audience directly. Grinter sits in front of wood paneling (very 70s), puffing at a cigarette and delivering contradictory monologues. First, life is full of repetition, following the same patterns. Then later, the one rule of life is change. Things are always changing. (huh?) Lastly, he rants on about modern man polluting his body with drugs (perhaps the real motive for the film), but he puffs so heavily on his cigarette that he gets into a coughing jag. And he doesn't edit this out! (?) Maybe it was supposed to be a sort of proof-demonstration of his point. Or, maybe it was deadpan irony to intentionally undermine his anti-drug sermon. E.g. drugs are fine, have at it. It's a bizarre mystery.

Bottom line? The film can be some level of fun for fans of inscrutable bad-movie puzzles. Someone who thought Plan 9 From Outer Space or Beast of Yucca Flats were great movies, might enjoy (?) BF. Otherwise, one can avoid BF and live a happy and fulfilled life.
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The Thing With Two Heads

American International quickly followed up Amazing 2-Headed Transplant with yet another 2-headed-man film. The Thing With Two Heads (TW2H) repeated the trope of transplanting a second head onto a man, but with a twist. Instead of the by-now-customary good and evil head, the polarity was made racial. There was one racial bigot head, and one soul-brother head. Veteran actor Ray Milland plays the bigoted Dr. Kirschner. Rosey Grier plays the black man. TW2H was aimed at the drive-in B-feature market, playing second bill to Baron Blood starring Joseph Cotton.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Dr. Kirschner (Milland) is a brilliant surgeon with his own transplant foundation. He, however, is wheelchair bound and crippled with arthritis. A new hire at the foundation turns out to be a young black doctor, Dr. Williams. Kirschner makes excuses, but it is obvious to all that he's declining Williams because he's black. He gets to stay due to his contract. In Kirschner's mansion basement lab (which all mad doctors have, apparently), he and his minions have successfully transplanted second heads on other animals, the last being a gorilla. When they were about to operate and take off the extra ape head, it gets loose and runs amok in suburbia. The excitement and chase were too much for Kirschner. He is dying of chest cancer sooner than expected. If he is to live, a human 'donor' body must be found very soon. None can be found the usual way. Dr.Desmond (an associate from the foundation) gets the prison warden to ask for volunteers on death row. One does, a Jack Moss (Grier) who maintains his innocence. Instead of the electric chair, he's sent to Kirschner's mansion. There, Kirschner's head is grafted on. Jack/Kirschner (JK for short) wake up, get dressed and flee (to go prove's Jack's innocence). JK gets one of the guard's guns and forces Dr. Williams to drive them. Desmond alerts the cops. A chase ensues. They flee on foot until happening upon a motocross race. They take one of the dirt bikes. Yet another grand chase ensues over rolling meadow with convenient gullies and hillsides that consume the 14 police cars. JK and Williams get to Jack's girlfriend, Lila. An extended set of blaxploitation scenes ensue. JK escape with K in charge. He plans to cut off the J head himself, but is stopped by Williams and Lila. Kirschner's head ls left on the small table, hooked up to life support. He calls out to Desmod to get him another body. Jack, Lila and Williams drive off singing "Oh Happy Days…" The End.

Why is this movie fun?
After all the previous good-evil two-headed movies, TW2H is almost a light-hearted treatment. It's low on the gore factor and even interjects some humor now and then. The score is so thoroughly 70s that you can almost taste the 8-track tape.

Cultural Connection
Blaxploitation was a variant of the age-old Exploitation type of film. Those were, loosely speaking, films which relied upon some sensational or titillating draw, in lieu of good writing, quality acting, decent budget, etc. Reefer Madness, Wild Women or Diary of a Nudist. Blaxploitation was a genre that started in the 70s. It featured mostly black actors acting especially "black" via slang and the vicarious satisfaction of epithets hurled at white characters. ("cracker", or "honky") The most famous blaxlploitation film was Shaft. TW2H has its threads of blaxploitation, which common as they were in the 70s, were otherwise rare in sci-fi. A notable early exception being Omega Man which had elements of militant "black" culture voiced by Zachary and Lisa.

Notes
Black and White -- TW2H has an inevitable variation on the customary Jekyll and Hyde moral formula of one head being "good" and the second head being "evil." Instead, the "good" head is black (and innocent, you'll notice), while the "bad" head is a racial bigot. Instead of violence vs. peaceful, or chaste vs. rapacious, the good/bad element has been pared down to mere racism. This seems insufficient "steam" for the format. It does provide some humor though.

Extra Head -- As developed in the prior 2-head movie, the whole point of the extra head transplant was to allow the new head to acclimate to the new body. After it had taken control of the nervous system, etc., then the original head could be removed. In this, the 2-head films are a cousin to the brain transplant films. Just, instead of transplanting only the brain, the whole head is taken.

Car Wars -- The opening credits point out that automobiles were provided by Chrysler Corporation. Keep this in mind when you watch the Keystone Cops-ish chase scene. When the police cars are just driving in the usual manner, they are clean and tidy Dodge Coronets or Plymouth Satellites. In some of the chase footage, there are Dodges and Plymouths, but note that whenever a cop car crashes, it is a Ford Custom 500. No Chrysler cars get wrecked, only Fords. Coincidence? I think not.

Bottom line? TW2H is a silly film and not really worth much effort to track down (let alone buy). It does give a flavor of the silliness of the 70s. And, it is a sort of eventual distillation of Jekyll and Hyde into banality.

The Cremators

Harry Essex's other B movie in 1972 was The Cremators, also aimed at the drive-in market. It had an even tinier budget than his Octaman which was already low-budget. Once again, Essex was the writer, producer and director. He had help from Roger Corman. Once again, he got his son, David, an acting part in the film. The rest of the cast are third-tier (at best). Maria De Aragon stars as Jeanie. Marvin Howard stars as the nerd scientist, Ian. As he had with Creamators, Essex again brought a taste of 50s sci-fi to the 70s. The story itself hales back to the early 50s. The poster probably led ticket-buyers to think the film was much more exciting than it actually was. (no burning cities or scantily clad women)

