American Playhouse (TV Series) Overdrawn at the Memory Bank (1983) User Reviews

Takes a brilliant John Varley short story and trashes it beyond redemption

[lemon_magic · 2/10 · 17 July 2005]

I actually had some hopes for this adaptation. The original short story on which this adaptation is based was from John Varley's creative peak period, and was funny, clever, inventive, and even moving. It is, in fact, a classic of the Sci Fi genre, which why PBS ranked it along with "The Lathe Of Heaven" as deserving of exposure to a wider audience. And the PBS adaptation of "Lathe" was actually decent - not mind blowing or anything, but watchable and understated and patient in the way it developed and used the ideas from the story.

And Raul Julia was a brilliant actor. There are movies in which the Julia shines like the surface of the sun ("Kiss Of the Spider Woman"), and he is (was) almost always the most interesting actor in any movie he appears in. So I had hopes that this wouldn't suck.

But ODATMB takes this potential and wastes it. While the story is funny and smart-mouthed and satiric and gets in and out quickly after riddling its targets with dozens of sharp-witted barbs, the video adaptation just lumbers along like a bad soap opera. Lines of dialog and exposition that seemed so clever on the printed page just fall flat here. Blame for this falls squarely on the director, who doesn't seem to be able to keep up the snappy pace and rhythms of the story, or get the supporting actors to inhabit the characters or invest them with any charisma. Especially egregious are some really crappy performances by minor actors, walk-ons and extras that simply drag the movie down several notches. Don't know if the blame rests with them, or (again) with the director for not insisting on keep doing takes until they came up with better readings of their lines. Julia himself is still a live-wire and a fire-hose of energy, but he's out there all alone with no acting support.

Also to blame are the dreadful video and special effects - especially lame are the documentary stock film sequences which have Julia's voice-over trying to tie the grainy footage with the sci-fi elements of 'doppling'. It's a cheap trick and a cheap attempt to do an end-run around the need to depict the central concept of 'doppling' into a specially prepared animal as a vacation from the pressures of life in 'the future', and it doesn't work at all.

And the whole 'Casablanca' tie in just lies there. The one good thing about it is that if any modern actor could do Bogart properly, it might well be Julia. The thought of him actually being in a remake of 'Casablanca' generates practically the only good-will I felt for the movie.

I can't bear to give anything with Raul Julia in it a '1' (not even the movie version of 'Street Fighter'), so I give it a '2' out of 10. Maybe a 2 1/2 for making the attempt in the first place, and for recognizing a great story.

Poor John Varley. Maybe there is something in his style of story telling that just doesn't translate well to movies and screenplay..."Millennium" was another great story that completely fell apart in the film version. Who can say???

Graphics make 'Puma Man' look state-of-the-art

[eichelbergersports · 1/10 · 18 June 2006]

Film was produced by WNET in New York, with post-production work done in Canada (it figures). In the undetermined future, Aram Fingal (the late Raul Julia-"The Addams Family," "Kiss of the Spider Woman," "The Burning Season") is a data processor for the gigantic Novicorp Corporation, who, after being caught watching a much better movie -"Casablanca" - on company time, is forced to submit to a mental rehabilitation (called "doppling" here).

At the Nirvana Center (a large mall), he meets rehab programmer, Apollonia James (Linda Griffiths), who eventually becomes his tepid love interest. As he is "doppled" into the brain of a baboon (a series of stock footage with Julia's lame voice overs adds to the unintentional hilarity), a stupid kid on a tour switches his identification tag with a corpse. Why a group of unruly moppets are allowed to run free in an operating roam is never answered, by the way.

Meanwhile, Fingal, with the assistance of plot holes that Dom DeLuise could fit through, creates his own fantasy world based upon the classic, Academy-Award-winning 1942 film starring himself as Rick as played by Humphrey Bogart, Griffiths as Elsa (portrayed 350 million light years better by Ingrid Bergman), and Louis Negin as a prissy and annoying Peter Lorre knock-off.

The Chairman of Novicorp, "The Chairman" (Donald C. Moore) also joins in the fun as "The Fat Man," as if anyone cares. A confusing series of events is not left well enough alone as the ending clears up nothing, as the plot of "Berlin Alexanderplotz" was more coherent.

And what was the point of the whole cube thing; the "I've Interfaced!" baloney, the poorly-conceived masturbation scene; as well as the spinning electron Julias, anyway?

