Looker

Last updated
Looker
Looker imp.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Michael Crichton
Written byMichael Crichton
Produced byHoward Jeffrey
Starring
Cinematography Paul Lohmann
Edited by Carl Kress
Music by Barry De Vorzon
Production
company
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date
  • October 30, 1981 (1981-10-30)
Running time
94 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$8–12 million [1] [2]
Box office$3 million [3]

Looker is a 1981 American science fiction film [1] written and directed by Michael Crichton, starring Albert Finney, Susan Dey, and James Coburn. [4] It follows a series of mysterious deaths plaguing female models who have undergone cosmetic surgery from a renowned Los Angeles physician. The film is a suspense/science-fiction piece that comments upon and satirizes media, advertising, television's effects on the populace, and a ridiculous standard of beauty.

Contents

Though sparse in visual effects, the film is the first commercial film to attempt to make a computer-generated, three-dimensional, solid-looking model of a whole human body. However, as with its predecessors Futureworld , Star Wars , and Alien , this was an example of "CGI representing CGI", and only depicted on CRT screens in the film, rather than being used as a special effect. The model had no skeletal or facial movements and was not a character. Looker was also the first film to create three-dimensional (3D) shading with a computer, [5] months before the release of the better-known Tron .

Plot

Dr. Larry Roberts, a renowned Beverly Hills plastic surgeon, performs cosmetic procedures on a clientele mainly consisting of female television models. Lisa Convey, one of his patients, falls into a trance state in her apartment after being exposed to a flash of light, unaware of the presence of an unknown male assailant lurking in her closet. She falls from her balcony moments later in what is suspected by police to be a suicide.

Lieutenant Masters questions Roberts at his office, where his secretary finds that several medical records—including Lisa's—have mysteriously vanished. After Masters departs, patient Cindy Fairmont visits for a final follow-up appointment, followed by Tina Cassidy. A disturbed Tina begs Roberts to return her to her pre-surgery appearance, claiming that the "perfect" models in the city are being murdered. After Tina departs, she leaves behind her purse, which contains a document from a corporation named Digital Matrix Inc. (DMI). When Roberts attempts to return the purse to Tina, he sees a flash of light in her apartment window, and she too falls to her death. Roberts sees a strange moustached man on her balcony, but he disappears.

Fearing for Cindy's safety, Roberts invites her to join him for a fundraising dinner held by John Reston, a billionaire businessman who informs Roberts that Jennifer Long, a party guest, is the head of DMI. Jennifer explains that DMI used women's facial measurements for a visual technology experiment that was recently ceased. Roberts brings Cindy back to his residence, where she expects a romantic encounter, but he instead has her sleep in the guest room. The next day, Roberts accompanies Cindy to the filming of a television commercial, where DMI technicians monitor the proceedings using a computer. When Cindy is unable to hit her marks, the DMI technicians inform her that the commercial will be completed using CGI, requiring that Cindy visit DMI to have her measurements taken.

While Cindy undergoes a three-dimensional body scan at the DMI laboratory, Jennifer tests Roberts's eyes with the computer, analyzing his points of focus, which are determined to be on the model rather than the products advertised. Jennifer divulges that after surgery, Cindy, among other models, were assessed as visually "perfect" by the computer in stills, but that their scores were inconsistent while in motion. Roberts notices flashes of light emanating from the "Looker" lab, but Jennifer claims her security card will not allow them to enter. Roberts covertly steals a security card from a technician before departing with Cindy, a theft that is reported to Reston by Jennifer.

Cindy visits her parents, during which Roberts is exposed to a series of light flashes by the moustached man—using a beaming gun—that seem to have immobilized him, as hours pass without his awareness. When Cindy returns that night, the two drive to DMI and manage to break in using the security card to breach the Looker lab. Roberts learns that Looker stands for "light ocular-oriented kinetic emotive responses," whose high-intensity light can incite trances in those exposed. The moustached man enters the Looker lab and attacks Roberts using the Looker gun, but Roberts retaliates by using a pair of mirrored sunglasses to refract the light, immobilizing the assailant.

Later, Reston orders the moustached man to abduct Cindy and murder Roberts. When they arrive at Roberts's office, they kidnap Cindy and flee. The next morning, Roberts is chased through the city by the moustached man, causing Roberts to crash his car, but he escapes. Roberts hides in a Reston Industries security car, which brings him to the company headquarters. Onstage for a gala demonstration, Reston introduces his company's newfound ability to create commercials using computer-generated actors, and puts his unwitting audience into a trance with the help of Jennifer, controlling the computer from an upstairs control room where she is holding Cindy hostage. When Jennifer leaves the console, the moustache man kills her, mistaking her for Roberts. A struggle ensues between Roberts and the moustached man, which is halted when Reston shoots at them, accidentally killing the moustache men. Lieutenant Masters, who has been following Roberts, arrives and manages to kill Reston before he can dispatch Roberts.

