“Got a heat seeker right up the exhaust. They won’t find the pieces for another month.”
Dr. Gerald Appleby (Michael Greene) is a nuclear scientist. One day there is an accident at his lab. Gerald manages to escape but passes out. When he awakens he returns to the lab, but sees someone run out, jump in his car and speed off. When he gets to the guard’s gate the guard tells him he just went out in his car. When he gets to his either home or office (it's not explained which it is.) his housekeeper or is it secretary tells him he was just there. Don’t know for sure who she was. It wasn’t explained. When he gets to his girlfriend Penny’s (Susan Hunt) house he comes face to face with someone who…has his face.
Gerry confronts he imposter. While his girlfriend calls for help Gerry takes back his wallet and car keys and takes off in his car. He is pulled over by the police and is taken to the station. In the meantime two government agents are on their way to the jail. Nemo (Gregory Sierra) and Sawyer (Otis Young) take custody of him. They bring him to Fred Kalif (Raynold Gideon). Fred is a co-worker who apparently is in on the conspiracy. Gerry escapes and starts running. There is a lot of running in this movie.
Gerry ends up at another colleague’s office, Carl Swafford (Stanley Adams) only to find that he is in on it too. When Carl tries to inject him with something Gerry pushes him away and hits his head. Now dizzy, Gerry is again on the run. (Told ya. Lots of running.) He tries to run back to the lab but runs right into Nemo and Sawyer. More chasing. Gerry ends up getting winged by a bullet but does get away.
Somehow he ends up in the camper of some hippies. Whatever they give him for his pain is really good stuff. Next he wakes up in the hospital. Knowing that Nemo and Sawyer are not far behind Gerry takes off. (again running) By now he has pieced together a few things. He knows that the other Gerry is a clone and he knows that he is part of some government project. He just doesn’t know why.
“The Clones” was released in 1973 and was directed by Lamar Card and Paul Hunt. It’s a bizarre little film that was written by Steve Fisher, Paul Hunt and Lamar Card. I have a feeling that these guys were sampling some of the pain killer that the hippie guys had. There are strange moments throughout the movie. Not just the little person Angelo Rossitto banging on the phone booth. Some of the communications between the helicopter and the ground control are a bit of a hoot. The plot itself is… imaginative.
At one point you’re not sure who the real Gerry is and who the clone Gerry is. Other aspects are a little confusing from time to time as well. Not always knowing what is going on kept me watching. The chase scenes were a little overdone. It seemed like it was all chasing and little learning. At one point the clone seemed to be able to put together more of what was going on than the real Gerry.
There were some really interesting visuals and the strange use of an amusement park. Unfortunately not real great acting, but there was some unusual dialogue. All together it was OK. Definitely odd, but OK.