As bad as the writing and acting (Julia is twice as bad in a dual role and Griffith spends most of the time staring at a computer screen), however, it's the not-so-special effects that drop this turkey a few feet below sewer level.

Ultra-cheap graphics conjure up images of Pong, Wang Computers, the video by The Buggles, and the season they videotaped episodes of "The Twilight Zone." State-of-the-art technology it's not, and today, high school kids can design better looking graphics on the Macs. These not-so special effects make the juvenile work in 1980's "Puma Man" seem like Pixar animation.

Film also tries to tell us that ridiculous names such as Aram, Apollonia, Crull Spier, Emmaline Ozmondo and Geddy Arbeid, will be commonplace. An unforgivably bad motion picture on every level.

"What are you going to do about it, sir?" "Eat!" **spoilers to the movie and the MST3K episode**

[Hancock_the_Superb · 3/10 · 28 July 2002]

What the hell is this? At first glance, Overdrawn at the Memory Bank looks like a decent sci-fi film; but there are bad special effects, and a big fat someone literally chewing all the scenery.

Well, Raul Julia is at least a legitimate actor. But his talents are wasted as a futurist rebel and a Humphrey Bogart (actually a decent enough performance).

On to the plot: Aram Fingle (Julia) gets busted for downloading `cinemas' (movies) (e.g. just "Casablanca") onto his monitor at work. Since in the future the world has banned not only cinemas and, as it becomes apparent legitimate names (Appolonia James? Aram Fingle? Walenda Irving?), but also "Dilbert"-like bosses, Fingal is punished. So he is forced to dopple - get his brain switched with a baboon. Along the way there's a lot of Fat Man trying to eat, some sex-obsessed six-year old, a dead mom coming back to life, a Peter Lorre-type sleaze (hey, this is Casablanca), dramatic changes in the weather, anteater jokes, a thug who sounds like Billy Drago, mustard on exposed human brains, more dumb names, Fat Man appearing with a squad of Nazis, Fingal having the Fat Man's heart attack pills, stupid anteater hatred (WHY? Did they think that was funny?) and more EATING! (In one scene he actually DOES eat, though it's a fruit; probably dunked it in some lard first!) And did I mention His Lardiness is the ruler of the world?

As for the MST3K version? One of the better ones I've seen, up there with Invasion of the Neptune Men, Space Mutiny, Final Justice, and The Clonus Horror. The fat jokes may grow old for some, but if you can stand it you'll be in stitches. From the first joke (read introduction line) to Fat Man's dying words (`Think of all the sausages I haven't eaten!') (as fabricated by Mike, Tom, and Crow, anyway), almost all of the jokes caused me to burst into uproarious laughter. (`I order you to draw me up a huge buffet' is one that I find myself quoting over and over again.)

There is so much more joke-wise: the continual impromptu renditions of the Casablanca theme (`You must remember this/This movie really sucks!; duh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh suck!/duh-nah-nah go away!/dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-END!/You must remember this/my liver has been pierced!'), one of the guys making fun of the Lorre wannabe (`You know, when you have to GO?'; see the episode), `the computer sucked everything in' and plenty more. The episode is worth watching; you can sit through the movie, even without making fun of it, if only for Julia's charisma.

Three stars for Overdrawn at the Memory Bank; ten stars for the MST3K version.

`To Wendy's!'

How Overdrawn came about

[Jonah14 · 7 August 2001]

As I've stated before, there is a special place in my heart for Overdrawn At The Memory Bank - it's similiar to those Saturday afternoon WNET movies that I'd watch when I was either sick in bed or just plain bored and channel flipping. (The Tripods come to mind, for one.)

It's not strange that Raul Julia, an ardent public television advocate who lived in New York, would do it. The question of why and how it came about is, though.

For one, the movie was part of a series of science fiction productions by WNET in 1985, all adapted from short stories and novels. The people who produced Overdrawn At The Memory Bank also produced The Lathe of Heaven for PBS in 1979 as well. After The Lathe of Heaven, they had planned to produce a series of science fictions films, though they only got to do Overdrawn afterward. You can read an interview with them here: http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue162/interview.html .

As stated before, Overdrawn was one of three films in a series, which also included Kurt Vonnegut's "Between Time and Timbuktu". The movie was deliberately shot on video so they could include the digital effects. Considering the budget given, the visual effects were actually effective, if a bit psychedelic.