Cast

Production

Crichton started thinking about the subject of the film in 1975. [6] He says he went to a Los Angeles computer company to find out how they could create copies in commercials without looking too ridiculous and discovered a company in Texas was already doing it, called tomography. [7]

Looker became an early production of The Ladd Company. [8] It was Leigh Taylor-Young's first film in eight years. [9]

James Coburn later said "My part was pretty much on the cutting room floor. They really pissed that film away. They had Albert Finney running around in a security guard's uniform throughout the film. It didn't make any sense. It could have been a good picture. It was about how television controls. It was about how commercials manipulate people to buy products, politicians, whatever. But, they cut the film up for a television print. I don't know why they did that. They spent some bread on the picture too. It was a $12 million production. That's not much today, but back then it was a pretty big budget." [2]

Reception

Looker was poorly received by critics, particularly film historian Leonard Maltin: "An intriguing premise is mishandled; the result is illogical and boring. Even Albert Finney cannot save this turkey." [10] The film holds a 32% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 22 reviews. [11] It was not a success at the box office. [3]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Computer animation</span> Art of creating moving images using computers

Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animations. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes and dynamic images, while computer animation only refers to moving images. Modern computer animation usually uses 3D computer graphics. The animation's target is sometimes the computer itself, while other times it is film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Crichton</span> American author and filmmaker (1942–2008)

John Michael Crichton was an American author, screenwriter and filmmaker. His books have sold over 200 million copies worldwide, and over a dozen have been adapted into films. His literary works heavily feature technology and are usually within the science fiction, techno-thriller, and medical fiction genres. Crichton’s novels often explore human technological advancement and attempted dominance over nature, both with frequently catastrophic results; many of his works are cautionary tales, especially regarding themes of biotechnology. Several of his stories center specifically around themes of genetic modification, hybridization, paleontology and/or zoology. Many feature medical or scientific underpinnings, reflective of his own medical training and scientific background.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albert Finney</span> English actor (1936–2019)

Albert Finney was an English actor. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and worked in the theatre before attaining prominence on screen in the early 1960s, debuting with The Entertainer (1960), directed by Tony Richardson, who had previously directed him in the theatre. He maintained a successful career in theatre, film and television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Coburn</span> American actor (1928–2002)

James Harrison Coburn III was an American film and television actor who was featured in more than 70 films, largely action roles, and made 100 television appearances during a 45-year career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Dey</span> American actress

Susan Hallock Dey is a retired American actress, known for her television roles as Laurie Partridge on the sitcom The Partridge Family from 1970 to 1974, and as Grace Van Owen on the drama series L.A. Law from 1986 to 1992. A three-time Emmy Award nominee and six-time Golden Globe Award nominee, she won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama Series for L.A. Law in 1988.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amanda Pays</span> British actress

Amanda Pays is an English interior designer, actress, and television presenter.

<i>Tron</i> 1982 science fiction film by Steven Lisberger

Tron is a 1982 American science fiction action adventure film written and directed by Steven Lisberger from a story by Lisberger and Bonnie MacBird. The film stars Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, a computer programmer and video game developer who is transported inside the software world of a mainframe computer where he interacts with programs in his attempt to escape; it also stars Bruce Boxleitner, David Warner, Cindy Morgan, and Barnard Hughes. Tron, along with The Last Starfighter, has the distinction of being one of cinema's earliest films to use extensive computer-generated imagery (CGI).

<i>Congo</i> (novel) 1980 novel by Michael Crichton

Congo is a 1980 science fiction novel by Michael Crichton, the fifth under his own name and the fifteenth overall. The novel centers on an expedition searching for diamonds and investigating the mysterious deaths of a previous expedition in the dense tropical rainforest of the Congo. Crichton calls Congo a lost world novel in the tradition founded by Henry Rider Haggard's King Solomon's Mines, featuring the mines of that work's title.

<i>Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius</i> 2001 American computer-animated film

Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius is a 2001 American animated science fiction comedy film produced by Nickelodeon Movies, O Entertainment and DNA Productions, and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film was directed by John A. Davis and written by Davis and producer Steve Oedekerk. Its voice cast includes Debi Derryberry, Patrick Stewart, Martin Short, Rob Paulsen, and Jeffrey Garcia. The film follows the title character, a schoolboy with super-genius intelligence, who must save all of the parents of his hometown from a race of egg-like aliens known as the Yolkians.

<i>Nicktoons Film Festival</i> American TV series or program

The Nicktoons Film Festival was an annual event that was created by producer Fred Seibert and produced for its first three years by his Frederator Studios.

