The Last Generation

Summary The Last Generation takes place in a future time in an over-populated New York City, where multiple, unrelated families share apartment space, and there is no 'real' food available to the general public, only artificial versions of eggs, wheat and vegetables, etc. Babies born without government permission are frozen and only under extraordinary circumstances are thawed and given to the parents (an example is to replace a child lost in a foreign 'military police action' type war, similar to a Vietnam type of conflict. One of the peripheral characters in the film has that happen, and the thawed child is never quite 'right'). There is only public transportation, such as overhead trains and subways, and moving sidewalks on which protesters 'march' with signs that say, "legalize suicide" and "legalize abortion" (not yet legal in the U.S. at the time movie was filmed). The premise of the movie is a race from one side of NYC to the other, put on by the criminally connected government of the country and city. The winner of this race will be given one acre of the last remaining Unite States National Park Land being distributed to the 'public' through these contests across the country. On this acre the winner would be allowed to have a cow and a couple of chickens and to grow vegetables. It is made clear that no one expects a regular everyday person to actually WIN, it is all a ploy to enable a big business type to have someone win the property for one of the big bosses so he can develop it with another high rise, such as those that have blocked the city so that one can no longer make it all the way across NYC without climbing buildings as if they were mountains because security will not allow anyone 'unconnected' inside them to pass through! The story's hero ( Stuart Whitman) decides to enter the race, and gets a variety of people to help him by promising to share the bounty he grows on his little farm with them if he wins. This captures the imagination of many hopeless people, who advance him things like a map of the old sewer system under the city, and providing climbing gear to get over the skyscrapers and other things, against these hopes of future returns. Just before he sets out on this contest race he discovers he has another incentive: his wife (Vera Miles) is pregnant, against the law, and if he does not win the race and thus earn the right to have a child, the baby will be frozen and his wife punished. During his desperate race to cross the city he must wear protective gear to go into the Hudson River that is so toxic it will kill him if he is not so protected. He has to do it so he can get to the sewer system to go under the city instead of trying to climb the tall buildings. To get to the river he must go through an 'auto graveyard'. There are no longer cars and trucks in this city, and all the abandoned ones are parked with the sides almost touching, as they would be in a crowded valet parking lot, covering acres and acres of space. There are rebellious homeless people who live in these cars in a desperate and wild state. He is befriended by one manic soul who lights a precious hand rolled black market cigarette in front of him....something he has never seen before, and only heard of as if it were a legend of something awful. He runs from the car as the car dweller cackles manically. Other adventures include an encounter with a gangster (Cesar Romero) who has a daughter (Connie Stevens), who kind of falls for the hero and helps him by getting some needed equipment to continue his journey, and warns him that the criminal element are seeking to kill him to prevent him from interfering with their winning the race. In the end the hero does win, and the final scene shows him and his now obviously pregnant wife inside, and clinging to, a high chain link fence, with trees and grass behind them (there has been no other vegetation shown in this movie) listening to the shouted curses of the masses outside as they are held back by military police. The hero's final words are those of a hope they can start a new beginning for humankind in their little Eden, but the surrounding chaos implies that it is just too late. View more details

The Last Generation

Directed : William A. Graham

Written : Earl Hamner Jr.

Stars : Lee Grant Lew Ayres Phil Harris Pearl Bailey

7.4

Details

Genres : Sci-Fi Drama

Release date : Feb 6, 1966

Countries of origin : United States

Language : English

Production companies : R & S Film Enterprises Inc.

Summary The Last Generation takes place in a future time in an over-populated New York City, where multiple, unrelated families share apartment space, and there is no 'real' food available to the general public, only artificial versions of eggs, wheat and vegetables, etc. Babies born without government permission are frozen and only under extraordinary circumstances are thawed and given to the parents (an example is to replace a child lost in a foreign 'military police action' type war, similar to a Vietnam type of conflict. One of the peripheral characters in the film has that happen, and the thawed child is never quite 'right'). There is only public transportation, such as overhead trains and subways, and moving sidewalks on which protesters 'march' with signs that say, "legalize suicide" and "legalize abortion" (not yet legal in the U.S. at the time movie was filmed). The premise of the movie is a race from one side of NYC to the other, put on by the criminally connected government of the country and city. The winner of this race will be given one acre of the last remaining Unite States National Park Land being distributed to the 'public' through these contests across the country. On this acre the winner would be allowed to have a cow and a couple of chickens and to grow vegetables. It is made clear that no one expects a regular everyday person to actually WIN, it is all a ploy to enable a big business type to have someone win the property for one of the big bosses so he can develop it with another high rise, such as those that have blocked the city so that one can no longer make it all the way across NYC without climbing buildings as if they were mountains because security will not allow anyone 'unconnected' inside them to pass through! The story's hero ( Stuart Whitman) decides to enter the race, and gets a variety of people to help him by promising to share the bounty he grows on his little farm with them if he wins. This captures the imagination of many hopeless people, who advance him things like a map of the old sewer system under the city, and providing climbing gear to get over the skyscrapers and other things, against these hopes of future returns. Just before he sets out on this contest race he discovers he has another incentive: his wife (Vera Miles) is pregnant, against the law, and if he does not win the race and thus earn the right to have a child, the baby will be frozen and his wife punished. During his desperate race to cross the city he must wear protective gear to go into the Hudson River that is so toxic it will kill him if he is not so protected. He has to do it so he can get to the sewer system to go under the city instead of trying to climb the tall buildings. To get to the river he must go through an 'auto graveyard'. There are no longer cars and trucks in this city, and all the abandoned ones are parked with the sides almost touching, as they would be in a crowded valet parking lot, covering acres and acres of space. There are rebellious homeless people who live in these cars in a desperate and wild state. He is befriended by one manic soul who lights a precious hand rolled black market cigarette in front of him....something he has never seen before, and only heard of as if it were a legend of something awful. He runs from the car as the car dweller cackles manically. Other adventures include an encounter with a gangster (Cesar Romero) who has a daughter (Connie Stevens), who kind of falls for the hero and helps him by getting some needed equipment to continue his journey, and warns him that the criminal element are seeking to kill him to prevent him from interfering with their winning the race. In the end the hero does win, and the final scene shows him and his now obviously pregnant wife inside, and clinging to, a high chain link fence, with trees and grass behind them (there has been no other vegetation shown in this movie) listening to the shouted curses of the masses outside as they are held back by military police. The hero's final words are those of a hope they can start a new beginning for humankind in their little Eden, but the surrounding chaos implies that it is just too late. View more details