Raul Julia does do a very good job acting in this movie - someone on an MST3K site said he looked "embarrassed". Hardly. He actually sold the part pretty well. Incidentally, PBS had the rights to both Animals Are Beautiful People and Casablanca, which is why they made good use of both. The movie was shot in Toronto, and most of the actors are from there - so blame Canada if you must.

(Incidentally, Animals Are Beautiful People is the funniest (and oftentimes sad and touching) animal documentaries you're likely to find, earning an Oscar nomination and directed by James Uys, who also did the classic The Gods Must Be Crazy.)

The woman who plays Appolonia James, Linda Griffiths, also did a very successful one woman show in Toronto as well -http://www.aislesay.com/ONT-ALIEN.html - based on the life of Gwendolyn MacEwen called Alien Creature: A Visitation From Gwendolyn MacEwen. She also has had steady work since Overdrawn, too.

In the end,is Overdrawn At The Memory Bank a bad film? Maybe. MST3K fodder? Oh, most definitely. However, for me, it brings back happy memories of childhood, and there is one quality that makes it better than most seen even in Hollywood flicks:

Everyone seems to be having a GOOD TIME making the film. They're having FUN. Donald Moore in particular (who plays Walenda Irving, the huge chairman of the board) is having a hammy ball with the material. Unfortunately, after Overdrawn, he only did Blue Velvet then passed away.

Hard to follow this PBS made film, but Raul Julia is in it!

[Aaron1375 · 2/10 · 29 May 2016]

I am sure many people probably saw this PBS made film back in the day because back when it was made there were less channels and stuff and sometimes it was either something like this or nothing! Granted, I am sure a majority of people chose the latter. I saw this film thanks to the cult television show Mystery Science Theater 3000 and I am quite sure a good number of people were exposed to it for the first time thanks to the show. Even those who may have seen bits and pieces of it back in the day, probably did not witness the whole thing until it was featured on MST3K because I just cannot see anyone making it through all the jumbled mess that this film consisted of. Though, I just said it was a film, but it is not shot on film...rather it looks as if it were recorded on a camcorder. They did manage to land Raul Julia, but he was not as big when this one came out as he would later become. Then again, he did star in Street Fighter so he may not be too picky about parts; however, he had a sweet reason to be in Street Fighter and that was because I believe a nephew was a fan of the video game. Here, maybe he was a fan of PBS and thought he would star in this film and give it some merit. Which he probably did, as bad as it was, I do not think Mystery Science Theater would have even touched this thing without such a big star being in it.

The story, well it is kind of difficult to explain. This is probably due to several factors as I do not think this was a whole movie to begin with, but actually a film that had parts to it. Then there is the fact it was a MST3K episode, which means that it was probably further edited down to accommodate the show's run time. Still, even when you take into account this things the film is rather confusing. A future society where everyone works and are no longer able to watch cinemas like Casablanca. One man tires of the routine and finds a way to watch said film and others, though Casablanca is apparently the only one they were allowed to partly show. He gets caught and gets sent to rehab which consists of having his mind placed in a baboon. His body is lost because even in the future they do stupid things like allow children into areas they shouldn't be in and he is soon placed in the computer where he meets Rick and soon Aram Fingal (the hero) tries to interface with the computer while Apollonia James tries to help Fingal, but she also eats and gets fat off flav-o-fives while the fat man gets mad at Fingal messing around his computer! Aram and Rick are both played by Raul who does put some effort into his role here.

The film made for a very funny episode of MST3K as there is just a lot of things to make fun of. The strange names of the people and of certain things, the whole Casablanca setting in the computer and when Raul's character makes his moves on a blond. There is no shortage of things to riff here, which in turn makes this a very strong and consistent episode with no real weak spots within. The bumps were pretty good, with the one featuring Servo being doppeled being the highlight.

So no, this is not a film I would care to see without MST3K. Granted, there may be a few things one could gain as far as understanding the plot, but this thing is such a mess that I just do not believe seeing it uncut is going to help all that much. This was just one of those strange movies or whatever you wanna call it that would occasionally come on after you watched Sesame Street that bored you to tears, but you just did not have the ability to turn the television yet! Of course, I did learn something from this film and that is that the anteater is the most horrific animal ever!

