Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

I was only 3 when this came out. I couldn't help but figuring out who this character is. This character is a cross between "Iron Man" and " The Six Million Dollar Man" . Here you have a physics teacher who thwart a bank robbery while giving his student a loan. Later on , the same student shows not only his gratitude, but his concern of his teacher's safety following the robber's arrest. Well two things go bad for the professor: His assistant gets blown away in a car bomb meant for the professor, then another goon crippled him forcing him to be silent. He was, only for a few days. He would later continue on the project that the assistant was working on for a bigger cause: Learning to walk again. He would gather all the notes, all the information, and all the plans to create a suit that will help him walk again. Not only that, make him invulnerable as well. He is known as Exo-Man. A man in a suit of armor that can make him mobile, strong, and durable. This could make Tony Stark, jealous. It's a shame that it didn't take off as a sci-fi show. It would have lasted a few seasons. With a good cast, and stars to boot, it wasn't given a chance. If there is a remake, it can reach out to those who a wheelchair bound. This is positive energy here. Show this movie more often, please. 2.5 out of 5 stars

It's hard to remember now what an impoverished time the 1970s were for science fiction and superhero television shows. While the SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN, BIONIC WOMAN, INCREDIBLE HULK, and WONDER WOMAN seem to have done well in our memories, their budgets were limited and the creativity was hampered by the SFX technology of the time.But that did not stop studios from trying. And occasionally a network would begrudgingly cough up the money for a pilot in the form of a made-for-TV flick.In this case, the guys behind the two bionic shows on ABC got NBC interested in their pitch for another Martin Caidin concept. Caidin was the leading "tech thriller" writer of the 60s and 70s. His NASA novel MAROONED (actually three novels) was a famous film. His gritty novel CYBORG was softened into the popular SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN. NBC probably asked for "something like the $6M Man but different." They got it.Caidin again looked to cutting edge technology for his gimmick. NASA and the Pentagon had been working on "man-amplifiers", powered frameworks a user could wear and use to possess forklift-like strength. The chemical industry had developed "memory plastic", materials that could be deformed then spring back into shape when an electric current was supplied. So there was the concept-- a man-amplifier suit that used memory plastic joints to make it work.Of course this is television so they needed a crisis to compel the hero to build the thing in the first place. In this case, the hero was a college professor who witnessed a crime. The local mobsters tried shutting him up by nearly killing him. Now paraplegic, the hero decided to combine his work with memory plastic with research by his colleagues to produce an armored plastic suit that can walk on its own. And of course, this being TV, he used the suit to get revenge on the mobsters. He even picked up the obligatory street-smart young assistant along the way. The idea looked good on paper. The only problem was, the best mid-70s SFX tech could come up with was plastic plate mail the wearer could barely move in. NBC took a look at the pilot, let it air once, and quietly forgot about it. As did most of the viewers.Martin Caidin just cashed his check and went on with his life. After all, he still had the royalties from the bionic shows coming in. A few years later, Caidin decided to recycle the basic ideas behind EXOMAN in his early-80s tech thriller MANFAC. Like CYBORG, this is a very serious, very adult novel that still holds up well. MANFAC also enabled Caidin to have his final say on some of the exaggerated powers of THE $6M MAN, especially that "running at 60 mph" trick (the suit's legs literally run out from under the wearer).

Exo-Man is yet another failed movie pilot for a proposed TV series. In this case as an idea from Caiden after the success of the 6 Million Dollar Man. Unfortunately it did not take off. Too bad as it had a lot of potential and would many years later see a similar concept with the series MANTIS. *** SPOILERS MAY FOLLOW***The story plays out similar to that of Marvel's Iron Man with some notable differences. In this case we have a Professor being crippled by gangsters, paralyzed from the waist down. But it happens that this scientist has been working on a bizarre new motive force and decides to incorporate it into a power armor battle suit that will allow him to walk and fight criminals.The suit design is very good and the accompanying sound effects and music give the thing a certain feeling of power. He transports and charges the suit from a special truck and the first combat encounter Exo-Man proves nearly disastrous as the suit has a limited air supply and a stray shot incapacitates the hero, preventing him from opening the visor. Though does give the chance to introduce what would almost certainly have been the obligatory kid companion.The final confrontation with the criminal boss who had him crippled showed some amazing effects for its time and even now.The story plods along a little. But then it is a pilot and was meant to set up the characters and background. The action moments are good though and the almost robotic movement of the suit gives the impression of immense power as it advances. The design is good and the acting and music are all well played. Sets are well laid out and bespeak of some thought put into what was to have been going on.All in all an enjoyable film. Though most certainly not for everyone.

This Old TV movie is a Direct steal of the Marvel Comics Character IRON MAN,The Lead in ths TV movie builds a metal suit to keep him alive,Like Tony Stark[IRON MAN] does,cheesey effects,so-so story,make this Tele-movie nothing to write home about