I first became aware of this movie at a young age when a couple of stills from it were replicated in a sci-fi book I owned. One of those pictures showed an elaborate colourful nightclub set with giant inflatables and girls in large translucent spheres. Needless to say, I had to check this movie out! I was aware of the character Jerry Cornelius without actually having read any of the Michael Moorcock books which featured him; in fact I first became aware of the character when Games Workshop brought out a metal figurine of him for use in role playing games. Anyhow, I am digressing somewhat, so back to the movie. Its story isn't really its strong point to be perfectly honest. It essentially boils down to Cornelius hooking up with a computer expert called Miss Brunner in order to retrieve a micro-film containing details of the Final Programme, which is a revolutionary scientific process conceived of by Cornelius' late father, which will lead to the creation a self-replicating hermaphrodite messiah. But first the micro-film must be taken by force from Cornelius' deranged brother Frank.The director for this one was Robert Fuest, who was responsible for the 'Dr. Phibes' movies. Like those inventive horror films, this one is visually very interesting, with great set designs and lots of colour. It's a mid-70's future, so it is wild and over-the-top in the manner that many of the best sci-fi films from the period were. The night club for instance is a pop art masterpiece with gaudy décor aplenty and a fantastic colour overload all round. It also has nuns playing fruit machines, and seemingly the members of the space rock band Hawkwind lurking in the background. You could almost say that this scene encapsulates the film as a whole, as it has a primary focus on visuals and a healthy dose of humour, with narrative logic a distant third. This basic formula is maintained throughout with cool detached characters played with distant ironic performances populating a highly stylized world in a story with a screenplay which could charitably be described as 'uneven'. So in order to get anything out of this one I would suggest that you really have to be interested in its visual ideas and overall weird ambiance, as opposed to the narrative itself. Like many of its 70's peers it is a slice of pessimistic sci-fi, set in a possible post-apocalyptic Earth where there is a suggestion that there is an impending disaster yet to come. The ideas don't truthfully seem to be treated entirely seriously, with the jokey tone suggesting that you shouldn't pay too much attention to the story-line. The odd, half-baked ending merely cements this notion further.But I definitely got a kick out of this one. The performances are commendably game, with Jon Finch really very good as Cornelius, the chocolate biscuit addicted dandy of the future. Even better was Jenny Runacre in a thoroughly commandingly sexy performance as Miss Brunner, a bi-sexual predator who literally absorbs her lovers (somehow). There are also some solid cameo appearances from the always weird Patrick Magee as an associate of the demented Frank and Sterling Hayden giving a somewhat bizarre turn as an unhinged military expert. This very strange British sci-fi movie can fairly be described as a cult item. Its anarchic devil-may-care presentation, with some interesting characters and pop art future stylings make it one for fans of weird 70's sci-fi in particular and of strange 70's movies in general. Definitely something of an acquired taste though that is for sure but if you have a taste for baroque, left-of-centre movies and don't mind flippant disregard for trivialities such as plot, then you could have a good time with this one!

The early-to-mid '70's saw a glut of movies predicting a pessimistic future for Mankind; 'Soylent Green', 'No Blade Of Grass', 'A Clockwork Orange', 'Logan's Run', the 'Planet Of The Apes' sequels and this, based on a Michael Moorcock novel. Jon Finch stars as Jerry Cornelius, Nobel Prize winner, rock star and secret agent, who embarks on a quest to free his beloved sister from the clutches of his evil brother Frank. The world Cornelius inhabits is the Swinging Sixties writ large; recreational drug use, rampant sexual promiscuity, and lack of respect for authority are rife. Writer, set designer and director Robert Fuest had worked on the 'Avengers' television series, and it shows. The sets are dazzling, the supporting cast good, and despite its pessimistic theme the film manages to be fun. Jenny Runacre steals the show as the bizarre 'Miss Brunner', a freakish mutation who absorbs the bodies of her lovers. You really need to watch this to believe it. Funny, stylish and erotic, its a genuine cult oddity.

Very stylish tongue-in-cheek sci-fi. I don't recall it being a midnight movie in the 70s or 80s, though it should have been a cult classic here in the U.S.After watching it for the first time last night, I can understand why it didn't see much action on American TV: it is permeated with drug use, irreverence toward religion, nudity, and generally perverse attitudes. As noted by others, it is in the style-sphere of "Modesty Blaise" and "The Avengers" (for which director Fuest wrote and directed in the Linda Thorson and Joanne Lumley eras.) The movie looks great, especially considering the small budget.As a computer programmer, I took it as a nice joke that the computer is depicted as a realistically nondescript box, rather than the usual sci-fi flashing-light monstrosity.Jon Finch seems like a lost member of Led Zeppelin, charismatic, offhand and saturnine. Jenny Runacre plays the imperious Miss Brunner (a nod to SF writer John Brunner?) with a lot of relish.Nice to see two Kubrick actors here: Sterling Hayden (Gen. Jack Ripper in "Dr. Strangelove") and Patrick Magee from "Clockwork Orange". Also, George Coulouris from "Citizen Kane" and a young Sarah Douglas, who later played one of the Kryptonian criminals in the "Superman" series.On the DVD commentary, it is mentioned that Eric Clapton performed the blues guitar on the soundtrack. He is not credited, but the two composers for the film, Beaver and Krause, share music credits with Cream on a 1970 picture, "Pacific Vibrations". So it seems plausible, and I wonder if the solo drum portion of the soundtrack might then be Ginger Baker? Jazz baritone saxist Gerry Mulligan's contribution is wonderful. The diverse music is a strong point of the film.The ending didn't really pay off for me. Maybe it was intended to be a sly nod to "2001"; maybe they just needed to wind things up. But I found the movie very worth seeing.

OK, I've seen it...nope, not making sense...watch it again...nope, not getting it...hang on, I'll read the book maybe that will help...nada...A sometimes fun, sometimes interesting but a thorough mess of a movie of a sometimes fun, sometimes interesting thorough mess of a book. It's like being in a time loop where Jerry Cornelius is always attending his father's funeral, always half-fancying his sister and always pursuing his brother Frank. Some of the sets like the nightclub "King Cool Flipped His Lid..." are well done, there are some amusing lines such as "I have a Phantom Jet parked outside...", "Shit, it's the Greek!" and "Hmmm, Rhesus positive" on merely touching a bloodstain. But very little is coherent; Miss Brunner "absorbs" her lovers but just what does that mean and how does she do it? Is it a post-apocalyptic world or not? What the hell happens at the end with a simian Cornelius/Brunner hybrid muttering about "what a very tasty world"? I'll give it this, Jon Finch turns in a great performance but this really is a beer n' pretzels ludicrous movie.