Reviews

Created by writer Anthony Lawrence, after the 1971 TV movie "Sweet, Sweet Rachel", and supervised during the first season (the first thirteen episodes) as an executive story consultant, the framework of "The Sixth Sense" is detective story but with wild macabre elements throughout the ESP phantasmagoria: delirious visions, hallucinations, apparitions, delusions, nightmares, mind transfers, memories from strangers, premonitions. As in the tradition of the private eye helped by his secretary, Dr. Michael Rhodes is supported by assistant librarian Nancy Murphy who only stays during the first seven episodes. The show's first ambition is to introduce to the audience the paranormal by rational and scientifical means and therefore, Dr. Rhodes plays the edifying and idealistic College professor who encounters hostility and skepticism. Too rigid and anecdotal to turn into a success, "The Sixth Sense" displays good episodes as "The House That Cried Murder", "Lady, Lady, Take My Life" (featuring a psychic lynch mob), "Once Upon a Chilling". Actually, "The Sixth Sense" is the second attempt to spread the ESP genre, after the 1959 anthology "One Step Beyond"--hosted and directed by John Newland; Newland participated in three "Sixth Sense" episodes: "Dear, Joan, We're Going to Scare You to Death", "Through a Flame, Darkly" and "And Scream by the Light of the Moon, the Moon"--, but with a regular conventional character and an early 1970's psychedelic film-making style. Many directors from other Universal fantastic shows worked on "The Sixth Sense": John Badham, Jeff Corey, Daniel Haller and Barry Shear from "Night Gallery" and Allen Barron from "Kolchak, The Night Stalker".

"The Unknown" is an elegant, oddball and symbolic tale that pays tribute to many classic works: first, the core of the drama comes from Henri-Georges Clouzot's "Les Diaboliques"--the drowning of a man--and then borrows elements from Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho"--the old dark house and composer Dominic Frontiere's music remind the shrill violin of "Psycho" during the murder in the lake scene--, Val Lewton's 1940's noirish productions--fear created by the power of suggestion--, injects some literary references to William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (see David McCallum's monologues delivery) and anticipates the mood of Ingmar Bergman's "Persona"--see the close-ups combined with quick cuts of both actresses inside the mansion. The camera works of Conrad L. Hall and William A. Fraker are superb and innovative: see how they transform Nature to give it a dreamlike texture during the lake scene. The general art direction and the dramatic structure are so refined that make this TV movie almost like a feature film. I think this is a work of art for 1964's standards. For the anecdote, the rip through main title by Wayne Fitzgerald as well as Dominic Frontiere's original score was re-used in 1967 for Quinn Martin's "The Invaders".