Quick Plot Synopsis
A narrator tells how, 300 years ago, a meteor fell and only an indian brave and a fish were witnesses. Both died. The indian was chased by a rolling fireball. It runs over him, turning him a people-shaped pile of ash. Flash forward to 1972 and nerdy entomologist Ian is staying in a lighthouse and studying bugs. He finds some odd glistening rocks. He mails some to a colleague to study. The mailman is later overrun by the rolling fireball. The sheriff and medical examiner theorize a lightning strike. Ian meets Jeanie and they two develop a relationship. She''s intrigued by the shiny rocks he found. He gives them to her. A local beach bum / hippy brings Ian his dead cat to examine. Ian finds more of the shiny rocks inside it. When the dog of the postman is found, it too dies and has some shiny rocks in its belly. Later, a lone sailor walks down a dirt road. He stops to strike a match on a shiny rock. This upsets the fireball, so it rolls over him. The sheriff and examiner think it's another rogue lightning strike. Ian thinks it has something to do with the shiny rocks. They think he's just mega-nerdy. Ian's friend (who did not get his package) Dr. Willy Seppel, arrives. He can't explain the shiny rocks or their odd heat properties. He thinks they came from space. Two of Ian's specimens burn out of their wooden box and leave a char-trail out the door. He connects the dots that the fireball is like the "mother" trying to collect the little shiny rocks. The postman and sailor died because they had one. Jeanie is puttering to the island in Mack's boat, listening to Ian and Mack discussing all this via ham radio. The fireball rises up out of the water and chases Jeanie. Mack left two shiny rocks in a box in his boat. Jeanie screams and asks Ian for help. He tells her to throw the rocks overboard. She does. Willy takes a couple shiny rocks out in a boat. The fireball comes for him. He tries to shoot it with a big 12 gauge shotgun, to no effect. Willy is toast. Ian, upset over the death of his friend, has a plan. He tells Jeanie to stay in the lighthouse, but of course, she doesn't. Ian buries some dynamite in the sand, and puts shiny rocks on top. He stomps on them to make the fireball mad. It comes for him. He detonates the dynamite. Boom. Everyone is glad it's over, but there are still two glowing shiny rocks on the sand. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Fans of really-bad movies will find plenty of bad to laugh at. But, beyond that, the special effects work of Doug Beswick almost manage to save the film from being utter dreck. Granted, they're shoestring-budget effects, but Beswick manages to do a pretty credible job with that shoestring.

Cultural Connection
Eco-Nagging: Even though it had nothing whatsoever to do with the story, Essex did not resist the urge to pander to the blossoming ecology movement. He has his narrator scold in the opening monologue about how man has polluted the earth. Yet, there is no connection made between man's pollution and the "monster". Environmental harping was, apparently, just something that had to be included. A somewhat naked example of Hollywood activism, perhaps.

Notes
Remake from '52 -- It would seem that someone, Essex, or Corman, perhaps, had acquired the rights to a story by Judy Ditky entitled, "The Dune Roller." This story was dramatized on television in an episode of Tales of Tomorrow. This episode is viewable on the internet via archive.org and some other sources. The essentials of the story are the same. A scientist works on Lightning Island in lake Michigan.The island is infamous for lightning strike deaths. There is also the legend of the Dune Roller -- a fireball which burns people up. He finds odd rocks. The rocks apparently grow together. An old man is killed because he had some of the rocks in his pocket. The scientist (who has a girlfriend name Jeanie, too) decides to blow up the Dune Roller with dynamite. Some glowing fragments suggest the story is not over after all. The black and white TV episode (only 23 minutes long) has the visuals of the burned holes in the box, and the charred trails leading out the door. Essex kept that.

David II -- Harry managed to get his young adult son, David, another role in one of his movies, this time as a long-haired hippy instead of a long-haired "indian." David still has only the average man's acting ability. (very little) The only time he seemed to convey any pathos was when he was petulant and defiant. Perhaps these were emotions he was familiar with. David may have been a bit of a hyperactive handful as a son too. Note how much footage is dedicated to scenes of David running up and down the beach (which added nothing to the plot). David was clearly not intent to be an actor. He did no other movies.

Lame Love -- A curious scene (among many) in Creamators is the "love scene". Ian and Jeanie have obviously hit it off. And in swingin' 70s style, Ian has Jeanie in bed. Harry Essex did not, apparently, have an especially passionate imagination. The love scene starts with Ian kissing Jeanie as if practicing on a resuscitation dummy. She was appropriately inanimate. This is followed by a camera swing-around of the two lying motionless. The climax, so to speak, was a closeup of Jeanie's hand squeezing Ian's arm. Yes, that was it. Perhaps others, (Corman, maybe?) were urging Essex to include a gratuitous sex scene, but Essex really didn't want to. His enthusiasm was conspicuously absent.

Bottom line? Cremators is a very low quality production. Based on the budget of $50,000 or less, it may well have been a one-take shooting (which explains some of the bland acting). Albert Glasser's score is often lurid and loud to the point of annoyance. It is often used to prod tension or excitement, which the film never delivers -- like a sneeze that almost, but never quite comes. The screenplay appears to have been a first draft that was never cleaned up. Note how many times the scenes flip from day to night and back again. This film is better appreciated as a slightly more elaborate remake of a 1952 television episode -- not so much as a movie itself. Beswick's special effects (as low-tech as they are) almost carry the film. Clearly, the acting, editing and directing did not.

Octaman

Harry Essex managed to bring a slice of the 50s into the 70s with his first of two low-budget monster films: Octaman. The story loosely follows the by-now-hackneyed formula of rubber suit monster randomly attacking people. Essex was the writer, director and producer. As such, Octaman suffers in the usual ways. As a director, Essex created a movie with the look and feel of a made-for-television film. But, Octaman appears designed to be a second-run feature for the drive-in market. It first aired in Mexico in late 1971, but also ran in Germany, curiously. The American poster got a German subtitle: Beast of the Deep.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A narrator intones about mankind's search for answers to mysteries, then quickly settles on the legends of a half-man-half-octopus, "the hideous fruit of atomic radiation, in the form of a bizarre legend wrapped in horror and written in blood." A team of scientists are in some latin american country measuring water samples for radiation. It is dangerously high. They find a little (plastic) octopus with strangely hypnotic eyes. When all but one of the scientists go to town for supplies, Octaman kills the remaining scientist and retrieves his octo-buddy. The others return and are convinced there is some "mewtant" creature afoot. The team's sponsor (Jeff Morrow) refuses to fund any search for monsters. So, Rick convinces a publicity-hungry rancher to fund the search. They search, and Octaman manages to kill a few of them off, one by one. Davido ("The Indian") says he knows where to look. His grandmother told him of the spot where the beast killed his father long ago. The team motors over in their Ford Condor motorhome and set up camp. Susan, Rick's fiancee, gets spooky intuitions when the beast is near. Octaman kills off a few more people. Rancher Johnny wants to cancel the safari. Octo knocks out Johnny and abducts Susan. Rick, Steve and Mort surround Octo with a ring of fire to deprive him of oxygen. He passes out. Rick rescues Susan. Octo is captured, safely sedated and under a big net. But, he wakes up. Susan talks him into going away instead of killing them. (?) Their search led them to a cave (Bronson Caverns). Octo traps them with a cave in, but the team find a way out. Octo waits in ambush in the motorhome. After much fighting, Octo has Rick in a choke hold. Susan convinces Octo to take her and spare Rick. Octo carries off Susan (again). She shoots him in the chest. The other guys arrive and blast Octo with their guns too. Octo, full of holes, shuffles back into the pond. Bubble bubble. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Octaman is a throwback to the Golden Era of B sci-fi, when men in rubber suit monster costumes were king.

