mike48128 Said to be one of Michael Creighton's least-favorite novels. Much changed from the book, including the ending. Poor George Segal. He plays a man with a rare kind of epilepsy that causes him to become psychotic, violent, and an amnesiac. To my knowledge, there is no such type, and the American Epilepsy Foundation condemned this film! Richard Dyshart throws up before he performs the surgery; not a good sign. Much professional criticism in the film citing mind-control by computers and such science-fiction Mumbo-Jumbo. It appears to be highly edited for content and screen time before release. An almost bloodless brain operation. The wiring goes wrong and his brain tries to create more seizures, as one of the electrodes stimulates his brain's "pleasure center". His girlfriend helps him break out of the hospital. He is armed with a gun and a blonde wig. Brief nudity in the strip club. He goes on a killing rampage. After this point, the film is no longer fascinating or intriguing. It becomes a tedious paint-by-the-numbers ho-hum non-thriller. He violently murders both his girlfriend and a Catholic Priest. He finds his way to Dr. Ross' (Joan Hackett) apartment, and it appears for a moment that he is going to go after her "Psycho Style" in her shower. He never gets inside the bathroom. The door stops him. In my house, the door would have crumbled like balsa wood. She stabs him in the chest with a kitchen knife and he ends up in a freshly-dug grave in a Catholic Cemetery. The Swat Team shoots him. I would have had him short-circuit and jump out the apartment window, in the stark realization that the operation (and the movie) were both failures!

Tango and Cash I love Michael Crichton movies - Coma, Looker, Westworld, The Andromeda Strain, etc. These movies are fantastic. They're engrossing and exciting and interesting.But yikes, "The Terminal Man" was hard to watch. It was boring. I don't mind it was slow - one of my favorite movies of all time is "Barry Lyndon." What I minded was that nothing happens. *Spoilers Below* The movie is 105 minutes long and 2 things happen: the protagonist has a surgery and later he kills someone. Surgery scene lasts about 5 minutes, murder scene lasts about 2 minutes. So out of 105 minutes, only in 7 minutes does something actually happen (an event).I guess you could argue the scene when he breaks out of the hospital an event, but - they don't show it on screen. It's implied."The Terminal Man" is far from being the worst movie I've seen, but it is certainly in the running for the most boring. People sit and talk gently. In the next scene, people stand and talk. Then in another scene they walk and talk. Repeat. That's it. That's the whole movie if you include the 2 scenes mentioned above.Unreal. I wonder if the novel is this boring, I can't imagine it is. I tried hard to like this movie, since I think so highly of Michael Crichton I wanted to like it like I like Coma or Looker - but those movie have so much action, suspense, and mystery. "The Terminal Man" by contrast there's nothing to it, it's just people talking to each other. Even during the surgery scene I counted as one of the events of the movie - they just stand around and talk to each other in monotone. This is a rather tone-deaf effort. I fault the screenwriter (didn't even bother to look who it is) because the script is trash. Neat idea, without a doubt, but jeez the screenplay is awful.

MarieGabrielle There are several premises in this film which may or may not be acceptable to the viewer, which will then determine whether or not you will like this film.It was made in 1974. Anti-depressants and mind control were very much topics for discussion, as was Scientology. Can psycho-surgery cure rage and epilepsy? That is the question asked.Joan Hackett is very good as the psychiatrist and Richard Dysart the knife happy surgeon. George Segal as the patient prone to violence has not much of a part here. The Jill Clayburgh character is downright clichéd and annoying.Some of the scenes are effective such as the murder of Angela (Clayburgh) and the network of blood on white tile. The shower scene with Hackett is derivative of "Psycho" and Hitchcock down to the stark white interior.Overall an interesting commentary on psychiatry and neurosurgery by Michael Crichton who had written this book, I do recall reading it years ago. It was new age before we had new age. A frightening look at medicine, psychiatric issues, and mind control. I would recommend reading the book for a clearer picture of the author's intent.

m_l_sweeney Slow, sure...but the real crime here is a zombie-like George Segal (in a bad wig most of the film) but NO amiable banjo-playing! Darn!PLENTY of these semi-plodding scenes could've been livened up with a wry wink and some Shakey's-pizzeria-style banjo noodling from Johnny Carson's 5,756th favorite guest...Oh well -- at least stabbing Jill Clayburgh to death on a waterbed sets a good tone for the rest of the '70s (only Karen Black -- or maybe Susan Anspach -- as the victim would've been more aptly emblematic)...C'mon -- would it have killed the auteur to end the sterile, over-wide-screened mise-en-scene with Segal playing a banjo in that open grave...THEN a blissfully anticipated hail of bullets silencing "Oh, Susannah" (or whatever). Happy ending all around (except for Jill Clayburgh, of course)...(Bonus points for spotting later '80s TV semi-stars in small parts...look, there's the Nazi SWAT cop from "Hill Street Blues"! And isn't that the old doctor who showed his ass on "St. Elsewhere," then offed himself years later? Yep and yup...)