1973

Watergate & Westworld -- 1973 was a busy year for news and sci-fi. President Nixon's troubles began when the Watergate Scandal broke. American troops were being withdrawn from Vietnam. The Apes franchise wraps up and there were a couple of memorable landmark films produced. Soylent Green and Westworld made lasting impressions. Amid a fairly normal volume of independent and formulaic B films showing the influence of television style.

The Asphyx -- An 1800s photographer accidentally discovers the spirit of death and his own immortality.

The Crazies -- George Romero's variation on The Andromeda Strain. A secret government germ makes a small town go crazy.

Genesis II -- Gene Rodenberry's update on Buck Rogers. 20th century scientist is awakened in post-apocalyptic 24th century new Earth.

The Big Game -- Shadowy spies brainwash an inventor's son to try and steal his mind-control-radar device.

Soylent Green -- Charlton Heston stars in future dystopia tale of food shortages, population controls and a grim solution.

Invasion of the Bee Girls -- Young women given "bee" powers, can kill men by "overstimulation." Will the Queen make a whole deadly hive?

Idaho Transfer -- Obscure scientist makes time travel machine to study post-apocalyptic earth, but his students must trap themselves in that future.

Battle for the Planet of the Apes -- Roddy McDowall returns for 5th and final installment, which tries to wrap up the saga.

The Neptune Factor -- Disaster film about a seabed station lost in a earthquake, and subsequent search for survivors.

Westworld -- Future amusement park runs amok from computer virus. Robot gunslinger (Yul Bryner) goes rogue, chasing/killing guests.

Fantastic Planet -- French animated film about humans as feral vermin on planet of giant blue beings.

Sleeper -- Woody Allen's variation on Rip Van Winkle, chock full of satire for 20th century urbane culture.

Day of the Dolphin -- George C. Scott as scientist who teaches dolphins to speak english. Assassination conspirators steal them.

Day of the Dolphin

The last sci-fi film of 1973 was a big budget affair. Day of the Dolphin (DotD)was a very large project for a largish independent (not the usual Hollywood studio) firm: Avco Embassy Pictures. DotD's screenplay was written by Buck Henry, adapted from Robert Merle's 1967 novel. DotD was directed by Mike Nichols and starred George C. Scott as the tough-but-tender scientist. The story is more of a conspiracy thriller than it is sci-fi, yet DotD gets put on sci-fi movie lists. It's lone claim to sci-fi being that a scientist succeeded in teaching a dolphin to talk.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Jake Terrell (Scott) gives a lecture to a ladies club about Alpha, a male dolphin born in captivity and raised by him. Jake talks of dolphins being potentially as intelligent as humans. Afterward, Jake's liaison with The Foundation, Howard, questions some budget expenses, but doesn't fuss. Jake leaves by boat for his island. He returns, gets cranky at his staff, but all tender with his dolphins. Back on land, a reporter named Curtis blackmails Howard into letting him investigate Jake's secretive work. Howard reluctantly agrees. When Curtis comes to the island, Jake has hidden Alpha and Beta (his mate), though Curtis sees through the subterfuge. He leaves. A short while later, Jake is summoned to the mainland to give a report to the Foundation. This was all a trick, however, to get Jake and Maggie off the island. While they're away, David takes a call, supposedly from Jake, to put Alpha and Beta on a yacht anchored offshore. The staff reluctantly do so. All this while, Curtis and his friend are in the bushes, watching. The friend goes by night to check things out, and gets clobbered. When Jake and Maggie return, they deny placing the call. David is gone. Curtis's friend is found dead. Aboard the yacht, David has fitted the two dolphins with plastic collars that let them deliver a magnetic mine to the hull of a boat. He trains them to seek a boat flying the president's ensign. After a training session, Alpha balks. The men shoot at him with rifles. Alpha returns to Jake. David keeps training Beta. Jake and Curtis figure out where the bad guys plan to use the mines and take off with Alpha leading the way. They send Alpha ahead with instructions to stop Beta. "The ball is bad." Alpha does stop Beta just as she finds the president's yacht. They swim back to the bad guy yacht and attach the mine. The bad guys blow up. Alpha and Beta swim back to the island. Jake is happy, but orders them to swim away, be happy and multiply. Jake knows The Foundation will come to kill them all to cover up the plot. Alpha and Beta swim away free. A float plane lands. Jake and Maggie sit under the trees, waiting to be shot. Fade to black. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
The entertainment value come more from the thriller aspect. The evil shadowy Foundation is a suitable villain for the 70s. George C. Scott does a good job acting. Paul Sorvino is good as the suspect but likable journalist.

Cultural Connection
The New Noble Savage -- Back in the 18th century the mixing of Primitivism and Sentimentalism gave rise to the archetype of The Noble Savage. Following manaecheistic logic of opposites, the notion was that if Europeans were mean, selfish, violent and cruel, "primitives" would be noble, kind, sweet and peaceful. The Noble Savage was a convenient literary foil for european "civilized" man. Come the late 60s and early 70s, the nascent environmentalism movement fell into the same manaecheism trap. This time around, animals got promoted to become the New Noble Savage. Where humans were mean, selfish, violent and cruel, animals would be seen as kind, sweet, peaceful and noble. At one point, Jake says that people should be more like the dolphins: "all instinct and energy." (a metaphor for contemporary youth's self-assessment.) This new Sentimentalism is the same notion that gets people mauled by grizzly bears, or climb into zoo cages and get mauled by tigers (who the pre-mauled imagine to be Nobel Savages).

Notes
Based on the Book -- Buck Henry based his screenplay Robert Merle's 1967 novel "Un animal doué de raison" (A Sentient Animal). This was translated into English in '69. DotD is said to have a plot significantly different than book, though the trope of trained dolphins is the same.

Actual Science -- Robert Merle based his dolphin-whisperer character on John C. Lilly, an actual neuroscientist (among other things) who also dabbled in the topics of consciousness, intelligence and dolphin communication. Lilly had a research facility on an island in the caribbean and claimed to have taught dolphins to make human speech pattern sounds. Lilly appears to be a "scientist" in the old-school sense of classic sci-fi. His methods were too unconventional for (big-money) establishments, so he tended to work in remote facilities with just himself and a few associates.

Big Loser -- Despite being a well-funded "A" grade film, DotD was not a big hit at the box office. Perhaps it was too dour for the Christmas marketing season it was released in. It also proves that simply having big bucks does not assure success. Joseph Levine's AVCO Embassy Pictures corporation had a string of money-losing films in the early 70s. DotD was one of the bigger losers. It cost over $8 million to make, but brought in less than $3 in it's American release. European releases may have softened that, but not by much. Levine would sell Embassy in the mid 70s.

Dark Ending -- Perhaps one reason DotD did not sell well, is the downer ending -- especially around Christmas when audiences tend to want to feel good. In the end, The Foundation's plot to assassinate the President failed, but the shadowy group lived on. Alpha and Beta escaped to go live the idyllic life in the wild, but Jake and his team were understood to just be waiting to be killed by Foundation gunmen. Normally, 70s audiences liked their dystopias, but a sort of On the Beach ('59) ending at Christmas did not go over well.

Bottom line? DotD is a well made and well acted thriller. It can be enjoyed for that. As a sci-fi, it is very thin. The sentimentality is particularly thick, but still a good example of the growing "animals are people too" mind set.

Sleeper

Woody Allen's Sleeper is a sci-fi comedy -- a small sub-genre. This United Artists film was co-written and directed by and stared in by Woody Allen. Normally, this much one-man-show-ness spells doom for a film, but Woody makes it work. His deadpan style of humor and witty one-liners are abundant. Diane Keaton co-stars as the hapless woman of the future and Allen's love intreats. The plot of Allen's story toys with elements of older sci-fi classics. His direction mingles all that with old style comedy from the 1920s (sight gags) and slapstick. Broadly speaking, Sleeper is a blend of 1984 and the Keystone Cops.

Quick Plot Synopsis
In the year 2173, a lost cryogenic capsule is found by some doctors sympathetic to a revolutionary underground. Since the frozen man will have no official ID, he can be used to infiltrate government facilities. The frozen man, however, is MIles Monroe (Allen), a nerdy former owner of a health food store in Greenwich Village. HIs reawakening does not go smoothly, with many comic moments. The doctors take him to a moderne home for reintegration into 22nd century reality. Police raid the home. The doctors tell him to flee west and find out about The Aries Project. He escapes via comic chases, eventually hiding in a van of domestic servant robots. He dresses up as robot from spare parts and gets dropped off at the home of Luna (Keaton). She takes him to the repair shop for a better head. Much hilarity ensues. Miles then kidnaps Luna, trying to enlist her help. She plays along until they get to another house. She calls the police. When they arrive, a chase ensues with Miles in an inflated rubber suit. The police take Luna, to erase her brain for having been in contact with the alien. Miles rescues her via his inflated suit as rubber raft. They get back to the house Miles was first at. The police raid it. Miles hides Luna so she can find the Underground. MIles is captured and taken back for reprogramming. More absurdity follows. (Miles as Miss Montana) Meanwhile, Luna tries to become the forest denizen with comedic results. She is captured by Erdo, leader of the Underground. She becomes a guerilla fighter, eventually recapturing MIles. Luna and Erdo try to break Miles reprogramming via staged Jewish suppers. This leads Miles into acting as Blanche du Bois. Miles wakes up cured. He and Luna then sneak into a government hospital, posing as doctors. They are mistaken for a pair of famous doctors and attend a briefing. The totalitarian Leader actually died 10 months ago from a rebel bomb. All that was saved was his nose. Miles and Luna are expected to clone from the nose, a new Leader. More silliness results. They escape yet again, and discover that they both love each other. Kiss. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
It's a comedy. Allen's one-liners are fun. The slapstick and sight gags are fun too. Also fun for sci-fi fans are the many tie-ins to some classics. More on those below.