This is the first pilot of a five seasons series. The overall production values are satisfying enough to make the audience believe of that technological advancement miracle possible. This film is dry, raw, authentic, realistic, semi-documentary, existential and even depressing compared to the optimistic patriotic series thanks to the three actors' performance: Lee Majors, Martin Balsam and Darren McGavin. From the start, the character of Austin is defined: a rebel, a maverick, a dreamer, an individualistic test pilot who is a devotee of his past journey on the moon and doesn't follow the rules by the book -- he is late at his official appointment and replies sarcastically to a commanding officer -- Wells comments his attitude in this term: "Steve, you have a positive genius for antagonizing the wrong people". His best friend is, of course, Dr. Rudy Wells, a humanist, an innovator scientist-surgeon whose main concern is Austin's will to cope with his disability -- the name Wells may be a reference to utopist sci-fi writer H.G. Wells. The first waking up of Austin in Colorado's Research Center as an one-eyed, one-armed legless man, who tries to commit suicide during the night, is shocking, morbid and nightmarish -- it reminds me the bleakness of Dalton Trumbo's "Johnny Got his Gun". Austin is a self-conscious pragmatic man who wants to know the prize of his recovery: ruthless vulture ("I am not concerned by feelings"), cynical ("Accidents happen all the time. We just start from scrap"), mean ("Actually, we would prefer a robot -- 'robot' means a slave-worker in Czech --. A robot has no emotional need and responses. You're the optimun compromised"), crippled -- notice that he is also slightly disabled and walks with a stick -- O.S.O. head (scientifical department chief of the C.I.A.) Oliver Spencer sends him to his own death in the desert of Arabia on a suicidal mission where he receives another near fatal treatment. Spencer even asks Wells if he can let Austin in an indefinite artificial sleep until he needs him again. Austin refuses to be manipulated like a guinea pig, a "raw material" and reacts harshly: he slaps Spencer, turns down the hand of female Official Mrs. McKay and tells Spencer a curse before his forced electro sleep. The music of Gil Mellé is outstanding by creating the mood of technology, war and the character's psyche -- Austin is horrified by the view of his future artificial limbs, calls his friend Wells "Dr. Frankenstein, I presume?" after the bionic operation, he is uncomfortable with the ambiguity of the nurse's love impulse and feels monstrous owing to the woman's frightened behavior ("What are you?") after the rescue of her jeopardized son. The blend of experimental, distorted, atonal electronic style and a 1970's jazz helps the pace. Everything you want to know about Steve Austin lies in this rough pilot. Many episodes of the following series uses footages from that one and especially designer Jack Cole's main title. This is the work of Richard Irving who manages to produce and direct a clever adaptation of Martin Caidin's book. The film has an anti-government slant of that era via the Austin and Wells characters -- Austin's feeling about Spencer ("You're more of a robot than I am now") and Wells figure it out about Spencer's working plan for Austin in the Service: "Espionage, sabotage, assassination!" -- and, above all, the moral dilemma that is asked by the author of such advancement in the hands of the Power. There are subsequent themes tackled throughout the leading character: the loneliness and desperation, the inability to communicate, the fear of being abnormal and an outcast forever.

To understand the genesis of the show, watch first Harve Bennett's "The Astronaut" (1972) ---with the music of Gil Mellé-- and "Texas, We've Got a Problem" (1974). With a good, solid, realistic in treatment (psychologically and artistically), 1973 pilot produced and directed by David Irving and starring Martin Balsam as Dr. Rudy Wells (see H. G. Wells?) and Darren McGavin as the crippled cynical and manipulator Intelligent head Oliver Spencer who is also known as newspaper "Kolchak, The Night Stalker"; the show starts very well with Gil Mellé's electronic and jazzy score a la Miles Davis' "Bitches Brew", then comes a terrible second pilot "Wine, Woman and War", produced by Michael Gleason and written by Glen A. Larson with a dreadful main title and a horrible song by Dusty Springfield in which Steve Austin is a kind of reluctant second-rate James Bond whose mission ends with an atomic explosion. The series really finds its format with the third pilot: "The Solid Gold Kidnapping" with Jack Cole's famous techno medical main title (made with footages from the two pilots, video effects and body animations). During the middle of season 1, the music department decided to add sound effects from Universal's stock music library to highlight the bionic motions (some were already used in a previous series like the 1972 E.S.P. series "The Sixth Sense"---oddly enough, you can hear a noise from a missile when Austin launches an object into the air). The series had three Dr. Rudy Wells: one played by Martin Balsam (first pilot), by Alan Oppenheimer (pilot 2 & 3 and season 1 & 2) and by Martin E. Brooks (season 3, 4 & 5). The first two seasons ---produced by Sam Strangis/Donald R. Boyle and Lionel E. Siegel/Joe L. Cramer--- were in the line of the pilots and then occurs the transitory season 3 ---in 1975, the main composer Oliver Nelson and the music supervisor Hal Mooney left---, a season 4 with some drastic changes (bad writers and producers, the lead wears a ridiculous thin moustache, Goldman has a new office's decoration and the music is composed and renewed by J. J. Johnson) and therefore an un-inspired season 5 ---without Harve Bennett--- in which the protagonist wears a pre-"Fall Guy" haircut. TSMDM is basically an espionage series with a shallow sci-fi canvas (everybody remember the zoom shot bionic left eye with the frames or the infrared vision); notice the various martial music themes to grasp the concept of this pro-gov/militaryNASA/technology drama. The first pilot shows an offhand and rebel Steve Austin who refuses his injured disabled condition (even try to commit suicide) and his involvement in the scientifical department of the C.I.A. (here, O.S.O.: Office of Strategic Operation, and, later O.S.I.: Office of Scientifical Intelligence): official Oliver Spencer (later Richard Anderson as Oscar Goldman) even receivs a cold slap. From season 2, we are introduced to another bionic man: paranoid auto racing Barney Miller (with a season 3 sequel) in "The Seven Million Dollar Man", and a woman: tennis champ Jaimie Sommers, in a two-parter (with a season 3 sequel too) in "The Bionic Woman". From that point, the show slips into cheap bionic new products (Bigfoot, boy, dog) with a comic book leaning. The best episodes are those which deal with the space program/Austin's background ("The Rescue of Athena One", "Burning Bright", "The Pioneers", "The Deadly Replay": where we learn about Austin's near fatal plane accident) and the dangers of technology in the hands of America's inner enemies ("Population Zero", "Day of the Robot", "Run, Steve, Run").

