The Final Programme

The Final Programme (1973)

Returning from Lapland, where he buried his father, a renowned scientist, Jerry Cornelius, comes back to London with the firm intention of taking revenge on his brother Frank and snatching his beloved sister Catherine from his clutches. Since the recent gigantic global conflagration, things have changed considerably. If he wanted to, Jerry could easily get hold of napalm to blow up Frank's hideout. But he prefers to join forces with the disturbing Mrs Brunner, who, with the help of three scientists – Smiles, Lucas and Powys – is trying to recover a mysterious microfilm left to Frank by his father...

Data lansării
1973-10-04
TMDB
5.4 / 10 (32)
Durată
1 h 29 min
Genuri
Thriller, SF, Comedie
Regizor
Robert Fuest

Distribuție

Curiozități

  • Filmat în: Almería și Cortijo Romero

The Final Programme is a 1973 British black comedy science-fiction film written and directed by Robert Fuest, based on the 1968 novel by Michael Moorcock. It stars Jon Finch as Moorcock's fictional hero Jerry Cornelius, along with Jenny Runacre, Hugh Griffith, Patrick Magee, Sterling Hayden, Ronald Lacey, Harry Andrews, and Derrick O'Connor and Sarah Douglas in their film debuts.

Production

As of 2026, The Final Programme is the only film adaptation of Michael Moorcock's novels. The screen rights to the book were acquired by Goodtimes Enterprises, a UK production company headed by David Puttnam, Roy Baird and Sanford Lieberson, which had made Performance (1970) and The Pied Piper (1972). Lieberson says the film was his idea as "I loved Michael Moorcock's writing and I really liked the Jerry Cornelius character."

Finance came from EMI Films and the National Film Finance Corporation. EMI said they would finance the movie if Robert Fuest directed so they approached him. Fuest recalled, "I wanted to do a film which extended the fantasy that was a prerequisite of the Phibes films and Final Programme seemed to possess all the necessary elements." He felt "the book was very weird, but I thought it had possibilities."

Fuest was dissatisfied with various scripts calling them "believably awful" so he decided to write the script himself "and Michael Moorcock hated it."

Lieberson recalled that Fuest "insisted on not only directing but also designing it. I think he wrote it as well, I mean he got completely out of hand. He just became another person and decided he was going to be an auteur. Nice man, but he really went off the deep end on the movie. I thought it was an interesting film, though it lost me toward the end."

Michael Moorcock has said that he originally envisioned space-rock band Hawkwind as providing the music for the entire film, and as also appearing in the scene with the nuns playing slot machines where Jerry is trying to buy napalm. Hawkwind, and Moorcock himself, can in fact be glimpsed briefly in this scene right at the back of the set.

Citește pe Wikipedia · Text din Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Date din Wikidata.

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