Impulse (1974)

One of my all time favorites.

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

I'm an aficionado of bad movies, and a big William Shatner fan, so how was I unaware of this gem? It's magnificently horrible. Shatner plays a sleezy, polyester-clad, cigarillo-smoking gigolo who is also a murderer. It's the role he was born to play.He cranks cranks his Shatner-ness way up past 11, and his overacting is ridiculous even by his venerable standards. On the other hand, it appears that the makers tried to make him look good by surrounding him with actors even worse than he is - particularly the child actor.This is definitely a must for your Bad Movie Night library.

IMPULSE is a forgotten masterpiece that William Shatner made during a low point of his career in the 1970s when he was either restricted to trashy B-movies or television guest appearances.I am amazed at the amount of negativity displayed by other reviewers towards this film. It is obvious that they are comparing Shatner's role in this film to his typecast role as Captain James T. Kirk rather than judging both the film and Shatner's performance in their own rights.Shatner puts in perhaps the best performance of his career (outside of his role as Captain Kirk of course) as a psychotic killer tormented by memories of his childhood when he killed a soldier with a samurai sword after the soldier attacked and attempted to rape his mother. Shatner transforms from being a seemingly charming harmless middle-aged man to a psychotic killer in a scene and then back to being charming again in the next scene. Over the years, many have criticised Shatner's acting as being ham and over-the-top just to name a few negative words. But, his performance here is simply tremendous. I can't think of an actor who could have played the part of Matt Stone better than him. The constant sucking of one of his fingers at various points in the film is just one of the ways that Shatner demonstrates Stone's unbalanced mind.The film creates genuine suspense through the use of flashbacks and atmosphere, as well as the incredible tension that seems to persist in many scenes. In one scene, tension arises when Stone has problems trying to kill one of his victims (who happens to be played by Harold Sakata, best known as Oddjob in Goldfinger). And at the same time, the disapproving daughter (whose name is Tina) of one of Stone's love conquests is witnessing this murder taking place from the back of Stone's car! One of the other very tense scenes of the film is where Stone is chasing Tina through a cemetery after she witnesses him committing another murder later on in the film. Tension is also created throughout various other scenes in the film, particularly after the scene where Tina witnesses Stone kill the character played by Harold Sakata. Tina is faced with a situation where no one will believe her when she tells them about the murder. The tension arises from various attempts by Tina to expose Stone, particularly the scene in the car where she complains of being cold and asks Stone to close the car window (only to find that the window that was meant to be broken has surprisingly been repaired).The film offers many opportunities for character development, in particular the character of Tina, a young girl who misses her deceased father and fears that Stone is trying to take his place in the eyes of her mother, Ann.The variety of 1970s polyester costumes worn by Shatner seem to be one aspect that makes the film catch attention, in particular the assorted multi-coloured shirts with large collars.Admittedly, the film does have some cheesy scenes and dialogue, but this has the effect of making the more disturbing scenes even more disturbing than they already are.The ending is so predictable that one can predict it even half way through, but this doesn't make it any less disturbing to watch. I won't give the ending away but I think those reading this review who have never seen the film will get an idea of what I mean.For other fans of William Shatner who would like to see him in a good film outside of his Captain Kirk role, I also recommend THE INTRUDER, a masterpiece directed by Roger Corman that Shatner made in his pre-Kirk days.This forgotten masterpiece certainly deserves more recognition. The UK DVD is a standard release that has no extras, not even a trailer. A special edition DVD with a documentary with or commentary by Shatner certainly would be great.I rate this film 10 out of 10 for excellent acting, photography, plot, suspense and tension.

I recently attended "Shatfest" hosted by Oakland, CA's Parkway Theater (http://www.picturepubpizza.com/), an annual tribute to William Shatner. It was a freeking riot. The Parkway is set up like a lounge with couches and tables instead of the usual theater setup. They have a kitchen with a full menu, and serve beer and wine. Anyway, while we were waiting for our food to be served, they showed a black-and-white episode of "The Man from UNCLE" that featured both Shatner and Leonard Nimoy a year before they did "Star Trek". Next, they silently ran a segment of a Star Trek episode while belly dancers danced on the stage in front of the screen. The segment they chose featured an "alien" gal dancing in front to Kirk and Mr. Spock, and it blended perfectly with the live show. Surreal!!! Next they had a Shatner trivia quiz awarding prizes that included a picture of Captain Kirk signed by Shatner. This was followed by a video of Shatner performing Elton John's "Rocket Man", a level of "rank" seldom achieved by mere mortals. But the piece-de-resistance was the screening of "Impulse". Now I pride myself as being an aficionado of horrible, rank films, so I can confidently report that this is the BEST horrible, terrible, rank movie I've ever experienced. "Robot Monsters", "CC and Company", "Nymphoid Barbarian in Dinosaur Hell" are A-Card movies compared to this one. The Shatner ham has never glistened and dripped like this before or since. Adding to the fun is Harold Sakata ("Odd Job" from "Goldfinger") playing an itinerant karate instructor looking for a big score. The entire audience was in continuous hysterics for an hour and a half. Actually, that's not true. A gal at my table who'd immigrated from China five years ago took the movie literally, and was totally bewildered by the reaction of the audience. I tried to explain it to her, but.......how can you explain nonsense like this? Which of course added to the fun. Anyway, a memorable movie!!

William Shatner's Impulse (1974) is classic Shatner. He mugs, grimaces and sweats in front of the camera. Wearing those funky 70's threads and heavy sideburns and poofy comb over, Shatner's the man! But he's also a homicidal nut job. He over acts like a mother in this one. If you're a fan of the camera mugging, paycheck collecting, hammy over the top Shatner, you've struck the mother lode with this one. Impulse has to be the ultimate Shatner film. You'll never find him acting like this in one film. Seems like the director had Shatner pour all of his acting talents into the role of Matt Stone, the psychotic gigolo with pedophile tendencies.Highly recommended for William Shatner fans!If Shatner wasn't playing the role, this movie would have stunk like a week old pair of socks.