Scientist Jim Grayam saves his boss' wife from suicide, but then he falls in love with her.Scientist Jim Grayam saves his boss' wife from suicide, but then he falls in love with her.Scientist Jim Grayam saves his boss' wife from suicide, but then he falls in love with her.
- Jim Grayam
- (as Jeff Hunter)
- Angie DeWitt
- (as Kathie Brown)
- Julie Benson
- (as Victoria Meyerink)
- Spectator
- (uncredited)
- Party Guest
- (uncredited)
- Party Guest
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaWilliam Conrad: can be seeing lying on the bunk to the right of the man playing the song he won't finish. When Jeffrey Hunter yells at the guitar player, Conrad, smoking a cigar in bed, turns and looks in Hunter's direction.
- GoofsWhen Dr. Larstadt is looking at the x-rays of what is supposedly Grayam's skull, the films are clearly not all of the same person. Note the different dental work in the last two images, for example.
- Quotes
Lorrie Benson: Jim, are you sure about this? The whole thing is getting so involved.
Jim Grayam: No, but that's what makes this so fascinating. It's like walking on a tight rope -- you make one misstep and you've had it. But if you succeed, it's as though you defy the very law of gravity ... and I am going to succeed. I'm going to beat it, because I'm going to plead guilty and imply insanity.
Lorrie Benson: You mean, plead not guilty?
Jim Grayam: No, no, look. It's all right here, all of it. All of the booby traps, all of the wrong turns. It's just like a military campaign. Every step has got to be planned. That's why I'm taking my time. You see, the murder, the trial, the psychiatrist -- each phase has got to be a victory for me.
Lorrie Benson: Well then, why plead guilty?
Jim Grayam: No, don't you see? Pleading not guilty by reason of insanity is the worst thing I could possibly do. Because nine times out of ten, the judge and the jury reason that if a man is sane enough to plead not guilty to the general charge, then he is sane enough to send to the gas chamber. Now the trick is... the trick is to plead guilty, but by my actions, my attitude, make them think that I have no real awareness to the crime or its consequences. Now do you understand?
Lorrie Benson: No, not entirely.
Jim Grayam: You will.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Trailer Trauma 2: Drive-in Monsterama (2016)
But that's what Jeffrey Hunter tries to do in Brainstorm. Hunter is a top scientist working for billionaire industrialist Dana Andrews. Hunter one nights saves Anne Francis who is the wife of Andrews from a suicide attempt. Risks his own life to do it.
Andrews is a cruel and vicious man and Hunter falls for Francis. Like the way Barbara Stanwyck lures Fred MacMurray into her murder scheme, Francis gets entrapped in her scheme and goes one better in that Hunter thinks it's all his idea.
Like my GED case Hunter being a most educated man figures he can game the insanity defense system. He does to some extent, but the end results are not what he bargained for.
I was pleasantly surprised by this film, mainly because Dana Andrews was doing a lot of mediocre films at this point so I wasn't expecting much from Brainstorm. But I found it refreshingly original, written and directed by actor William Conrad who had a nice sense of style. Jeffrey Hunter was really great in the part of the luckless lead. Kudos also go to Viveca Lindfors as a consulting psychiatrist.
The scenes with Hunter in the insane asylum are really freaky and bizarre. I expected to see Olivia DeHavilland and Dr. Kick come in the ward. The scenes were right of The Snake Pit. Strother Martin is one of the patients and he's memorable too.
And the ending is one for the books. Definitely if you're a fan of any of the players I mentioned you should see this film.
- bkoganbing
- Jan 15, 2019
- Permalink
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Das teuflische Spiel
- Filming locations
- 8433 Fallbrook Avenue, Canoga Park, California, USA("Benson Industries" building - then TRW's west headquarters, since demolished)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 45 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1