Cultural Connection
Period Humor: Many of Woody Allen's zippy one-liners depended on his audience being steeped in early 70s American culture. Those born after that period would likely not find them so funny. For instance: in the "History Lesson" skit, Allen identifies (or misidentifies) several photos of celebrities. Of Charles DeGall he says he was a famous french chef. Of Norman Mailer, he says he donated his ego to science. Of Richard Nixon, he says the secret service had to count the white house silverware. Shown a video clip of a Howard Cosell commentary, Allen says watching it was a state torture for dissidents. Someone who did not know these people (beyond name and face) would not get the jokes. It's hard for humor not to be zeitgeist-centric. Consider the sci-fi comedy Just Imagine ('31) with its references to Henry Ford, Prohibition, etc. There's much humor in the moment, even if the moment is fleeting.

Notes
Sci-fi References -- The overall plot of Sleeper roughly parallels that of H.G.Wells' novel "The Sleeper Awakes," (1897) except that MIles does not wake up rich. At one point, Miles says he feels like Flash Gordon, though his situation is more like that of Buck Rogers -- awakened into a new age with tyrants to fight. The heavy-handed police state and reprogramming of dissidents, there are strong allusions to Orwell's 1984. Allen included a nod to Kubrick's 2001 with the surgical assistant robot. Allen hired the same voice talent (Douglas Rain) who was the voice of HAL. Allen also included close-ups of the robot's green glowing eye. With the nose of the Leader to be cloned to make a new Leader, these is even an homage to such silly films as They Saved Hitler's Brain. All these are touches a sci-fi fan could enjoy.

Selected One-Liners -- Allen is famous for his one-liners. Here are a few.
Rebel Doctor:"If they catch you, they'll simplify your brain!"
Miles: "My brain? That's my second favorite organ."
Rebel Doctor: "Haven't you ever taken a political stand?" 
Miles: "Yes. Once, I refused to eat grapes for 24 hours." 
Luna: "What does it feel like to be dead for over 200 years?"
Miles:"It's like spending the weekend in Beverly Hills."
Luna: "Do you believe in God?" 
Miles: "I believe there is an intelligence in the universe, except for certain parts of New Jersey.
Luna:"I believe there's someone out there who watches over us."
Miles:"There is. Unfortunately, it's the government."
Miles finds Luna completely wrapped in tangled magnetic tape. "For a minute there, I didn't think you knew how to work the machine." 
Luna: "Do you want to perform sex with me?"
Miles: "I don't know if I'm up to performing, but I'll practice with you."
Luna: "What do you believe in? (Not God, science or politics) 
Miles: "Sex and Death. Both come to you once in a lifetime. But after death you're not nauseous."

Sight Gags -- Allen paid great homage to the early comedy films of Charlie Chaplain, The Keystone Cops, Laurel and Hardy, even the Three Stooges. Watch for the giant banana peel that Miles and the guard keep slipping on. Watch for the police bazooka which keeps failing spectacularly. Watch for the silly chase scenes (there are many) The bickering Jewish tailor robots (with large noses) are a treat.

Future Home Of… -- The film was shot in and around Denver. Several local landmarks show up, such as the NOAA Research Center in Boulder (the radar dome) and the Mile High Church of Religious Science's swooping arched entry as a future McDonalds. The "Sculpted House" on Mount Genessee is the place Miles is taken to after he wakes up. This futuristic house was built in 1963, but the designer (Charles Deaton) never got to live in it. Due to financial troubles, the house remained unfinished inside and unoccupied for decades. It is during this period that Allen used it for his movie. In 1991, a buyer bought the house from Deaton, but did nothing with it. In 1999, a new buyer purchased the house and spent millions finishing the interior. In 2006, he sold it. This owner actually lived in the house, but then sold it to a Denver real estate investor for $1.5 million at a foreclosure sale. A futuristic house with a troubled past and bleak future.

Bottom line? Woody Allen's humor isn't for everyone. His period humor will likely elude younger viewers. The slapstick, however, can be enjoyed by kids of all ages. The many allusions to other sci-fi movies are like "easter eggs" for the serious sci-fi fan, but not seeing them does not detract from the film. Sci-fi comedy is rare enough to make Sleeper worth seeking out.

Fantastic Planet

This animated fantasy / sci-fi tale is said to have had an American release in December of 1973. Retitled as Fantastic Planet (FP), it did seem to have english posters, but the soundtrack remained in French. In France, the title was La Planéte Sauvage and it won the grand prize at the Cannes film festival for 1973. The film was based on a novel by Stefan Wul, "Oms en série" written in 1957. It was adapted to film (via animation) by Roland Tapor, and directed by René Laloux.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A human woman runs from blue giant aliens children. They over-play with her and she dies. Her orphan baby is taken in by Tiwa, pre-teen daughter of Master Sinh who is one of the Draag high council. She puts an electronic leash-collar on him, dresses him up in silly costumes and gives him a doll house to live in. She names him Ter. The Draags spend a lot of time in 'meditation' in which their consciousness floats around in colored spheres. Tiwa loves Ter and carries him everywhere. Draag time is slower. 3 Draag months equal 5 years of human (Om) time. Ter grows into a young man. Tiwa learns school-knowledge from a lesson headband that puts info in her brain. Ter, in her hand, learns the same info. Tiwa loses interest in Ter, so he decides to run away. He takes the headband with him. When Tiwa turns on the leash-collar, he gets stuck in some tree roots. A "wild" young woman Om cuts off his collar. She takes him to her tribe. They live in a hollow tree in an abandoned park. Ter is not accepted at first. He breaks taboo by letting the other Oms learn from the headband. For this infraction, he must duel (large image in poster). He wins, but the fact that he can read Draag writing wins him res[ect. The Oms can steal food packages better knowing what's inside. A rival tribe live in a hollow bush. They capture Ter. About then, the Draags start to De-Om the park with poison gas tablets. Many are killed, but remnants of the two tribes flee outside the park walls. There, they are discovered by two Draags who begin to stomp on the Oms. Ter leads an attack. One Draag is toppled and killed. There is much outrage in the Draag council about the murder. They vow to rid their planet of the wild Oms. Meanwhile, the old woman leader of the Bush tribe leads the remnant to a rocket junkyard as a haven. There, the Oms construct some rockets from the junk and the Draag knowledge via the headband. They want to flee to the planet's moon (The Savage Planet) to escape the Draags. De-Om drones come to the junkyard, so the two rockets take off. On the moon, they find giant headless human bodies, in male-female pairs. The floating Draag spheres land on the necks, then the bodies dance (mostly twirling in place). Some sort of nuptial energizer something. The Oms have a little ray weapon that can shatter the giant bodies. The Draags, upset that Oms have power to destroy them, sue for peace. The Draags make an artificial moon named Terr for the Oms to live on. Everyone seems to get along nicely. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
The art, the fanciful creatures and surreal landscapes, The style is reminiscent of Terry Gilliam's whimsical creatures whipped up for Monty Python skits or movies. There is something akin to Maurice Sendak's "Wild Things" too, though more surreal. Salvador Dlai merged with Dr. Seuss..

Cultural Connection
Popular Rebellion: Adapted to the early 70s, the revolt of the Oms reads like an allegory for the rebellion of youth -- a prevalent theme of the late 60s, early 70s. The Draags are like "The Establishment." They control things. They have the power. While they might be fond of an Om pet, they generally regard them as petty trouble to be controlled. The story line plays out like hopeful prophecy. The Oms (youth) come-of-age, flex their new-found muscle and show the Draags (adults) that they can't be dismissed anymore. The Draags (adults) then accept the Oms (youth) as equals and everyone lives in peace. Thus can FP be seen as a morality play for "next" generation.

Notes
Better Than the Book? -- Wul's original novel is said (I've not read it) to be simpler in plot, such that Tapor's adaptation actually includes more of the thought-provoking bits and tangents than the book did.

Passive Oppression -- It was fairly common for sci-fi authors to imagine humans under the oppression of some superior alien race. Whereas the aliens were usually malevolent (ala H.G.Wells' martians), Stefan Wul's Draags were largely indifferent to the Oms (humans), but dangerous because of their size and technology. The Draags do not fear or hate the Oms, so much as they regard them as pests to be managed, as men might regard rats in sewers as tolerable, so long as they don't become a nuisance.

Man Pets -- Wul expanded on an idea H.G.Wells made in passing. In the novel "War of the Worlds" the man on Putney Hill spoke an envisioned future in which mankind lives as an oppressed species on an earth conquered and controlled by the martians. Some, he figured, would live wild (he planned to be one of them) quietly learning the technology of their oppressors so that they might someday rise up and reclaim dominion. Others, he mused, might get adopted by the martians as pets, who would lead flaccid lives as tame pets. Ter's story is from that pet human point of view.

Frontal Obsession? -- Perhaps it's because the film was French (in writing and directing), the art seems preoccupied with female breasts. Rather like Barbarella's space suit (with clear plexi domes in just the right places), Draag female attaire covers from ankle to wrist, except for two conspicuous holes. The Om costumes make a similar effort to leave one of the two exposed. Ah, those French. One can see where their priorities are.

Bottom line? FP is an intriguing sci-fi in many ways. It's animated/drawn instead of live-actors. Granted, the animation is somewhat rudimentary, but the illustrations are very psychedelic-70s. It has the customary ingredients: aliens on other planets, rockets, advanced technology, etc. It has feral humans -- a fairly rare trope. Viewers who speak French (or at least can 'hear' it quickly), can take in FP as it was released. English-only viewers should find a subtitled copy. FP, while not at must-see, is worth some effort to find and view.

