The Final Programme

I imagine Michael Moorcock's novel, upon which 1973's same named THE FINAL PROGRAMME is based, must be quite a hoot.  Another successful meld of science fiction and humour.  Attempts at this, for me at least, work far better in print.   Has anyone tried to adapt Philip Jose Farmer's Riders of the Purple Wage? Bet that would have a rough transition to the silver screen too.  Not that writer/director Robert Fuest doesn't give it a game effort.  He concocts a jumble of ideas, some fairly interesting.   Reducing such cerebral musings to actual images is usually problematic.  I don't imagine anyone is quick to try Gravity's Rainbow.

The character of Jerry Cornelius (Jon Finch), a billionaire physicist, secret agent, and ladies' man, has just lost his father, a brilliant scientist who had created "The Final Programme" One that would create a human that can replicate itself.  A hermaphrodite.   A trio of scientists and a ballsy, rather alluring woman called Miss Brunner (Jenny Runacre) want the microfilm with the blueprints, and believe Jerry knows where it is.  Is it in the family home, where Jerry's sister has been held captive by their loony and drug addicted brother?  An architectural marvel, but laden with booby traps.

Many more complications ensue, and the film's climax, amusing as it is, is described by the characters long before it occurs, and proves no surprise.   But it's what happens on the way that makes THE FINAL PROGRAMME at least worth a look.  I was especially entertained by Miss Brunner's habit of "consuming" her lovers.  And the nightclub that resembles a life size pinball machine. And Sterling Hayden's cameo as Major Wrongway Lindbergh, perhaps a cousin to General Jack Ripper from DR. STRANGELOVE.

I happen to love/be forgiving of'70s Brit films, and if you do likewise there's much to enjoy.  Norman Warwick's cinematography is gorgeous, and Fuest has a bit of fun with some playful direction.  But the script needed much fleshing out.  I was confused at several points.   The aesthetic is the thing here, and this trippy, cultish film might best be appreciated as somewhat more high profile exploitation.