The Final Programme (1974)

Lack of good storyline.

What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

THE FINAL PROGRAMME is a drug-induced slice of sci-fi craziness, based on a novel by popular fantasy writer Michael Moorcock. Having a fondness for '70s-era science fiction such as LOGAN'S RUN, I was hoping to like this, but the sad truth is that it turns out to be a completely unconvincing dud of a film, far too light-hearted and campy to succeed.The once-familiar actor Jon Finch, so good in FRENZY and MACBETH, gives a hideous performance as the arrogant protagonist, tasked with hunting down a secret microfilm in a world on the edge of the apocalypse. Various oddball supporting characters turn up to either help or hinder him, and the supporting cast is certainly the best thing about this; seeing the familiar faces of Harry Andrews, Julie Ege, Hugh Griffith, Graham Crowden, and Patrick Magee is certainly a pleasure, but they're not enough to distract from this film's overwhelming silliness. I don't mind a bit of camp but this film goes way over the top and as a result is simply stupid.

I saw the ads for "The Last Days Of Man On Earth" well before I could watch "R" films, but I was always wanting to see it. It dropped into a bit of obscurity stateside, and it was years before I found a copy. Shortly after I saw it, Anchor Bay issued the uncut original in limited quantities, and I managed to grab one. well, the book is better. But Jon Finch is the perfect Jerry Cornelius, and this may be his best work. Jenny Runacre is every bit as good as "Miss Brunner", though her character doesn't quite embody the written character to the degree of Finch. Ron Lacey also shines, in a brief turn as the sun glassed assassin, "Shades", walking straight out of the books pages.The low budget is disguised well, but the film needed a bit more for effects, relying on a lot of color tinting, sound effects, and old style inflatable "sculptures", to fill the screen. Moorcock hates it, but this embodies the spirit that fueled "New Worlds", the science fiction magazine that brought Moorcock to the worlds attention, rather well, invoking much classic British entertainment of the recent past. The original cut is preferable, but "The Last Days Of Man On Earth" is a completely different edit of the film, not just a retitling. The differences aren't major, but the US removes everything that even borders on superfluous, with much minor trimming being done to almost every scene. In an odd parallel with "A Boy And His Dog", it follows the overall story arc acceptably, but adds a joke in poor taste to the conclusion, and many have found that alone, was enough to sour their perceptions. It comes close to bringing Moorcocks world to the cinema, but isn't quite there. Here's hoping that someone might make another attempt.

OK, I've seen it...nope, not making sense...watch it again...nope, not getting it...hang on, I'll read the book maybe that will help...nada...A sometimes fun, sometimes interesting but a thorough mess of a movie of a sometimes fun, sometimes interesting thorough mess of a book. It's like being in a time loop where Jerry Cornelius is always attending his father's funeral, always half-fancying his sister and always pursuing his brother Frank. Some of the sets like the nightclub "King Cool Flipped His Lid..." are well done, there are some amusing lines such as "I have a Phantom Jet parked outside...", "Shit, it's the Greek!" and "Hmmm, Rhesus positive" on merely touching a bloodstain. But very little is coherent; Miss Brunner "absorbs" her lovers but just what does that mean and how does she do it? Is it a post-apocalyptic world or not? What the hell happens at the end with a simian Cornelius/Brunner hybrid muttering about "what a very tasty world"? I'll give it this, Jon Finch turns in a great performance but this really is a beer n' pretzels ludicrous movie.

A shortened version of the film first released as The Final Programme, from Michael Moorcock's novel of that name. Jerry Cornelius is the perfect universal hero/anti-hero in a disintegrating world. His search for his father's invention involves him with his mad brother Frank and the sinister programmer, Miss Brunner. The acting is over the top (one reviewer described it as "rug-chewing"), hip, and outrageous. The flip, self-mocking style owes a great deal to The Avengers, The Prisoner, and possibly even the Beatles.