Cultural Connection
The 50s' angst over the danger of radiation was pretty badly faded by the 70s. The old fear was spruced up with a coat of Enviro-Angst for the next generation. Back in the 50s, people worried about radiation, but more in the sense of sudden death. After the Cold War tension had cooled (or at least grown somewhat stale) over the 1960s, environmental fear was rising to take the place of Atomic Angst. Enter Essex's Octaman as the hybrid. Several times, the lead character and narrator preach and whine about how nasty people are to pollute the earth -- in this case with nuclear fallout from underwater testing.

Notes
Monster Star -- Essex opted, as the director, not to keep his monster mysterious. Instead of a slow, progressive "reveal" via shadows, feet, claws, etc. he puts his octo-monster on the screen right at the title. The film is really all about his octo-monster. Based on screen time alone, Octaman is THE star of the film. The rest of the cast are supporting roles, or fodder for his rage. The costume IS fairly elaborate for such a low-rent film and very reminiscent of Paul Blaisell's work. Rick Baker and Doug Beswick both got their start in special effects and makeup making the Octaman costume. Both would go on to work on Star Wars and become part of the post-Star-Wars generation of special effects men.

They're After Our Women! -- Essex includes, not just one, but TWO of the classic Abduction Scenes in Octaman. Twice, he has his monster fascinated with and then carrying off the desirable female. What he planned to do with her remained ill-defined. Take her to his underwater home and she'd just drown. She does her part too, in the classic idiom. She faints a lot so she's easier to carry. When she's conscious, she only kicks and protests a little. Monsters have long had a sort of Id-personified quality to them. An interesting twist on the Abduction Scene comes when Susan pulls out the revolver from her pocket and shoots her abductor in the chest. Modern women don't take to being abducted like they did in the old days.

Golden Echo -- Harry Essex's Octaman is an echo of the 50s in several ways. For one, Essex was a screenwriter for both It Came From Outer Space ('53). He reused the monster-eye-view camera effect from this film (though oddly with a multi-faceted lens when Octaman clearly had a single pupil). Essex also worked on the screenplay for Creature From the Black Lagoon ('54). From this, he borrowed the aqua-man-hybrid who has a beauty-and-the-beast attraction to the leading lady. Adding to the 50s feel is a cameo appearance of Jeff Morrow, Exeter in This Island Earth ('54) and starring in The Giant Claw ('57).

It's NOT Who You Know -- Being the son of the writer-director-producer might count for something, but it can't launch a career. Harry Essex got his son David a rather prominent role in Octaman. David plays the role of "Davido", the indian. While most of the acting in Octaman is marginal, David's comes across as someone all-too-aware that he's in front of cameras, filming a movie. Too many times, he's sporting a big stupid grin ("Hehe, I'm in a MOVIE!  Can you believe it?") when the role called for some other emotion.  His father would give him another try in his second attempt: The Cremators, (up next) with no better result. David Essex acted in no other films.

Sad Ending -- Not for the creature, but for the female star "Pier Angeli." Her real name was Anna Maria Pierangeli. As a young woman in the late 1940s, she wanted very badly to be a star. She worked at it, and landed some smallish parts in some films with big Hollywood names, such as Kirk Douglas, James Mason, Lorne Green, Paul Newman, and more. Yet, despite her obvious beauty, her career never seemed to take off. Perhaps her acting talent was not as strong as her beauty. Most of her roles were small or the films low-budget. When she did Octaman, she was 39 years old and starting to look more middle aged. She took her own life in September of '71 with an overdose of sleeping pills while Octaman was nearing the end of production. A low-rent film like Octaman seems like a sad way to end the career of a pretty actress. Some photos of Anna Maria in better days can be seen at AnnaMariaPierangeli.com

Bottom line? Octaman is a low-rent, cheesy monster flick with only a hint of science to its fiction. It is a very 50s-style of film which appears to be serious (not intended as a spoof). The acting is stiff to poor. The pacing is erratic. Some scenes are full of quick action, but some (like the climbing out of the cave) are clearly padding. Still, for fans of Golden Era B sci-fi, Octaman can be good cheap fun. For those raised on mega-budget CGI epics, Octaman will probably seem laughably stupid.

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes

Twentieth Century Fox had a winning franchise going with the Planet of the Apes series. The fourth film in the saga is Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (CPA). The film is a sequel in that it continues the story thread established in the prior three films. The story begins 20 years after the previous film's story ended. Only Roddy McDowall and Ricardo Montalban carry over from the third movie's cast. McDowall plays the grown son of his former character, Cornelius. Montalban returns as the circus owner, Armando. Natalie Trundy returns, but in a new role. She was one of the mutants in Beneath. She was Dr. Stephanie in Return. In CPA, she plays Lisa, the peripheral love interest for Caesar. There would be yet one more film in the direct series. The 2011 film, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, would be "re-imagining" of CPA, but without the Taylor-Mutants-TimeTravel loop story line.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Text-on-screen says: North America, 1991. Apes (dressed in jumpsuits, red for gorillas, orange for orangutans, green for chimps) are herded into a wide concrete plaza to begin training in menial jobs. Ape Management Inc. trains apes for servile work. Armando brings the now-grown Milo (son of Cornelius and Zira from the third movie) into town to post handbills for his circus. Both are aghast at the oppressive treatment the apes receive. Milo breaks his silence. Armando tries to cover for him. "It was I who spoke." Milo melts into hiding. Armando tries to smooth things over, but the oppressive governor has him interrogated harshly. Milo sneaks into a cage of incoming orangutans, gets trained and put up for auction. Ironically, it is the governor who buys him. He lets Milo pick out his own name, so Milo points to the name Caesar in a book of names. Just as the governor's interrogators are about to break Armando , he jumps out of a window to his death, to avoid spilling the truth. Caesar is sad, then enraged at the human oppressors. Caesar organizes an underground rebellion. The uprisings cause more brutal crackdowns. Caesar is captured and tortured via electroshock into speaking. The governor orders him electrocuted, but the governor's aide sneaks off and cuts power to the shock table. Caesar, sensing the lack of shock, fakes it. Everyone leaves. Caesar escapes. He then organizes a full revolt with weapons and tactics. A prolonged hand-to-hand battle escalates. The apes were armed with knives, clubs and machetes, but eventually acquire guns. The apes succeed in breaching the governor's command headquarters. They capture the governor. He monologues about the apes representing the savage nature within man. Caesar orders him taken outside, then monologues about ape revolts rising around the world.. He intended to throw the governor to the mob, but entreaties from MacDonald, and Lisa persuade him to spare the governor. "Cast off your vengeance. Tonight, we have seen the birth of the Planet of the Apes!" Fade to black and roll silent credits. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Even though CPA is the third sequel, the fourth movie in the series, it is a strong film. There is plenty of action, and the pacing is quick. The use of night shots for the revolt and riots works well, making the action feel more claustrophobic and chaotic. Roddy McDowall puts in a good job.

