I know this film's been talked about somewhere. Went back the entire 29 pages in this
folder and couldn't find a thread with the title.
Bringing it up because I rented it from Netflix, watched it tonight with the wife, and we both
got quite a kick out of it. I remember its arrival in Salt Lake City theaters. Jack Harris pulled
a William Castle by offering $1M to anyone who could duplicate Robert Lansing's "real"
walking through walls action. I'm sure it was on a double-feature -- maybe Bill Warren
mentions it in KWTS; will check later. But I can't remember if I actually saw it on the Big
Screen. I was 13, at that time taking in just about every genre film that came along. To a
13-year-old, it might have been quite boring. Takes 40 of the 85 minute run time before
the lead character sticks his hand through a steel slab. The remainder of the film rocks,
though. Coulda sworn the original title had a "The" in front of 4D Man, but this print doesn't,
even though the title looks like it is superimposed.
Really liked Robert Lansing in this. At 31 or 32, he was at the top of his acting game, stands
well above the other players, but most of them ain't bad either. The special effects must have
been state of the art at the time; even today, some of the sequences work pretty darn well,
while others lean to the cheesy side (mostly the aging makeup). Took a minute to recognize
an 8- or 10-year-old Patty Duke. Other familiar faces include Robert Strauss as the smarmy
assistant scientist and Edgar Stehli as the smarmy owner of the research center.
The film holds up pretty well, but viewers will have to deal with a jazzed-up original score
by Ralph Carmichael. Sometimes it works, sometimes it's very intrusive.
Still recommended after all these years.
... Reed
folder and couldn't find a thread with the title.
Bringing it up because I rented it from Netflix, watched it tonight with the wife, and we both
got quite a kick out of it. I remember its arrival in Salt Lake City theaters. Jack Harris pulled
a William Castle by offering $1M to anyone who could duplicate Robert Lansing's "real"
walking through walls action. I'm sure it was on a double-feature -- maybe Bill Warren
mentions it in KWTS; will check later. But I can't remember if I actually saw it on the Big
Screen. I was 13, at that time taking in just about every genre film that came along. To a
13-year-old, it might have been quite boring. Takes 40 of the 85 minute run time before
the lead character sticks his hand through a steel slab. The remainder of the film rocks,
though. Coulda sworn the original title had a "The" in front of 4D Man, but this print doesn't,
even though the title looks like it is superimposed.
Really liked Robert Lansing in this. At 31 or 32, he was at the top of his acting game, stands
well above the other players, but most of them ain't bad either. The special effects must have
been state of the art at the time; even today, some of the sequences work pretty darn well,
while others lean to the cheesy side (mostly the aging makeup). Took a minute to recognize
an 8- or 10-year-old Patty Duke. Other familiar faces include Robert Strauss as the smarmy
assistant scientist and Edgar Stehli as the smarmy owner of the research center.
The film holds up pretty well, but viewers will have to deal with a jazzed-up original score
by Ralph Carmichael. Sometimes it works, sometimes it's very intrusive.
Still recommended after all these years.
... Reed
