The Final Programme (1973)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Robert Fuest

Writers:

Robert Fuest (writer)
Michael Moorcock (novel)

Release Date:

1974 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Sci-Fi | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

The Future is Cancelled!

Plot:

After the death of his Nobel Prize-winning father, billionaire physicist Jerry Cornelius becomes embroiled...

Plot Keywords:

Microfilm | Rescue | Beautiful Woman | Computer Expert | Female Frontal Nudity

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Jon Finch	...	Jerry Cornelius
Jenny Runacre	...	Miss Brunner
Hugh Griffith	...	Professor Hira
Patrick Magee	...	Dr. Baxter
Sterling Hayden	...	Maj. Wrongway Lindbergh
Harry Andrews	...	John
Graham Crowden	...	Dr. Smiles
George Coulouris	...	Dr. Powys
Basil Henson	...	Dr. Lucas
Derrick O'Connor	...	Frank
Gilles Millinaire	...	Dimitri
Ronald Lacey	...	Shades
Julie Ege	...	Miss Dazzle
Sandy Ratcliff	...	Jenny (as Sandy Ratcliffe)
Sarah Douglas	...	Catherine

Also Known As:

The Last Days of Man on Earth (USA)

Runtime:

81 min | USA:89 min (uncut version)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:M18 | Finland:K-16 | USA:R | UK:X (original rating) | UK:15 (video rating)

Filming Locations:

Elstree Film and TV Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Company:

Anglo-EMI

Trivia:

Mick Jagger turned down the part of Jerry Cornelius as he thought the script was "too weird".

Quotes:

[talking about Jenny, whom Miss Brunner had absorbed the night before]
Jerry Cornelius: Strange chick. How did you find her?
Miss Brunner: Delicious.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Nightmare Theatre's Late Night Chill-o-Rama Horror Show Vol. 1 (1996) (V)

Where's The Final Programme?

This is one of those spectacular misfires; Fuest has taken Moorcock's splendid book and cut everything down to the bone so much that what remains is only the irrelevant sci-fi plot that was basically a throwaway excuse to hang all the elements of the book together. For this there really is no excuse; the next two books were available at the time the film was in production (the last was not publish until 1977) and if anyone had bothered to read them, they would have realized that Jerry Cornelius ain't James Bond. This a cheap Bond rip-off. The books were trans-dimensional, time hopping wonders; they had an arrogance of plot structure that really captured the complexities of multi-dimensional realities. This is a chase movie. It has a conventional three-act structure and, worst still, it ditches all the characters vital to the novel (or amalgamates three, four or five of them into one). It misses out on Moorcock's views of sexual liberation and worst of all Fuest has absolutely no idea what his source material is about. After seeing the Dr. Phibes movies I thought him to be an entertaining and imaginative director. After seeing this I realize his style has nothing to do with imagination but a talent for making do with low budgets. The Final Programme was made for around £600,000. Not inconsiderable for the time but it is wasted in every frame on trivia. For example, an early chapter of the book revolves around a massive assault on Jerry's father's Chatauex in Normandy by a team of crack armed mercenaries with hundreds of casualties; here it is reduced to a bit of mild house breaking just outside London. Jon Finch's Cornelius is the only plus point about it (he was, after all, a friend of Moorcock) and what the books really need is $400 million throwing at them (they have to be filmed back-to-back), faithful adaption, and a director like Alejandro Jodorowsky. The books have recently been reissued in a bind-up as "The Cornelius Quartet". Read them; you'll be going back to them for years to come trying to unravel all the different strands. The film has no strands.