Anteaters get more respect than this film

[InzyWimzy · 1/10 · 3 October 2000]

Very bad. I watched in horror as this rip-off wannabe of Casablanca proceeded to baffle and amaze me how stupid a movie can be. Sure, it was shown on PBS, but this was tres cheesy. I mean, it's a future world controlled by a major corporation and no one watches "cinemas". Recreation involves doppeling which provides fro even stupider humor. Obviously, someone has extreme hatred for anteaters. Starring Raul Julia who obviously had bills to pay when he made this movie as the annoying warped Aram Fingal. The fat man reminded me that it was time to eat. I thought he would keel over any minute. Plus, some lady named Appolonia who gets a tingle for Fingal. A lot of bad graphics, bad imitations of Casablanca characters will have your mind spinning. Also, there's brains exposed, doppel fondling, annoying brat, cheesy PBS effects make this a movie to never remember.

Best scene was Raul saying, "Mom, my nuts!!"

"Da da da da da suck! Da da da go away! Da da end end end end!"*spoilers*

[curly333 · 1/10 · 16 August 2003]

Okay, I'll admit to the fact that I've never seen Casablanca.This is also the only movie I've seen with the late Raul Julia in it.(I saw it on MST3K.) But I forgive him for being in this movie, because he did the best job of acting in it, given the plot and script. Anyway, this awful movie takes place in a future I hope I never live to see. Everyone is miserable (I assume) because they all have horrible names. In any case, a guy named Aram Fingal(?) "scrolls up cinemas"(movies), namely Casablanca. Apparently this is a bad thing, because he is then "doppled"(put in the body of) a baboon named Daisy.(Which, frankly, sounds kind of cool.) Meanwhile, Appolonia James(?) and her friend Djamilla get fat on flavofibes and drink their reconces (?) as they moniter him/her? Then, a perverted kid switches Fingal's toe tags and his body is lost. ("And the computer SUCKED everything in!!""Sucked, let's go with that word, movie.") So then Fingal finds he is stuck in the movie Casablanca. Also, he is being chased by the really tubby chairman of where he works.("To Wendy's!") He runs around in the computer,(including a very wrong scene with the Ten Commandments which, in my opinion, is sure to send the filmmakers to Hell) talks to Appolonia, who talks to Djamilla(Who is constantly licking her watch. Why? Is it some sort of futuristic Ring Pop?), and then talks to Toobi, some guy who (no offense) looks like he has some kind of problem and sounds like the guy in the Barney suit. Then, Toobi finds Fingal's body, and Fingal figures out how to get out("Wait! I've got it!""My nuts!") Then he gets out, the fat guy is doppled into an anteater, and everthing is okay. The movie has some strange bias against anteaters. WHY? Anyway, to sum it up, by the end of this movie we all feel a lot like Crow, when he says, (Fingal)"I'm requesting program access.""I'm requesting movie jump up my butt." This is truly one of the worst movies EVER, but it is one of my all-time favorite MST3K episodes.( I love the part when they dial tech support, and the number is 1-800-SUCK.) Mike and the 'bots, in my opinion, made this movie sheer hilarity. In summary: The movie: 1 star MSTed: 10 stars

Raul, you deserved better

[BandSAboutMovies · 3/10 · 17 April 2021]

Based on the 1976 John Varley short story, this was a co-production between New York PBS station WNET and Toronto's RSL Productions. The budget was high, so they cut costs by shooting it on video and selling it to smaller American cable companies, as well as CDC and PBS' American Playhouse.

Aram Fingal (Raul Julia, before I could say things like "Raul Julia deserves better"), a programmer who has been caught watching Casablanca at his work and pays for that crime by having his mind placed into the brain of a baboon before his mind is active and becomes lost in the system.

Somehow, Aram ends up becoming Rick Blaine and getting the person in charge of getting rid of him, Apollonia Jones, to fall in love with him.

PBS also made The Lathe of Heaven around this time, which is wild that they were ahead of the cyberpunk trend. Too bad this movie has the production values it does, because the SOV style does not serve a movie that is trying so hard to be of the future.

Bad execution at its worst

[shuvcat-1 · 4/10 · 8 October 2005]

Actually, the core concept at the center of OATMB is a good one: in an future fascist society, one "creative thinker" is punished for his "subversive" follies-- watching old Hollywood films-- by being given "rehabilitative" treatment-- being sent on vacation in the brain of a baboon. By a deus ex machina (the establishment misplaces his brain) he gets the chance to mess around with the computer that controls the world (including the weather and the financial system) and eventually brings down the head brain in charge of it all. It wants to be a more optimistic version of "Harrison Bergeron", basically.

