The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler
The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler
G | 30 November 1971 (USA)
The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler Trailers

A U.S. Senator is spirited away to a secret New Mexico medical lab after a serious car crash. His injuries are completely healed by a secret organization that has developed advanced medical technology. What does the organization want in exchange for saving his life? Meanwhile, a reporter who witnessed the accident decides to investigate the senator's disappearance.

Reviews
AutCuddly

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

... View More
Janae Milner

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

... View More
Frances Chung

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

... View More
Haven Kaycee

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

... View More
Leofwine_draca

THE RESURRECTION OF ZACHARY WHEELER is a weird little sci fi movie most probably forgotten by today's audiences. Certainly the low budget of the thing is off-putting, but if you can overcome the film's deficiencies then you might just enjoy it nonetheless. This is a fun little cloning thriller that plays out with the same kind of verve as a Michael Crichton film or the likes of THE CHINA SYNDROME.Leslie Nielsen stars in the straight role of a reporter who witnesses a politician being mortally injured in a car accident. Before long the whole thing is hushed up, so he takes it upon himself to investigate and uncover the truth, which is that the government have begun a cloning scheme in order to harvest spare parts. There are a few chase scenes here, alongside some moments involving people in dodgy blue make up, and it's all very limited. But the film covers the same paranoid government conspiracy ground as many a '70s thriller, and Nielsen gives a solid performance as the lead. Bradford Dillman and Angie Dickinson play in support.

... View More
chow913

I just had to write a review of this film because every sci-fi fan mistakenly believes that 'The Island' 2005 was plagiarized from 'Parts: The Clonus Horror' 1979. Well actually both films were remakes of 'The Resurrection of Zackary Wheeler' which puts them both to shame.The plot: Leslie Neilson stars as TV reporter who just happens to witness the fatal car accident of Senator Zachary Wheeler, whose in line to be elected the next US president.The plot moves at a fast pace and Neilson is immediately fired for reporting a false story. The mass media, government, and industry are all covering up Zachary Wheeler's car accident and apparent death. Neilson isn't taking this lying down and is determined to find the truth no matter how many men in black agents are chasing him.Meanwhile Senator Wheeler awakes in a private super secret hospital with only minor injuries. As we know from the other films, the hospital's miracle secret is clones. By cloning Zachary Wheeler they have enough spare body parts to keep him alive for as long as he's useful.Much to the surprise of the Illuminati shadow government the Senator isn't grateful he's sickened by their illegal cloning project and also very upset to learn what everyone else in the free world already knows, America isn't a democracy. An Illuminati commission of government and industry manipulates all aspects of human life. Their cloning project is just another aspect of their well established power. Wheeler is only a senator because they will it. He will only be elected the next president because they will it. And now he's only alive because they will it and he benefits them.As Wheeler recovers and wrestles with the moral dilemmas of absolute power corrupting absolutely he sparks love with his nurse and the two debate the moral issues. Clearly she's a Jezebel.The other 50% of the film is everyman Neilson outwitting the army of government agents after him. Think, 'North By North West.' 'The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler isn't going to win any award for production quality but the screenplay is very solid and fast paced. The acting is also outstanding from both Neilson and Bradford Dillman as Wheeler.This is a must see and proves the evil cloning conspiracy story actually started out great. It was 'Parts The Clonus Horror' and 'The Island' which mucked it up.