Cultural Connection
CPA beats the same racial-oppression drum as the third movie. The cruelty-to-animals theme was present too, but less flagrant. The struggle for civil equality for the black community had been going on for a long time, but it was still a sensitive issue. CPA was pushing the racial button pretty heavily.

Notes
Alternate Timeline -- Filmed in late 1971, the story is intended to be a look 20 years into the future. Some viewers scoff that their 1991 looked nothing like the movie. This is because it is an alternate timeline. In the third movie (Escape), Zira told how the apes were servants for 200 years. Then 300 years later, turned tables on the humans. This would be the presumed timeline Taylor was in, had Cornelius and Zira not returned. But, they did. When they came back, they brought a "space virus," that killed off all the dogs and cats in less than eight years. Apes were adopted into homes and quickly grew in size and intelligence -- perhaps enhanced by the same virus. In less than 20, the apes were advanced to the point it took Taylor's timeline 500 years to accomplish.

Alternate Ending -- The most common copy of CPA has the more-humane ending. The story is, the original screenplay called for a more brutal, revenge-satisfying ending. Fox is said to have gotten critical feedback from test audiences, so had some reshoots of new lines for a less violent, "humane" ending. Some viewers hanker for that original bloodier version, but the revised ending actually works better. As a (purported) retelling of the struggle for freedom by blacks, having the violent ending seriously undermines the message. Black "in power" would be no better than the whites. New boss, same as the old boss, as the song goes. The humane ending actually enhances the social message -- in much more of a Martin Luther King Jr. sort of way.

Neo-Nazis -- A curious, but no doubt obvious visual allusion, the security police in CPA's 1991 look very much like Nazi SS troopers. The high-peaked cap, the black uniforms with white piping, etc. This makes the symbolism a bit more complex, as the oppressors were not just average white-folks being self-centered. The apes were then somewhat symbolic of the jews -- an oppressed minority with no civil rights. The rapid collapse of the human "empire" in CPA is much more like the fall of Nazi Germany than the slow-fade of progress in racial equality.

Projected Self-loathing -- Very near the end of the film, the captured governor gives an explanation for why the humans oppressed the apes. It is a complex philosophical soup. After the customary evolution error, he gets to the meatier stuff. "Man was born of the ape, and there's still an ape curled up inside of every man. The beast that must be beaten into submission. The savage that has to be shackled and chained. You are that savage. When we hate you, we're hating the dark side of ourselves." There's a lot to chew on in that little speech.

Divine Judgement -- Caesar's closing speech contained a curious reference, especially in contrast to the governor's ego-centric world view. Caesar said it was destiny that apes overthrew man. "Destiny is the will of God. If it is destiny for man to be dominated, then it is God's will that he be dominated with compassion and understanding." This is likely part of the "second" (revised) ending. It makes a much more complex ending than the simpler. We win - you die, ending.

Watts Up? -- The riot scenes could well be re-imaginings of the mid-60s Watts riots that LA suffered. Those riots looked much more like a revolt or a war to those near the scene. The visuals may have been a bit too close for comfort, for LA viewers.

Brutalism -- The predominant shooting locations -- University of California, Irvine campus, and the Century City complex in LA -- were both examples of the architectural style called "brutalism." Vast expanses of concrete, tall patterned concrete walls, a landscape subdued and controlled via geometry. These actually make quite fitting locations for the oppression scenes.

Bottom line? CPA carries on the saga story thread, but is the stronger of the sequels. It's better than the second movie and less silly (at times) than the third. Despite the low budget, CPA manages to tell its story. For fans of the first three movies, CPA is a must. People who've not seen the first three might get a little lost (there are bits of digression to explain backstory). But, CPA is a strong story on its own -- provided one suspends criticism and just accepts intelligent man-sized apes.
---

The Groundstar Conspiracy

Universal distributed this Hal Roach production in June of '72. The Groundstar Conspiracy (GC) is listed as a sci-fi, but the connection is very weak. GC is essentially a spy mystery with Cold War undertones. The blown-up facility was a space probe lab, but that's about it for sci-fi. George Peppard stars as the relentless government agent, Tuxan. Michael Sarrazin stars as the suspect saboteur who has amnesia. Christine Belford stars as Nichole Devon, the love interest caught in the middle. Hal Roach had much experience in television programming and it shows.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A man runs out of a secretive underground facility "Groundstar", just as it blows up. Badly injured and face disfigured, he staggers to the home of Nichole Devon and collapses. She calls the authorities. The man is whisked away and operated on. Gruff agent Tuxan investigates, ruffling just about everyone's official feathers. Nicole did not know the man. Her parents died, leaving her the summer home. Recently divorced, she was just up for peace and quiet. The suspect recovers after massive surgeries, but has amnesia. He has no idea who he is, or what Tuxan is talking about. Tuxan says he is John David Welles, the saboteur. Welles has no memory. Tuxan arranges for Welles to escape and follows him. Welles returns to Nichole to see if she knows who he is. She doesn't, but her intuition tells her he is not a saboteur and killer. While "in hiding" (the house if bugged and has cameras), Welles and Nichole develop and intimate relationship. Nichole hears Welles speak greek in his sleep. Turns out he does speak greek. He also has dreams about some greek ruins and visions of a young woman drowned. Before they can make sense of these revelations, Carl, the government PR man and his goon, Charlie, abduct Welles. They interrogate and torture him to make him reveal the secret swiss bank account number. Welles doesn't remember any of that. Welles escapes just before Tuxan's men attack. Carl is captured alive. Welles heads for the ominous government complex to force Tuxan to tell all. Meanwhile, Carl had talked and exposed the sabotage sponsor as Senator Stanton who oversaw appropriations for Groundstar. Welles demands answers from Tuxan or he'll shoot him. Tuxan shows him a dead man in a morgue -- the real Welles. The actual saboteur died on the operating table. Tuxan used a greek-born lower level agent who felt such guilt at the drowning death of his girlfriend, that he didn't mind having his memory purged via surgery. The greek man then "became" Welles with amnesia to be bait for whoever hired Welles. Welles is righteously indignant over government abuse of people in the interests of national security. Tuxan says, get over it. You get to start over with a new girlfriend. Is that so bad? The End.

