The Final Programme (1973)

A trio of scientists plan to create a self-replicating, immortal, hermaphrodite using the Final Programme developed by a Nobel Prize-winning dead scientist.

Director:

Robert Fuest

Writers:

Michael Moorcock (novel), Robert Fuest

Stars:

Jon Finch, Jenny Runacre, Sterling Hayden

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jon Finch	...	Jerry Cornelius
Jenny Runacre	...	Miss Brunner
Sterling Hayden	...	Maj. Wrongway Lindbergh
Harry Andrews	...	John
Hugh Griffith	...	Professor Hira
Julie Ege	...	Miss Dazzle
Patrick Magee	...	Dr. Baxter
Graham Crowden	...	Dr. Smiles
George Coulouris	...	Dr. Powys
Basil Henson	...	Dr. Lucas
Derrick O'Connor	...	Frank
Gilles Millinaire	...	Dimitri
Ronald Lacey	...	Shades
Sandy Ratcliff	...	Jenny (as Sandy Ratcliffe)
Mary MacLeod	...	Nurse (as Mary Macleod)

Storyline

After the death of his Nobel Prize-winning father, billionaire physicist Jerry Cornelius becomes embroiled in the search for the mysterious "Final Programme", developed by his father. The programme, a design for a perfect, self-replicating human being, is contained on microfilm. A group of scientists, led by the formidable Miss Brunner (who consumes her lovers), has sought Cornelius's help in obtaining it. After a chase across a war-torn Europe on the verge of anarchy, Brunner and Cornelius obtain the microfilm from Jerry's loathsome brother Frank. They proceed to an abandoned underground Nazi fortress in the Arctic to run the programme, with Jerry and Miss Brunner as the subjects.

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Plot Keywords:

anarchy | physicist | reference to humphrey bogart | pseudo epilepsy | poisonous gas | 

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Taglines:

The Future is Cancelled!

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Genres:

Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

August 1974 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Last Days of Man on Earth

Filming Locations:

EMI-MGM Elstree Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Anglo-EMI Film Distributors, Goodtimes Enterprises, Gladiole

Technical Specs

Runtime:

81 min 89 min (uncut)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Sally Kellerman was originally to play the female lead.

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Quotes

Dr. Smiles: [Pointing to brains being kept alive in glass tanks] Do you know what that is?
Jerry Cornelius: Well it's got to be a brain washing machine!

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Connections

References A Clockwork Orange (1971)

User Reviews

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.