The Power (1968)

One by one members of a special project team are being killed by telekinesis - the ability to move things with the power of the mind alone. The race is to determine which of the remaining team members is the murderer and how to stop them.

Director:

Byron Haskin

Writers:

John Gay (screenplay), Frank M. Robinson (novel)

Stars:

George Hamilton, Suzanne Pleshette, Richard Carlson

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
George Hamilton	...	Professor Jim Tanner
Suzanne Pleshette	...	Prof.essor Margery Lansing
Richard Carlson	...	Professor Norman E. Van Zandt
Yvonne De Carlo	...	Mrs. Sally Hallson
Earl Holliman	...	Professor Talbot Scott
Gary Merrill	...	Mark Corlane
Ken Murray	...	Grover
Barbara Nichols	...	Flora
Arthur O'Connell	...	Professor Henry Hallson
Nehemiah Persoff	...	Professor Carl Melnicker
Aldo Ray	...	Bruce
Michael Rennie	...	Arthur Nordlund
Miiko Taka	...	Mrs. Van Zandt
Celia Lovsky	...	Mrs. Hallson
Vaughn Taylor	...	Mr. Hallson

Storyline

Contains spoilers: A man slowly realizes two things: that he has telekinesis - the power to move things with the power of his mind alone - and that another man who shares this power wants to kill him.

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Plot Keywords:

hairy chest | manhunt | guardhouse | telekinesis | submerged car | 

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Taglines:

One Man Has It...No Man or Woman Can Resist It.

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Genres:

Thriller | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 February 1968 (USA)

Also Known As:

Aivojen sota

Filming Locations:

Lancaster, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

George Pal Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

George Hamilton has a bare-chest scene in this movie.

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Goofs

After Tanner is fired he is walking the streets. When he's looking at toy soldiers in a store window, his hair is "boyishly" sown over his forehead. Then he sees the "Don't Run" sign and a close-up shows him with his hair neatly combed and very shiny with product in it. As he walks away from that corner, his hair is once more not slicked and down over his forehead.

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Quotes

Professor Jim Tanner: They say that power corrupts - and that absolute power - I wonder...

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Connections

Remake of Studio One in Hollywood: The Power (1956)

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Soundtracks

Grover's Rock
(uncredited)
Music by Harold Gelman

User Reviews

Genuinely creepy whodunnit with supervillain/SF premise

Although the setting is scientific, and I've seen this described as science-fiction, "The Power" is arguably a very early rationalisation/update of the superhero genre. In this case the person with the superpowers is a supervillain, the power is telekinesis, and no lycra longjohns are entered into, as the makers try to keep it as downhome and believably creepy as possible, except when 'the power' is being exhibited.

Basically the official scientific committee for Somethingorother is kind of audited by government agent Michael Rennie to see what they're up to. One of them, played as a crackpot movie scientist by old pro Arthur O'Connell, is convinced that research suggests that someone has Ee-vill telekinetic powers. Despite Artie being a crackpot, what do you know, it turns out that he's right on the money, and furthermore, they determine it's someone right there in the room. Soon folks who were in that room start dying in numbers, and in imaginative and unpleasant ways. (There's a scene in a centrifuge that appears to have been knocked off for one of the Roger Moore James Bond movies later on - "Moonraker" from painful memory.)

The key to it all seems to be a shadowy figure who was once known as Adam Hart. George Hamilton sets out to find who Adam Hart was, and who or what he became. We end up with a major case of the creeps, because it's one of those paranoid whodunnit deals where the audience isn't allowed to trust anyone (kind of reminiscent of the Kurt Russell version of "The Thing" in that way) not even Hamilton, or his girlfriend Suzanne Pleshette.

Director Byron Haskin and the actors don't give us any cosy characters to like. Everyone's cold, aloof, frenzied, crazy, or pathologically self-interested. This aspect is a bit reminiscent of Freddie Francis's better English horror films of the 60s, although "The Power" has a more measured, restrained creepiness than his films.

In that sense, George Hamilton's limitations as a kissy-face type leading guy are used to the film's advantage. I've always found George Pal's stuff a little creepy even when it was ostensibly fun happy stuff for kids, and his Puppetooning here fits right in.

Only disappointment is a fairly conventional resolution by comparison to what's come before. Other than that, "The Power" is memorable, and a bit of a one-off.