And it fails horribly. It's the textbook example of a good idea that was handled by deeply inept people (kind of like FEMA). Much speculation has been made over how they got Raul Julia to star in this thing. I'm guessing he read a (very early) first draft of the script, thought it was a great idea, signed on, then couldn't get out. The end result is like a staging of "Hamlet" by a troupe of high school freshmen-- which MST3K also got a hold of, by all accounts.

And as far as all the slams against the use of video vs. film-- get over it. Everything PBS showed in the 80's was filmed on video, as I recall.

I gave it a 5

[mxlcn · 5/10 · 21 September 2007]

Yes, it's a bad movie. The plot is rather strange if even comprehensible. The acting is a little wooden by everyone but Raul, however, can anyone honestly tell me that the direction was anything but impressive? Really, the scene construction and camera dynamics were brilliant and was not seen in movies again for some time to come. It was shot on video, from the looks of it an old Panasonic like I had when I was a kid. Yeah, they over-used chroma key stuff, but nowadays it's considered art, and this movie was avant-garde.

I didn't really like this movie otherwise, but I'm giving credit where it is due, and this movies direction and general scene dynamics were definitely ahead of it's time and do not deserve to be coupled with the awfulness of the movie itself.

If you are an aspiring director or screenwriter with a vision, take a look at this. If you are only out to watch the greatest movies ever made, don't bother.

Not the worst cinema you could scroll up, but close...

[bobolikesbananas · 1/10 · 1 December 2005]

From the very start, this movie attempts to be some perverse remake of Casablanca if it was written by George Orwell and directed by the Wachowski brothers' retarded nephew. Attempts, but fails. What we end up with is special effects that remind you of "Land of the Lost" and a distant future that looks like a small shopping mall in Japan from the early 70's. This movie does deserve credit for one thing: they managed to make the big fat evil white guy in this movie was even less likable than the big fat evil white guy in the real Casablanca.

Of course there are plenty of worse movies. This one actually has some fun points, and the late Raul Julia (RIP) gave an incredible performance. Overdrawn is funny enough on its own that you can watch it without MST3K and/or friends, but if you have either of those it's a whole lot more fun. Worth seeing at least once, even sporting a T-shirt that reads "I survived Overdrawn at the Memory Bank" if you're so inclined, and nobody should miss RJ's Bogart.

Pure, Asinine Genius.

[zerogirl42 · 10/10 · 15 July 2005]

I'm giving this movie a 10, not because it's a classic, but because for the B-movie genre, it's one of the best I've ever seen. The cheesy computer effects are hilarious. It's one of those films where you wonder "How much weirder is this going to get?" If you can get into the mind of a sentimental dreamer, this won't disappoint. How can you resist Julia dressed as Humphrey Bogart? Pure, asinine genius. If you go into this with a sense of humor. It's a lot of fun. Even with it's obvious continuity flaws it manages to entertain. If you like anteaters, be forewarned. There's a lot of anteater bashing. The plot is like a low-budget "Total Recall." Heat the popcorn and get ready to laugh.

A "6"

[Mellow_Biafra · 6/10 · 24 September 2002]

I rated this film a six, and I'm going to tell you why. Considering this film was made in 1985 it was pretty visionary in terms of storyline and I found the acting to be pretty well. I also found the Casablanca features with in the story as a interesting twist, although it was out of place I kind of liked it. I'm not saying it was the greatest movie ever made but compared with the normal insults to cinema that are regularly featured on MST3K, this film wasn't half bad.

(Besides the thing with Mike calling Overdrawn at the Memory Bank tech support and being asked for the serial number of the movie was priceless hehehehehe)

Overdrawn at the Stupidity, Mediocrity and Aardvark Banks

[icehole4 · 1/10 · 5 February 2002]

***SPOILERS***

I have to wonder why this was given the green light. I might expect something like this to be syndicated, but not from PBS. Anyone associated with the movie Casablanca probably turned over in their graves when this came out. The plot goes like this: Raul Julia is a data entry operator caught slacking off at the job in a dystopian nightmare world. They send him to be psychoanalyzed. They then put his mind in the body of a chimp. Afterwards, his mind goes into a cube and gets stuck there. A bratty kid goes around and changes markers on people's bodies, sending Julia's body away from his mind. There's also a woman trying to help him. She's a no-talent actress that's brunette hair on a stick. She manages to save Julia in the nick of time. Julia then deletes their identities, and goes off with her. There's nothing wrong with aardvarks despite what this tv show will tell you.

