Fantastic Voyage (1966)

Directed by Richard Fleischer. Starring Stephen Boyd, Arthur Kennedy, Donald Pleasence, Raquel Welch, Edmond O’Brien, William Redfield, Arthur O’Connell, Jean Del Val. [PG]

To save the life of a comatose American spy, a team of doctors are put into a submersible, shrunk to microscopic size, and injected into the patient’s body so they can operate on a blood clot from inside. Imaginative and eventful science fiction movie, but it plods, with more care devoted to lighting and atmosphere than suspense or character. Takes itself seriously, with attention paid to making the science sound remotely possible to the laymen, but it leaves little room for personality among the crew members. The Oscar-winning visual effects may be dated, but they give the mission an eerie, otherworldly quality. No points for guessing which cast member plays a saboteur who goes mad and turns on his cohorts near the end. The movie’s novelization—based on the screenplay, and released a few months prior to the film—was penned by Isaac Asimov. James Brolin appears as a technician.

66/100