Westworld

MGM put out a modest sci-fi film in late 1973. Westworld (WW) turned out to be more influential than it seemed at its release. MGM allowed the production a pretty modest budget, so the results were greater than they seemed. WW was written and directed by Michael Crichton when he was only 30 (of later fame with Jurassic Park, but more on that below). WW starred Yul Bryner as the robot gone bad. Richard Benjamin stars as the hunted human. a bevy of other stars familiar to television productions lend WW an air of a made-for-tv movie. Dick Van Patten, James Brolin, Majel Barrett, etc. Crichton wrote The Andromeda Strain in '69 (film in '71). This time, instead of a space virus killing people, it will be a computer virus.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Delos is a luxury vacation destination for the wealthy. Three simulated "worlds" provide themed escapism. Roman World is apparently built around the orgy and not much else. Medieval World is a castle realm of knights and ladies. West World is a live-in western movie. John is showing his friend Peter around. Most of the "people" in Westworld are actually robots. Human guests can shoot and "kill" the bots (who are retrieved each night for repair and return to service) Robots cannot harm a guest. The staff of Delos, however, notice recurring flaws in the robots' programming. Thinking that they can manage the errors, they do not shut things down. Peter shoots a robot gunslinger (Bryner) per the theming, but the repaired Gunslinger remembers Peter and seeks revenge. Peter shoots the Gunslinger again. The technicians repair him, but upgrade his vision and audio equipment. Gunslinger 2.0 seeks out Peter again. This time, he kills Peter's friend John. The technicians cannot shut things down. In fact, they're trapped inside the control room without air. (they all die). The robots run amok in all three worlds, killing guests and each other. Peter flees the Gunslinger. Out in the desert, a hapless technician tells Peter he can't outperform the robots. His only hope is acid in the eyes or something to reduce the robot's performance. Gunslinger kills the tech. Peter flees further, eventually passing through Roman World (and all the dead bodies). He finds a manhole down to the tech level. Gunslinger follows him. Peter finds a bottle of acid in the repair room. He pretends to be a bot awaiting repair, then throws the acid in Gunslinger's face. Sizzle and smoke. Peter leaves to find Medieval World and more dead people. Acid-burned Gunslinger follows Peter there, but his acid-damaged eyes are befuddled by the fire-torches. Peter sets Gunslinger on fire. Peter thinks he's rescuing a pretty woman chained in a dungeon, but she was a bot too. Spark smoke fizz. The charred Gunslinger again goes for Peter, but falls off the stairs. He finally smokes, sparks and burns. Peter looks on, pensively, recalling the sales hype about the vacation of his dreams. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Yul Bryner steals the show. His portrayal of the obsessed robot is the highlight of the film. The fact that he is reprising (in a way) his character of Chris Adams from The Magnificent Seven ('60) is fun for Westerns fans. There are many tangents and food-for-thought woven into WW.

Cultural Connection
Technophobia: Since the Cold War was no longer the boogey man that it once was, cultural angst in the early 70s promoted a few other boogey men. Computers were becoming more and more a part of the culture. In the Cold War era, we had Gog ('54) with an enemy taking over our complex technology. The Last War ('60) and Fail Safe ('64) in which flawed systems destroy the world, or almost. For super computers running going rogue, we had The Invisible Boy ('57), then the HAL 9000 in 2001 ('68), then Colossus: The Forbin Project ('70), now Westworld. People were fascinated with technology, but beginning to see it as a subtle version of Frankenstein's monster -- created with good intentions (and hubris), but a penchant for turning on their creators.

Notes
Disney's Dark Side -- Author Michael Crichton visited Disneyland and was particularly impressed with Disney's animatronic Abraham Lincoln. He took the theme park idea, with simulated humans, to a natural extension. Crichton was fond of weaving cautionary tales about technology getting too complex for man to really keep tabs on it. The Delos resort is also a quietly biting commentary on the culture that seeks such themed escapism. Delos is the dark side of Disney.

Beyond Dodgeball -- The school board of Windham, NH, prohibited Dodgeball from being part of the physical education program. Why? Because they disapproved of games which made humans the targets. This is post-Columbine, et al, and certainly WW was very much PRE-Columbine, but how strange (nowadays) for a resort theme park's premise being that it was okay (even encouraged) to kill the almost-human robots. If playing violent video games is thought to cheapen life and train today's youth to be cold-hearted killers, what would a resort like that have done?

Precursor -- WW was Crichton's first theme-park-gone-wrong story. His more famous one will be Jurassic Park and its many sequels. The message is much the same. Man, in his hubris, tries to recreate another time or place for the amusement of "modern" man. This other place is dangerous, but in that hubris, men think they have everything under control. They do not, and the creation becomes their hunter. In Bryner's Gunslinger character can be seen the roots of Arnold's Terminator bot. The prostitute bots -- "sex units" -- are a precursor to the artificial wives in Stepford Wives. WW was a trend harbinger.

Virus Debut -- WW may be the first screen portrayal of a computer virus. Since, in 1973, the only computers were massive room-filling machines -- not desktop PCs -- the public had no experience with them. Yet, WW shows a very modern view of a computer virus. The systems were so complex that even their makers and handlers really did not fully understand them. The Chief Supervisor describes to his board how "something" infects systems in one area, and they can see the "infection" spreading. The Delos virus altered the Thou Shalt Not Kill program in the robots. Crichton was ahead of his time.

Computer Graphics -- Some hoopla was made at the release of WW about how it used digital technology. This was confined to the pixelated images that were the Gunslinger's point of view. In the era of digital cameras on almost everyone's phone, pixelated images have to "gee whiz" factor anymore. But in 1973, it was very cool.

Plot Holes? -- WW is not a perfectly told story. Some incongruities may be chocked up to the limitations of a feature-length film. Books get the luxury of omniscient narrators to explain things. Some plot holes mentioned by others include: If the robots are cold, so the heat-sensor guns will shoot them, the sex models would be discouragingly cold too. Not necessarily. The sex bots could be warm. No need to shoot them anyhow. Guns can be rigged to not shoot warm blooded guests, but swords? The "safety" there, would appear to be giving the knight-bot slower reflexes or making more mistakes so the human can win. The black knight was not making the programmed mistakes. The bots drank whiskey just fine, why did the girl bot spark and smoke when given water to drink? She could have been damaged (beaten?) such that the usual liquid containment was broken. Why would they build a sealed control room with no emergency escape door? Delos built the whole place on the hubris of relying on their technology. Electronic doors and ventilation? What could go wrong? The control room is a parallel set piece to the robots going wrong. If the Gunslinger can see heat, why didn't he spot Peter on the lab table right away? This actually seems to be a plot problem. Any reader input on why he might have not noticed him?

Bottom line? Westworld is a 70s classic. It's not perfect, but it raises many topics for conversation. As a technology cautionary tale, it is still relevant today. WW is also a forerunner to many other rogue-bots films. Viewers disturbed by on-screen gun violence should be warned. Beyond that, the pacing is very brisk once the Gunslinger is hunting Peter. WW is one of the must-see sci-fi of the 70s.

The Neptune Factor

More of a disaster film than sci-fi, The Neptune Factor (TNF) is a Canadian production, released by 20th Century Fox in August of 1973. TNF features better-known actors among the cast. Ben Gazzara, Walter Pidgeon, Ernest Borgnine, Yvette Mimieux. It was shot in wide screen and given an opulent score. Writer Jack DeWitt was more experienced in westerns and TV productions. The sub-genre of undersea sci-fi was more popular in the 50s and early 60s. Disaster befalling a seabed station was not particularly fresh as a premise. Other seabed movies were more sci-fi, which may be why TNF is classified as sci-fi when it really isn't.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Work proceeds for the crew of the sea floor station: Ocean Lab II. Dr. Andrews (Pidgeon) and Dr. Jansen (Mimieux) supervise from the support ship. Suddenly, an earthquake strikes. Ocean Lab is jostled over the sea cliff. Communications are lost. Everyone searches for the lost lab but find nothing. The Royal Canadian Navy sends one of the subs to search, but after three days, it finds nothing. The last hope is the Neptune 2, a new research sub. It and it's cranky commander, Blake (Gazzara) arrive. Calculations are than the Ocean Lab has only two more days of oxygen, if anyone survived. On the first dive in Neptune 2, they find nothing except some seaweed that should not be there. Samples from the lost lab, says Jansen. They go down again, this time with Jansen as onboard seaweed expert. When Blake wants to call it quits, she releases the tether so they can search on. So they do. Through various trials and tribulations (falling sand 'storm', giant goldfish, loss of power, giant crab pushing them over a cliff, etc.) they are near the last of their battery power. Jansen picks up a locater beacon from the OceanLab. They find it, but it is empty. The survivors are huddled in a cave, trapped by a swarm of giant eels. They are almost out of air. Mack (Borgnine) and Blake take spare tanks to them. One of the survivors sacrifices himself to the hungry eels so the other two can escape. They do. The Neptune 2 returns to the surface. Everyone shouts hooray and smiles. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
TNF wants to be an epic story of disaster and survival. It tries hard, in some ways. The score is powerful and majestic. Sweeping seascapes in widescreen try to be grand. Wildlife footage tries to be impressive. "Look at the cool fish!" None of it quite works, but one has to admire the effort.

Cultural Connection
A disaster film amid disasters. Conquest of the Deeps Productions could not have anticipated it, but TNF was released at probably the best time. In June, 1973, two months before TNF was released, a real deep sea disaster was making headlines. The story was similar to TNF's. A research submersible, the Johnson Sea Link, got trapped in some wreckage deep off the coast of Key West. A Navy sub was dispatched, but had trouble freeing them. The survivors ran out of air. Two of the crew died of carbon dioxide poisoning before being rescued. Two others survived. A made-for-TV movie would retell the Johnson Sea Link story in 1974. Then, in August 1973, the research sub Pisces III sank to the bottom off the coast of Ireland while inspecting. There too, was a headlines-grabbing rescue mission. Another submersible was sent to rescue the trapped divers, who made it to the surface with just minutes of air remaining.

