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poster of Paper Man
Rating: 6.3/10 by 11 users

Paper Man (1971)

A prank that starts with a group of college students creating a fictitious person so they can get a credit card develops into a plot that leaves three of them dead.

Directing:
  • Walter Grauman
Writing:
  • James D. Buchanan
  • Ronald Austin
  • Anthony Wilson
Stars:
Release Date: Fri, Nov 12, 1971

Rating: 6.3/10 by 11 users

Alternative Title:

Country:
United States of America
Language:
English
Runtime: 01 hour 15 minutes
Budget: $0
Revenue: $0

Plot Keyword: suicide, computer, college, murder
Subtitle   Wallpaper   Watch Trailer    

Wuchak

_**Killing Machine**_ After a credit card is mistakenly issued to someone who does not exist, four college students (Stefanie Powers, James Stacy, etc.) take advantage by using the university’s computer to create a fictitious person and partake of the benefits thereof. An introverted computer wiz (Dean Stockwell) helps them get away with it. Then cryptic things start happening. James Olson is on hand as a technician who objects to the proceedings. "Paper Man" (1971) was initially released to theaters, but quickly pulled and cut by 15 minutes, then released to television as a 75-minute movie. It’s a cautionary techno-thriller with bits of horror ahead of its time, predicting a world of computer fraud and identity theft at least 25 years before they came into vogue. The inspiration for the story was likely taken from the 1969 episode of Journey to the Unknown “The Madison Equation” and maybe "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968). But it’s different enough to stand on its own and no doubt influenced the future “Demon Seed” (1977). There’s an interesting plot twist that I didn’t see coming and Stockwell’s character is interesting, as are James Stacy’s fiery Vietnam vet and Olson’s concerned tech. On the female front, Stefanie appears as a redhead and sure was a looker back then. William Shatner’s beautiful raven-haired wife, Marcy Lafferty, also shows up for a brief bit as a secretary in the last act (they were married from 1973-1996). The film runs 1 hour, 30 minutes, with the television cut being 1 hour, 15 minutes (I advise seeing the longer version as it fleshes out the characters more). It was shot in Los Angeles. GRADE: B-/B


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