Details

Genres : Sci-Fi Drama

Release date : Feb 6, 1966

Countries of origin : United States

Language : English

Production companies : R & S Film Enterprises Inc.

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El Alaméin

El Alaméin

Several years after the end of World War II, mechanical engineer Joe Banning returns to North Africa to recall his wartime experiences: As a civilian tank mechanic, Joe delivers the newest models of American-made tanks to the British Seventh Tank Corps. Eager to try out the tank, British captain Harbison, Joe and a partial crew set out on a desert patrol, but because they have a malfunctioning compass and no radio, they are soon lost. The crew picks up a Punjabi solder, Corp. Singh Das, the sole survivor of a search party wiped out by the Germans, and proceeds toward a supply depot, which is being held by a small Italian contingent. After driving off the Italians, the tank crew refuels and loads up with supplies. Joe repairs the Italian radio and Harbison realizes from information broadcast by British headquarters that they are deep behind German lines. Headquarters then announces confirmation of the start of the Allied campaign, led by Field Commander Bernard Montgomery, to drive the Germans, led by "Desert Fox" Erwin Rommel, out of North Africa. Anxious to reunite with the division to assist in the upcoming conflict, Harbison welcomes the addition of four Australian infantrymen separated from their unit who wander into the supply camp. Later that afternoon, a lone German fighter plane strafes the depot and is shot down by the tank crew. The pilot bails out and when he is discovered to be severely wounded, Singh offers to kill him to end his suffering. Harbison rejects the offer and while the men debate what to do next, the pilot tries to shoot the captain. Singh throws himself in front of Harbison and is killed by the pilot who later dies from his wounds. The men are further unsettled when they hear on the radio an English broadcast from Germany declaring that the Allied desert campaign will fail. Harbison decides to continue to an old Bedouin tomb near El Alamein, the designated rendezvous point of the brigade. Upon arriving the next day, they find a native and his teenaged niece, Selim and Jara, with their goat and camel camped there. When Selim reveals that the Germans have used the well near the tomb, Harbison orders the water tested for poison. Determining that the water is safe, Harbison suspects that the Germans will likely return and posts guards. When Harbison is unable to home in on the British radio signal, he worries that attack plan may have changed. Distrustful of Selim, Joe is nevertheless startled when Selim offers to sell Jara to the men. Joe agrees to be Jara's guardian when she reveals that her uncle mistreats her, and Harbison promises that Jara will be sent to a mission school after the Allied campaign. That evening, Jara flirts with Joe while Selim knocks out his guard and flees to the Germans to report the arrival of the British tank. The German commander, leading a tank brigade to the tomb for water, sends a truck ahead to verify Selim's report. With Jara's assistance, Harbison's men lure the reconnaissance truck into a trap, killing Selim and most of the Germans, but two Germans escape into the desert. When papers on the dead Germans identify them as members of the Fourth Afrika Korps, Harbison is certain that the escaped Germans will bring back reinforcements. To protect Jara from the anticipated attack, Joe attempts to convince her to flee, but she refuses and hides inside the large tomb's cave. Trying to force Jara's camel to rise, Joe and the others discover a supply of gasoline and ammunition buried inside the cavern. Realizing the importance of the site to the Germans, Harbison again attempts to raise the main British forces on the radio. The tank crew then hears a report that British Prime Minister Winston Churchill has met with Montgomery in the field near El Alamein where the Allies are leading a successful assault on Rommel's forces. After Joe sends Jara away on the camel, Harbison orders the men to cover the tank with a parachute. As night falls, German infantry are spotted approaching the tomb site. The tank crew fends off the attack, but Harbison wonders how long they can hold off the enemy. Joe returns to working on the radio, but is interrupted by another German attack. After again keeping the Germans at bay, Joe is finally able to repair the radio and sends a message to a tank brigade within a few miles reporting Harbison's crew's position. The brigade confirms that the German lines have crumbled and they are on their way to assist Harbison. The Germans then make a rear assault on the tank crew, killing all of the Australians. As German panzers are sighted, Harbison orders his remaining crew to blow up the ammunition dump. The British tank brigade then arrives and after engaging the Germans in a fierce tank, emerges victorious. In the present, Joe reflects on the bravery of the men in Harbison's tank crew and promises never to forget them.

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