Notes
Go Canada! -- There is evident national pride at work in TNF. Canadian flags are painted on the vessels, the Canadian Navy sends one of its majestic (if not-overworked) submarines. Second unit work includes footage of the actual HMCS Onondaga, on its fruitless rescue mission. Even the mini-sub that ultimately succeeds, the Pisces IV was built in Canada. Since the story iand acting are a bit flat, perhaps the real mission of TNF is to wave the Canadian flag. This, it does.

Star Gazing -- Walter Pidgeon, whose role as Dr. Andrews aboard the support ship Triton, is fairly disposable. He does little beyond trying to look worried. Sci-fi fans will recall him (emoting more) as Mobius in Forbidden Planet ('56). Yvette Mimieux also turns in a very flat performance as Dr. Jansen. She is better known in sci-fi as Weena in 1960's The Time Machine. Ben Gazzara, apparently more at home as a mobster, does little more than smirk askance. Ernest Borgnine, more at home in sea stories (McHale's Navy, Poseidon Adventure, etc.) seems to have been the only actor trying to put any feeling into his/her character. Director Daniel Petrie was no novice, so had gotten actors to emote before. Why not in TNF? Perhaps he did not really care much about the TNF project either, even though he was born in Canada.

Sub Star -- The mini-sub that is almost a co-star, the Neptune 2, looks to be the Pisces IV. It was built in Canada to be sold to the Russians, but this sale was blocked in the interests of national security. Such vessels tend to get modified from mission to mission, so photos of the real Pisces IV never quite look the same, nor quite exactly like the model created for TNF.

Uncrushable -- For all of the talk of the OceanLab being crushed (the word "imploded" gets said rather often), and supposed risk of Neptune 2 getting imploded too, scuba divers seem to be able to get along just fine at those dangerous depths. It is also interesting how shallow-depth corals, such as elkhorn coral manage to thrive as such great depths too.

A Nod To Malthus -- in keeping with the zeitgeist of the early 70s, the mission of Ocean Lab 2, was to study ocean living for food sources and living space for earth's perilously expanding population. This was only stated once in passing dialogue, not a drum loudly beaten. Still, this was the early 70s. mankind was doomed to overpopulation and starvation. Everyone knew it, so it had to be said.

Bottom line? TNF is a ponderously slow-paced film with predictable plot twists and fairly two-dimensional characters. There is very little sci-fi to it, as all of the visible technology is state-of-the-art for 1973. Nothing futuristic. The special effects (little fish in a tank filmed close-up so as to appear "large") was old hat in the 60s. Much of it looks like it was filmed with little models in a 100 gallon fish tank. The acting (or the directing) are noticeably flat. For a disaster film, everyone remains unfazed. Perhaps the message is that the Canadians are a stoic lot. Fans of more action-packed sci-fi will probably be better advised to skip TNF. Fans of scuba films may find enough to like.

Battle for the Planet of the Apes

The fifth, and final, installment in the Planet of the Apes franchise hit theaters in June of 1973. Battle for the Planet of the Apes (BPA) is considered by many, even fans of the series, to be the weakest of the five films. Roddy McDowell stars again as Caesar. Natalie Trundy stars as his chimp wife, Lisa. Claude Aikins stars as the gorilla general Aldo. BPA is a proper sequel, in that it picks up the story where Movie 4, Conquest, left off. 20th Century Fox felt the Apes phenomenon had run its course, so produced one more sequel to wrap up what became a confusing story arc. But, Fox was not completely through with Apes.

Quick Plot Synopsis
North America, 2670 A.D. The Lawgiver (John Houston) reads, in psuedo-biblical wording, a recap of the third and fourth movies. He then tells movie five's story as flashback. The war implied at the end of Movie 4, Conquest, has left most apes and humans dead. The cities are bombed out radioactive ruins. Some 12 (or 27?) years afterward, a dozen or so humans live in relative peace among the apes. Caesar is their leader. Aldo, leader of the gorilla faction foments trouble, disliking the humans. MacDonald (brother of the character in Movie 4) says Aldo hates everyone who isn't a gorilla. Mac also tells Caesar that he can hear and see his parents, via tapes in the city archives, and learn what the future holds (since they came from the future). Caesar, Mac and the wise orangutan, Virgil (Paul Williams) set out for the Forbidden City. They find it, and make their way underground to find the old city archives. Their movements are watched, however, by the remnant of humans who stayed in the city. These people wear hood-caps and have facial blemishes from the radiation. Their governor, Kolp (Severn Darden, reprising his Kolp character from Movie 4.) thinks the three are advance scouts for an attack by the apes. He orders them captured, but the three elude capture. He orders them killed, but they escape the city. Back in Ape City, Caesar calls a general council to say they must prepare for possible attack by the city humans. Aldo makes trouble about all humans. He and his gorilla faction walk out. Later, Caesar's young son, Cornelius, goes out at night searching for his lost pet squirrel. Cornelius comes upon a secret meeting of the gorillas, plotting the overthrow of Caesar. They see Cornelius in the tree. Aldo hacks the branch Cornelius is hanging onto. Cornelius falls, badly injured. A human doctor lady tends to him, but it doesn't look good. Meanwhile, Kolp has a ragtag army formed. They set out in a few jeeps, old cars and a school bus to attack Ape City. The attack comes. A long protracted gun battle plays out. Cornelius dies of his injuries. Caesar orders everyone to fall back. The mutants ride in triumphant. Kolp sees Caesar and threatens to kill him. All the not-really-dead apes jump up and overwhelm the mutants. Kolp and a few others escape in the school bus. Aldo and his gorillas ambush them and kill them all. Back in Ape City, there is a showdown between Aldo and Caesar. It comes out that Aldo cut the branch that caused Cornelius's death. The crowd chants at him. "Ape shall never kill ape." Aldo climbs a tree to escape. Caesar follows. They struggle in the branches. Aldo falls to his death. Jungle justice is served. Everyone agrees to live in peace and harmony. Kumbaya. End flashback, the Lawgiver finishes his history tale to a mixed class of ape and human children. Behind them is a stature of Caesar. Zoom in to see that the statue sheds a tear. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
McDowall does a creditable job with the Caesar character. Paul Williams does rather well as Virgil. The story / plot, on its own, better than fourth-sequels tend to be.

Cultural Connection
The Apes series began, in '68, as an allegory on racism, via species-ism. Movies 2 through 5 shifted the theme to anti-militarism. The general anti-war drumbeat, so common in the late-Vietnam era, made anti-war films an easy sell. The villain in BPA is not really the mutants in the city, but the two characters, Aldo and Kolp, who maniacally push for war. The message in BPA is: If we could just get rid of the bad (warrior) people, life would be all flowers and hearts.

Notes
Alternate Timeline -- Move 3, Escape introduced the complexity of alternate timelines. The writers in BPA try to explain it in an easily missed small scene with the Virgil character. He talks of time travel and a situation wherein a performer dislikes a recording of some music he played, so travels back in time to not make that performance. In the Apes series, there are two timelines. The first is Taylor's. He travels to HIS future to see that apes have "evolved" slowly over hundreds of years, to eventually take over Earth. Movie 2 Beneath has timeline 1 earth's destruction. With Movie 3, Escape, a second timeline begins when future apes enter the past. New timeline. Apes don't evolve slowly, but start with Cornelius and Zira. The Alpha-Omega bomb existed before Taylor left, but in timeline 2, it is not used. Hundreds of years of conflict between man and ape does not happen. Instead, everyone lives in peace. That's how the writers wrapped up the series. They all lived happily ever after.

Important Deletions -- For some reason, Fox decided to cut two rather important scenes from the final theatrical release. The first deleted scene has Kolp showing Alma (France Nuyen) the Alpha-Omega missile and how to launch it. This scene comes just before Kolp leads his mutant minions on the attack of Ape City. He wanted her to fire it, if he signaled that the Apes were winning. The second deleted scene came near the end. Alma hasn't heard from Kolp, so feels she must launch the missile. Mendez talks her out of it. Give peace a chance, etc. The first deleted scene is important because it made a link to Movie 2, Beneath. The second deleted scene is important as it mirrors the peaceful resolution in Ape City. Once the mean-old-militarists (Kolp and Aldo) were dead, everyone else could smile again.

Sophomorism -- The husband and wife writing team of John and Joyce Corrington adapted Matthison's "I Am Legend" into The Omega Man ('71) with an undercurrent of biblical themes. In BPA, they seem to have pandered to sophomoric atheists. The Corringtons have the Virgil character repeat two popular "arguments" against Christianity. At one point he mocks the humans' religious idea of a happy afterlife. "If that were so, we'd all commit suicide so we could enjoy it." (ergo, since no one does, that proves no one believes it's true.) The second comes when he asks "how a benevolent god can allow a branch to break and cause the death of an innocent child." The question is left unanswered, as if it were unanswerable. The Problem of Evil is complex and too nuanced for reduction to sophomore levels.

Headed For Prime Time -- The look and feel of BPA is that of a made-for-TV movie. While BPA was not a pilot, Fox Television did launch a Planet of the Apes series in in 1974. It, too, starred Roddy McDowall as the lead "chimpanzee", though renamed Galen and unrelated to Cornelius or Caesar. The basic premise is a recast of Movie 1, but with Galen and the two astronauts as fugitives sharing adventures as they flee (ala, The Fugitive). The series only ran for one season, but sets of episodes were reworked into several made-for-TV movies, just like old Zombies of the Stratosphere serial of '52 was pieced together to make a Satan's Satellites movie in '58.

Never Enough? -- Film critics rejoiced that the Apes series was finally ended, The public seemed to have achieved Ape-saturation too, as the TV series only ran one season. But, satiety fades. In 2001, Tim Burton did a remake of the '68 original (though with less subtlety). In 2011, Rupert Wyatt started a new story line in Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Caesar becomes sentient from genetic meddling (not hundreds of years of 'evolution' or future genes in the past). A sequel in this new story line is said to be in the works. Maybe people really can't get enough of Planet of the Apes.