Avoid this at all costs. Not even MST3K could save it.

Don't bumble or fumble the Fingal Dopple!!!

[eskovan1 · 11 August 2003]

Like everyone else I saw this 'movie' on MST3K. Oh the humanity...

What I'll add is that if you've ever been involved in any kind of low-budget filmmaking this thing is great fun to watch. It's shot on videotape so it looks like some community college media class' final exam. Like so many others they use a modern mall as a bland future-scape. They obviously spent a huge amount trying to look 'high-tech' and it all just comes off looking silly (even, I think, back in '85). And add in the inexplicable presence of A-list actor Raul Julia (who had already appeared in John Cassavettes "The Tempest" and Francis Coppola's "One from the Heart" in 1982) and you've got a 'wriggle-uncomfortably-and-embarrassingly-in-your-chair' masterpiece!

Try and not shudder as:

o Raul Julia does a bad Bogart impression!

o Raul Julia does a voiceover while pretending he's a drunk monkey!

o They repeat the phrase 'fingal-dopple' over & over!

Think Matrix meets Brainstorm meets Casablanca meets Rollerball meets Dr. Who!!!

I don't get it

[DiceyDice · 3/10 · 10 July 2000]

What I don't get about this movie is, why was Fingle the protagonist and the chairman the antagonist. All the chairman rilly wanted to do was to get Fingle back into his body but all Fingle did was refuse his help and create havoc. He messed with the weather and created storms and stuff and then he gave everybody more credits then they deserved. Complete chaos. I don't know about you, but I was rooting for the chairman for the entire movie.

"Overdrawn", under-developed and extra-painful....

[Mister-6 · 1/10 · 11 August 2001]

Grab some Flavo-Fibes, a cold Reconst and get ready to interface!

Oh God, did I just say that? I'm so sorry. Where was I...oh yeah. Sorry. Ahem....

Raul Julia has been in some fantastic movies ("Kiss of the Spider Woman"), some mediocre ones ("Moon Over Parador) and some downright embarrassing ones ("Street Fighter" with Jean-Claude Van Damme kick-boxing everybody in sight). To say that "Overdrawn at the Memory Bank" falls into the last category without even touching the sides is simply stating the obvious.

But it's much more than that; this is such a life-draining, intelligence-insulting, migraine-inducing, catatonia-causing experience that mere words cannot do it justice. Violent convulsions? Maybe....

I suppose after all that you want the details? Suit yourself - Julia plays Aram Fingal (?), a daydreaming office worker in a future society - he gets in trouble for watching "cinemas" (movies) at work and must undergo a "dopple" (trading his brain-waves with a monkey - and let's not go any further on that) then finds his essence now inside a huge computer that controls the world and finds he is able to rule the world, basically. Instead, he recreates his own reality like a warmed-over "Casablanca" wannabe and interacts with this world's Rick (Julia again), a Peter Lorre-ite and The Fat Man, who is really the evil leader of this future world who goes into the computer mainframe himself and tries to get Fingal to stop messing things up for him....

Oh, but I forgot Appollonia James (Griffiths), a "dopple" coordiantor or some dumb thing like that who gets involved with Fingal and subsequently falls in love with him and all. Or maybe I was blocking.

All the Orwellian overtones ("cinemas", "Flavo-Fibes", etc.) just remind the viewer how brilliant "1984" was and how lame this film is to make you think of its far-superior references. And "Casablanca"? They were just asking for it.

Basically, this is a low low low low LOW budget version of "The Matrix" without the imagination or the creativity. I know: it was in 1985, but even "Tron" (from 1982) had better FX, if a lesser story, perhaps. The least they could have done was shoot it on better stock without the blocky computer effects; you halfway expect to see Pac Man scamper around the corner any second.

Of course, OATMB isn't all bad and that's thanks to Julia. He was a great actor and proved it time and again, even in sludge like this. It's a shame he was involved but, hey - even Richard Burton bombed out once in a while.

Mike Nelson and company made the most of the situation and slammed this flick accordingly aboard the SOL, and kudos to them. They made the situation a lot more bearable.

One star (in fond memory of Raul Julia) for "Overdrawn"; eight stars for the MST3K version.

Here's looking at you-lysses!

