CYBORG 2087 (1966)

In the year 2087, mankind has been enslaved under one illegitimate government (think 1984's Big Brother) using computer tools that were made possible by the inventions, back in 1966, of Prof. Marx who produced the means of radio telepathy which the future government uses to control the populace. We see a small team of scientists attempt to send a cyborg back in time to 1966 to stop Marx from giving a presentation of his machine in order to change the future. Garth, the cyborg, in what is literally a physical time capsule, winds up in an Western ghost town on the outskirts of Desert City, the home of Dr. Marx's research company, Future Industries. We see Marx and his assistant Dr. Sharon Mason finalize an experiment in which Marx can play chess with a chimpanzee through the computerized telepathy device. In the future, people have a telepathy device implanted in their bodies so they are controlled from birth, and even cyborg Garth has one. The next day, Marx will give a demonstration of his device to some important government people, and it's Garth’s mission to stop that from happening. After using a stun gun to knock out some folks in his way, he arrives at the lab just after Marx has left to give a lecture, so he explains to Mason and another assistant named Zellner (Warren Stevens) what they must help him do. First on the list is to surgically remove his telepathy device so he can hide from the trackers coming from the future. Zellner does it, but the trackers are already in 1966 to stop Garth's mission however they can.

This is one of a series of B-level movies made by United Pictures Corporation in the mid-60s intended as TV movies that were given brief theatrical releases (DIMENSION 5 is another). It has the look and feel (and music) of a TV movie, shot quickly and with a budget too low for impressive sets or effects—the opening scene of Garth being sent to the past looks like it was shot in someone's basement. The plot, which to some degree prefigures that of the Terminator movies, isn't fleshed out much and most of the exposition is given in drab dialogue. Michael Rennie is Garth and he looks and sounds a bit like Klaatu, his alien character from THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. He also seems like he just wants to get through two weeks of filming and go back to England. The always boring Wendell Corey plays the town sheriff who gets involved in a search for Garth. For the record, Warren Stevens (Zellner), Karen Steele (Mason) and Eduard Franz (Marx) complete the main cast. A couple of teenagers get involved briefly. One is the elfin-looking James Hibbard who I recognized as an uncredited dancer in Bye Bye Birdie and Thoroughly Modern Millie (pictured between Stevens and Steele); the other is ubiquitous 70s actor John Beck who had major supporting roles later in Sleeper and Rollerball. This is a movie of which I imagine none of its participants is proud. I will grudgingly admit that it's watchable for a Saturday afternoon, but it won’t stick with you, even though the final plot point is interesting. [YouTube]