Bottom line? BPA is not an especially good film. Yet, for a threadbare fourth sequel, it is better than one might expect. The sci-fi part present only by inference from the prior films in the series. The low budget makes itself apparent. Fans of the prior films can enjoy a concluding chapter. Viewers less keen on the earlier Apes will find only more of the same.

Idaho Transfer

In the early 70s, popular themes included: dystopia, government conspiracies, the righteousness of youth, environmentalism and (as mentioned a couple posts ago, mathusian doom. Idaho Transfer (IT) has all of them. IT is an obscure film that had only a limited theatrical release. A group of teens time-travel to after some devastating ecological disaster, to see if the earth can be repopulated. It's the second of only three films directed by Peter Fonda (of early fame for writing, starring, producing Easy Rider in 1969). The story and screenplay are by Thomas Matthiesen. The cast are mostly unkowns, save for Keith Carridine who plays a minor role.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Dr. George Braden has a secret project going on up in the wilderness of Idaho. Originally, it was on matter transporting, but they discovered time travel as well. Also, they discovered that some disaster befalls mankind in the nearer future. Braden is sending teams of college-age men and women 56 years into the future to find out what and why. They study the flora and fauna and report back to 1973. George's daughter Isa is one of the young scientists. His other daughter Karen joins the team. Isa shows Karen how to operate the transfer machine. Apparently, some event called the Echo Crisis devastated the earth and nearly wiped out mankind. George's young time travelers are trying to figure out what future-Idaho is like. The vague plan is, if the future is habitable, to send a colonizing group to reestablish mankind on the Earth. Isa falls and is badly hurt. Karen transfers her back, but there's deeper trouble. Bureaucrats plan to order the project shut down. Just before that, however, a dozen or so of the youngsters manage to transfer to 2029 with backpacks of survival gear. They get to the future, but the transfer machine's power fails. They're stuck in 2029. The project's doctor transfers too, but apparently, anyone over 20 suffers kidney damage in the transfer. He eventually goes off alone to die. Karen has some off-camera trysts and eventually thinks she's pregnant. Ronald and others break the news to her that they're all sterile. Their kidney survive the transfer, but not their reproductive powers. No babies, no future of mankind. They set out to on a 500 mile hike to Portland. Karen becomes despondent and returns alone to the original transfer camp in the Craters of the Moon, lava fields. She is attacked by Leslie, one of the group who did not leave. Karen takes shelter in the transfer machine. Leslie rants outside that everyone (1973 folks) "used everything up." The power lights come on. Karen transfers back to 1973 in only her panties. A startled technician see her and alerts guards. Karen locks the door and resets the machine to a further date in the future. She transfers. No one is left at the lava field station. Karen wanders alone, hopeless and exhausted. Eventually, she is picked up off the ground by a future man. He puts her in the trunk of his future car. Karen screams. The girl in the back seat wonders aloud what they (the future people) will do for fuel with all of the "other" people have been used up. Text-on-screen: Esto Perpetua. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Actually, it's rather depressing, so it's not "fun" in the usual senses. It is very thoughtful and well done as far as conveying the intent of bleakness and doom.

Cultural Connection
The Roots of Malaise: President Jimmy Carter was criticized for his famous/infamous "Malaise" speech, given in July 1979. In it, he said, “The erosion of our confidence in the future is threatening to destroy the social and the political fabric of America.” Carter spoke of America's cultural malaise -- a lack of hope for the future, rampant consumerism and self-absorption. The energy crisis did not cause the malaise. The roots of malaise can be seen in early 70s sci-fi. America was convncing itself that the environment would crash and we were all doomed to death and dystopia. Little wonder that "eat, drink and be merry" (buy and consume stuff) ruled the day. America had ben putting itself into a funk for over ten years. Perhaps the trumpets of Global Warming Doom should take note. Instead of spurring action, they may only create another malaise.

Notes
King Mathus -- As mentioned before, the Cold War's ever-impending nuclear doom created a lot of fear in people. The threat of nukes faded after the Cuban Missile Crisis, but that much fear did not subside quickly. Thus, the preachers of environmental doom found a receptive audience. All that fear needed something to be afraid of. Thomas Malthus wrote in the early 1800s about impending collapse (famine, starvation, death) as population would outstrip resources. It was an old message that had a habit of not happening. Despite its poor track record, It found a ripe audience in the late 60s and early 70s. It took 150 years, but eventually Malthus was king.

Soylent 2: Energy Source -- The surprise twist ending is much akin to Soylent Green ('73), except that in the future, people will be a fuel source instead of a food source. The girl in the backseat pretty much says the world will become Soylent 2 when she asks what they'll do when the supply of 'them' is used up. "We'll use each other then, won't we?" The parents don't answer. They already knew. This just hammers home the malthusian angst. We are consuming all our finite resources. When they're used up, we'll turn on ourselves. This is driven home by the final text: Esto Perpetua, latin for "It is (or, let it be) perpetual." I.e., mankind will not learn, but keep on over-consuming. This is also the state motto for Idaho.

Youth Rules -- A common enough theme in early 70s movies is that the "world" of the "old" will suddenly crumble and fall away. The young (alone) shall inherit the earth. This was the premise in Wild in the Streets ('68), Gas-s-s ('70), and Glen and Randa ('71).  This last one was also an indie film picturing teens as inheritors of a bleak ruined earth and in the northwest too!

Get Naked -- A curious bit of exploitation by Fonda, was that time travel required the young women to take their pants off and straddle the time machine. This was explained (somewhat) as having to do with metal (rivets in the jeans?). But, rather than select pants with no metal, they keep them, but strip down to their panties (or less!) whenever they transfer. There seems to be no plot necessity for this. Instead, it seems it's just there for exploitation -- a half-baked reason to get some teen girls naked.

Symbols -- Fonda was having a go at artistic directing. There were many, but a few were quite blatant. Shortly after the teens realize that they're trapped in 2029, Karen plucks up a young flower, roots and all. Get it? They're young flowers uprooted. Then there was the pointless brain-teaser puzzle (some interlocked metal rings) that Karen played with, but could not solve. She asked Ronald if he knew how to solve it. He said no. Get it? Their future is a puzzle they cannot solve? There are several others. Fonda was having an artistic go at it.

Bottom line? IT is a very depressing film. The lead character survives all her ordeals, only to end up as fuel for some guy's futuristic Caprice. As with most time-travel films, there are some points to muse over. The acting is modest, since most were young amateurs. The directing is mediocre, but the mood is quite effective. People who dislike depressing-ending films, should skip IT. Fans of the foreboding 70s will find gloom galore, government conspiracies and confirmation that mankind will consume itself into a desolate doom. If you want to know WHY American was in malaise in the 70s. Watch this film.

Invasion of the Bee Girls

Nicholas Meyer (writer) and Denis Sanders (director) created cheap sexploitation film for the summer drive-in market. Invasion of the Bee Girls (IBG) was almost excluded from this study of old sci-fi movies, since its primary mission is gratuitous boobs and butts. Yet, despite the producers' obvious low-brow intentions, they almost (perhaps unintentionally) made some interesting sci-fi moments. Almost. The "Girls" don't turn into bees (as Wasp Woman did), nor do they wear black and yellow striped swimwear (as in the poster). They become bee-babe hybrids. IBG is not a family-friendly film, but has managed to develop a cult following.

Quick Plot Synopsis
(Kept brief by consolidating intercut story threads) Men in the small town of Peckham, CA are dying of heart attacks, apparently while having sex. Since one of them is a scientist working on military projects, a federal agent, Neil Agar (William Smith), is dispatched. More men die the same way, though some are just random nobodies. The local sheriff has no clue. Agar has no clue, but looks for clues aided by Julie Zorn (Victoria Vetri). They slowly discover that the head of the research lab, was studying genetics, and bees. He is away in europe. The acting director, Dr. Susan Harris (Anitra Ford) is suspiciously sultry and wears sunglasses all the time. Any man who appears to threaten the Bee Girls secret is killed -- usually by luring them into sex. The widows of the dead scientists are lured into a secret lab by Harris. There, they are turned into Bee Girls via some nuclear ray orgasmitron thingy, a body cast of marshmallow fluff, and a lot of bees. (No, it makes no sense, but that's "science" for you.) Thus genetically altered, the widows are dowdy no longer, but become hot babes with big black contact lenses to suggest compound eyes. They all wear big sunglasses and short skirts. Harris's "hive" of queen bees adds members and protects itself. Agar tells Julia, Stan and Aldo his theory that Harris has become genetically part bee and is making more queen bees. They kill men with sex. Stan scoffs and leaves, but his wife (normally cold) is suddenly hot to trot. He sees her bee eyes and knows Agar was right. Stan kills his killer bee wife just in time. Julie constructs a gizmo that will bleep if a bee-person is around. It bleeps at a funeral for Herb, at which all the bee babes attend. Harris, seeing Julia as a threat, lures her to the secret lab. They begin the naked bee-ificaiton on her, first with the blue-light orgasmatron. Agar comes running to help. He barges in and shoots the machine. He rescues naked Julia. The room fills with smoke and sparks. For some reason, all the bee girls die. When all has calmed down, Agar tosses Julia on a bed. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
The soft porn aspect is somewhat annoying if one is after sci-fi. But the ruthless "colony" of mutants has some intriguing qualities. There is a sort of Stepford Wives quality to them, though in reverse.

Cultural Connection
Sexploitation films were not new, nor was soft porn. What was a rather early-70s phenomenon, was the obtuse-government-lab-gone-wrong trope. The government and military were popular as villains. The remote small town becomes a symbolic stand-in for America, ala Andromeda Strain. Beneath the low-brow pandering in IBG, lurks more of the 70s angst about government, the military, and science going wrong. Soft porn AND government conspiracy. Surely, a winning combination.