"Stoney Burke" is a contemporary and realistic short-lived western series (one season and 32 episodes) whose leading character (played by Jack Lord) walks in the path of David Miller's downbeat film: "Lonely Are The Brave". During the same period (1962-1963), Revue studios launch a rival show: "The Wide Country". The quality of "Stoney Burke" lies in the production values, thanks to writer-director Leslie Stevens and his Daystar productions. Most of the cast and crew come back the next season in the sci-fi anthology, "The Outer Limits". Composer Dominic Frontiere's soundtrack is recycled all along the 1960's series ("The Rat Patrol", "The Fugitive"). Above all, this is the first official assignment by academy winner cinematographer Conrad Hall. This cow-boy drama is shot like a harsh Film Noir and deals with the daily miseries of maverick Rodeo contestants! From the pilot, "The Contender", we learn all about the characters, especially Ves Painter (Warren Oates). Stay with us, Stoney!

What is SPACE: 1999?

It's a straight drama combined with "2001: A Space Odyssey"-like sci-fi, the military series, the horror genre and a touch of philosophy (see Man's initiatory quest) and theology (also see "Noah's Ark").

Why do I like SPACE: 1999?

I like it for its spine-chilling seriousness (season one, of course), claustrophobic and oppressive mood because there are a lot of cold silent scenes (the suffocating void of the universe). I like it for the music and sound effects orientation that are so close to the series that they are like a second person, thanks to maestro Barry Gray, Vic Elms, Alan Willis, Jim Sullivan and the whole Chappell Recorded Music Library. I like it for Lee H. Katzin who directed two of the best episodes ("Breakaway" and "Black Sun") and he is also well-known for his work as a 1st AD in "The Outer Limits" sci-fi anthology. I like it for Martin Landau as the tough-as-nails Commander Koenig whose TV credits in the 1960's are tremendous ("The Twilight Zone", "The Outer Limits", "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.", "The Wild Wild West", "Mission: Impossible"). "Space: 1999" has the best opening credits of the 1970's. I always like watching Martin Landau and Barbara Bain turning round on themselves with a white and black background. But the aspect which strikes me the most is the confrontation between the individual and the communauty inside moon base Alpha, in other words, when a stranger-character or a character that became a stranger enters and changes the habits of Alphans in: "Force of Life", "End of Eternity", "The Troubled Spirit", "The Testament of Arkadia". The typical plot that I always enjoy is when Koenig is all alone against everybody in: "Guardian of Piri" and "Collision Course". There is one episode that scared me to death when I was a kid: "Force of Life". As a photographer, I always be impressed by the use of the fish eye lens in order to create a distorted and insane mood: a very Pop-Expressionist style. The character of paranoid Anton Zoref is powerful. One of the rare "Space: 1999" episode which frankly ventures into horror, without forgetting "End of Eternity" and "The Troubled Spirit". Moreover, I like watching Professor Victor Bergman always speculating on everything and the metaphysical question which concludes each episode.

