The Wide World of Mystery (TV Series) The Norming of Jack 243 (1975) User Reviews

I long to see this movie again...

[iamtherealandy · 9/10 · 1 February 2010]

Rebellious at about ten years old a stayed up all night watching Channel five's Movies Till Dawn! The Norming of Jack 243 was on it and I was riveted! A controlled society where everyone has to go into a "norming chamber" every so often just so they don't get any ideas. Don't stray too far from normal. Wonderful! Our hero, Jack, finds the back door of the enclosed living environment and sneaks out and meets people outside. People who dance and sing and live and are full of life! One eats an apple in front of him. He reacts disgusted, as if they are making numero dos. I remember being AMAZED at this. I was ten. She convinces him that there is joy in eating in front of one another and of course, she shares the apple with him.

He can gain no converts on the inside, even among his wife and best friends. Soon the police are trying to shove him into a norming chamber and he is scrambling now for his very life.

I will not spoil the end for you but it is so good I have remembered it my entire life and I WANT TO SEE THIS FILM AGAIN! email me: [e-mail] if you know where I can buy it.

An overlooked entry in the futuristic utopia mini-genre

[clockwrk-2 · 9/10 · 14 July 2006]

The Norming of Jack 243 holds its own with 1984, Fahrenheit 451 and others of similar ilk ... at least in my faded memory. Unfortunately, any memory of it is distant at best considering the movie has long since disappeared from the cultural landscape. The central conflict is standard issue for films of this type, and just as the title suggests: individualism vs. conformity, the outsider vs. the central authority. I suppose there's a little Jack 243 in me, because I identified with the title character and his struggle against an overwhelmingly powerful system ... so much so that I never allowed myself to forget this barely remembered movie. It deserves to be seen again. Maybe someday it will resurface and someone can comment on it more meaningfully. Until then it remains little more than an answer to a personal trivia question: a surprisingly profound, and very obscure, memory from the 1970s.

The Way Things Could Be Some Day

[kmoore5776 · 10/10 · 24 June 2015]

I have been trying to find this movie for more than 20 years, because it really struck a chord in my 15 year old mind in 1975. The idea of a society so conformed to a strict "norm" that the individual is completely lost scared me. I had not yet read 1984 or Fahrenheit 451, but when I saw the films of the same names, they reminded me of The Norming of Jack 243. This short film still whispers its provocative message to me; Watch out; Don't curb freedom of expression even if it bothers someone else; Protect free speech. Perhaps it disappeared for the same reason as Harry's War. It may be a little too close to exposing something, or maybe it was just lost. I gave it a 10, because that is how I remember it.

Still looking for it

[dhpwixqwt · 10/10 · 7 December 2022]

Like others that were able to see this film in its only showing I've been looking for it since films started showing up on the internet and cable. I do hope it gets a showing soon! I was fascinated by its premise and sympathize with its main character trying to be himself. Asimov write a short story that pairs with it about Education day where education was done by a single treatment via computer. The education was only as good as the equipment and depended on where you lived.

The film explores what it's like to live in a society where everyone thinks alike and looks alike. Jack is resisting being made to be that way.