Notes
Lesbo-Feminist Angst -- There is a subtext in Meyer's story that suggests a fear of feminist lesbians taking over society. Harris and her bee girls don't "need" men (the way men want to be needed). They have their orgasmitron in the lab, but seem to auto-stimulate anyhow. There is the one woman-on-woman kiss when Harris "awakens" Mrs. Kline from the bee-ification process. They appear (at the funeral) as a socially bonded little group (in low-cut black dresses). There is the symbolism that they cannot reproduce via sex (despite being very sexy), so must recruit (abduct) new members. Agar, the man's man, rescues Julia and saves her for proper male-initiated hetero. One wonders if Meyer intended these messages, or just gave unconscious vent to his fears (and fetishes).

Amazons -- In some ways, Harris's "hive" of bee girls has affinities to a long-standing trope in film (and sci-fi in particular) -- the Colony of Lost Women. Sometimes, they're simply "lost" women (handily all in their 20s, svelt and pretty) as in Bowanga, Bowanga (aka Wild Women, '51), Fire Maidens of Outer Space ('58) and Queen of Outer Space ('58) -- a bevy of prime beauties, eager for some red-blooded men to "take" them. Often enough, though, in this trope the women are attractive, but also a threat (to men). Catwomen of the Moon ('53), Mesa of Lost Women ('53), and, say, Planet of the Invading Women ('67) show this. Harris and her bee girls are such a hostile colony. They are attractive. The hormonally imprudent men slobber for them. Yet, the babes are deadly to men. Therein seems to lurk a quiet cautionary tale for men. Look before you leap, or as the line from the old hymn said: "I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus name."

Drone Death -- A biology fact that may have influenced Meyer's story, is that the male honey bee (the drone), does die after mating with the queen. It is not so much that the queen bee kills the drone as it is that sex for male bees is a one-time-thing. Just as female honey bees die after they sting (because their stinger parts rip out), drones' "parts" rip off after they've done their duty. They fly off and die. It's not the queen's fault. It's just how the drones are built.

Safe Sex -- Another curious subtext, whether intended or not, is the cautionary tale in parable, about unsafe sex. The local doctor tries to lecture about STDs, but is ridiculed by the crowd. There is the overt message. The parable form has all the men who throw morality to the wind (and seek out extramarital sex) die. Learn from their mistakes. The sheriff wisely declines Mrs.Kline's advances (she's in bee-mode at this point), so he lives.  Once Agar destroys the bee-maker device and kills all the Bee Girls, it's safe for sex again! He tosses Julia on a bed. Yay! Sex is saved again!  They must have worried about this in the 70s.

Alternate Title -- IBG was re-released on DVD with the title Graveyard Tramps. This suggests a zombie flick. It is still IBG. The re-releasers drew their title from the one graveyard scene in which all of the bee women attend Herb's funeral. They're tramps in that they eagerly seduce men, though with malice instead of "love.".

Bottom line? IBG is a very low budget, trashy soft porn aimed at a very low-brow audience. It's primary raison d'etre is to show boobs and butts. One should not plan to watch IBG while one's mother, boss or pastor may see you. The notes above may make it sound as if IBG is a more serious film than it is. There are plot holes aplenty and what little science is offered is insipid blather. The only reason IBG is included here, is for the interesting notion of an accidental mutant goes about duplicating "her kind" -- rather like the Pod People. IBG has its cult fans, but has only a little sci-fi lost amid the soft porn.

Soylent Green

This is the big sci-fi film of 1973 and one of the major landmark films of the 70s. Soylent Green (SG) is a quintessential 70s sci-fi, with its blend of environment messages, dystopia, overpopulation themes and counter-culture suspicion of big corporations. It stars Charlton Heston as Detective Thorn and Edward G. Robinson, in his last film. Other famous actors in supporting roles include: Joseph Cotton, Whit Bissell, Chuck Connors and Dick van Patten (in a very minor role). The mood is very dystopic -- so popular in the early 70s.

Quick Plot Synopsis
In the year 2022, the earth is over crowded and resources depleated. A wealthy man named Simonson (Cotton) is assassinated in his luxury apartment. He expected it. Detective Thorn investigates and has a hunch it was not a robbery gone bad, but murder. Thorn suspects the bodyguard (Conners) is somehow in on it. He concludes that the young and voluptuous Shirl (Simonson's leased-babe) is just voluptuous. Thorn also knows he's onto something because he's being followed. Thorn lifted a couple books (and fresh food) from Simonson's apartment too. Thorn's old roommate Sol (Robinson) puzzles over the oceanographic reports. Various leads provide only tantalizing small pieces of the puzzle. Simonson was on the board of directors of Soylent Industries to make most of the world's synthetic food. Governor Santini was also his partner. A priest herd Simonson's last confession, and is found dead. Tab, the boddyguard, is in on it and out to get Thorn. The simpleton assassin who killed Simonson is also after Thorn. Sol and his circle of elderly book readers have deduced the truth. It is too horrible for Sol to bear, so he checks in to a euthanasia clinic to end it all. In his last moments, he whispers to Thorn the truth. Thorn follows Sol's body on trash trucks to a Disposal Plant, but it turns out they don't dispose of the bodies, but melt them down and make Soylent Green out of them. Thorn is discovered, but escapes. Tab finds him and almost kills him before Thorn kills Tab. As the wounded Thorn is taken out of the crowded poor-house (a church), he shouts that "Soylent Green is people!" Freeze frame. Roll credits. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Truth be told, SG is kind of a depressing film. Nothing gets better. The interesting part is all the layers of prophesying about the doom awaiting mankind. Greenberg's screenplay and Fleischer's directing give a powerful dystopic image of our future.

Cultural Connection
One of the significant things about SG, is that it manages to be a pupu platter of so many popular 70s activist issues without letting any one of them hijack the story into a maudlin polemic. Within SG, viewers will find: income inequality, oppression of women, global warming, environmental crash, evil corporations, evil politicians, police corruption and euthanasia. (More on those below.) These issues would remain hot button issues for the political-left for decades afterward. Many would get their own cause-celebre films, but SG managed to have almost all of them

Notes
Based on the Book -- Stanley Greenberg's screenplay is only loosely based on a 1966 novel by Harry Harrison, entitled "Make Room! Make Room!". The two are quite different stories, but have several elements in common. Overpopulation and poverty are there, but no cannibalism. The book has "soylent steaks" but they're veggieburger made of soy and lentils. Greenberg's story really stands on its own.

Rich v Poor -- The contrast between rich and poor is old in sci-fi. Metropolis (1927) featured the two worlds of the rich elite and the poor workers. The poor are shown sleeping on tenement stairways and in abandoned cars. The rich are shown with clean, spacious apartments. The poor wait in long lines for a half a kilo of synthetic food. The rich have an underground market for real vegetables and meat. The aspiring middle class, typified by Tab's apartment, is just a little bit less shabby, somewhat private, and since he's in cohoots with "the man," he's rich enough to buy $150 strawberry jam. Viewers are subtly encouraged to pity the poor and despise the rich.

Overpopulation -- This had become a more mainstream issue in the late '60s with Paul Ehrlich's book, "The Population Bomb." This trope showed up in several other films already. Z.P.G. was the more blatant of them. Ehrlich, and his disciples, gloomily predicted terrible doom within a decade, In '68, doom would come in the mid-70s. His doom never came. In fact, the opening text in SG announces that by 2022, the earth has 7 billion inhabitants, so in the movie, there's nowhere to put them and they sleep on the stairs and in parking lots, etc. But, the earth reached 7 billion in March of 2012 -- 10 years ahead of SG's dire prediction. Yet, social order has not collapsed into dystopia.

Global Warming -- This issue doesn't get much screen time, but it's there. Watch for allusions to it always being hot. When Shirl suggests turning on the air conditioner, she enthuses that they can make it snow (indoors), like the snow of the before-times. In 2022, it is always hot.

Police Corruption -- Even though Thorn is a dedicated cop and essentially on the side of law and order, it is apparently routine for cops to skim some graft wherever they go. While checking out the crime scene, Thorn takes some food, demands whisky, etc. He takes soap and towels and books for Sol. Later, he takes advantage of Shirl's furniture status. All part of the system. Viewers are expected to be shocked at the immoral cops.

Women as Property -- Shirl, and many others, are property. Thorn calls them "furniture." They come with the apartment, for use by the renter. All of the apartments in the building (run by Charles) have their own female furniture. They are so accustomed to being servile property that Thorn only has to suggest a bit of casual graft on his part includes sex with Shirl. She goes along with it, answering his questions, as if it were of no more import than peeling an orange.Even Tab, the aspiring middle-class man, has his own 'kept' woman' -- Martha. She flirts with Thorn, as if her only real reason to exist is to please a man -- any man. Viewers are expected to be shocked at seeing women as commodities.

Euthanasia -- An erie part of the screenplay is that old people are encouraged to commit suicide for the betterment of mankind. There is a large, clean facility call "Home" which checks in the elderly as if at a hotel. They get to pick their favorite colors, music and images. They lay on a raised bed, sip the poison, the lie back and enjoy the widescreen-surround-sound show for their last comfortable 20 minutes. All quite routine.

Corrupt Power -- The crux of the movie, is that the (evil) corporate and political establishment have lied about making Soylent Green out of plankton. The truth is that mankind polluted the oceans and killed the plankton too. On top of that, they figured out a way to recycle dead people to make food. Thorn rightly warns people that this means the (evil) authorities' next step is to regard the poor as livestock to be tended and harvested.

