PAPER MAN

Powers, Street, Stacy

PAPER MAN (1971 telefilm). Director: Walter Grauman. NOTE: This is a review of the 90 minute theatrical version.

Four graduate students -- Karen (Stephanie Powers), Jerry (James Stacy), Lisa (Tina Chen) and Joel (Elliott Street) -- take advantage of a computer glitch to create a fake identity and credit card, which they intend to use but promise to pay off. When things get a little more complicated and the bank tells them it requires more information, they enlist the aid of computer whiz Avery Jensen (Dean Stockwell), who uses his skills to create a nearly complete background for "Henry Norman." But things take a dark turn when the computer begins to make mistakes, giving one character insulin that kills him and causing an elevator car to crush another of the participants. Is the computer developing its own mind, and is the paper effigy of Henry Norman coming to life? Karen and Avery come to the conclusion that there's a human agent behind their troubles and the others' deaths, but Karen learns that Avery has a deeply problematic psychiatric history. Is she allying herself with the wrong person?

Paper Man was briefly released in theaters with fifteen minutes added to the running time. The computers referred to are not the PCs that we are familiar with today, but those huge computer banks that added data on long white cards with holes punched out. It's interesting to see what computers were like way, way back in the day. As for the movie, it is a minor but suspenseful affair with some intriguing notions and good performances from the entire cast, which also includes James Olson as a concerned computer technician and Ross Elliott as the sheriff.  A clever and creepy sequence has a character pursued down a basement corridor while the lights keep switching off behind her section by section, making it look as if the very dark is chasing her. 

Verdict: Absorbing mystery telefilm with very intriguing elements. ***.