Go back through time, with American scientists Tony Newman and Doug Phillips, and where adventure and action has a meaning. This show is unique and the whole look is fantastic. The psychedelic kaleidoscope-like vortex is magnificent. The fairy-like sound effects are just nice. The slow motion effect when the two heroes come out of the time limbo is magic. The time tunnel is impressive and the sumptuous "Forbidden planet"-like living complexes of the Tic-Toc installation too. The music composed by John Williams is still brilliant and was supervised by Lionel Newman. Whit Bissell remains forever General Kirk in my memory. And the charming Lee Meriwether is as gracious as a fairy. A pure delight in full color with famous guest stars like Robert Duvall in "Chase through time". There is a tense Cold War flavor on the show that I really enjoy. What I like the most is before our heroes leave a time, they get back their original clothes clean. That's pure fantasy and true escapism. Don't miss the pilot episode : "Rendez-vous with yesterday", with Gary Merrill and post-"The day the Earth stood still" Michael Rennie and : 1."One way to the moon" for the "Destination moon" props and wardrobe. 2."The day the sky fell down" for young Tony Newman. Perhaps, the best series produced by "Voyage to the bottom of the sea" Irwin Allen. I hope they will release the series on video very soon.

Forget the tedious Quantum Leap and its hokey and prosaic characters. Go back through time, with American scientists Tony Newman and Doug Phillips, and where adventure and action have a meaning. This show is unique and the whole look is fantastic. The psychedelic kaleidoscope-like vortex is magnificent. The fairy-like sound effects are just nice. The slow motion effect when the two heroes come out of the time limbo is magic. The time tunnel is impressive and the sumptuous "Forbidden planet"-like living complexes of the Tic-Toc installation too. The music composed by John Williams is still brilliant and was supervised by Lionel Newman. Whit Bissell remains forever General Kirk in my memory. And the enticing Lee Meriwether is as gracious as a fairy. A pure delight in full color with famous guest stars like Robert Duvall in "Chase through time". There is a Cold War flavor on the show that I really enjoy. What I like the most is before our heroes leave a time, they get back their original clothes clean. That's pure fantasy and true escapism. Don't miss the pilot episode : "Rendez-vous with yesterday", with Gary Merrill and post-"The day the Earth stood still" Michael Rennie and : 1."One way to the moon" for the "Destination moon" props and wardrobe. 2."The day the sky fell down" for young Tony Newman. Perhaps, the best series produced by "Voyage to the bottom of the sea" Irwin Allen. I hope they will release the series on video very soon.

The film begins with a wedding and finishes with too. A young candid priest, Don Giulio, returns home and finds bad changes. His new church is empty. The last priest is married and has a son. His father has an affair with a young woman (he goes to this woman to talk to her but gets upset and says good bye gruffly. That's the Moretti's style, I mean a very serious character in a very tense situation. The situation becomes funny because his reactions are unexpected, sudden and violent) His sister wants to have an abortion. His old friends, from the day he was a revolutionary, are misfits. An ex-commie is now catholic and wants to become a priest and finally get married. Don Giulio is on the brink of depression and resignation because he realizes that the new world is only based on material and sexual needs. He is an obsolete and useless man like a relic from the past. In my opinion, the scene that sums up his future behaviour is when he is playing football with children and suddenly falls down like a dead man which symbolizes the priest's distress. There is a leitmotiv music with a nostalgic mood played in a various ways all along the film. The music is very important because it explains Moretti's feelings, for instance : he plays with sound effects (the musical fade) in order to emphasize the drama itself; when his sister deals with his father, Don Giulio turns the radio up outloud : ironic and dramatic at once. Nanni Moretti also uses singing as tongue-in-cheek effects. He deals with serious and sad matters in a bittersweet way. Instead of the usual Michele Apicella character, Moretti now plays priest Don Giulio (like Socrates) who still enjoys his cakes, his ball, his mother and himself. Moretti treats the theme of the uncomprising individual through the courage and the stubbornness of his desperate priest who, for example, undergoes three times the violent attacks of men that don't want to park their car properly. The best scene is when the priest tries to save a friend from hoodlums and recite Dante. Nanni Moretti shows us a wide array of fantastic characters, for instance : the misanthropic man who wants to erase his past. "La messa è finita" is a subtle pamphlet and an analysis of today's Italy cleverly directed. Iconic actor Nanni Moretti remains the best contemporary European director.

