The Humanoid (1979 Film)
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''L'umanoide'', internationally released as ''The Humanoid'' or ''Humanoid'', is a 1979 Italian
science fiction film Science fiction (or sci-fi) is a film genre that uses Speculative fiction, speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as Extraterrestrial life in fiction, extraterrestria ...
directed by
Aldo Lado Aldo Lado (5 December 1934 – 25 November 2023) was an Italian film and television director, screenwriter and author. He was known internationally for his contributions to the giallo genre during the 1970s, through his films ''Short Night of Gl ...
(credited as George B. Lewis). The film bears many similarities to the original ''
Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...
.''


Plot

Sometime in the distant future, the planet Metropolis (once known as Earth) is a peaceful utopia led by a leader called The Great Brother. His world is threatened by his brother Graal who has escaped from a prison satellite, stolen a warship and enlisted the help of a mad scientist named Dr. Kraspin. Kraspin has a plan to make an army of unstoppable supersoldiers he calls "Humanoids," but to mutate them he requires the powerful element Kapitron that is being kept at the Grovan Institute on Metropolis. Graal sends down a squad of soldiers to break into the institute and steal the Kapitron. They are also ordered to kill a woman named Barbara Gibson, a scientist who once worked with Kraspin but who realized the horrendous potential of the element and had Kraspin committed to a mental facility. Kraspin had escaped the facility two years earlier and seeks revenge against her. Barbara leaves before the slaughter when she is summoned home by her mysterious pupil, a boy named Tom Tom who exhibits powers of mental suggestion. Tom Tom also communes periodically with two mysterious beings who he claims are foreign travelers. After the raid, Graal returns to his hidden base on the planet Noxon where he is joined by Lady Agatha, the world's tyrannical queen, who hopes to share the rule of the galaxy as Graal's wife once he conquers Metropolis. Kraspin is also hiding there, given asylum in exchange for keeping Agatha young and beautiful with daily injections of a youth serum he creates by sapping the life essence of female slaves. Once in possession of the Kapitron, Kraspin selects the perfect specimen to test his mutation on and targets a bearded, giant of a man named Golob. Kraspin forces Golob to crash his ship in a lake and Kraspin fires a small Kapitron missile which explodes turning Golob into a beardless, raging hulk with superhuman strength. Witnessing the horror is Golob's robot dog companion Kip, who sadly watches Kraspin capture and take his master away. Kraspin fits Golob with a brain control chip and unleashes him upon Metropolis with orders to kill the Great Brother. Nick, a Metropolis security officer, tries to protect the Great Brother, but Golob is unstoppable. As Golob approaches his primary target to destroy him, Kraspin interrupts with new orders to go after Barbara Gibson first and Golob leaves. Golob tracks Barbara to her house but Tom Tom uses his powers to calm him down and removes the control chip. Golob, now free of Kraspin's control, becomes Tom Tom and Barbara's friend. Golob tells Barbara that Graal and Kraspin are hiding on Noxon and she goes to inform Nick and The Great Brother. On her way, however, Barbara is captured by Graal's forces and taken back to his base. Tom Tom and Golob try to rescue her but are forced to retreat when Graal's soldiers open fire. The two are saved by the mysterious travelers who shoot the soldiers with glowing arrows. At the Metrolpolis command center, Nick devises a plan to rescue Barbara with a commando raid, but the Great Brother fears innocent people living on Noxon will be killed. Instead, Golob says he will rescue Barbara himself. Nick joins him and he and Golob take a ship to Noxon. Along the way they discover Tom Tom stowing away and wanting to help. Nearing the planet, their ship is attacked by Graal's fighters and crash lands. Near the crash site, they encounter Kip who Golob excitedly remembers as his old companion. Kip then helps them sneak into Graal's base. Once inside the heroes discover Kraspin has a giant missile filled with Kapitron that he will explode over Metropolis and turn its population into mutant humanoids. Meanwhile, Barbara is taken to Kraspin's laboratory and placed in a machine to extract her essence. Barbara is saved last minute when Nick and Golob burst in and free her from the machine. Kraspin and Agatha then attempt to flee to Graal's ship. With Barbara's help and assistance from the mysterious travelers, the heroes launch an attack on the missile launch bay. Kraspin is killed when Golob topples the launch pad of the Kapitron rocket. During the battle, Agatha, unable to get a dose of the youth serum, dies when she rapidly ages into a skeleton. Nick chases Graal onto the bridge of his ship and faces off with him in a duel. Graal shoots lasers from his hands in defense and almost kills Nick. Golob appears and crushes a control panel on his chest but Graal disappears. Golob then removes the Kapitron container from the missile which then launches across the bay and hits Graal's ship destroying it. With the facility exploding around them, the heroes make their escape but without Golob. Tom Tom spots him running away with the Kapitron and jumping off a cliff into a lake. The lake explodes and the heroes fear Golob dead, but he emerges from the water with the effects of the mutation having been reversed. The group briefly celebrates their reunion and victory over their enemy. A mysterious translucent sailing ship appears in the sky piloted by the two travelers. Tom Tom tells Barbara that his mission is over and he must return home. Barbara asks who he really is and where he comes from. Tom Tom tells her he is returning to a land called
Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...
in the ancient past, but he will always be with her in her heart. Tom Tom is then seen departing on the ship as the movie ends.


