#mike hodges
Day 14
Reflections on: The Terminal Man(1974)
- This was VERY GOOD!
- I liked Coma(1978) so much that I went searching for more 70′s horror movies written by Michael Chrichton that I hadn’t seen yet. This did not disappoint!
- George Segal plays a complicated protagonist understatedly, effortlessly switching rapidly from one emotional extreme to another. His character is a computer expert who although paranoid about computers taking over the world is somehow the perfect candidate to have experimental surgery to implant microcomputers into his brain. What could go wrong?
- Two doctors played by Richard Dysart and Donald Moffat would later be costars again in The Thing (1982). In one scene their characters hang out together at a party in the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Ennis House that would later go on to be the setting for Deckard’s apartment in Blade Runner(1982).
- Simple, striking white on black title cards abruptly indicate the days of the week throughout. A woman hides in a washroom in terror while a homicidal, enraged man breaks a hole in the door and peeks his head in. Stanley Kubrick, who was a noted fan of the movie, directly copied both of these elements six years later in The Shining(1980).
- The film looks sterile in a pleasing way. This combined with the minimal Bach piano soundtrack performed by Glenn Gould feels like it perhaps could have been influenced by Kubrick’s earlier works like 2001: A Space Odyssey(1968).
- Despite being filmed in colour it appears almost entirely grayscale. The few exceptions to the monochromatic palette really stand out: flashes of red - a rose, or some blood, and all the surgical blue in the hospital scenes. Apparently the director, Mike Hodges, wanted to film it in black and white originally. It looks unlike any other movie I’ve seen.
- A very long and mostly silent, yet hypnotic and gripping, brain surgery scene illustrates the weird, ritualistic nature of surgery. It feels almost alien.
- Operating theatre. A concept that combines 2 deep fears into one horrific architectural nightmare.
- In order to test the “limbic pacing by implanted computer” doctors in a control room press some buttons on a terminal to make George Segal’s character exclaim, “I’ve got to take a terrible leak”. What a great saying!
- Fun fact: this is the first film to mention Scientology!
- Waterbeds seem so impractical! How were they ever a trend?!
- This demonstrates that every single shot of a film can be beautiful.
- This seems very influenced by French New Wave films in the same way that Point Blank (1967) does. That’s also a great movie I just watched for the first time. It’s not a horror film but I still recommend it!
- It’s a bit mind boggling to realize how this was deemed unsuccessful both commercially and critically in 1974, yet it went on to influence future iconic films. I’ve never heard anyone talk about this movie before!
- Watch this! Talk about it! Tell your friends!
Post link
@tcmparty live tweet schedule for the week beginning Monday, February 14, 2022. Look for us on Twitter…watch and tweet along…remember to add #TCMParty to your tweets so everyone can find them :) All times are Eastern.
Saturday, Feb. 19 at 6:00 p.m.
GET CARTER (1971)
A small-time gangster searches for the truth behind his brother’s death.
Post link