A real modern-day drama cleverly directed about the universal theme of the average urbanite's loneliness. The first scene I enjoy is the meeting and the intense dialogues of the pre-"Maniac" Joe Spinell as the cab dispatcher. Then, the Travis Bickle's alienated character and his inability to communicate and share with others. For instance, the relation with his colleague, Wizard (Peter Boyle), in the café is important to understand his behaviour and the close-up of the aspirin glass symbolizes well-enough Man's distress. Remember this existentialist monologue : "I don't believe that one should devote his life to morbid self-attention. I believe that someone should become a person, like other people..." The burning desire to get out of his own nightmarish routine life is in the utopian relationship between him and Betsy (Cybill Shepherd) who both come from very different worlds. Violence frees himself from his schizophrenic impulses. He becomes the cold exterminating angel who gets rid of the devilish-pimps in one of the most terrible manslaughter. Remember this determinist monologue : "Now I see it clearly, my whole life is pointed in one direction... I see that, now. There never has been any choice for me..." Robert de Niro's tour de force performance with his best-remembered monomaniac monologue : "You talkin' to me ?" belong to every film fans. The importance of the guns as iconic props is showed when the nihilist, Travis Bickle, uses a sleeve-gun gadget inspired from "The wild wild west" series. Martin Scorsese's performance is funny as the cuckhold husband with his 44 Magnum. Bernard Herrmann's dreamlike and haunting music emphasizes the theme of the obsession which is, unfortunately, his last score. Michael Chapman's sharp cinematography makes the New York City location hellish. The whole mood of the film is scary, realistic, violent and sordid. Dan Perri's title design makes the opening and end credits just weird and outstanding.

In "Bullitt", the actors are well-chosen, especially Robert ("The man from U.N.C.L.E.") Vaughn as the cynical and rotten politician who wants to corrupt everything like Satan with Faust. Remember the rough anti-corruption dialogues in the airport scene : - Frank Bullitt : "Look Chalmers, let's understand each other, I don't like you." - Walter Chalmers : "Come on now , don't be naive, lieutenant, we both know how careers are made, integrity is something you sell the public." - Frank Bullitt : "You sell whatever you want but don't sell it here tonight." - Walter Chalmers : "Frank, we must all compromise." - Frank Bullitt : "Bulls**t ! Get the hell outta here now !" - But "Bullitt" will be nothing without the William Fraker's sophisticated cinematography and the Lalo Schifrin's tight soundtrack which is his best score. What I like the most in this hard-boiled film is the stylish opening credits with the gangsters; the mood of the restaurant with the jazz band and the look of Mc Queen/Bisset; the violent murder of the fake witness in the cheap hotel; the hospital scene with the killer chase in the basement; the well-known hectic car chase scene in the streets of San Francisco; the airport final scene with the killing of the real witness, re-used for the film "Heat" in 1996; the last close-up of the Steve Mc Queen's cool face before the end credits. "Bullitt" is for the 60's what "Dirty Harry" is for the 70's : an uncompromising individual. What makes this film a great one among the Great ? The character : "Itself, by itself, solely ONE everlastingly, and single." - Plato, Sympos