... View More
Chase_Witherspoon

A senator (Dillman) is near-fatally injured in a car wreck witnessed only by intrepid reporter (Nielsen) whose eyewitness account is gagged for national security purposes. Discontent with the ruse, Nielsen investigates and ends up discovering an elaborate human organ harvesting clinic that potentially holds the key to mankind's survival - but only a select few. Science Fiction/pseudo political thriller chooses to focus on the moral dilemmas of its cause, resorting to limp-wristed protection of its diabolical secrets, when opposition threaten to reveal the project's secrets.Small in scale, and more akin to the production values of a telemovie than a fully fledged feature film, there are however some assets in the cast and one or two plot twists to which you can look forward. Dillman as the title character spends most of his time comatose and then in a wheelchair debating scientific heresy, while Dickinson looks more like a space cadet than the dedicated doctor, who believes her work is of national significance. Nielsen is essentially the central character, a tenacious reporter not content to digest the force-fed facts without due interrogation. He spends most of the film, piecing together evidence that eventually leads him to the mysterious clinic in New Mexico. Noted stage actor Daly is also quite effective as the clinic's principal surgeon; his attempt to rationalise the existence of the coneheaded clones (called Somas) lies more in the field of fantasy than it does in any serious debate on human cloning.Well scripted, with okay special effects, concerned mostly of pale-faced make-up on stupefied faces - the Dillman zoo experiment is unintentionally funny, his 'full retard' no doubt perfected by hours of rehearsals and takes. Dressed in monk-like garb with coneheaded frontal lobe projection, the Somas are also quite inspired imagery; more emphasis on their existence might have balanced the argument better, but their brief inclusion is still an alarming visual demonstration of the human harvesting process depicted in the film. Despite its 100 minutes, there's ample action, characterisation and plot development; had the climax resolved more satisfactorily, the film might have become a minor cult favourite, ahead of its time in terms of content. As it is, a worthy sci-fi companion, and perhaps no longer such a distant prospect.

... View More
lost-in-limbo

TV reporter Harry Welsh happens to be a witness to a car accident involving the US Senator Clayton Zachary Wheeler. Welsh see this as a good news story, but after taking him to the hospital and getting ready to broadcast it. The senator has suddenly disappeared and has been taken away to a secret hospital in New Mexico. No one believes Welsh and for not detracting his bulletin he is fired, as news came in that the Senator was on a fishing trip. So decides to go ahead and investigate, because he knows that it was the senator he saw half-dead in the car crash. When Wheeler finally comes around, he learns of the new medical technology governed by an elite group, which involves cloning people, and using these identical (but empty) vessels to harvest the organs for important transplants.What a cheap little unknown gem! I picked up the video at a pawnshop, and when I decided to give it a look. To my surprise the video was still in its packaging, despite the video cases roughed up look. Before the likes of some medical thrillers involving Michael Crichton's "Coma (1978)" and such, this one does seem way before its time and a blue print for those paranoia medical thrillers. The concept behind the film definitely stands up more so today, because of touchy issue of stem cell research. For such low budget restraints it relies more so on story telling by developing a riveting mystery, clever ideas and moody characters. While the action here is very little and extremely dry, it doesn't foil some well placed tension that's sustained by such simple diversions (like fleeing) then anything explosive. On show are raw camera-work and quite a distant, but more often an energetic and high pitch music score that resembled that the golden age of cinema. Make-up for the clones was well conceived and they did provide some startling images. Pacing can get rather stodgy and you call it a rather colourless display, but where it mostly counts, Director Bob Wynn and co have done a fine job with what they had to work with here. At least when it does slow down it gets straight back into it.The technically well-defined script (that dabs in a touch of sharp wit) goes into thorough detail about the ethics of such power governed by political influence. Where this technology can easily be corrupted and how life is a privilege, where everybody deserves a choice. No matter if these clones can't think on their own behalf, they still can breath, which counts for something. While extremely chatty, they're just so many interesting facets, conspiracies and questions in this thought-provoking material. It could have turn into a shoddy and daftly mess, but the theories thrown up are plausibly integrated. After thinking it might lead to something big. It pretty much leaves you in an insecure state (as there's no real conclusion), which can annoy if you're looking for answers. The performances aren't anything special and for some could be too blunt, but I thought Leslie Nielsen in the lead as Harry Welsh gave in a focused and likable turn. Bradford Dillman as Senator Wheeler, Angie Dickinson as Dr Diana Johnson and James Daly as Dr Redding were more than reasonable.At best it's conventional film-making, which simply sticks to its strengths.

... View More