Monday, February 2, 2015

THE POWER / George Pal Productions - 1968

Here's a wild and weird movie from George Pal, the guy who brought us DESTINATION MOON, WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE, THE WAR OF THE WORLDS, CONQUEST OF SPACE, THE TIME MACHINE, ATLANTIS, THE LOST CONTINENT, THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM, 7 FACES OF DR. LAO and DOC SAVAGE: THE MAN OF BRONZE and directed by Byron (FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON) Haskin. Check out the amazing lineup of actors listed on the poster.

Here's a little sound clip from this action packed sci-fi flick, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button located there by our Atomic Power Unit, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula!.. Here's... THE POWER!

The theme uses this elaborate Asian instrument to create some mystery right off the bat.

George Hamilton plays Prof. Jim Tanner, he's working on mind control experiments for a large research company.

The heads of the research meet in their modern conference room. There, they discover that someone has extra sensory perception and telekinetic powers.

Whoever the person with The Power is, he's screwing with Prof. Tanner by causing hallucinations with a fear chaser!

Tanner tries to escape the madness but is stopped by this crazy Ventures 'Don't Run' sign!

Aldo Ray looks so cool in this nice looking Jeep, he takes Tanner way out into the desert and leaves him there after almost running over him!

Later, Tanner goes to a party and is entertained by an unknown hippie band, then, things get a little weird! As heard in the sound clip, whoa!!

Tanner's next adventure has him flooring his convertible Plymouth in a race to nowhere!

He ends up in the drink and barely escapes by unlatching the cloth top on the car.

Then, we get to find out who the man with The Power is... Michael Rennie as Arthur Nordlund.

For his next trick, Norlund puts Tanner through Hell, even though it's only in his mind!

It gets worse and worse for Tanner until the truth comes out...

Tanner is Norlund's equal and also has The Power! Norlund cannot survive after Tanner makes his heart explode by causing it to beat at a hyper accelerated rate... Game over, man!!

We'll see you again on Wednesday with more wild and weird flick reviews just for you!
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4 comments:

  1. Randall LandersFebruary 5, 2015 at 4:20 PM

    I just never could enjoy The Power. Great cast and crew, but an overly complicated story. And the ending? Well, power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Do we really want George Hamilton ruling us all?

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  2. TABONGA!February 5, 2015 at 6:32 PM

    Hi Randall, I also think this movie doesn't even come close to Pal's previous movies, things like THE TIME MACHINE which both Eegah!! and I saw when it came out.. It was awesome!

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  3. UnknownSeptember 4, 2015 at 12:26 AM

    Totally disagree with previous comments. This is one of the all time GREATS in motion picture history. It is definitely "must see" cinema, and the pinnacle of Sixties film-making. "The Power" is probably the last of it's genre. It has that terrific "Sixties" look and feel. And what a line-up: George Pal (producer), Byron Haskin (director), Miklos Rosza (score), George Hamilton, Suzanne Pleshette, Richard Carlson, Michael Rennie, Yvonne De Carlo, Gary Merrill, Earl Holliman, Nehemah Persoff, Ken Murray, Arthur O'Connell, Aldo Ray, Barbara Nichols, Vaughn Taylor, Miss Beverly Hills, Lawrence Montagne, Celia Lovsky. Folks, it just doesn't get any better than this. I'd rate "The Power" only one step below the all-time greatest motion picture of them all, 1958's "Vertigo".

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  4. Paul Kyriazi - James Bond LifestyleSeptember 27, 2015 at 4:20 AM

    This is one of my top 20 movies. I became a George Hamilton fan because of this movie. I met George Pal who called it a 'failure' at a convention. I told Pal that: "The Power was ahead of it's time and before 'Carrie' and 'The Fury' about mind power." He thanked me for saying.

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