"The wild wild west" is the most eccentric espionage series that blends the Ian Fleming's James Bond character, the western genre and the Jules Verne's fantasy world into a baroque and glamorous extravaganza. This show has a huge identity : the leitmotiv music and its different themes, the title design (the freeze frame sketch), the bizarre universe and the foe-characters (secret society, mad inventors, wizards, monsters, revolutionaries, corrupted politicians, putschists), the disguises and the gimmicks, the gorgeous women, a special sense of humour combined with camaraderie, action and stunts. In other words, something that is very, very rich, colourful and varied and far away from today's imagination. In my opinion, the most important aspect of this unusual drama comes from the characters : James T. West, the tough-as-nails dandiest dude secret agent with his fancy train and his fancy costumes full of hidden weapons (I like the knife boots and the sleeve-gun, re-used by Martin Scorsese in "Taxi driver") who works with his partner : the dashing Artemus Gordon aka Arte who is an expert in masks, bombs, magic tricks and acting; the president Grant and the Colonel Richmond. Above all, the regular outrageous villain that sums up the flavor of the series : Dr. Miguelito Loveless, the genius prankster dwarf. The most clever device created by him is the painting-traveling machine in The night of the surreal Mc Coy. Without forgetting the flamboyant Count Manzeppi, of course, in The night of the eccentrics and The night of the feathered fury. The whole show is a crazy circus : a madhouse. The series also makes reference to classic sci-fi novels such as : "The incredible shrinking man" in The night of the raven, "Frankenstein" in The night of the big blast, "The time machine" in The night of the lord of limbo. "The wild wild west" has a lot of similarities with "Mission : impossible". For instance : the characters of Artemus Gordon/Rollin Hand and James West/Jim Phelps. They have the same psychologic patterns. Producer Bruce Lansbury and composer Richard Markowitz worked on both series. But the first series is delirious and the second one is stone-cold. My advice is not to miss the Loveless episodes : 1.The night the wizard shook the earth, 2.The night that terror stalked the town, 3.The night of the whirring death, 4.The night of the murderous spring, 5.The night of the raven, 6.The night of the green terror, 7.The night of the surreal Mc Coy, 8.The night of the bogus bandit, 9.The night of Dr. Loveless died, 10.The night of the Miguelito's revenge. Another best and maverick show of the 60's decade.

What is Man's insanity ? It is the desire for greed and destruction. Now, these are the best reasons to watch "Planet of the apes" :

1.the character of George Taylor aka Bright eye : a cynical and bitter utopian. (this is the same psychological profile as the main character of Herbert-George Wells' "The time machine")

2.the plotline : the upside-down society concept (the same as The twilight zone's "The eye of the beholder")

3.the theme of the reversed-evolution : regression

4.the Jerry Goldsmith's music : an experimental score (the unusual use of the instruments combined with Echoplex) inspired by Bela Bartok and Igor Stravinsky

5.the Leon Shamroy's cinematography : as the plotline, it is twisted (upside-down camera shots, hand-held camera shots, helicopter dolly shots, zoom shots as dramatic effects)

6.the eerie barren landscape : the forbidden zone

7.the Antonio Gaudi-like set-up : the village of the apes

8.the John Chamber's outstanding apes make-ups

9. the Truth about man's final destiny : the Adam bomb

10.the hierarchy among apes

11.the tone : pessimistic and realistic

12.the Rod Serling's dialogues : a."I leave the twentieth century with no regrets... Everything seems different, time bends, space is boundless, it squashes a man's ego. I feel lonely..." b."You're no seeker, you're a negative..." c."There has to be something better than man..." d."I'm prepared to die..." e."The sooner he is exterminated the better. It's a question of simian survival." f."It's a mad-house ! A mad-house !" g."Beware the beast man..." h."Don't look for it, Taylor. You may not like what you find !" i."You maniacs, you blew it up. Ahh, damn you. God, damn you all the hell !"