Why is this movie fun?
As a spy mystery, the story is pretty well woven. There are plenty of twists and surprises to keep things from settling into predictability. For viewers who grew up watching television in the early 70s, there is a nostalgia factor in the look, feel and especially the score. GC feels very 70s.

Cultural Connection
In the early days of classic sci-fi, the government was the hero. Government agents discovered the aliens. Government troops saved the day through firepower. But, as the Vietnam War fractured American society, the government itself began to look suspect. Distrust of the government was displacing the old fears of the communists. Movies like Andromeda Strain and The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler (both '71) suggested that powerful, shadowy forces actually ruled the land. Audiences were ready for this, half-believing it was true anyhow.

Notes
Scant Science -- The only possible claim GC has to being a sci-fi film is that the scantily-described Groundstar Project had something to do with space probes and research into "miniature fuel" technology. None of that was crucial to the story, however. The blown up project could have been anything. It didn't matter for the rest of the story. If anything, the science was pedestrian. Welles was accused of stealing "computer tapes", by which they meant punch tape which could be read like teletype. Maybe this was oo-ah in 1972.

Waterboarding! -- For those who see waterboarding as the hallmark of a government gone bad, it's worth noting that the traitor-agent Carl and his goon Charlie, use waterboarding torture to try to get Welles to crack and tell them the secrets. As apparently "modern" as the topic is now, it appears to be rather old news in the spy world.

21st Century Reivance -- Somewhat surprising, for a low-budget film, the screenplay raises issues which remain relevant 40 years later. National security "needs" trump "rights" to personal privacy. In one scene, Nicole is outraged that Tuxan had her beach house bugged and cameras set to spy on her -- even in her bedroom. She rants at him: Isn't there any privacy?" Tuxan replies, "To hell with privacy. Murders begin in privacy. Sabotage, revolutions, they all begin in privacy." There's the rub for modern society. Privacy is where terrorist plots begin. Society still wrestles with this problem. Not bad for an obscure 1972 spy thriller.

A Great Place for the Future -- Modern sci-fi fans with a quick eye and a good memory might recognize the rambling modernist government complex where Tuxan, Gossage and Senator Stanton work. The huge sweeping concrete stairways. The tidy square park with reflecting pool. The long colonnades. The actual place was Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada. It was used in some episodes of Battlestar Galactica and in some episodes of Stargate, SG1.

Bottom line? GC is a passable film as a spy thriller. It's reasonably paced and the story is complex enough to stay intriguing. The acting can be workman-like at times. But, there is really no science fiction in this movie. Spy movie enthusiasts can enjoy it. Fans of 70s television can enjoy it. Fans looking for science fiction, we go away hungry.

Beware The Blob

Producer Jack Harris saved 1972 sci-fi moviedom from depression. He brought audiences the first blob movie in 1958, but in 1972, he put together a sequel/remake/spoof. Beware The Blob (BTB) is sometimes also known as Son of Blob. BTB is the only feature film directed by Larry Hagman (of I Dream of Jeanie, and Dallas, fame). The two central stars are Robert Walker Jr. (who played the tragic & immature Charlie in the Star Trek original series episode "Charlie X.") and Gwynne Gilford. BTB tends to get panned by many movie critics who expected something more serious. The film is, on the one hand, a sort of sequel. On the other hand, it's a self parody, not to be taken so seriously.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Arctic pipeline worker, Chester Hargis (Godrey Cambridge) lounges around his suburban home drinking large amounts of beer. His wife finds a metal jar in their freezer, which Chester says is a sample of some thing they found in the arctic. He planned to have it analyzed. They both get busy elsewhere, so the jar thaws. The red mini-blob ingests a fly, then the couple's kitten, then Mrs. Hargis. It lurks on Chester's easy-chair. Meanwhile, some local "hip" youths plan a surprise party for Lisa's boyfriend Bobby. Lisa goes to pick up the gift Mrs. Hargis made, only to find Chester being absorbed by the blob. Lisa drives fast and crazy, upsetting stolid citizen Ed Fazio (Richard Stahl). Lisa brings Bobby, but there's no sign of anyone. A comic non sequitur involves Dick van Paten as a scout troop master and scouts on a nature hike. Meanwhile, a couple of Lisa's friends are getting stoned in a big drain culvert. A sheriff's deputy busts them, but he's eaten by the blob. The stoners are too, presumably. A comedy skit ensues with a pompous barber and a "hippy" seeking a haircut. The blob oozes up through the barber's sink drain, eating the hippy and the barber. The blob ingests three wino farmhands (including cameos by Hagman and Burgess Meredith) The bumbling sheriff and his equally bumbling deputies are mystified at the large number of missing person reports. Perhaps they're all down at the bowling alley! They to go see.  The blob eats the scout troop leader. The blob tries to eat a fat turk in his bathtub, but the naked turk gets away. A smirking deputy arrests him. Bobby and Lisa are surprised by the surprise party. The guests are all stereotypic stoners and morons. After a bit of cake and merriment, Bobby takes Lisa home. He finally gets Lisa to calm down and think about important things, like necking, when the blob envelops their Chevy Blazer. It oozes through cracks. Lisa flails, accidentally turning on the A/C. The blob retreats, but they don't connect the dots. Bobby and Lisa try to alert their friends to the danger, but they're too stupid. One, then another, are eaten by the blob. All the action converges on the bowling alley. Bobby tries to alert everyone to the danger, but none listen. The blob eats some comic maintenance guys, then attacks everyone. Pandemonium. Chaos. Running. Screaming. Being eaten. People flee into a skating rink (with no ice yet). Bobby, Lisa and Mr. Fazio take refuge in the DJ's booth. Others are eaten. The blob works it's way up to the booth. Meanwhile, after a few more comic vignettes, the sheriff and his men surround the rink. They plan to burn it down. Inside, Bobby accidentally spills some ice and cold beer on the blob. It leaves the booth. The dots finally connect. It doesn't like cold. Bobby has to climb some ropes to get to the big switch that turns on the rink's floor pipes. He does. The blob freezes. Bobby stops the sheriff from burning down the building. The town is saved! However, a TV crew interview the sheriff, atop the frozen blob. A badly (but obviously) laid floodlight, thaws a bit of blob, which oozes onto the sheriff's boot. Just as he notices, freeze frame. Text-on-screen: "The End?"

