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The Final Programme (1973)

R | | Sci-Fi | 1974 (USA)
The Final Programme Poster
A trio of scientists plan to create a self-replicating, immortal, hermaphrodite using the Final Programme developed by a Nobel Prize-winning dead scientist.

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Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
... Jerry Cornelius
... Miss Brunner
... Maj. Wrongway Lindbergh
... John
... Professor Hira
... Miss Dazzle
... Dr. Baxter
... Dr. Smiles
... Dr. Powys
Basil Henson ... Dr. Lucas
... Frank
Gilles Millinaire ... Dimitri
... Shades
Sandy Ratcliff ... Jenny (as Sandy Ratcliffe)
Mary MacLeod ... Nurse (as Mary Macleod)
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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. Written by Bernard Keane <BKeane2@email.dot.gov.au>

Plot Summary | Add Synopsis

Plot Keywords:

anarchy | physicist | reference to humphrey bogart | pseudo epilepsy | poisonous gas | See All (35) »

Taglines:

The Future is Cancelled!

Genres:

Sci-Fi

Certificate:

R | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

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Details

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Language:

Release Date:

1974 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

The Last Days of Man on Earth  »

Filming Locations:

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Company Credits

Production Co:

, ,  »
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Technical Specs

Runtime:

| (uncut)

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(Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1
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Did You Know?

Trivia

Spoiler: Sterling Hayden only has one scene. See more »

Quotes

Nurse: It's much easier to run a hospital with all the patients sleeping.
Jerry Cornelius: Easiest way to run the world, for that matter.
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Connections

References A Clockwork Orange (1971) See more »

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User Reviews

A fascinating footnote
20 March 2004 | by – See all my reviews

The novel from which this movie was taken, The Final Programme, by Michael Moorcock, is structurally identical in plot and character to another Moorcock novel... Elric of Melnibone, the first of the Elric series.

This is not a coincidence; both books are part of the Champion Eternal cycle... a series of interconnected series about the Champion Eternal, who exists in every time and every universe, condemned always to fight -- and never know why he is fighting. He goes by many names -- Elric of Melnibone, Jerry Cornelius, Count Urlik, Prince Corum, each with his own series. In some incarnations he knows who he is, in others he thinks he's a normal man (occasionally, a particular incarnation is female). Sometimes two (or even three) incarnations meet each other.

The cycle, which makes up about a third of all Moorcock's ouevre (probably dozens of novels), is one of the most monumental achievements of meta-fiction ever written... but I think this is the only book of Moorcock's made into a movie, though he did contribute to the adaptation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel The Land That Time Forgot (dinosaurs on an island).

Now that Fritz Leiber is dead, Moorcock can lay claim to being the greatest living fantasy writer.

The movie The Final Programme (a.k.a. The Last Days of Man On Earth) does an incredible job of capturing the Jerry Cornelius character, much better than I would have expected. But the ending is changed from that of the book, and not for the better. Still definitely worth a rental.

Dafydd ab Hugh
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