Spider-Man: The New Animated Series, or simply Spider-Man, is an animated superhero television series based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man and produced by Sony Pictures Television. Initially intended to serve as a continuation of Sam Raimi's film Spider-Man (2002), as well as a loose adaptation of the Ultimate Spider-Man comic books by Brian Michael Bendis, the show was made using computer generated imagery (CGI) rendered in cel shading. It ran for only one season of 13 episodes, premiering on July 11, 2003, and was broadcast on cable channels MTV in the U.S. and YTV in Canada.

Mathematical Applications Group, Inc. was an early computer technology company founded in 1966 by Dr. Philip Mittelman and located in Elmsford, New York, where it was evaluating nuclear radiation exposure. By modeling structures using combinatorial geometry mathematics and applying monte carlo radiation ray tracing techniques, the mathematicians could estimate exposures at various distances and relative locations in and around fictional structures. In 1972, the graphics group called MAGi/SynthaVision was formed at MAGi by Robert Goldstein.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Motion graphics</span> Digital footage or animation which create the illusion of motion or rotation

Motion graphics are pieces of animation or digital footage which create the illusion of motion or rotation, and are usually combined with audio for use in multimedia projects. Motion graphics are usually displayed via electronic media technology, but may also be displayed via manual powered technology. The term distinguishes static graphics from those with a transforming appearance over time, without over-specifying the form. While any form of experimental or abstract animation can be called motion graphics, the term typically more explicitly refers to the commercial application of animation and effects to video, film, TV, and interactive applications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shirley Anne Field</span> English actress (1936–2023)

Shirley Anne Field was an English actress who performed on stage, film and television since 1955, prominent during the British New Wave.

A virtual human, virtual persona, or digital clone is the creation or re-creation of a human being in image and voice using computer-generated imagery and sound, that is often indistinguishable from the real actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Computer graphics</span> Graphics created using computers

Computer graphics deals with generating images and art with the aid of computers. Today, computer graphics is a core technology in digital photography, film, video games, digital art, cell phone and computer displays, and many specialized applications. A great deal of specialized hardware and software has been developed, with the displays of most devices being driven by computer graphics hardware. It is a vast and recently developed area of computer science. The phrase was coined in 1960 by computer graphics researchers Verne Hudson and William Fetter of Boeing. It is often abbreviated as CG, or typically in the context of film as computer generated imagery (CGI). The non-artistic aspects of computer graphics are the subject of computer science research.

The history of computer animation began as early as the 1940s and 1950s, when people began to experiment with computer graphics – most notably by John Whitney. It was only by the early 1960s when digital computers had become widely established, that new avenues for innovative computer graphics blossomed. Initially, uses were mainly for scientific, engineering and other research purposes, but artistic experimentation began to make its appearance by the mid-1960s – most notably by Dr Thomas Calvert. By the mid-1970s, many such efforts were beginning to enter into public media. Much computer graphics at this time involved 2-dimensional imagery, though increasingly as computer power improved, efforts to achieve 3-dimensional realism became the emphasis. By the late 1980s, photo-realistic 3D was beginning to appear in film movies, and by mid-1990s had developed to the point where 3D animation could be used for entire feature film production.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Computer-generated imagery</span> Application of computer graphics to create or contribute to images

Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is a specific-technology or application of computer graphics for creating or improving images in art, printed media, simulators, videos and video games. These images are either static or dynamic. CGI both refers to 2D computer graphics and 3D computer graphics with the purpose of designing characters, virtual worlds, or scenes and special effects. The application of CGI for creating/improving animations is called computer animation, or CGI animation.

<i>Linda</i> (1973 film) British TV series or program

Linda is a 1973 American made-for-television crime thriller film directed by Jack Smight based on the novel by John D. MacDonald.

References

  1. 1 2 Looker at the American Film Institute Catalog
  2. 1 2 Goldman, Lowell (Spring 1991). "James Coburn Seven and Seven Is". Psychotronic Video. No. 9. p. 28.
  3. 1 2 "Looker (1981) - Financial Information". The Numbers .
  4. "Looker". Turner Classic Movies . Retrieved August 13, 2016.
  5. Visual and Special Effects Film Milestones from Filmsite.org
  6. Warga, Wayne. (Mar 1, 1981). "Fact, Fiction Intertwined By Crichton". Los Angeles Times. p. m22.
  7. Buckley, Tom (6 February 1981). "AT THE MOVIES; How Resnais made a success with science. (Published 1981)". The New York Times . p. C12.
  8. Pollock, Dale (Aug 6, 1980). "Film Clips: All Geared Up With Nowhere To Go". Los Angeles Times. p. i3.
  9. "Roderick Mann: Leigh Taylor-Young Returns To The Scene". Los Angeles Times. Jan 8, 1981. p. h1.
  10. Maltin's TV, Movie, & Video Guide
  11. "Looker (1981)". Rotten Tomatoes .