The Philadelphia Experiment (1984)

There are some mess-ups with technical stuff in the movie, but for me that did not take away from the movie, I enjoyed all of it, and thought some of the special effects were pretty good. It was well worth my time, and after it ended, I felt that I had seen a good movie, that's more than I can say for some movies now-a-days. Rent or own, in my humble opinion it is worth the price, I would own it:)

A scientific experiment conducted by the US Navy in 1943 to try and make the USS Eldridge invisible to radar goes awry. Two sailors (Michael Paré, Bobby Di Cicco) on board the ship are somehow sent forward in time to 1984. Once there, they get reluctant help from cutie Nancy Allen. I actually saw this years before I found out the Philadelphia Experiment was an actual event. Or rather, an alleged actual event. The original story is a lot less interesting as it has no Michael Paré or Nancy Allen. What's there to say about this movie? It's flawed and I can even see some calling it a turkey. But there's something very likable about it to me. Perhaps it's the stars or perhaps it's the subject matter. I'm a sucker for both Nancy Allen and time travel stories. It's a pleasant, entertaining popcorn movie and I got some kicks out of it.

The movie's story is bit outlandish. Not the invisibility experiment part, but the two guys ending up in 1984 (If it was 1983 it would have been even more significant).The movie is not a sincere exploration into the Philadelphia Experiment, but a hack job as far as the script goes. Especially the part where the teleported guys phasing in and out of the field of the original experiment.It would have been better if the lost sailor's names were Wilson or something, and they ended up in Camp Hero in 1983.It's probably difficult to make a good movie of this type that's both based on facts and targeted for a commercial audience.The story deserves a better treatment, and I hope a better version of this movie will be made someday.

The Philadelphia Experiment (1984) ** 1/2 (out of 4)Nice bit of sci-fi and romance about two WWII sailors (Michael Pare, Bobby DiCicco) who take part in an experiment that will put an invisible shield around ships that will allow them not to be spotted by enemy ships. The experiment ends up going wrong and the two men find themselves in 1984 not knowing what went wrong but they meet a woman (Nancy Allen) who tries to help them. THE PHILADELPHIA EXPERIMENT is a pretty interesting little film that sadly just doesn't have the budget or performances to really work as well as it possibly could have. THE FINAL COUNTDOWN is a film that dealt with a few similar ideas and I think overall that film is much, much better but this one here still has enough going for it to make it worth viewing. I think the most interesting aspects deal with the sailor trying to come to terms with the fact that he's in an unknown place and soon he realizes that everything and everyone he knew is now gone. I thought the scenes with him trying to find someone from his past were the most interesting and made for some nice drama. The sci-fi elements are also pretty good as the mystery to what happened is something that keeps you glued to the film even when the special effects are making you want to gag. I understand this was a low-budget film but the effects here are beyond bad no matter when they were made. I found the performances to be mixed as well. I thought Pare didn't bring enough to the part and there were times that he came across pretty bad including a scene in a hotel where he breaks down. DiCicco is fairly good in his part and Allen is dependable as she always is. THE PHILADELPHIA EXPERIMENT has plenty of interesting ideas but one really wishes that the producers were given a bit more money to do something with it.