Looker

Cast & Crew

Albert Finney

Dr. Larry Roberts

James Coburn

John Reston

Susan Dey

Cindy Fairmont

Leigh Taylor-Young

Jennifer Long

Dorian Harewood

Lieutenant Masters

Tim Rossovich

Moustache Man

Darryl Hickman

Dr. Jim Belfield

Kathryn Witt

Tina Cassidy

Michael Crichton

Director

Michael Crichton

Screenwriter

Howard Jeffrey

Producer

John Lugar

Associate Producer

Paul Lohmann

Cinematographer

Carl Kress

Film Editing

Barry De Vorzon

Original Music

Dean Edward Mitzner

Production Design

Jack G. Taylor Jr.

Art Director

Jerry Wunderlich

Set Decoration

Betsy Cox

Costume Design

Lynn Stalmaster

Casting

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News & Interviews for Looker

Michael Crichton Passes Away (1942-2008)

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Critic Reviews for Looker

Audience Reviews for Looker

• Jan 30, 2009

  OK, sci-fi fans, I know I overdid it on the graphics in this rec. (even more so than usual) but the super-coolest thing about this nifty movie is the clever optical stun gun concept and the imaginative use of very simple special effects technology to show how it works. Enjoy! <div style="width:310px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com/photos/looker-13602872"><img src="http://content6.flixster.com/photo/13/60/28/13602872_gal.jpg" border="0"/></a><div style="text-align:center;font-size:10px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com"></a> </div></div> <div style="width:310px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com/photos/looker-13602873"><img src="http://content7.flixster.com/photo/13/60/28/13602873_gal.jpg" border="0"/></a><div style="text-align:center;font-size:10px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com"></a></div></div> <div style="width:310px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com/photos/looker-13602876"><img src="http://content6.flixster.com/photo/13/60/28/13602876_gal.jpg" border="0"/></a><div style="text-align:center;font-size:10px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com"><I></I></a> </div></div> <div style="width:310px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com/photos/looker-13603059"><img src="http://content9.flixster.com/photo/13/60/30/13603059_gal.jpg" border="0"/></a><div style="text-align:center;font-size:10px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com"></a> <I>LOOKER</I></div></div> <I>LOOKER</I> (1981) WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY MICHAEL CRICHTON FEATURING: Albert Finney, Tim Rossovich, Susan Dey, James Coburn, Leigh Taylor-Young, and Dorian Harewood GENRE: SCIENCE FICTION TAGS: Mystery PLOT: A plastic surgeon becomes ensnared in a bizarre series of glamour suicides when he discovers the existence of an hypnosis gun. COMMENTS: Doc Roberts (Finney) is plastic surgeon to the vogue and chic. Lately, he's noticed that young actresses who are already perfectly beautiful are coming to him in droves for plastic surgery in order to become even more "perfect." Worse yet, they have a nasty habit of leaping to their deaths nude from the balconies of their high rise condos a short time later. When the police shake down Doc Roberts as a suspect, the conscientious practitioner discovers that all the girls are mixed up with the enigmatic Digital Matrix Corporation. Digital Matrix hires young starlet-hopefuls to be optically laser-scanned so their likenesses can be converted into digitally mastered, computer-animated virtual actresses. Then, for a whopping one-time royalty fee, each likeness can be used perpetually in an unlimited series of television advertisements. When Robert's girlfriend Cindy (Dey), who seems to be in a delightfully perpetual state of semi-nudity throughout the film has the surgery and contracts with Digital Matrix, Roberts decides to play sleuth. Hoping to get to the bottom of the matter before Cindy sails off her balcony and becomes pulp on the bottom of her sky-rise's lightwell, Roberts pokes around at Digital Matrix headquarters. There he discovers a nifty hypnosis gun that blasts the target into a drooling torporous stupor for hours on end -much like the effect of standard prime-time television programming on the masses. The device is an offshoot of some very naughty digital technology that allows pixel-size light signals from the computerized actors' eyes to persuade target audiences to consume, consume, consume! Now what other nefarious uses could such technology lend itself to? Pursued by the police and hypno-stungun wielding Digital Matrix goons, Roberts is due to discover the answer whether he wants to or not. There are some interesting scenes in which, having been zapped into oblivion while getting a beer from the icebox, Roberts comes to hours later with the freezer melting and the contents covered with frost. Worse yet, the tenacious surgeon gets into a Looker shootout during a car chase, with predictable results. <I>Looker's</I> singular sci-fi premise is simply executed in this uncharacteristically gore-free Chricton film. Slightely tongue in cheek, <I>Looker</I> takes the opportunity to draw parallels between time wastage, virtual comatose states, and the anesthetizing, stultifying effects of television. Also satirized are advertising, politics, glamour and general audience gullibility, not to mention mass susceptibility to becoming intellectually crippled by broadcast media. The special effects are simple and dated, but effective. Some of the ideas for the depiction of digital scanning and laser technology were evidently lifted from the earlier <I>Futureworld</I> (streaming on Flixster at last check), the sci-fi sequel to <I>Westworld</I>. <div