I first saw it when it was only 2-3 years old on the late, late show (it evidently was that unsuccessful), and I was half-asleep. Even though it has almost no resemblance to the book (which I only read a few years ago), I still think it's great. And IF it's a bad one, it's a bad one FULL of clever parts (some of which ARE taken from the book)- The Monitors being "do-gooders", but unemotional ones (wanting "no gratitude", as the theme song says), their "prisons" being more like weekend retreats, the commercials for them, just like campaign ads, with the person in the street interviews and the chirpy song. And of course, Keenan Wynn as the "General Ripper" variation, and Ed Begley Sr. as the president. If NOTHING ELSE works, his two scenes DO - the next-to-last one (which I'm tempted to give away), and the earlier one, where, without being a callous person, he somehow manages to HATE being president in a world without crises - "If you think I'M bitter, you should hear what certain parties in the KREMLIN have to say!" And Larry Storch as the most incompetent spy ever. After he spells out his group's whole plan to Susan Oliver, she asks him to let her go, and he says, "I can't - you know too much." (I don't know whether this was even an original joke, but he made it funny.)
