The Terminal Man (1974)

Thanks for the memories!

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

It is an engaging, if cold hearted 1974 science-fiction movie penned by Michael Crichton, the doctor-turned-author responsible for such successes as THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN, WESTWORLD and COMA.George Segal stars as an computer scientist who has an electronic pacemaker inserted in his brain to prevent him from having epileptic fits. But something malfunctions and the device transforms him to a robotic killer.This is a fascinating story, well photographed by Mike (GET CARTER) Hodges. Unfortunately, it disintegrates at the end with a disappointing climax. Still, it is a good movie.

Just watched a pretty interesting sci-fi thriller from 1974, Mike Hodges' "The Terminal Man," starring George Segal, Joan Hackett, Jill Clayburgh, Richard Dysart and Ian Wolfe. Based on a Michael Crichton novel, this one tells the story of a computer programmer (Segal) who lives in fear that the machines of the world will soon be taking over the humans. His fears are made reality after he suffers a terrible car accident, the after effects of which leave him with occasional amnesiac and violent episodes. To effect a cure, he is made the subject of a new operation. A device is inserted into his brain that will deliver shocks to ward off these episodes. Unfortunately, the operation does not have the intended effect, and before long, Segal becomes a homicidal maniac, going bonkers at periods that the surgeons are able to predict. The film is very slow moving in its first half, and indeed, the operation that is performed on Segal takes up a very long part of the film's running time. But the movie is never boring, despite its deliberate pace. In the second half, as Segal grows increasingly mad, things get more interesting, of course. The main problem with the film, however, is that we never learn anything much about Segal's past, so as a character, he is pretty much a cipher throughout. The picture ends with a predictable albeit memorable downbeat finale, lending a touch of ambiguity to the film's title itself. Strangely enough, at one point in the film, the Clayburgh character is seen watching the movie "Them!" on her television...the very film that I had just watched a few days before. I thought that was pretty strange. Anyway, a marginal thumbs up for this '70s thriller.

"The Terminal Man" is written for the screen, produced, and directed by Mike Hodges ("Get Carter", "Flash Gordon", "Croupier"), based upon the Michael Crichton novel, and tells an intriguing story, the likes of which Crichton always excelled at, that combined science and thrills.The likable George Segal stars as Harry Benson, a computer scientist who, since a car accident, has suffered from blackouts & seizures that made him dangerously violent. Now a team of surgeons is performing ground breaking surgery on him: attaching electrodes to 40 of his brain terminals that will hopefully counteract his violent impulses. However, as the viewer certainly suspects will happen, this doesn't work, and his brain ends up craving the shocks / stimuli that it receives, and Harry loses control once again.I can certainly understand the problems that some people may have with this production, as it's really not the typical thriller at all. It's slow, and it's quiet; there's not even that much musical accompaniment on the soundtrack. It does exhibit a fairly cold, clinical approach, and the emphasis on the story's exposition will inevitably bore people more conditioned to non- stop action in what they watch. Even after Harry has made the expected escape from the hospital, he doesn't spend that much time running amok, and certainly does not kill very many people.But this movie *is* noticeably intelligent and thoughtful and does offer rewards for patient viewers. It has one striking murder set piece that's rather artfully done; it takes place atop a water bed, and the sprays of water and the way the blood spreads definitely are what make the scene. And, like other movies of this kind, there is a certain wariness (voiced by Harry) on the part of mankind regarding the computer age and what it could mean for us all.Another wonderful element to "The Terminal Man" is its incredible cast of both stars and rock solid character actors. Segal is effectively low key in the lead, and is nicely supported by Joan Hackett, Jill Clayburgh (in a small but welcome appearance), Richard Dysart, Donald Moffat, Matt Clark, Michael C. Gwynne, William Hansen, and Norman Burton. (It's particularly fun to see Dysart and Moffat sharing scenes eight years before they did John Carpenters' "The Thing" together.) And playing smaller roles are the likes of James B. Sikking, Steve Kanaly, Jack Colvin, Ian Wolfe, Lee de Broux, Victor Argo, and Nicholas Worth.This is all reasonably engaging stuff, leading up to an ending that, while somewhat conventional, is staged in a very unique way. All in all, "The Terminal Man" is a good movie that does deserve to be discovered or rediscovered.Seven out of 10.

I been a fan of Mike Hodges film right from the first time I watched Get Carter. I have watched most of his films: some brilliant Pulp, Black Rainbow, Croupier, some misunderstood, Flash Gordon, some could of been better, Morons From Outer space, A Prayer For The Dying and some underestimated I'll Sleep When I'm Dead and The Terminal Man.The Terminal Man is one of coldest brilliant movies of 70's which I can understand why many people would not like this film. OK its not a chick flick or A Vin Diesel material, but hey wasn't going to be.It is well directed by Hodges and acted by George Segal and I would to see this classic getting a DVD released