Android [film]
Entry updated 7 December 2016. Tagged: Film.
Film (1982). New World. Directed by Aaron Lipstadt. Written by James Reigle and Opper, based on a story by Will Reigle. Cast includes Crofton Hardester, Brie Howard, Klaus Kinski, Don Opper and Norbert Weisser. 80 minutes. Colour.
The co-scriptwriter, Don Opper, plays Max, the innocent Android (part flesh, part metal) who does imitations of James Stewart and works for mad Dr Daniel (Kinski) in a space laboratory, soon invaded by three criminals. He experiences Sex ("Max, you're a doll!"), is programmed to become a ruthless killer just as we were accepting him as human, participates in the awakening of a female android, learns Daniel's true nature (a plot twist stolen from Alien) and gets the girl. Androids is made with skill and panache, is good on android Politics (for which one might read "working-class politics"), and is one of the most confident sf movies yet made, despite its low budget. The scriptwriters are infinitely more at home with the themes of written sf than is usual in sf cinema. Lipstadt's subsequent sf movie, City Limits (1984), was disappointing. [PN]
see also: BSFA Award.
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