PBS (Pretty Boring Stuff)

[zmaturin · 1/10 · 7 February 2002]

Remember that heart-breaking scene in `Ed Wood' where Ed is trying to drum up money for `Bride of the Monster' and is reduced to begging on his knees? If only he could've gone to PBS, where altruistic donations from viewers like you can be dumped into stupid sci-fi flicks like this incomprehensible mess.

The trouble starts in the future (we know it's the future because every noun has a prefix like `Techno-') when the improbably named Aram Fingal (Raul Julia, practicing to be in crappy movies like `Streetfighter'), is caught scrolling up restricted `cinemas' (which, as the movie insists on telling us over and over again, are old movies) and for some strange reason is sent to be `doppled' (which means they put Aram's brain into a monkey for a couple of hours, so we get to listen to Raul narrates over some National Geographic footage [`he looks drunk to me!']. The rest of the movie was shot on video, but when the Doppler technicians watch the surveillance camera of the monkey, it's filmed footage). Meanwhile in the real world some really unappealing kids (`Is it sexy?') are touring the Doppler facility with some really unappealing adults (`Nooooo! You almost got mustard all over his brain!') and one louse looses Raul's body. Until they find his body, his brain is put into a supercomputer, but instead of something cool, you know, like Tron, we get some half-assed recreations of Casablanca. Raul, of course, messes with the all-powerful yet nebulous supercomputer, resulting in some low-rent special effects (think NFL graphics). We're never quite sure what the evil supercomputer does, or what Raul hopes to accomplish, or why Raul plays two parts (he also appears doing a Humphrey Bogart impression). His hi-jinx reward him with an enemy in the corpulent overlord of the world, and a vague love interest in the sorta purty, pink-clad Apollonia James (their love is built on the strong foundation of stupid names). At one point she admonishes Raul for his `one handed exercises'.

There are other curious things in this movie (shown on MST3K), like when Raul's mother appears and is not Puerto Rican. Or why the movie repeatedly puts down anteaters. Or why the guy in charge of finding Raul's body has Down's Syndrome. And why does the future look like a big shopping mall? At the end of the movie Raul does something (we're not sure what), starts glowing, and yells `I'm interfaced!' This is not explained.

Too sum up the stupidity of this movie, at one point Raul figures out the computer's access code, so the fat man changes it. Raul just puts the password in backwards and it works. I hope someone somewhere got a swell tote bag for this movie.

Dr Who...The Hell cares?

[Oosterhartbabe · 1/10 · 2 March 2005]

Whoof. I have now watched this movie six times, and am finally coming to terms with what little plot there actually is. Large parts of this horrible, lame PBS production make no sense at all, making you wonder if the writers were smoking something heavy while adapting this script from the short story.

Basically, we have Aram Fingal(Raul Julia, from Puerto Rico, no less! Aram Fingal?) a low on the totem pole computer programmer who is so bored with his job at a huge, world spanning corporation that he spends his time watching forbidden 'cinemas'(although really just Casablanca) at work. His supervisor, annoyed at his lack of output, sends him to a 'psychist' to get mentally adjusted(as Tom Servo comments"so aging lesbian nuns rule the future?") She sends him to a place called Nirvana Village to be 'doppled'. This involves having his identity put into a glowing Borg Christmas ornament, and then being transferred into an animal's mind in their wild animal park so that he can experience life through new eyes. Not only is this a rather stupid concept, but this will cure him of his love of cinemas how? It's his boring job that was causing him to break into the cinema bus master in the first place. Being a baboon for two days isn't going to accomplish anything except to teach him how to fling his own filth at his supervisor.

Something goes wrong with Fingal's dopple, and the techs(including the ridiculously named Appollonia James-I love some of the names in this movie) discover that a child on a field trip has switched the tag on Fingal's body so that it didn't go to the sleep room but somewhere else. So they have to find it, and in the meantime they dump Fingal's personality into a huge computer.

Here's where the movie becomes particularly senseless. Fingal creates his own reality in the computer, spends half his time trying to reprogram it for some reason, and the rest hanging out at a bad simulation of Rick's Place from Casablanca. The Novicorp chairman, a rolled pork roast in a sweat stained white suit, follows him around in the computer threatening him because he keeps reprogramming the computer from the inside. I was never sure WHY he was doing this, as all it seemed to accomplish was making the fat guy mad. But, oh well. There's a tense moment or two at the end(I guess) where Apollonia is trying frantically to rescue Fingal's personality(that is, of course ,assuming he has one) after the cube that held it is destroyed. Fingal is put back into his newly found body, and declares that he's going to fight the system. Frankly, the system didn't seem all that Big Brother-ish, so all the hoopla over it just seemed kind of silly. But then, that was the essence of this film-silly, and confusing. PBS, you have a lot to answer for.

