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.
Review of The Terminal Man
