Indestructible Man
| Indestructible Man | |
|---|---|
 A promotional film poster for "Indestructible Man." | |
| Directed by | Jack Pollexfen |
| Produced by | Jack Pollexfen |
| Written by |
Vy Russell Sue Dwiggins |
| Starring |
Lon Chaney Jr. Max Showalter Marian Carr |
| Music by | Albert Glasser |
| Cinematography | John L. Russell, ASC |
| Edited by | Fred R. Feitshans Jr. |
| Distributed by | Allied Artists |
Release dates | 25 March 1956 |
Running time | 70 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
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Indestructible Man (1956) is an American black-and-white science fiction film, an original screenplay by Vy Russell and Sue Dwiggins for producer-director Jack Pollexfen and starring Lon Chaney, Jr.. The picture was produced independently, and distributed in the United States by Allied Artists Pictures Corporation. It is loosely a remake of the 1941 film, Man Made Monster and is very similar to Frankenstein.
Plot summary
Told in flashback by police detective Dick Chasen (Showalter), the movie concerns a 72-hour period of horror for the main characters. Charles "Butcher" Benton (Chaney) is a double-crossed convicted robber and murderer who was executed in the gas chamber. His body is unlawfully sold to a scientist (Robert Shayne, who plans to move his testing to human subjects. The corpse is subjected to chemical injection and massive jolts of high-frequency electricity in order to study the effect on human tissues. But Benton's heart is restimulated and he completely revives (though rendered mute due to electrical damage to his vocal cords), immensely strong and with skin virtually impervious—even to bazooka shells.
After killing the doctor and his assistant (Joe Flynn), Benton sets out to avenge himself on his attorney and the lawyer's henchmen who, in collusion with the attorney, had betrayed Benton in order to steal his loot. Benton had left the location of his stash to his stripper-girlfriend (Carr), who had since gone straight and begun dating the detective who brought Benton to justice, after she had rejected the lawyer's own advances.
The story then follows Benton's revenge on his enemies; the police who first learn of a wave of mysterious killing, then of Benton's reanimation; and the developing relationship between the detective and the stripper. The lawyer, fearing for his life after the two henchman are murdered, confesses the plot to the police, and reveals that Benton had always used the sewer system to evade detection; and to find a hiding place for the money, as it turns out.
Tracked down by the police, Benton is weakened but not killed when he takes a direct hit in the solar plexus from a bazooka, and is disfigured by a flame thrower. He runs to a power station, where he maneuvers metal equipment and himself into position to trigger a high-voltage jolt of electricity, which kills him. At the fade-out, Chasen proposes to his girlfriend.
Production background
- Chaney has almost no dialogue in the film. His character's emotions were shown through extreme close-ups of his face.
- Angels Flight appears prominently in this film.
In popular culture
- John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats has revealed that his favorite song, "Rotten Stinking Mouthpiece", is a direct narrative of this movie—and concerns the tragedy of Lon Chaney Jr. developing cancer prior to filming and undergoing surgery . As a result, he had no voice for the movie and could only "lumber around.".
DVD releases
- The film has been released by numerous studios as a "bargain bin" disc.
- The MST3K version of the film has been released by Rhino Home Video as part of the Collection, Volume 11 box set.
See also
External links
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Wikiquote has quotations related to: Indestructible Man |
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Indestructible Man. |
- Indestructible Man is available for free download at the Internet Archive
- Indestructible Man at the Internet Movie Database
- Indestructible Man at AllMovie
- Indestructible Man complete film on YouTube (Classics movie online)