The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler

1971 "A secret government clinic of intrigue and murder, where men played for the highest of stakes - ETERNAL LIFE."
5.4| 1h40m| G| en
Details

A U.S. Senator is spirited away to a secret New Mexico medical lab after a serious car crash. His injuries are completely healed by a secret organization that has developed advanced medical technology. What does the organization want in exchange for saving his life? Meanwhile, a reporter who witnessed the accident decides to investigate the senator's disappearance.

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

All Prime Video Movies and TV Shows. Cancel anytime. Watch Now

Trailers & Clips

Reviews

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!
Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?
ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.
BeSummers Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.
Chase_Witherspoon A senator (Dillman) is near-fatally injured in a car wreck witnessed only by intrepid reporter (Nielsen) whose eyewitness account is gagged for national security purposes. Discontent with the ruse, Nielsen investigates and ends up discovering an elaborate human organ harvesting clinic that potentially holds the key to mankind's survival - but only a select few. Science Fiction/pseudo political thriller chooses to focus on the moral dilemmas of its cause, resorting to limp-wristed protection of its diabolical secrets, when opposition threaten to reveal the project's secrets.Small in scale, and more akin to the production values of a telemovie than a fully fledged feature film, there are however some assets in the cast and one or two plot twists to which you can look forward. Dillman as the title character spends most of his time comatose and then in a wheelchair debating scientific heresy, while Dickinson looks more like a space cadet than the dedicated doctor, who believes her work is of national significance. Nielsen is essentially the central character, a tenacious reporter not content to digest the force-fed facts without due interrogation. He spends most of the film, piecing together evidence that eventually leads him to the mysterious clinic in New Mexico. Noted stage actor Daly is also quite effective as the clinic's principal surgeon; his attempt to rationalise the existence of the coneheaded clones (called Somas) lies more in the field of fantasy than it does in any serious debate on human cloning.Well scripted, with okay special effects, concerned mostly of pale-faced make-up on stupefied faces - the Dillman zoo experiment is unintentionally funny, his 'full retard' no doubt perfected by hours of rehearsals and takes. Dressed in monk-like garb with coneheaded frontal lobe projection, the Somas are also quite inspired imagery; more emphasis on their existence might have balanced the argument better, but their brief inclusion is still an alarming visual demonstration of the human harvesting process depicted in the film. Despite its 100 minutes, there's ample action, characterisation and plot development; had the climax resolved more satisfactorily, the film might have become a minor cult favourite, ahead of its time in terms of content. As it is, a worthy sci-fi companion, and perhaps no longer such a distant prospect.
Mandemus Worth seeing, if you are into speculative fiction dealing with clones. I agree with the few other reviews here about the merits of this film. The clone concept was original in film, and had been seen on television a year earlier in Boswell's "Timeslip" TV series (1970).This film is worthy of interest mostly for the ideas presented and because of its descendants in the genre: Coma (1978), Clonus (1979), The Island (2005). I have only seen such poor camera-work done in the worst of B-movies, however. No prizes here for visuals, which are remarkable for their lack of art or ability. Seriously, the average person with a cellphone camera and no training could do as good or better job at framing a scene. The acting is serviceable, TV-style of the period, and fans of Leslie Nielsen will enjoy an early performance from him.This review is not a raving recommendation. Serious SF fans and film collectors will not be disappointed to have Resurrection in their collections. Others should steer clear.
Sturgeon54 This film did remind me of the kinds of ideas in Crichton's novels - especially his early medical fiction. Who would have guessed that a now-forgotten low-budget B-movie would actually end up more timely almost 40 years after its original release? I don't know of any earlier film treatments of the subject of cloning than this film - I really wonder what audiences thought when this first came out, as the plot line of the film must have seemed really wild back then. I don't particularly care for remakes - especially of good movies like this - but now would be a terrific time for a remake of this story, possibly with a better budget. As it is, the film stretches its budget pretty well, but I would have appreciated greater attention to the scientific aspects of the cloning (possibly with some special effects). Additionally, because all of the real-life politicians seem to be weighing in on the stem cell and medical ethics issues, the political aspects of the story would fit perfectly into a remake, where they could be fleshed out in greater detail. I guess this movie just has me thinking more of what it could have been than what it is. On its own level, it is a surprisingly thoughtful low-budget film that concentrates on ideas, rather than action. For that, it is well worth searching out.On a final note, it has a ridiculous non-sequitur ending that had me giggling, but the ending seems to fit a cheap movie like this, whose filmmakers certainly couldn't afford a lot of explosions and gunfights .
uds3 Elements of COMA and THE SIXTH DAY here, basically the moral, social and scientific implications behind cloning. Perhaps even more relevant today given the arguments being bandied about in the public forum for and against stem-cell research.Dying Senator Zachary Wheeler is whisked into a government-funded and hushed-up medical facility in "no questions asked" Mexico for "treatment." Reporter Nielsen smells a story - the "scoop" of the century as it turns out!Without giving too much away, the basic premise turns out to be assembly-line cloning for random organ donation or whatever spare parts are needed - remarkably similar in ethical background to the entire stem-cell debate.Thinking persons' sci-fi.