Who?
1974·Mystery·1h 33m
7.1
★
After an American scientist is severely injured and scarred in a car crash along the border with East Germany, he is captured by East German military. The scientists use metal implants to save him. Once he's back in the States, no one can tell if it's really him, so an intelligence specialist must determine who is under the "mask".
Directed by Jack Gold
cyborg
IMDB
N/A
Cast
Elliott Gould
Sean Rogers
Trevor Howard
Colonel Azarin
Joseph Bova
Dr. Lucas Martino
Edward Grover
Finchley
John Lehne
Haller
James Noble
General Deptford
Lyndon Brook
Dr. Barrister
Michael Lombard
Dr. Besser
Joy Garrett
Barbara
Bruce Boa
Miller
Ivan Desny
General Stürmer
Herb Andress
FBI Agent
Crew
Jack Gold
Director
Popular Reviews
3 reviews
Miles G
3.0★ · 01/07/26
Sure let's play Metal Gimp Man 100% straight. Why not?
Also why did they make Heywood look like that too? Nobody knew what Martino looked like after the accident except for the other spies. They just really hated the dude I guess.
Also why did they make Heywood look like that too? Nobody knew what Martino looked like after the accident except for the other spies. They just really hated the dude I guess.
Sure let's play Metal Gimp Man 100% straight. Why not?
Also why did they make Heywood look like that too? Nobody knew what Martino looked like after the accident except for the other spies. They just really hated the dude I guess.
Also why did they make Heywood look like that too? Nobody knew what Martino looked like after the accident except for the other spies. They just really hated the dude I guess.
jamblo
7.0★ · 11/22/22
Another entry in my Elliot Gould project.
This was an odd one (I kind of feel like I’m saying that about a lot of Gould’s 70s work). EG plays an Cold War-era FBI agent tasked with determining if an American scientist, returned from the Soviets following a deliberate accident, is who he says he is. The trouble is that the scientist has had most of his body (including his face and, indeed, most of his head, one arm, a bunch of internal organs, etc) replaced by metal and machinery.
The first 2/3rds (which is, I think, rather more successful) details the scientist’s debriefing via a series of nested flashbacks (for example, his school days, his interrogation over those events by the Soviets, and his debrief about it with Gould and others; then his college days, interrogation, & debrief; and so on). It’s all pretty clever and interesting, looking at memory, how it can inform a personality, and how much, for different reasons, is ‘shareable’ with others.
The last 1/3rd though, where the scientist is released to return to (some of) his previous life while being tailed by agents, is both less engaging and less well plotted, I think, though it does come to a intriguing conclusion about who someone actually is (and presents themself to be).
Though ostensibly science fiction, the film works hard to move it away from what is (and was) typically thought of as that, and other than the central conceit of a 1/2 robot man, is really a very internally directed spy thriller.
As I say, it’s odd and I don’t think it quite works, but it is never-the-less fascinating.
This was an odd one (I kind of feel like I’m saying that about a lot of Gould’s 70s work). EG plays an Cold War-era FBI agent tasked with determining if an American scientist, returned from the Soviets following a deliberate accident, is who he says he is. The trouble is that the scientist has had most of his body (including his face and, indeed, most of his head, one arm, a bunch of internal organs, etc) replaced by metal and machinery.
The first 2/3rds (which is, I think, rather more successful) details the scientist’s debriefing via a series of nested flashbacks (for example, his school days, his interrogation over those events by the Soviets, and his debrief about it with Gould and others; then his college days, interrogation, & debrief; and so on). It’s all pretty clever and interesting, looking at memory, how it can inform a personality, and how much, for different reasons, is ‘shareable’ with others.
The last 1/3rd though, where the scientist is released to return to (some of) his previous life while being tailed by agents, is both less engaging and less well plotted, I think, though it does come to a intriguing conclusion about who someone actually is (and presents themself to be).
Though ostensibly science fiction, the film works hard to move it away from what is (and was) typically thought of as that, and other than the central conceit of a 1/2 robot man, is really a very internally directed spy thriller.
As I say, it’s odd and I don’t think it quite works, but it is never-the-less fascinating.
Another entry in my Elliot Gould project.
This was an odd one (I kind of feel like I’m saying that about a lot of Gould’s 70s work). EG plays an Cold War-era FBI agent tasked with determining if an American scientist, returned from the Soviets following a deliberate accident, is who he says he is. The trouble is that the scientist has had most of his body (including his face and, indeed, most of his head, one arm, a bunch of internal organs, etc) replaced by metal and machinery.
The first 2/3rds (which is, I think, rather more successful) details the scientist’s debriefing via a series of nested flashbacks (for example, his school days, his interrogation over those events by the Soviets, and his debrief about it with Gould and others; then his college days, interrogation, & debrief; and so on). It’s all pretty clever and interesting, looking at memory, how it can inform a personality, and how much, for different reasons, is ‘shareable’ with others.
The last 1/3rd though, where the scientist is released to return to (some of) his previous life while being tailed by agents, is both less engaging and less well plotted, I think, though it does come to a intriguing conclusion about who someone actually is (and presents themself to be).
Though ostensibly science fiction, the film works hard to move it away from what is (and was) typically thought of as that, and other than the central conceit of a 1/2 robot man, is really a very internally directed spy thriller.
As I say, it’s odd and I don’t think it quite works, but it is never-the-less fascinating.
This was an odd one (I kind of feel like I’m saying that about a lot of Gould’s 70s work). EG plays an Cold War-era FBI agent tasked with determining if an American scientist, returned from the Soviets following a deliberate accident, is who he says he is. The trouble is that the scientist has had most of his body (including his face and, indeed, most of his head, one arm, a bunch of internal organs, etc) replaced by metal and machinery.
The first 2/3rds (which is, I think, rather more successful) details the scientist’s debriefing via a series of nested flashbacks (for example, his school days, his interrogation over those events by the Soviets, and his debrief about it with Gould and others; then his college days, interrogation, & debrief; and so on). It’s all pretty clever and interesting, looking at memory, how it can inform a personality, and how much, for different reasons, is ‘shareable’ with others.
The last 1/3rd though, where the scientist is released to return to (some of) his previous life while being tailed by agents, is both less engaging and less well plotted, I think, though it does come to a intriguing conclusion about who someone actually is (and presents themself to be).
Though ostensibly science fiction, the film works hard to move it away from what is (and was) typically thought of as that, and other than the central conceit of a 1/2 robot man, is really a very internally directed spy thriller.
As I say, it’s odd and I don’t think it quite works, but it is never-the-less fascinating.
EmmaPRO
7.0★ · 12/15/25