The Six Million Dollar Man (1973) (TV)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Richard Irving

Writers:

Martin Caidin (novel)
Howard Rodman (teleplay)

Release Date:

7 March 1973 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Sci-Fi

Plot:

After an astronaut/test pilot is catastrophically mutilated in a test plane crash, he is rebuilt and equipped with nuclear powered bionic limbs and implants.

Plot Keywords:

Agent | Cyborg | TV Series Pilot | Bionics | Robot

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Lee Majors	...	Steve Austin
Barbara Anderson	...	Jean Manners
Martin Balsam	...	Dr. Rudy Wells
Darren McGavin	...	Oliver Spencer
Charles Robinson	...	Prisoner (as Charles Knox Robinson)
Ivor Barry	...	Geraldton
Dorothy Green	...	Mrs. McKay
Anne Whitfield	...	Young Woman
George Wallace	...	General
Robert Cornthwaite	...	Dr. Ashburn
Olan Soule	...	Saltillo (as Alan Soulé)
Norma Storch	...	Woman
Maurice Sherbanee	...	Nudaylah
John Mark Robinson	...	Aide

Also Known As:

Cyborg: The Six Million Dollar Man
The Six Million Dollar Man: The Moon and the Desert (USA) (rerun title)

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | UK:U | Norway:11 (video premiere)

Filming Locations:

Edwards Air Force Base, California, USA

Company:

Universal TV

Trivia:

The exterior shots of the OSI building are actually of the Russell Senate Office Building, as seen from the Capitol grounds across Constitution Avenue in Washington, DC.

Goofs:

Continuity: Applies only to the reedited "Moon and the Desert" syndicated version: Signage showing O.S.I. is inserted into the episode, however dialogue still refers to the O.S.O. (Office of Strategic Operations).

Quotes:

Dr. Rudy Wells: I want to show you something, Steve. This is your arm.
Steve Austin: That's it, huh?
Dr. Rudy Wells: Um-hmn. We're rather proud of it. There's a manual that goes with it that has eight hundred and forty pages. I'll give you a copy.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Six Million Centavo Man (1980)

The neverdated story.

The six million dollar man is one of the greatest series ever. I can't understand why it doesn't have a full troupe of fans like other series, because it unarguably deserves it. Its permanence during its 5 seasons proofs this. I remember watching the episodes during my childhood and being fascinated by this man with extraordinary force! I ask myself who can be emotionless enough not to be amazed by a man who can run at the speed of a car, or jump to/from a 5-story building! For those of you who haven't heard, TSMDM is about an astronaut and test pilot who crashes and has some of his lost limbs rebuilt using bionics: he gets kind of iron/electronic legs, a right arm, and a telescopic eye (which makes him capable of seeing with super zoom and also in the infrared portion of the spectrum). All these replacements contribute to make him "better than he was before: better... stronger... faster."

Recently, when I realized that TSMDM was being showed again in the Sci-fi channel, I wondered myself if that mystic would still penetrate my mind, after 20 years. I've read many opinions that states that any movie was maybe Ok for its time, but bad or old fashioned nowadays. You can not consider art as if it were a technology: art is just timeless GOOD or BAD, and simply fulfills our expectations at certain moments or not, but are us who changes, not the art itself. The Six Million Dollar Man is the Good type, because besides the hero, it has good, interesting, and -most important- credible arguments (a point where "The Bionic Woman" lacks). I like specially the episodes involving robots, perhaps the toughest enemies that Steve Austin has to confront; the ones involving nuclear weapons are among the classics too; and the multipart episodes with The Bionic Woman are a great novel themselves.

The acting is performed by Lee Majors as TSMDM and Richard Anderson as the everlasting Oscar Goldman. Maybe someday one of them enters the IMDB and, why not, they find themselves reading this comment; then the following words are for them: Thank you for stimulating my imagination yesterday and today, thank you for all the fun I feel when watching your adventures, and thank you for adding your little chunk of happiness to my life, contributing to make it better than already is.