Why is this movie fun?
As a horror/comedy hybrid (with the bias mostly towards comedy) BTB was intended to be fun. Granted, some of the skits are juvenile, but some are somewhat funny. The barber skit, while a bit dated (dirty hippy stereotype as prerequisite) is pretty good. Shaggy youth: "I want a…a…haircut." Barber: "I don't cut hair, I'm not a barber. I am an artist. I sculpt hair. Do you want a…sculpt?" (It's funnier in the movie).

Cultural Connection
Parody. It wasn't new to sci-fi in 1972. Abbott and Costello Go To Mars was parody of sci-fi when the genre of saucers and aliens was only a few years old. BTB ramps up the cluelessness of the authorities (witness the witless Sheriff), but also the protagonists and their circle of youthful friends, into air-heads, jerks and stoners. Would a serious sci-fi/horror film start with footage of a cute kitten frolicking in a flowery meadow? (No). Sci-fi parody and a genre, would recur, of course. Mars Attacks! in '96 was a big one. Others, by smaller studios, such as The Lost Skeleton of Cadabra, etc. would poke good-natured fun at Classic Era sci-fi.

Notes
Starring: Blob and Beer -- Although uncredited as a co-star, the blob itself has, perhaps, the only serious part in the film. It gets more screen time and all of the tension. It's co-star was BEER. Chester guzzled it b the pitcher-full before he got eaten. Mr. Fazio was forever driving around boxes of it in his station wagon. Bobby and Lisa run over more of Fazio's beer en route to the rink. A mini-fridge full of cold beer in the DJ booth is what alerts Bobby to the blob's weakness. The prominent role beer plays in BTB lets the viewer know what the writers figured their audience was interested in.

Cameo Blob -- Before he is eaten by the blob, Chester Hargis is watching TV. On his TV is a clip from the original 1958 blob. It's the scene outside of the grocery store. This little bit adds humorous irony to the fact that neither Chester, nor anyone else, seem recall the original blob events from 14 years earlier. How stupid can they be?

Planet Stupid -- The first Blob movie had the traditional formula of smart-kids-know-the-truth, while the adults-are-clueless, Blob 2 has everyone clueless. Part of the humor in BTB is that everyone is stupid -- almost too stupid to live (and many don't). The adults are stupid, of course, but all of the "youth" are too. All of them except Bobby and Lisa are too self-absorbed in drinking, toking or acting like idiots, to recognized mortal danger. Even Bobby and Lisa, who come across as the least stupid, are able to forget (in just a few minutes) that an unstoppable murderous monster is loose nearby and get down to a little necking. Seriously? All this stupid is intentional. It's a parody of ALL the customary roles.

Death Isn't Funny -- One might object that all the death in BTB is patently un-funny. However, the audience knows that no one really dies (it's just a movie). Note that almost all 'deaths' occur off camera. There is no gore to make death look serious. People just get run over by the blob, or absorbed, etc. and disappear offstage cleanly. There is an air of absurdity about such "deaths" that keeps them farcical, rather like the 1974 comedy Rhinoceros, in which the characters turn, one by one, into Rhinoceroses.

One. More. Time. -- Jack Harris would not be able to let go of the blob story, even after spoofing both his original blob film, and his sequel. In 1988, he would remake The Blob. The special effects in Blob 3 would get a lot more attention, but the urge to mix in humor was apparently not sated in BTB.

Bottom line? BTB is a difficult movie to categorize. It is a horror-comedy hybrid (and odd duck category anyhow), but the mix is mostly comedy. This throws a great many viewers who expect mostly horror (and don't get it). Most of the skits are dated humor, but a few of them are somewhat funny. The blob special effects are, at times, ultra cheesy (red plastic wiggled near the lens, or a red balloon), but other times look pretty cool (like when it pours out onto the bowling lanes). BTB is not great cinema. It's passable B-grade entertainment. Watch it as a spoof. It helps.

Z.P.G.

Early 1972 was off to a gloomy start for sci-fi movies. Paramount distributed an indie production titled, Z.P.G., (standing for Zero Population Growth). It is a grim dystopia tale, shot mostly in Copenhagen with a supporting cast of danish actors and actresses. In a smoggy future, the one-world government decrees that no one shall have a baby for 30 years. ZPG stars Oliver Reed and Geraldine Chaplin as the couple who defy the law and have a baby. Don Gordon and Diane Cilento co-star as the baby-obsessed creepy neighbors. In many ways, ZPG reads like an update on Orwell's 1984.

