The Final Programme (1974)

In the book, the all-purpose human being that emerges is a dazzling, charismatic creature like Adam Warlock in Marvel comics; in the film, he's a hairy hunchbacked neanderthal. Totally ludicrous and completely unnecessary re-writing! Also, why didn't they state explicily Ms Brunner's real nature (she's a succubus, a female sexual vampire); does Moorcock have issues in that area?

THE FINAL PROGRAMME is a drug-induced slice of sci-fi craziness, based on a novel by popular fantasy writer Michael Moorcock. Having a fondness for '70s-era science fiction such as LOGAN'S RUN, I was hoping to like this, but the sad truth is that it turns out to be a completely unconvincing dud of a film, far too light-hearted and campy to succeed.The once-familiar actor Jon Finch, so good in FRENZY and MACBETH, gives a hideous performance as the arrogant protagonist, tasked with hunting down a secret microfilm in a world on the edge of the apocalypse. Various oddball supporting characters turn up to either help or hinder him, and the supporting cast is certainly the best thing about this; seeing the familiar faces of Harry Andrews, Julie Ege, Hugh Griffith, Graham Crowden, and Patrick Magee is certainly a pleasure, but they're not enough to distract from this film's overwhelming silliness. I don't mind a bit of camp but this film goes way over the top and as a result is simply stupid.

The novel from which this movie was taken, The Final Programme, by Michael Moorcock, is structurally identical in plot and character to another Moorcock novel... Elric of Melnibone, the first of the Elric series.This is not a coincidence; both books are part of the Champion Eternal cycle... a series of interconnected series about the Champion Eternal, who exists in every time and every universe, condemned always to fight -- and never know why he is fighting. He goes by many names -- Elric of Melnibone, Jerry Cornelius, Count Urlik, Prince Corum, each with his own series. In some incarnations he knows who he is, in others he thinks he's a normal man (occasionally, a particular incarnation is female). Sometimes two (or even three) incarnations meet each other.The cycle, which makes up about a third of all Moorcock's ouevre (probably dozens of novels), is one of the most monumental achievements of meta-fiction ever written... but I think this is the only book of Moorcock's made into a movie, though he did contribute to the adaptation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel The Land That Time Forgot (dinosaurs on an island).Now that Fritz Leiber is dead, Moorcock can lay claim to being the greatest living fantasy writer.The movie The Final Programme (a.k.a. The Last Days of Man On Earth) does an incredible job of capturing the Jerry Cornelius character, much better than I would have expected. But the ending is changed from that of the book, and not for the better. Still definitely worth a rental.Dafydd ab Hugh

Sort of like Zardoz crossed with Planet of the Apes.The film is well acted, well shot, and the plot holds together... even though the Nazis are dragged in a bit, but not to the detriment of the film.It is allegorical, and rather clever twist on some poetry for those who have taken Humanities classes in school.Worth a look if you are new to film, and are looking for something out of the ordinary, that requires a bit of knowledge to hang with.