Creator (1985)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Ivan Passer

Writers:

Jeremy Leven (novel)
Jeremy Leven (screenplay)

Release Date:

20 September 1985 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

It's potentially dangerous, probably illegal and definitely crazy.

Plot:

An eccentric scientist teaches a student in his own manner while he looks for a way to clone his deceased wife.

Plot Keywords:

Scientist | Male Nudity | Shower Scene | Female Nudity | Coma

Cast

Peter O'Toole	...	Dr. Harry Wolper
Mariel Hemingway	...	Meli
Vincent Spano	...	Boris Lafkin
Virginia Madsen	...	Barbara Spencer
David Ogden Stiers	...	Dr. Sid Kullenbeck
John Dehner	...	Paul
Karen Kopins	...	Lucy Wolper
Kenneth Tigar	...	Pavlo
Elsa Raven	...	Mrs. Mallory
Lee Kessler	...	Mrs. Pruitt
Rance Howard	...	Mr. Spencer
Ellen Geer	...	Mrs. Spencer
Ian Wolfe	...	Prof. Brauer
Mike Jolly	...	Boom-Boom
Burton Collins	...	Lyman

Also Known As:

The Big Picture (USA)

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:12 | West Germany:12 | Finland:K-15 (new rating: 2001) | Spain:T | Australia:M | Finland:K-14 | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Alexian Bros. Hospital, San Jose, California, USA

Company:

Kings Road Entertainment

Trivia:

At the beach house, Harry tells Boris that Lucy was a former Miss New Jersey. Karen Kopins, who plays Lucy, was a former Miss Connecticut.

Goofs:

Factual errors: At one point Harry and Boris steal Syd's sequencer to "get her [Lucy's] amino acids in the right sequence". This is most likely a case of literary license on behalf of the script writers. Protein sequencers are used to determine the amino acid sequences of constituent peptides and invariably destroy the samples being analyzed.

Quotes:

Dr Harry Wolper: (to patient) Well now, haven't you put yourself into a pretty old pickle?
Boris: Harry.
Dr Harry Wolper: Eh heh?
Boris: Harry, she's in a coma.
Dr Harry Wolper: Comas confuse me. She's not asleep. She is not dead. She must be alive, don't you think?
Boris: Yes.
Dr Harry Wolper: But what we need round here is some consciousness.

Soundtrack:

I'm a Woman

Brilliant and Original

Creator is one of only a handful of films that I would call original. The characters are complex and three-dimensional, genuine and intriguing (some of the best performances I've ever seen, especially Peter O'Toole). The story, too, is genuine, using everyday people and circumstances to approach powerful themes. What I appreciate most, however, is that the film is deep without being pretentious, and philosophical without losing its entertainment value. Creator is often underrated, probably because it strays from the structure that man moviegoers have come to rely on in a feature film, but it deserves a lot of credit, and is one of the most creative, insightful, and overall extraordinary films I've ever seen.