Fingal You Are Mine!!!!!

[geminiredblue · 1/10 · 14 March 2012]

Oh gosh, where to start with this one? Created for public television, this sci-fi thriller has the look and feel of a cheap made-for-TV movie. While that's not necessarily a bad thing, in this case it is sadly. The story is vaguely reminiscent of THE MATRIX. A computer programmer, Aram Fingal (oh right!), discovers he's trapped inside a computer program as a female technician named Apollonia James (huh, what's with the weird names?) attempts to bring him back to the real world. But all is not well, because Fingal discovers he can access restricted files in the system, which has drastic consequences on the outside world. So the chairman named Walenda Irving (seriously stop with the odd names!), along with his minions, try to stop him. The always wonderful Raul Julia masterfully plays his dual roles as Fingal and as Rick from CASABLANCA, with the right amount of humor and professionalism. Acting-wise, the other performances are mainly good. But still, it all feels like a waste of perfectly good talent. The special computer graphic effects are lackluster at best. But sometimes, they look downright atrocious. And the script is a mixed bag of flat humor, scifi techno babble, and inane conversations. But all is not lost, if the film is seen as an unintentional comedy. I particularly found the fat chairman very humorous. For anyone who has not seen MST3K's version of this film, get it right now. I swear, with their comments, the chairman is perhaps the funniest villain in movie history!

Why was Raul Julia in this?

[KubrickCRM114 · 1/10 · 15 February 2003]

Is it possible he didn't read the script, it was just described to him really well? Or could it be he actually thought it was a winner?! Either way, this movie is a stink-fest. Shot on video (I hate the Blair Witch Project, okay?!), and Julia is the only recognizable name, it seems destined for the toilet with it's lovely "cheap 80's video" technology. Given, surely their budget was miniscule, but some talent or creativity would have helped. Even Julia's performance (that word doesn't seem right) was awful.

I'll save the rest, just suffice to say ALL HAIL MST3K FOR MAKING THIS WATCHABLE (if only barely, that's how bad it was).

There are far worse movies than this

[fredrik-josefsson · 5/10 · 16 August 2004]

This is a pretty amusing flick for sci-fi fans. I like movies with computers and stuff, like Tron and Wargames and Brainscan. So this is far out too. The best thing about it is the story which is very original and creative. There are no totally unlikely stuff like in another sci-fi, if you know what I mean. There are also no plot holes or dumbing down.

Well some bad things then. First, the main actor -- Raul Julia -- is not very sexy really. I think he looks more like a janitor than a computer hacker. Hackers maybe aren't very sexy, but he is none the less not only a hacker. Ok enough of that.

Secondly, it looks cheap, and sometimes it looks idiotic. I don't know why it looks idiotic, it just does.

I give the movie a 5 / 10.

Many people are much too harsh on this delightful fantasy.

[grim_angel · 10/10 · 20 November 1999]

Raul Julia died much too early, and without his well deserved Oscar. Perhaps this wasn't his best effort, but it was far from a bad movie. Just because a film appears on Mystery Science Theater doesn't make it a bad movie. The writing was entertaining and thought provoking while the plot twists were intelligent and unexpected. The melding of "Rick's" into the tapestry of a fantasy landscape was thoroughly enjoyable.

Very clever movie. Grossly underrated

[barhydt · 7/10 · 24 February 2001]

This movie is extremely clever and interesting. Unfortunately, most of the cleverness relates to computer technology and the movie was produced at a time when computer knowledge was not so prevalent. It also lacked any real distribution. Raul Julia was excellent and I think that this was one of his better roles.

Worth A Look

[aesgaard41 · 3/10 · 31 May 2003]

I'd avoided watching this movie for a long time and when I finally did see it, it was from behind two bots and their human. The plot occurs in the future where movies are banned in a technological society where the only entertainment is placing your brain waves in a holo-deck-like simulation. The brainwave and memory patterns of Raul Julia are lost in the computer system as he recreates reality from Casablanca, his favorite movie. Confused yet, you will be. Julia in some shots does pass as close to Bogey as you can get, and Linda Griffiths is very lovely, but the best way to view this movie is by riffing it with your best two robot pals.