Fantastic Voyage (1966)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Richard Fleischer

Writers:

Harry Kleiner (screenplay)
David Duncan (adaptation)

Release Date:

24 August 1966 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

The screen's most fantastic voyage

Plot:

A diplomat is nearly assassinated. In order to save him, a submarine is shrunken to microscopic size and injected into his blood stream with a small crew. Problems arise almost as soon as they enter the bloodstream.

Plot Keywords:

Blood | Submarine | Tympanic Membrane | Coffee | Military

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Stephen Boyd	...	Grant
Raquel Welch	...	Cora
Edmond O'Brien	...	General Carter
Donald Pleasence	...	Dr. Michaels
Arthur O'Connell	...	Col. Donald Reid
William Redfield	...	Capt. Bill Owens
Arthur Kennedy	...	Dr. Duval
Jean Del Val	...	Jan Benes
Barry Coe	...	Communications Aide
Ken Scott	...	Secret Service
Shelby Grant	...	Nurse
James Brolin	...	Technician
Brendan Fitzgerald	...	Wireless Operator

Also Known As:

Microscopia
Strange Journey

MPAA:

Rated PG for mild violence and language.

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System) | Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved (certificate #20942) (original rating) | Canada:G (video rating) | Portugal:M/6 | Australia:G | Finland:K-12 | Spain:T | Sweden:15 | UK:U | USA:PG | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Exposition Park, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

As a college student, director Richard Fleischer was a pre-med student for a time.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The amount of radioactive material for the sub would not need a lead carrying case. Grant proves this by removing the container from the case with no protection and handing it to Owens who inserts it into the reactor, again bare-handed.

Quotes:

Grant: Wait a minute! They can't shrink me.
General Carter: Our miniaturizer can shrink anything.
Grant: But I don't want to be miniaturized!
General Carter: It's just for an hour.
Grant: Not even for a minute!

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Dead End (1985)

Pretty good little film.

To answer everyone's question about how did Issac Asimov resolve the Proteus issue at the end of the movie; in his novelization of the film (which is a very good sci-fi book on its own), the sub comes out with everyone else in the teardrop along with "a very surprised white blood cell." The scene with Donald Pleasance gave me chills when I saw it as a child and having recently seen it again, it still is creepy. I think this is due to Pleasance's performance more than anything else. I do have to say that seeing Stephen Boyd being driven around the LA Sports Center (subbing for the top secret research center; they had to have everything removed by 5:30 in the afternoon the week they filmed there because sporting events were going on at night) in a golf cart seemed a bit silly but I guess that showed how important he was. With these kinds of films, one has to ignore all certain types of questions about how come this did or didn't happen when the scientists did this and just relax and enjoy it.