Quick Plot Synopsis
The president of the world council announces a new edict. To reduce the world's overpopulation, there can be no more babies born for 30 years. Fast forward eight years. People wearing clear face masks, walk the streets amid very thick smog. One woman shouts "Baby! Baby!" A mob forms around a woman and young son. She pleads that he IS eight years old, just small for his size. The police arrive, but the son does have the "BE" (Before Edict) ultraviolet tattoo on his forehead. Russ and Carol work in a museum. Mostly, they are 1971 re-enactors who put on mini-plays of 70s life (bland dinner parties with wife swapping intrigue) for museum audiences. Russ and Carol get in line for a robo-child. (intended to channel people's parental instincts). Carol is disgusted, so they leave. Another woman and toddler are discovered by the crowd. Clearly criminals, the authorities drop the dome of death on them, and paint it red. (they suffocate inside in a dozen hours or so). Carol very much wants a real baby. After one night of marital relations, she goes to stand by the Abort-o-matic in her bathroom, but stands far aside while it hums and irradiates. Fast forward four months. She is starting to show. To avoid discovery, Russ fixes up a former bomb shelter under their home. He will say she ran away and left him. Carol will have to live down there, deliver down there, and perhaps stay hidden with the baby for 22 more years. Fast forward another four months. Carol is having contractions prematurely. She can't get a doctor, so Russ goes to the library to learn what he can about delivering babies. He searches for "Premonstratensian" art, ( a medieval monastic style) then lets his search "accidentally" wander to pre-mature births. He gets only a glimpse before he is trapped in his chair and whisked off to a painful interrogation chamber. Accused of criminal information-seeking, he says it was a mis-key and thought it was disgusting. The interrogators buy this and let him go. Carol gives birth. Later, the boy runs a fever. She sneaks him out to an old pediatrician in a nursing home. The boy will be fine, but Carol's neighbor Edna discovers that she has a baby. Edna and George don't squeal on them because they want a real baby too. Russ and Carol have no choice but to agree to share him. Over time, the sharing becomes uneven. Edna and George hog Jeffrey. Russ hatches a plan. He and Carol dig a tunnel from their bomb shelter, to a particular spot under the street. After a showdown. Edna and George squeal. The authorities take Carol, Russ and little Jeffrey out into the street and drop the dome of death on them. Edna and George are massively conflicted, since this dooms "their" Jeffrey too. But too late. The dome is painted red and the three inside left to suffocate. However, Russ has tools in his boots. He cuts the zip ties and digs through the pavement. The three escape through their tunnel to another cavern. Via rubber raft, Russ paddles through big drain tunnels, past stacks of old junk cars, finally out to sea and clear blue skies. They land on a beach with a plaque noting that the site was a dump for Polaris missiles, buried in the interest of peace. They walk ashore anyhow. Freeze frame. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
For a low-budget production, the film has a surprisingly effective mood. There is also a VERY 70s look and feel to the fashions. Sideburns, bellbottoms and colorful swirly prints! -- a nostalgia amusement for viewers who lived through the times.

Cultural Connection
By the early 70s, nuclear doom had to share the nightmare stage with environmental doom. ZPG adds a variant: overpopulation doom. The idea that population growth would eventually outstrip food production -- causing mass famine and death -- goes back to Thomas Malthus in the late 1700s. The industrial revolution of the early 1800s and subsequent industrialization of agriculture in the mid-1800s (all unforeseen by Malthus) undermined the Malthusian predictions. Doom didn't come like he said. But, Malthusian doom never went away completely. It resurfaced from time to time, but did not garner much attention. Doom from overpopulation became much more mainstream after the publication of Paul Ehrlich's "The Population Bomb" in 1968. Ehrlich wrote that by the mid-70s, mass famine and death were likely. A culture already accustomed to impending (nuclear) doom was FAR more receptive and ready to be afraid of something else.
Footnote: Doom did not arrive for Ehrlich any better than it had for Malthus. Subsequent editions of his book revised in the 80s and 90s, had the doom dates to remain roughly 10 years or so in the future.

Notes
Post-Malthus -- The premise for ZPG is that the world went through a Malthusian crisis. Pollution killed off thousands of people, as well as the plants and animals and made most of the earth (the cities, at least) thick with noxious smog. The only food was synthetic and there wasn't enough of that to go around. ZPG's dystopia is the post-malthusian world in which food is strictly rationed and babies are illegal.

Prequel to Silent Running -- Drawing from the same well of anxiety, ZPG inadvertently makes a great prequel to Silent Running. The earth has no plants or animals, food is synthetic, etc. It's not hard to make the connections. As the earth was declining, samples of flora and fauna were sent into space for safe keeping. The hope was that earth might get cleaned up and the plants and animals returned. Instead, a polluted world was accepted as the new normal. There might have been some technological breakthrough that made synthetic food more abundant. No more need for nature. Jettison the domes and come home to other jobs.

Bad Baby -- An interesting subtext in ZPG is the robot-children, intended to occupy the population's parental instincts. The robo-kids are intentionally crude and unlovable. They're actually rather creepy, actually. This adds extra irony to Edna being half-hypnotized by her therapist to feel love and care for her robo-son.

Lost Baby Love -- Something that subtly dates ZPG to feel somewhat old fashioned, is the overwhelming desire the characters have for bearing (real) children. Roe v. Wade is still a year away. Since ZPG, four more decades of feminism told women they don't need to be mothers. Four decades of industrialized abortion have reduced pregnancy and unborn babies to "unviable tissue." All this has trivialized babies down to a lifestyle option, like taking up golf or getting a dog. You do, you don't, no big deal. Within that context of the "modern" ambivalence to babies, the story's obsessive passion for babies seems oddly melodramatic.

The Glutton Show -- One curious scene in ZPG depicts a movie theater in which viewers watch footage of lavish picnics or sumptuous holiday feasts (from the 60s). Overlaying the visuals is a bedding track of pig snorts and grunting. The female narrator intones socialist criticisms about people eating their fill while half of the world was still hungry, etc. etc. Shame on them. There is a parallel scene in 1984 in which a movie audience is whipped up to hate Goldstein. They shout angry epithets at the screen. In ZPG, the audience is less ideologically pure. The viewers are not so much angry or disgusted with the filmed feasts, as they seem entranced or envious. State propaganda was becoming food porn.

Grim Thunderbirds -- If the flying announcement orb and the hover jet that brings the dome of death reminded viewers of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's work, they would be right. Special effects man, Derek Meddings, did the model work for ZPG. He also did special effects work for the Anderson's earlier works, such as: Stingray, Fireball XL-5, and Thunderbirds.

Bottom line? ZPG is an obscure indie sci-fi that is better than it's low budget might suggest. Granted, the acting is hit-or-miss. Sometimes they're oddly wooden. Other times they believable. The "action" is mild by modern tastes. (nothing explodes) The mood and atmosphere are effective. Some of the cinematography shows some artistic flair. The story is rich enough in layers of commentary with an Orwellian spin, that it rises above being a mere preachy environmental rant. ZPG is worth checking out. It would make a great first film in a double feature with Silent Running.

Slaughterhouse Five

The second "sci-fi" film of 1972 was also a Universal production. Slaughterhouse Five (SF) was based on Kurt Vonnegut Jr's novel of the same name. In several ways, SF is not much of a science fiction story, since Pilgrim's time travel "just happens" with no science-y cause. The fact that there are some unseen aliens and Pilgrim living on another planet (for awhile), and the notion of time travel per se, are peripheral reasons, SF gets included on sci-fi movie lists. Michael Sacks stars as Billy Pilgrim. Other recognizable stars play supporting roles. Valerie Perinne, in her first feature film, dominates the supporting cast (nudity will do that) as Montana Wildhack. Universal invested pretty heavily in SF. The production cost was over three times what they put into Silent Running.