Riot Control -- In an era of war protests, the intervention of The Scoops is a chilling visual. Trash trucks with front-end loader scoops drive into the mass of protesters. The trucks scoop up a load of people and dump them in their boxes. The masses have been devalued to the point of being rubbish which must be cleared away. Viewers are expected to horrified at what lengths The Man will go to.

Appropriate End -- As a footnote, SG was Edward G. Robinson's last film. While SG was filming, he was dying of cancer. This lends some real and unintended poignancy to his final scene in the euthanasia chamber. His last few feet of film, are him acting out his own death. He died a couple weeks after filming was done.

Bottom line? SG is one of those must-see films -- even for those who aren't sci-fi fans. It is a powerful story and much more of a social commentary than a monsters-and-aliens film. Heston and Robinson provide good performances. Director Richard Fleischer provides compelling visuals. Screenwriter Stanley Greenberg provides a deep story with many layers of subtext. SG is not only worth watching, it's worth watching several times to explore it's many minor threads.

The Big Game

This independent film, one of three produced by Stanley Norman, appears aimed more at the international market than the American. The Big Game (TBG) goes by many other titles. "Todesgrüße von Gamma 03" in Germany. "La macchina della violenza" in Italy, and even three different titles for the english version (though usually with the same four-heads art). In addition to TBG, there was "Control Factor" and "Explosion". TBG is more of a spy-thriller (low on thrills) in which a sci-fi gizmo is the McGuffin. The film stars many familiar actors, such as Stephen Boyd, Ray Milland, Cameron Mitchell and France Nuyen. It is also shot in several locations: Rome, Hong Kong, Capetown, etc.

Quick Plot Synopsis Diplomat, and erstwhile playboy, Jim Handley, finds himself drunk in a Rome nightclub. He wakes up in a hotel room with a woman he doesn't know (France Nuyen). Atanga passionately proclaims her love for him. He takes all this in stride. He gets a phone call and must leave. They go shopping and tour some sights in Rome. Elsewhere, his brother Mark is the guinea pig in a test. He's flying a Lear Jet. A ground radar thingy takes control of his brain. Success. Mr. Handley (Milland) calls off the test. He, inventor Layton van Dyke (Boyd) and his security man Bruno (Mitchell) brief a room full of generals. Their radar thing can override the will power of the human brain. Just think of it's power to bring world peace! (really?) Back in Rome, Jim is told get his father's project cancelled, or his family may die. He resists, but gets beat up. Back at the project, Professor Handley puts on another demonstration for General Stryker. They use the radar to make drivers of a half dozen old cars drive an intricate choreography, then makes them drive demolition derby. Then the radar makes them get out of their cars and fight. Then the radar makes a line of soldier shoot at the cars, thinking they're tanks. (Yes, this proves the unit will be useful for world peace). Meanwhile, Jim flies to Hong Kong where he is followed, threatened some more, and beat up some more. His new girlfriend, Atanga, is brought in as captive. The bad guy's shoot her as a warning. Meanwhile meanwhile, Professor Handley has arranged for his radar gizmo to be loaded aboard a big industrial fishing ship and headed for Capetown. Jim, under duress and drugs, joins the ship. He is also a tool, letting down boarding ladders, so boat loads of ninja types with machine guns can board. The ninjas take over the ship. Some good guys are coming in two orange helicopters. They land aboard and there is much gunfire. It turns out that Atanga was not dead, but one of the bad guys. Surprise! She stabs Jim and he dies. Eventually, she is the last ninja standing so surrenders. When she identifies Layton (the inventor), she hugs him and pulls a grenade ring on her belt. Layton quickly pushes her down a stairway and she just blows up alone. Her (rubber) hand is all that's left, wearing Jim's family ring. Poignancy! Mark wonders if the invention will really bring world peace. Layton says no. Zoom out. The end.

Why is this movie fun?
Much about TBG reeks of 70s ethos. The hair, the clothes, the music. Survivors of the 70s might be amused. The mind control radar gizmo is woefully underdeveloped as a plot device, but shares the sci-fi stage with other films like Creature With the Atom Brain. France Nuyen has nice legs.

Cold War Angle
Hadley's radar mind control device is yet another surrogate for nuclear weapons. The creators naively imagine that if one side "has control", it will ensure peace. This would be Pax Romana of course, which is fine if one is Roman, but less fine if non-Roman. There are clearly Two Sides, the have-not side thinking that peace can only be maintained if BOTH have the awesome power. The "haves" disagree, of course. The nuclear deterrent factor, seen in yet another guise.

Notes
Based on the Book -- Ralph Anders penned what must be a rather banal and minor spy novel titled "The Two Sides." Anders adapted it to a screenplay, with help from the producer, Stanley Norman, and director Robert Day. At several points, Anders' experience as a novelist (not a screenwriter) is evident. He has the Jim character narrate descriptions or exposition instead of using visuals to tell the story. Sometimes, the prose is flowery and turgid, in a pulp novel sort of way. "Hong Kong: the checkpoint-charlie of the east...the melting pot of races...."

You Call Yourself a Diplomat? -- One of the major weaknesses in the plot of TBG is the character of Jim Handley. This would-be-Bond is supposed to be a professional diplomat, but lets himself get drugged/drunk, then is completely accepting of this and bedding a woman he doesn't know (who obviously slipped him his mickey). This woman he didn't know the day before says she's soooo in love with him and he believes it without question. (?) Then, a total stranger says he'd like to talk to him privately, so what does the careful professional diplomat do? Invite him up to his room -- alone. When the bad guy demands the combination to his briefcase, Jim refuses, until a tall thug slaps him around a little. Then he caves and gives up the combination. His other blunders await viewers fond of spy thrillers. Poor Jim is a weak link.

Mind Control -- The minor sci-fi element in TBG is the radar remote control device. The mumbo-jumbo at the "briefing" really explains nothing. The writers had little sci-fi imagination. ("And here, a miracle occurs...") The device amounts to a sci-fi gizmo to make people into obedient zombies (in the old sense) and do the will of their computer-controlling masters. This is a favorite old trope in sci-fi. The Man From Planet X ('51) had an alien mind-controlling the villagers to repair his ship. Invaders From Mars ('53) had the martians control people with little implants in their necks. Creature With the Atom Brain ('55) had remote-controlled thugs doing the bidding of a master. There are many more, better, films with this trope.

McGuffin, To Go -- The sci-fi part is only a nearly-interchangeble McGuffin. It could have been a rocket fuel formula, or special periscope lens, or even super-nutritious MREs, for that matter -- anything that would have given one side an advantage over the other. It's an excuse to have spies do mean things. Like a classic McGuffin, the radar-mind-control device has no impact on the plot. It's simply something to fight over. The good guys don't use it on the bad guys. The bad guys don't capture it and use it to cause mayhem. Such a wasted opportunity.

Elaan: The Spy -- Fans of Star Trek, TOS, will likely recognize the female star, France Nuyen, as the Dohlman of Elas from the episode, "Elaan of Troyius." In TBG, they get to see her in her real hair (not that braided wig), being all smiles and smooches, and even a few long shots of her in the requisite early 70s micro-skirt. Too bad she turns out to be an enemy spy.

Bottom line? TBG is a mediocre spy "thriller" that comes up short on just about everything. The sci-fi element is potentially intriguing, but never developed. TBG's scant appeal is thanks to the hard work of the Second Unit teams who shot ample atmosphere footage of Rome, Hong Kong and Capetown. Yet, even these have only the limited entertainment value of old National Geographics. Spy movie fans might find something to like. For sci-fi fans, however, TBG is fairly skip-able.

Genesis II

Gene Roddenberry tried (a few more times) to launch another sci-fi television series. Genesis II (G2) is the pilot approved by CBS. The premise is a 20th century man wakes up 154 years later to find a post-WWIII world. Things looked promising. A season's worth of scripts were written. But the nod went to a rival project, a series based on Planet of the Apes. G2 wasn't a theatrical release, but a made-for-TV movie. (hence the script cover in lieu of a poster) TV movies are normally outside the scope of this project, but G2 is included as a nod to Roddenberry and his Star Trek creation that would be many theatrical releases. There is also a root, in G2, to the 1979 film, Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Alex Cord and Mariette Hartley star. Many actors from the original Trek series also appear.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Scientist Dylan Hunt has new suspended animation process which might allow people to explore distant stars or save sick people until cures are discovered. He tests the chamber out himself. While suspended, an earthquake buries the chamber (in Carlsbad Caverns). He is found in 2133. He is nursed back to health by a pretty woman, Lyra-a (Hartley). She tells him how after a third world war, the underground-dwelling people who found him are called The PAX, but are really war mongers trying to repair 20th century weapons so as to dominate peaceful surface dwellers, the Tyranians. She is a Tyranian spy (and a 'mutant' with two belly buttons, for no good reason). She convinces Dylan to escape PAX. They travel on horseback to her city of Tyrania. Dylan surprised and put off by how the Tyranian underclass are fearful of their masters. The Tyranian council demand that Dylan fix their aging nuclear reactor. He refuses, so becomes one of the slave class. There he meets a revolutionary cell, by PAX spies. They want to spirit Dylan back to PAX. Dylan tricks Lyra-a into admitting that she loves him. So, now she's conflicted. Using a chaotic uprising as cover, they flee. Dylan lets himself be captured so the PAX team can escape. He agrees to fix their reactor. Later, Dylan shows up at PAX headquarters. They fret that the Tyranians will be arming old nukes that will destroy PAX. Dylan says he rigged a warhead to blow up nuclear plant. It blows up. The PAX leaders scold Dylan for taking any lives. He somewhat agrees to become a pacifist, and flirts up a new girlfriend. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
The look and feel of G2 is very reminiscent of Star Trek, TOS. For fans of TOS, that's fun. Many of the actors and actresses had parts in TOS episodes, adding to the reunion feel. Roddenberry's wife, Majel Barrett, for instance, has a minor role as female Primus. She played nurse Christine Chapel in TOS and many of the movies. In TG, the ambiguity of just who can be trusted, adds some depth that is rare in television scripts. The zoomy "sub-shuttle" was clearly Roddenberry's new solution (in lieu of a starship) for getting his characters into far-flung adventures around the globe.