13.the best scenes : - the Charlton Heston's space soliloquy opening - the discovery of the dead female astronaut aka Lieutenant Stewart - the zoom shot of the American flag and the Taylor's big laugh - the journey through the forbidden zone - the stealing of the clothes - the manhunt and the manslaughter - the cage and the fight - the zoo and the Dodge's taxidermy - the trial and the Landon's lobotomy - the statue of Liberty

"Mission : impossible" is the most complex espionage series ever conceived. What makes this show so unique ? It is its storyline, its characters, its visual style and its music : a real trade mark. What I like the most is first the ritual : the tape, the dossier and the apartment briefing, then the fast-paced clips as credits, the character of Martin Landau with his masks and gimmicks, the cinematography (very quick cuts, extreme close ups as inserts, the use of special lenses, pan-and-tilt shots, upside-down camera shots, hand-held camera shots, optical zoom shots as dramatic effects), the skillful montage, and finally, the music and its various themes. The show is an impeccable and Machiavellian play. Every details are planned in advance to fool and get rid of the enemy. Each scheming is tight and shocking. I like the use of the time warp concept in "Operation Rogosh" and the role of Fritz Weaver as the paranoid Soviet Union spy trapped in a fake Russian prison which is in California. I like the tension and the suspense created by silent actions. Anyway, the whole show is about simulacrum. The devious methods of the IMF agents are always delightful and clever. Don't miss the best episodes : "The mind of Stephan Miklos", "Live bait" and "The interrogator". This tape will self-destruct in five seconds, good luck. !

"The invaders" is the last great 1960's series and it is inspired by the "Invasion of the body snatchers" concept of conspiracy : science fiction + horror + reality = the fear of the unknown. One of the best show produced by Quinn Martin, including "The untouchables" and "The fugitive". Among the best episode, "The innocent" sums up the paranoiac symptoms at its best when Michael Rennie brainwashes Roy Thinnes in his flying saucer. According to me, the David Vincent character is a blend of Cary Grant, from "North by northwest", and Kevin Mc Carthy, from "Invasion of the body snatchers" : the innocent witness who becomes the new Cassandra, alone against everybody ! The pessimistic message of the series is equivocal : the world is corrupted by the authorities (officials, politicians, army, C.I.A., mafia) or the world is dominated by a claustrophobic mass conformism or the world is on the verge of being overthrown by the emotionless Soviet Union agents (blue collar workers who manufacture weapons and torture to get informations in hidden factories, and businessmen who infiltrate the power and whose bodies turn red when they die). Who knows ? The aesthetic of the show also adds more terror to the stories (the Wayne Fitzgerald expressionist title credits, the dead-serious tone of William Conrad's narration that gives you a cold warning at the beginning and the end of each episode, the Dominic Frontiere's suffocating music and the distorted cinematography). The best brainwashing episodes are : "The experiment", "The leeches", "The innocent", "The dark outpost", "The possessed" and "The pit". One of my all-time favourite tv show (with "The twilight zone", "The outer limits", "The wild wild west", "The time tunnel" and "Mission : impossible"). A word to the wise, don't watch the worthless new series aka "The impostors", you know what I mean. "The nightmare has already begun," and will never end, Mr. Vincent !

"Dirty Harry" is one of the rare film that breeds a legendary character. Here is a modern film noir with a western treatment, for instance : when icon-actor Clint Eastwood, who plays the bitter, cynical, poker-faced Inspector Harry Callahan, gets rid of the sadistic hippy psycho-maniac, is one of the best showdown in the cinema history. Harry is a hero or anti-hero, whatever : lonely and eternal as in all the mythologies. Harry represents individual conscience and ethics in a world of consuming mass : a new Cassandra and a rebel to unfair and stubborn authority. "Dirty Harry" is first an extention of the previous Don Siegel opus, "Coogan's bluff", and then a pioneer film which renews the genre due to its visual impact. The San Francisco location is superb and the cinematography is taut and smart. The Lalo Schifrin 's oppressive music is perfect and emphasizes the expressionist aspect of the film : the horror. An ambiguous pamphlet against violence and, probably, one of the greatest film ever made in the 1970's, including "Taxi driver". A masterpiece-film that you cannot afford to miss !