 Quick Plot Synopsis
Note: SF is the story of the life of Billy Pilgrim. In the film, as in the novel, there is much skipping backwards and forwards along his timeline. Following this scene by scene would be far too long, So, for brevity, some reassembly is done.
The story opens to young Billy in WWII, a chaplain's assistant, lost and separated from his unit during the Battle of the Bulge in the winter of 1944. Billy and two other G.I.s are captured by the Germans. En route to a prison camp, one of the G.I.s dies of frostbite. The other, a psychotic named Paul Lazzaro, vows to avenge his friend's death by someday killing Billy. In the camp, Billy makes friends with Edgar Derby, a nice, if somewhat mediocre man. Some of the prisoners are transferred to a work detail in Dresden. They're happy at this, as Dresden has no military targets. They are housed in a former slaughterhouse, number five. ("Schlacthof 5") After awhile, in mid February, air raid sirens wail. The soldiers and guards shelter in a deep cellar. When they emerge, Dresden is a smoldering ruin. While working to retrieve the dead, Derby finds a little porcelain statue. He is shot as a looter.
After the war, Billy becomes an optometrist. He marries a plump daughter of a wealthy man. They have a two kids: Robert, who becomes a troubled-youth, and Barbara. While on a charter flight to an optometrist convention, Billy knows the plane will crash, but no one believes him. It does. He is the sole survivor. His wife dies of carbon monoxide poisoning while driving her car recklessly to the hospital to see him. Billy goes into a malaise period, comforted only by his old dog, Spot. Robert cleans up to become a Green Beret sergeant. Billy and Spot are transported to a geodetic dome on the planet Tralfamadore, where the Tralfamadorians (who live in the 4th dimension and are only disembodied voices) keep him like a zoo animal. They also abduct a soft-porn star, Montana Wildhack to be his mate. Billy tries to tell people back home about Tralfamadore, but Barbara only think he's nuts. Her husband Stanley isn't so sure, since he heard about an actress named Montana Wildhack gone missing. Billy knows the time of his death. In the future, he will be shot by an old Paul Lazzaro, while giving a lecture about Tralfamadore. He and Montana have a son. The Tralfamadorias applaud. Billy and Montana wave. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Such a disjointed non-linear story could be confusing and/or annoying, but director George Ray Hill manages to make the transitions almost logical, as the old and new scenes have some common feature. The story itself has some power, though not particularly "fun." (war, mortality, etc.)

Cultural Connection
SR was well received by film critics, winning several awards. It was not as well received by the ticket-buying public, however. The abundant foul language in the beginning, and full-upper nudity by Valerie Parinne, made SF a bit hard-edged for mainstream audiences. The fragmentary jumble of the story was also not well received by the general public either.

Notes
Based on the Book -- Much has already been written (and easily available in the internet) about Vonnegut's 1969 novel. SF was a fairly close adaptation of the book. A couple characters were omitted and some literary devices not used, but Vonnegut himself was pleased with the film. The war segments are partially autobiographical, as Vonnegut himself was a POW, housed in a former slaughterhouse in Dresden during the infamous firebombing.

Unstuck In Time -- To dramatize Billy Pilgrim's being "unstuck in time," his life story is told in intermixed fragments. Most are of his WWIi experiences with his post-war life woven in. It amounts to a heavy use of the literary device of flashback, and one flashforward, from the vantage point of his life on Tralfamadore. The flashbacks -- in the war, to pre-war, to post-war, to back in the war, etc. etc. -- are usually connected by some shared event. Billy falling down. Billy waking up, Being lectured to, etc. much as how people's memories can be triggered by some present stimulus.

Counter-Bunyan -- By choice of the name: Billy Pilgrim, calls to mind John Bunyan's famous work, "Pilgrim's Progress". Vonnegut's Pilgrim somewhat similar, in that his life is presented as a series of events -- tests -- which begin to define him. Unlike Bunyan's Pilgrim, Vonnegut's Pilgrim does not progress towards a goal of finding God, so much as he becomes "enlightened" to a hybrid Zen-Calvinist-Quietist existentialism. There is evil, but "so it goes."

Scar of Dresden -- The fire bombing of Dresden holds center stage in SF, almost the glue that holds the story together. Pilgrim's pre-war life and post-war life segments jump around, but the Dresden thread remains linear. This event is every historical (for readers unfamiliar with WWII history). On the night of February 13th, 1945, British and American bombers dropped tons of explosive bombs and incendiary bombs on the center of Dresden. The Allies were embarrassingly successful. The resulting fire and destruction killed roughly 25,000 people, some by burning to death, but many by suffocation as the fire storm sucked all the oxygen from the air. For years afterward, (and even still today) the bombing of Dresden is debated. Was it a justified act of war, or an unjustified brutality of war? Vonnegut's story seems to preach the latter (loudly and often). Undercutting this, however, is the existentialism that Pilgrim learns. Things just are. Good and bad happen without value. As the Tralfamadorians say, you can't prevent the bad, so just concentrate on the good and try to overlook the bad. Perhaps this was Vonnegut's own coping mechanism, set in story form.

Adolescent Fantasy -- A foil to all the death and destruction of Pilgrim's past, and the crushing mediocrity of his present, is the adolescent (and old man) fantasy escapism of his future. He gets to live alone, free from all those nagging demands of the real world (an imperfect wife, troubled children, a dull career, etc.). He gets to live alone in an all-expenses-paid bachelor pad with no obligations. To complete the fantasy, he gets a young soft-porn actress as his perpetual playmate. (Life imitating art: Perinne was featured in Playboy magazine in May of '72) She (Montana) is the adolescent male dream -- pretty, buxom, libidinous and not too deep, mentally -- whose only goal in life appears to be to please him. This, then, becomes Pilgrim's coping mechanism for the horrors of war and the tedium of reality. War is hell, yes, but he'll have his bimbo afterward. Suburbia is hell, yes, but eventually, he'll get his bimbo. This might help Pilgrim cope, but his case is of no comfort to the rest of linear humanity (who survive war, and mediocrity) who don't get a bimbo in their old age (or stud muffin for the ladies).

Bottom line? It can be argued that SF is not really a sci-fi film, but rather, a war film, a fantasy film, a social satire, whatever. Yet, it gets onto sci-fi film lists. Perhaps having some aliens and time travel are enough to qualify. The non-linearity of the story keeps SF from being an easy-viewing popcorn film. Viewers who prefer simpler story lines may find SF too jumbled and confusing to the point of annoyance. Yet, for the more determined viewer, there is much in SF to muse over.