Cast

*
Richard Kiel Richard Dawson Kiel (September 13, 1939 – September 10, 2014) was an American actor. Standing tall and often referred to as "the Gentle Giant", he was known for portraying Jaws in '' The Spy Who Loved Me'' (1977) and '' Moonraker'' (197 ...
as Golob *
Corinne Cléry Corinne Marie-Madeleine Geneviève Pierrette Picolo (born 23 March 1950), better known as Corinne Cléry, is a French actress. Her breakthrough role was as the title character in ''Story of O'' (1975), based on the novel of the same name. She su ...
as Barbara Gibson * Leonard Mann as Nick *
Barbara Bach Barbara Bach, Lady Starkey (née Goldbach; August 27, 1946) is an American actress and former model. She played the Bond girl Anya Amasova in The Spy Who Loved Me (film), ''The Spy Who Loved Me''. She is married to former The Beatles, Beatles ...
as Lady Agatha *
Arthur Kennedy John Arthur Kennedy (February 17, 1914January 5, 1990) was an American stage and film actor known for his versatility in supporting film roles and his ability to create "an exceptional honesty and naturalness on stage", especially in the origi ...
as Dr. Kraspin *
Ivan Rassimov Ivan Đerasimović ( sr-Cyrl, Иван Ђерасимовић; 7 May 1938 – 14 March 2003), known professionally as Ivan Rassimov, was an Italian actor of Serb descent who appeared in many horror and exploitation films. Biography Born in Tr ...
as Lord Graal * Marco Yeh as Tom Tom *
Massimo Serato Massimo Serato (born Giuseppe Segato; 31 May 1917 – 22 December 1989) was an Italian film actor with a career spanning over 40 years. Biography Serato was born in Oderzo, Veneto, Italy and started appearing in films in 1938. He played leading ...
as Great Brother *
Venantino Venantini Venantino Venantini (17 April 1930 – 9 October 2018) was an Italian film actor.Darth Vader Darth Vader () is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. He was first introduced in the original film trilogy as the primary antagonist and one of the leaders of the Galactic Empire. He has become one of the most iconic villain ...
and he commands a triangle-shaped spaceship resembling a
Star Destroyer Star Destroyers are capital ships in the fictional ''Star Wars'' universe. Star Destroyers were produced by Kuat Drive Yards, later Kuat-Entralla Engineering, and serve as "the signature vessel of the fleet" for the Galactic Empire, the First Ord ...
. Many of the sets, costumes and vehicles also appear similar in design and the director, Aldo Lado, goes by the alias "George B. Lewis" in reference to
George Lucas George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker and philanthropist. He created the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' franchises and founded Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairman ...
.


See also

* List of Italian films of 1979


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Humanoid, The (1979 film) 1979 films Columbia Pictures films Films directed by Aldo Lado Films scored by Ennio Morricone Films set on fictional planets Films set on spacecraft Italian science fiction films 1970s Italian films 1979 science fiction films