"The twilight zone" is a political and existentialist science fiction anthology series whose subject matter is the analysis of the average man's phobies in the urban America of the 1960's. Many times, Rod Serling or his writers use the time travel gimmick and the characters of the angel or the alien in order to show the alienation of the individual. "The after hours" and "The eye of the beholder" represent the summit of the show. In other words, a magic blend of great artistry, icon-like characters and smart drama that stays forever in your memories. Rod Serling created the first worthwhile fantasy series in the history of television. Unfortunately, the last two seasons were not so brilliant. I am very fond of "The obsolete man" which deals with Rod Serling's favourite theme : totalitarianism. Rod Serling also wrote two memorable film scripts : "Seven days in May" and "Planet of the apes". Remember ! Your next stop : The twilight zone !

Unlike "The twilight zone", "The outer limits" deals with science fiction and horror but psychological horror aka claustrophobic paranoia (invasion-conspiracy-hallucinations) in "The architects of fear" and "Nightmare". The series has a tremendous visual identity that lacks in Rod Serling's work. Its stylish approach makes each of the episodes look like a film. The German expressionist mood (low key lightning, chiaroscuro, the use of the depth of field and the extreme close-ups with a wide angle lens, tilted framings, optical special effects, gloomy sets) is due to three men : writer-producer Joseph Stefano, director Gerd Oswald and director of photography Conrad Hall. The creator of the series, Leslie Stevens, and his friend-composer Dominic Frontiere, fashion a world of nightmarish fairytale, politic-fiction fable, gothic parable, Shakespearian tragedy, pessimistic vision of the future, symbolic and human-like monsters and ill-motivated characters. This maverick series is still a reference today because of its high-concept, its poetic flavour, its black and white innovative cinematography and its philosophical issue, for instance in the masterpiece episode, "The sixth finger" which shows the dilemma of the Darwin's theory of evolution. "Your ignorance makes me ill and angry. Your savageness must end," these sentences, culled from this episode, summarize the orientation of the entire show. Unfortunately, the odd formula never works in the 1995's new version which can be re-titled "The under limits". It's awfully true. I hope one day the two pilot-episodes, "Please stand by" and "The unknown", will be available.

"Seconds" is a fascinating and engrossing realistic fantasy tale that deals with the question of the identity and above all, the exploration of madness symbolized by the search of material happiness and the search of eternal youth which leads to the most claustrophobic fate. "Please be yourself !" can be the warning of this film. The innovative and the post-expressionist cinematography of James Wong Howe (the use of the 9.7 mm fish-eye lens, extreme chiaroscuro, tilted low angle shots, hand-held camera shots) combined with the stylish graphic work of Saul Bass and a cold, taut and harsh music of Jerry Goldsmith makes it like a Faustian tragedy with a Kafkaesque approach. The whole film is about distortion. The twisted vision of the main character trapped in his own nightmarish world, full of "re-borns" and "employees". But the real nightmare is the dreary routine of his existence. For instance, the scene of the train when Arthur Hamilton is reading his newspaper and feels suddenly sick with his life. We see very short shots of the train window and his sad face. The more oppressive scenes are silent just extreme close-ups of faces. Perhaps, the best film directed by John Frankenheimer and the best paranoiac film ever created. "Classic" is a weak word to define this masterpiece of modern terror. "Seconds" is the last film of the John Frankenheimer's paranoiac trilogy, without forgetting : "The Manchurian Candidate" and "Seven days in may".