Notes
Frozen Roots -- The opening premise, that of a man 'frozen' and awakened later in the future, was far from new. Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle slept 20 years and awoke to a post-revolutionary America. H.G. Wells wrote of his time traveler who zaps into earth's dark future. A technology race lives below and a 'rustic' race lives on the surface. Comic strip Buck Rogers, of 1928, was frozen (suspended animation), to awake in 2419 A.D. Rogers finds a rebel group who want his help fighting the oppressor group, the Hans. Just Imagine ('31) had "Single-O" wake after 50 years to the amazing world of 1950. The Man With Nine Lives ('40) had Boris Karloff waking after 10 years. Return of the Ape Man ('44) had a caveman thaw to a new world. World Without End ('56) had a crew of earthlings zap ahead in time to a post-WWIII world, which also featured a group of sciencey 'normals' living underground, and cavemen / mutants living above. Of course, the whole Planet of the Apes cycle began with another crew of earthlings zapped ahead to earth's post-WWIII future. The second film, Beneath also featured a group of science-y humans with cavemen on the surface. Roddenberry wasn't blazing any new trails with G2, but reviving a traditional trope.

Sex is Saved -- It is amusing to see 70s swingerism reassert itself. The people of PAX were all happy with their "unisex" culture. No more lust, passion and all the conflict that caused. So says the mousey Harper-Smythe. Perhaps the children Dylan heard singing were all in-vitro. Dylan's hunky shirtless bod (scientists must have done some serious gym time back in the 70s, apparently), manages to melt the ice queen, Lyra-a, into a blabbering doubt-riddled school girl. Then, not long after Dylan, the leaven of lust, contaminates the sexless PAX society, young people start necking again. Though it's worth noting that the Primus who points out the neckers did not seem too upset at sudden abandonment of their decades-old sexless philosophy. Oh well. Even the formerly frosty Harper-Smythe, looks Dylan up and down, smiles and blushes at Dylan's flirtations. Yay, sex is saved by a hunky 70s scientist !

Mariette's Two Navels -- Legend has it, that network executives would not let Roddenberry show Mariette Hartley's navel in the Star Trek episode "All Our Yesterdays." As a sort of inside-joke comeuppance, Roddenberry directed makeup to give Mariette TWO navels this time and he showed them. The whole double-circulatory system bit had no other role in the story. It seems it was all just a tweak to get a full-frontal shot of Mariette in a plaid bikini, showing off TWO belly buttons. Take that, network execs!

Roots of V-Ger -- G2 provided some material for 1979's Star Trek, The Motion Picture. One of the (unused) episode scripts, "Robot's Return," featured cyborgs coming to 2133 earth looking for the "gods" that created them. The cyborgs were 20th century astronauts who got cyborg-ized along the way. Even this 'lost' episode seems to draw from a TOS episode, "The Changeling" (1967) with hybrid space probe "Nomad" finding (it thought) its creator. All this factors into the plot of ST:TMP and the return of long-lost Voyager.

Try Again, and Again -- Roddenberry did not give up on his future-world series idea. Undaunted that CBS chose apes over his idea, he went to ABC. They liked the idea enough to authorize a pilot. Roddenberry reworked one of G2's scripts. It aired in '74 as Planet Earth. A falling out between Roddenberry and ABC execs scuttled the series. A third iteration was created, retitled as Strange New World ('76). Still, no series. But, it was clearly not for lack of Gene trying.

Bottom line? G2 is very Trek-like in many ways, including the cast, so Trekkies will find things to like. It's a notch above average for a made-for-TV sci-fi movie. The pacing is brisk enough, and the plot twists enough to keep it from being too predictable. It's not cinematic art, but it is entertainment.

The Crazies

George Romero's The Crazies (TC) came out between his more two famous zombie films, Night of the Living Dead ('68) and Dawn of the Dead ('78). TC shows many affinities to them in settings (rural Pennsylvania farm houses) and scenarios. TC is yet another horror/sci-fi hybrid, with only trace elements of sci-fi. It's not as gory as the zombie films, but has more than its share of shoot-outs and splattering red paint. The plot is an adaptation of the sci-fi thriller The Andromeda Strain ('71) and also harkens to The Last Man On Earth ('64). While TC itself was not particularly profitable, Romero's zombie films would go on to be quite successful.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A farmer goes crazy one night, kills his wife and burns down his house. His two children are pulled from the fire. Judy, a nurse, is called to the doctor's office. Her husband David is called to the firehouse. He and his old highschool buddy "Clank" are firemen. Judy finds the doctor's office overrun with military men in white jumpsuits and gas masks. Everyone gets an injection of antibiotic. (It is later revealed that a military plane crashed north of town. Aboard were vials of a weapon virus code named Trixie. It causes insanity and/or death.) Judy's doctor boss helps her escape with antibiotics to go run away with David. They try to run, but end up getting captured. Meanwhile, Major Ryder is joined by Colonel Peckhem to round up all civilians and quarantine them in the high school. Those outside, in "no man's land" must surrender or be shot. A cranky scientist named Watts is a Trixie expert sent in to study the outbreak and maybe develop a solution. He has only the high school's chem lab, so is even more cranky. Presidential advisors agree that if the virus cannot be quickly confined to the town, they will have to drop a nuke on it to burn out the virus. A cover story of a nuke on the crashed plane is loosed. David, Judy and Clank are in an army van with Artie, his teen daughter Kathy and an older man, clearly crazy from the virus. The old man bolts out the door, allowing David and Crank to overpower the guards and escape with the van. They ditch it and proceed on foot. They come to a farmhouse some soldiers are occupying (they killed the farmer and his wife in gun battles). David wants some answers, but Clank manages to kill all the soldiers. He's going crazy. Kathy has gone crazy (super spacey). Artie goes crazy too. First ranting about kids nowadays, then later, mistakes Kathy for his dead wife and 'rapes' her. He later hangs himself. Soldiers come. Kathy is outside and scares them, so they shoot her. David, Judy and Clank escape out the back. Clank holds them off, killing many, but is eventually shot. David tries to hide Judy among concrete blocks at a block factory. A soldier discovers him in his tower hiding place. David kills him and puts on his white suit and gas mask. The others leave. Judy, going crazy, mistakes David for a soldier and screams. Some teens come running up shooting, thinking David is a soldier. They shoot Judy. David shoots all but one of them, who at the last minute recognizes David as his coach. Judy dies in David's arms. Col. Peckhem reports the town contained. All citizens accounted for: dead or alive (crazy). His commander says Trixie may have escaped in the water to Louisville, so he is extracted by helicopter to head up the operation there. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Romero managed to capture a topic which is quiet salient to today -- government confiscation of citizen firearms. This is a sub-text within the plot, and perhaps more relevant to today's audiences than the evil-military theme popular in the 70s. The ambiguity of just who is infected and which actions were not rational, adds some depth that the story needed.

Cultural Connection
Distrust of the government and military had been growing as the American public soured on the Vietnam War. Suspicion that the authorities (whom the hippy-era youth never trusted anyhow), was becoming almost a cultural "given" -- both on the farther left and farther right ends of the political spectrum. The "government" are depicted as heartless technocrats, who are portrayed as some slouching older men. Even the President, seen on by the back of his head, is willing to blow up an American city to cover up their bumbling. The prestige of the American government would never really recover from the downward slide of the early 70s.

Notes
Andromeda On $5 A Day -- Writers Paul McCollough and George Romero have borrowed heavily from 1971's The Andromeda Strain for the basic plot. Instead of a space bug, though, the virus is an insidious creation of the reckless (evil) military. Romero's Andromeda remake is ultra-low-budget. Instead of a gee-whiz high tech bunker, he uses the actual town of Evans City. Instead of focusing so much on the scientists trying to discover a cure, Romero focuses on the refugees trying to escape.

Double Quasi-Zombies -- TC has two sets of "zombies". One is the citizenry insane with the virus. They destroy and kill without rationality. The second are the soldiers. They're quite un-soldier-like in white jumpsuits and almost always wearing the scary-face gas mask. These, like Jason's hockey mask, make them "in-human". Also a bit like zombies, the soldiers are clueless pawns who kill without really understanding why. The film then has the two groups of quasi-zombies battling each other, with our protagonists caught in the middle.

Another Omega Man -- Romero's story also borrows from Richard Matheson's "I Am Legend." David, as the sole surviving "normal" person, battling the inhuman hoards, is very much like Vincent Price fighting his zombies in The Last Man on Earth ('64) and Charlton Heston battling his virus-spawned zombies in The Omega Man ('71). In both of those movies, the protagonist in somehow immune to the virus. His blood holds the cure. David doesn't die like Price and Heston, but the implication is that he is an opportunity wasted by the inept government.

Remake -- The story in TC was apparently deemed good enough to merit a bigger budget remake. Overture Films produced and distributed their own The Crazies in 2010. The plot was close to Romero's '73 script. Between the original and remake are dozens of films picking up on the killer-virus-on-the-loose trope. 28 Days Later (2002) being a more recent iteration. But, the deadly virus trope was not invented by Romero. In addition to Matheson's 1954 story, there was No Place to Hide ('56) with a germ-warfare virus potentially getting loose and a manhunt by the military. The Omega Glory episode of Star Trek ('66) had a deadly virus. No Blade of Grass ('71) had a virus that killed food, so people turned on each other. The virus idea has been popular for a long time.

Bottom line? TC is not particularly sci-fi, and besides the ample red paint and almost-amusing spurting blood effects, not particularly "horror" either. It is more of a thriller with heavy-handed vilification of the military and government.