Total Recall (1990)

When a man goes for virtual vacation memories of the planet Mars, an unexpected and harrowing series of events forces him to go to the planet for real, or does he?

Director:

Paul Verhoeven

Writers:

Philip K. Dick (short story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale"), Ronald Shusett (screen story),

Stars:

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin, Sharon Stone

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 7 wins & 13 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Arnold Schwarzenegger	...	Douglas Quaid / Hauser
Rachel Ticotin	...	Melina
Sharon Stone	...	Lori
Ronny Cox	...	Vilos Cohaagen
Michael Ironside	...	Richter
Marshall Bell	...	George / Kuato
Mel Johnson Jr.	...	Benny
Michael Champion	...	Helm
Roy Brocksmith	...	Dr. Edgemar
Ray Baker	...	Bob McClane
Rosemary Dunsmore	...	Dr. Lull
David Knell	...	Ernie
Alexia Robinson	...	Tiffany
Dean Norris	...	Tony
Mark Carlton	...	Bartender

Storyline

Douglas Quaid is haunted by a recurring dream about a journey to Mars. He hopes to find out more about this dream and buys a holiday at Rekall Inc. where they sell implanted memories. But something goes wrong with the memory implantation and he remembers being a secret agent fighting against the evil Mars administrator Cohaagen. Now the story really begins and it's a rollercoaster ride until the massive end of the movie.

---

Plot Keywords:

mars | memory | reality | colony | planet | 

---

Taglines:

They stole his mind, now he wants it back.

---

Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

---

Certificate:

R

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 June 1990 (USA)

Also Known As:

El vengador del futuro

Filming Locations:

Valley of Fire State Park - Route 169, Overton, Nevada, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$65,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$5,788 (USA) (10 August 2012)

Gross:

$119,412,921 (USA) (17 August 2012)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Carolco Pictures, Carolco International N.V.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) Dolby SR (35 mm prints)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Robert Picardo was voice of and facial model for the "Johnnycab" robot.

---

Goofs

When Quaid is in the slum hotel room, the phone in the room starts to ring. The person on the other line is a 'buddy' of his from the agency on Mars who says that he was suppose to find him Doug if he ever disappears. After Doug wraps a towel around his head to muffle the bug signal, the friend tells him to go to the window to see a suitcase that was going to leave for Quaid. The 'friend' on the visual phone looks up to the right as though he's looking up to Quaid in the hotel room. In fact, Quaid's 'friend' has to turn to the left and look up, not right as shown on the videophone.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
[Doug awakens from a nightmare]
Lori: Doug? Honey, are you all right?
[nods]
Lori: You were dreaming. Doug? Was it about Mars?
[nods]
Lori: [kisses him] Is that better?
Douglas Quaid: Hmm.
Lori: My poor baby. This is getting to be an obsession.

---

Crazy Credits

Play the Total Recall video game by Acclaim.

---

Connections

Referenced in The Simpsons: That 90's Show (2008)

---

Soundtracks

"Mutant Dancing"
Written and Performed by Bruno Louchouarn
Produced by Joe La Mont
Published by Lygon St. Music and Barney Sue Music

User Reviews

A bit dated 20 years later, but an exciting action thriller with a strong core

"Total Recall" might not be timeless as far as filmmaking goes, but it's certainly a hard movie to forget. "RoboCop" director Paul Verhoeven's take on the Phillip K. Dick story "We Can Remember it For You Wholesale" serves as the perfect snapshot of what late '80s America thought the future would look like -- a "Mad Max" society on Mars and lots of communicating video screens. Part of this memorability comes from cheap methods such as gross-out visual effects and three-breasted prostitutes, but credit also belongs to a story full of roller coaster twists.

Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as Douglas Quaid, a man with a seemingly loving wife (Sharon Stone), who has vivid dreams about Mars, a planet that has been colonized by America and is at the center of a military controversy. Quaid becomes intrigued by a service that offers the implantation of vacation memories so that one can recall having been somewhere and experienced something without having to take the time to go through it. But instead of getting a nice vacation, the process goes wrong for Quaid and suddenly his friend at work and his wife are not who he thought they were -- and neither is he.

Turns out Quaid was a skilled operative who had his memory tampered with previously and his "former self" sent him a message to go back to Mars because he has memories that hold the key to the undoing of the evil General Cohaagen who is oppressing those living on Mars.

Mars is a circus sideshow in Las Vegas in this film. There's prostitution and horrendously scarred individuals. Oh, and dwarfs. Needless to say, the vision Verhoeven has for the future is not a very politically correct one and a bit excessive on vice and strangeness only for the sake of being just so. The meat of "Total Recall" lies not in the sci-fi future world the story takes place in, but more in the mystery of who Quaid (or Hauser) actually is.

Schwarzenegger is still best suited for playing a machine or straight-up action hero not to be taken seriously, so "Total Recall" might not be the best fit, but he's probably better than most would give him credit for. He doesn't really hurt the film in any way.

It seems like "Total Recall" was Verhoeven's attempt to make a visual effects spectacle because he simply had the money thanks to Arnold's star power. Although the story intrigues beyond a doubt, this is not the sci-fi thinker that "Blade Runner' was. Why else would there be so many special effects shots of people's faces puffing up in the vacuum of space?

"Total Recall" would easily land on my list of decent films that could be remade and done better, particularly in terms of themes and social relevancy. In the late '80s, these effects were all the rage. Now that cinema has grown up and the average filmmaker with a bit of cash could make the effects of the film happen, it could actually survive as more than a thriller. Hard to blame a film 20 years outside of its context for doing something like that, so I think it just shows the potential for Dick's story to endure as a film.

~Steven C

Visit my site http://moviemusereviews.com