The Inheritors Part I

One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed by James Goldstone; Produced by Ben Brady; Executive Producer: Leslie Stevens, for United Artists TV, broadcast by ABC-TV. Screenplay by Seeleg Lester and Sam Neuman; Photography by Kenneth Peach; Edited by Richard Brockway; Music by Harry Lubin. Starring: Robert Duvall, Steve Ihnat, Donald Harron, James Shigeta, Ivan Dixon, James Frawley, Dee Pollock and Ted DeCorsia.

Far superior to the majority of theatrical film sci-fi releases, this 2-part "Outer Limits" movie is suspenseful and brilliantly acted and directed. Four US soldiers are shot with identical bullets and their brainwave patterns show presence of an outside intelligence. Each one becomes a specialized genius, working on an aspect of a mysterious project, with Steve a financial wizard rounding up crippled children like some slick ghoul, as Duvall is hot on their trail.

Four men, four bullets to the head, four normal soldiers now have IQ's of over 200. It is discovered that their brainwaves are doubled which means they actually have a second brain, but even more interesting is that the patterns of this second brain are identical in all of the men. Robert Duvall becomes aware that there is something afoot and begins to investigate things. The clue is a honeycomb pattern to the metal in the bullets. There appears to have been a substance within the cells that has infiltrated the brains of the soldiers, giving them super powers. What they do with it is a mystery because there is nothing dangerous about what they do. One of them even uses the stock market to get a substantial, though in some ways, modest profit. They begin to travel the world doing all kinds of seemingly unrelated things, including coming up with alloys and producing large quantities of inert gases. Duvall calls out the dogs, even though there is nothing illegal which begs the question of government interference in the lives of what should be considered war heroes. This is a worthy setup to the second half.

Intelligent, driving, compelling drama. I won't belabor the plot which is already described here. Don't read too much about it before viewing! (Frankly, the less you know about the plot in advance, the better.) I will say how glad I am that the producers permitted this story to stretch over two episodes. It permits detail, texture, and the buildup of suspense normally characteristic of finer motion pictures. Surprisingly, two hours are barely enough.

Of course, it doesn't hurt to have a legend on the order of Robert Duvall in the lead--and the supporting performances are just as strong. But the real credit in my view goes to Seeleg Lester, Sam Neuman, and Ed Adamson, who devised one heck of a cracking yarn, so deliberate and insistent that you aren't really distracted by some minor plot holes, or anything else frankly. On top of its entertainment value, it's genuinely disturbing.

I have no idea if Lester intended this--consciously or otherwise--as an addiction allegory but it most certainly works as one. Men forced to do things against their will, over and over--lying, cheating, stealing, "but for what purpose?...We aren't even aware of what we're doing." Because they are driven by an unseen demon. Of a sort. (A bit more far-fetched, it also works as a Cold War allegory.)

Ever since seeing "Demon with a Glass Hand" (q.v.) I sorted the series to see which other episodes got such high ratings (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056777/eprate). That naturally led me to this. So I was very much interested to see what OL ep would garner an 8.8 rating. Well, it turns out that the Outer Limits fanboys (and girls) on IMDb know what they're doing. Given that TOL includes some really cheesy, kitschy eps it's gratifying to see one as smart as this.

Two hours? There's barely enough time to catch your breath.

Robert Duvall is up against four genius troublemakers.

Fans of Star Trek's Whom Gods Destroy: this hour is for you! Steve Ihnat did two really good sci-fi characters in his lifetime and Whom Gods and The Inheritors are where you find those characters.

Granted, he was more fun in Star Trek but you hang on his every word in The Outer Limits.

Robert Duvall, the story and acting are all fine. The only issue I have is the sometimes poor musical score which sounds like the score for the 1950s flick: It Came From Outer Space.

Note: Part 2 is better than part 1.

When I watched this two-part episode of "The Outer Limits", I had no idea that it was a two-parter. Instead, I accidentally watched the second episode--because the DVD had part one and part two on different sides of the disc. Oddly, however, part two alone made for one of the greatest episodes in the series!

Everything in part one was explained or alluded to in part two. What you see in part one is mostly about the Lieutenant--his injury, the surgery, the beginnings of his odd psychic powers, etc.--but there is also much more emphasis on the work of the government investigator (Robert Duvall) and his tracking down the cause of the strange changes in four soldiers all shot in a place which seems to probably be Vietnam (though the country is left unnamed). Regardless, four soldiers have brain injuries from weird bullets and the four find themselves being compelled to work on some strange other-worldy project--and the government is very worried about what this project may be. I'd say more, but it would spoil the suspense.

It's all very interesting but also seemed a bit stretched thin--like the episode could have been done in 30 minutes. Still, it's all very interesting and along with its conclusion make for great viewing. Well worth seeing--and very intelligently written.