Who Wants to Kill Jessie? (1966)
"Kdo chce zabít Jessii?" (original title)

"What if someone had an absurd dream and the visions ran out in the street?" a scientist asks Rose, a researcher who discovers a way to engender beneficial dreams (to produce contented, ... See full summary »

Director:

Václav Vorlícek

Writers:

Milos Macourek (story), Václav Vorlícek (story)

Stars:

Dana Medrická, Jirí Sovák, Olga Schoberová

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dana Medrická	...	Doc. Ruzenka Beránková
Jirí Sovák	...	Doc. Jindrich Beránek
Olga Schoberová	...	Jessie
Juraj Visny	...	Superman
Karel Effa	...	Pistolník
Vladimír Mensík	...	Kolbaba
Karel Houska	...	Kolega
Ilja Racek	...	Colleague
Walter Taub	...	Profesor (as Valtr Taub)
Bedrich Prokos	...	Dustolny pán
Cestmír Randa	...	Prokutor
Otto Simánek	...	Zástupce doc. beránkové
Svatopluk Skládal	...	Obhájce
Frantisek Holar	...	Reditel
Jan Libícek	...	Prison Guard

Storyline

"What if someone had an absurd dream and the visions ran out in the street?" a scientist asks Rose, a researcher who discovers a way to engender beneficial dreams (to produce contented, productive workers). There's a problem: after an injection of her elixir, dream elements become real. Rose learns this after dosing her husband Henry to stop his dreaming about Jessie, a curvaceous comic-book heroine who has anti-gravitational gloves he needs to study so he can solve a problem at the factory where he's chief engineer: Henry wakes up with Jessie asleep next to him pursued by a cowboy and a super hero. Jealousy consumes Rose. All this plus satire aimed at the Czechoslovak state.

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Plot Keywords:

dream | cowboy | glove | scientist | cremation | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Sci-Fi

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Details

Country:

Czechoslovakia

Language:

Czech

Release Date:

26 August 1966 (Czechoslovakia)

Also Known As:

Who Wants to Kill Jessie?

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ceskoslovenský Státní Film, Filmové studio Barrandov

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

American remake of this film was discussed with Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine in the roles of Jirí Sovák and Dana Medrická. Juraj Visny, Karel Effa and Olga Schoberová who played Superman, the gunfighter and Jessie in the original version were asked to repeat their roles. The project broke down after the occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968.

User Reviews

Charming SF Fantasy, too little seen

Part of a Czech film festival travelling around North America in 2003, WHO KILLED JESSI? (on screen title - WHO WANTS TO KILL JESSI?) is a charming SF Fantasy that is too little seen. Seek it out if you can.

Certainly, some of the "Eastern Bloc" humor of the piece is both dated and obscure for Western audiences, but this isn't the kind of turgid Pro-Communist tract that scare away many. No, JESSI was part of the brief Czech artistic freedom era that produced Milos Forman among others.

All that stated, JESSI stands as one of the most successful fusions of Comic Books and Cinema ever. Similar in some ways to THE PROJECTIONIST, JESSI is about a man's comic book dreams becoming a reality thru a serum invented by his wife. The heroine of the comic, JESSI, fleshed out (literally!) by the gorgeous Olga Schoberová (her looks alone should end all the jokes about babushkas named Olga!), is chased by two...uh...Terminators. The Terminators are comic book stereotypes - a "Superman" and a Cowboy.

Before Jane Fonda/BARBARELLA, Lynda Carter/WONDER WOMAN or the TV & Film trios of CHARLIE'S ANGELS - there was JESSI! Jessi looks great, wears the sexiest of clothes, eludes her would-be captors, and sports a super-strength pair of Gloves! Much charm and genuine wit develop as the trio of comic book characters invade the "real world" - complete with Comic Book Dialogue Balloons instead of actual speech! To give away too many particulars might spoil the fun of this brief 80 minute fantasy. There are the requisite mildly anti-government jibes (in particular, a police guard who doggedly guards his post - a sewer opening!), some disarmingly simple Special Effects and every Comic Book geek's fantasy ending.

A discovery waiting to happen!