style="width:310px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com/photos/looker-13602878"><img src="http://content8.flixster.com/photo/13/60/28/13602878_gal.jpg" border="0"/></a><div style="text-align:center;font-size:10px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com"></a></div></div> <div style="width:310px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com/photos/looker-13602879"><img src="http://content9.flixster.com/photo/13/60/28/13602879_gal.jpg" border="0"/></a><div style="text-align:center;font-size:10px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com"></a> </div></div> <div style="width:310px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com/photos/looker-13602881"><img src="http://content7.flixster.com/photo/13/60/28/13602881_gal.jpg" border="0"/></a><div style="text-align:center;font-size:10px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com"></a> </div></div> <div style="width:310px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com/photos/looker-13602883"><img src="http://content9.flixster.com/photo/13/60/28/13602883_gal.jpg" border="0"/></a><div style="text-align:center;font-size:10px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com"></a></div></div> <div style="width:310px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com/photos/looker-13602884"><img src="http://content6.flixster.com/photo/13/60/28/13602884_gal.jpg" border="0"/></a><div style="text-align:center;font-size:10px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com"></a></div></div> <div style="width:310px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com/photos/looker-13602885"><img src="http://content7.flixster.com/photo/13/60/28/13602885_gal.jpg" border="0"/></a><div style="text-align:center;font-size:10px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com"></a> </div></div> <div style="width:310px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com/photos/looker-13602888"><img src="http://content6.flixster.com/photo/13/60/28/13602888_gal.jpg" border="0"/></a><div style="text-align:center;font-size:10px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com"></a> </div></div> <div style="width:310px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com/photos/looker-13603062"><img src="http://content8.flixster.com/photo/13/60/30/13603062_ori.jpg" border="0"/></a><div style="text-align:center;font-size:10px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com"></a> </div></div> <div style="width:310px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com/photos/looker-13602890"><img src="http://content8.flixster.com/photo/13/60/28/13602890_gal.jpg" border="0"/></a><div style="text-align:center;font-size:10px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com"></a> </div></div> <div style="width:310px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com/photos/looker-13602892"><img src="http://content6.flixster.com/photo/13/60/28/13602892_gal.jpg" border="0"/></a><div style="text-align:center;font-size:10px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com"></a> </div></div> <div style="width:310px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com/photos/looker-13602893"><img src="http://content7.flixster.com/photo/13/60/28/13602893_gal.jpg" border="0"/></a><div style="text-align:center;font-size:10px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com"></a></div></div> <div style="width:310px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com/photos/looker-13602894"><img src="http://content8.flixster.com/photo/13/60/28/13602894_gal.jpg" border="0"/></a><div style="text-align:center;font-size:10px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com"></a></div></div> <div style="width:310px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com/photos/looker-13602895"><img src="http://content9.flixster.com/photo/13/60/28/13602895_gal.jpg" border="0"/></a><div style="text-align:center;font-size:10px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com"></a> </div></div> <div style="width:310px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com/photos/looker-13602896"><img src="http://content6.flixster.com/photo/13/60/28/13602896_gal.jpg" border="0"/></a><div style="text-align:center;font-size:10px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com"></a> </div></div> <div style="width:310px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com/photos/looker-13602904"><img src="http://content6.flixster.com/photo/13/60/29/13602904_gal.jpg" border="0"/></a><div style="text-align:center;font-size:10px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com"></a></div></div> <div style="width:120px;font-size:10px;text-align:center;"></div><a href="http://www.flixster.com/videos?videoId=11110925"><img src="http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YKuMguUKGyg/2.jpg" border="0" /></a><div style="font-size:10px;width:120px;text-align:center;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com"><I>LOOKER</I></a> - trailer</div> <div style="width:120px;font-size:10px;text-align:center;"></div><a href="http://www.flixster.com/videos?videoId=11110926"><img src="http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Odj86eBenWk/2.jpg" border="0" /></a><div style="font-size:10px;width:120px;text-align:center;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com">CREEPY CLIP: THE ICEBOX SCENE</a> - <I>LOOKER</I></div>

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  Super Reviewer
• Jul 13, 2008

  Interesting premise, but very dated (80's) and quite choppy in places. Bring a barf back for the title song.

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  Super Reviewer