Fantastic Voyage (1966)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Richard Fleischer

Writers:

Harry Kleiner (screenplay)
David Duncan (adaptation)

Release Date:

24 August 1966 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

The screen's most fantastic voyage

Plot:

A diplomat is nearly assassinated. In order to save him, a submarine is shrunken to microscopic size and injected into his blood stream with a small crew. Problems arise almost as soon as they enter the bloodstream.

Plot Keywords:

Blood | Submarine | Tympanic Membrane | Coffee | Military

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Stephen Boyd	...	Grant
Raquel Welch	...	Cora
Edmond O'Brien	...	General Carter
Donald Pleasence	...	Dr. Michaels
Arthur O'Connell	...	Col. Donald Reid
William Redfield	...	Capt. Bill Owens
Arthur Kennedy	...	Dr. Duval
Jean Del Val	...	Jan Benes
Barry Coe	...	Communications Aide
Ken Scott	...	Secret Service
Shelby Grant	...	Nurse
James Brolin	...	Technician
Brendan Fitzgerald	...	Wireless Operator

Also Known As:

Microscopia
Strange Journey
Die phantastische Reise (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
Le voyage fantastique (Canada: French title) (France) [fr]
Viagem Fantástica (Brazil) (Portugal) [pt]
Den fantastiska resan (Sweden) [sv]
Den fantastiske rejse (Denmark) [da]
El viaje fantástico (Venezuela) [es]
En fantastisk resa (Finland: Swedish title) [sv]
Fantastiko taxeidi (Greece) [el]
Fantastinen matka (Finland) [fi]
Fantastyczna podróz (Poland) [pl]
Fantasztikus utazás (Hungary) [hu]
Viaggio allucinante (Italy) [it]
Viaje alucinante (Spain) [es]

MPAA:

Rated PG for mild violence and language.

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System) | Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved (certificate #20942) (original rating) | Canada:G (video rating) | Portugal:M/6 | Australia:G | Finland:K-12 | Spain:T | Sweden:15 | UK:U | USA:PG | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Exposition Park, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

A now defunct thrill ride at Disney's Epcot Center, called Body Wars, was largely inspired by this film, even though it is not a Disney film. The director, Richard Fleischer, however, also directed Disney's first science fiction film, 20000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954).

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Grant is introduced as the man who retrieved Benes and a frogman in "the war." However, Grant, played by Stephen Boyd was only 8 years old at the beginning of WWII. He would have been closer the the correct age for Korea, however, the Korean Conflict is generally referred to as "Korea" just as a later conflict was just called "Vietnam."

Quotes:

Cora Peterson: We're going to see things no one has ever seen before. Just think about it.
Grant: That's the trouble. I am.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "Muppet Babies: Scooter's Uncommon Cold (#3.9)" (1986)

You're going to see things no one has ever seen before…

"Fantastic Voyage" follows a surgical team of three scientists: Dr Peter Duval, the top brain surgeon in the country (Arthur Kennedy); Cora Peterson, his technical assistant (Raquel Welch); Dr Michaels, chief of the medical mission (Donald Pleasance), plus the skipper of the ship (William Redfield) and Grant (Stephen Boyd) the security agent for security purposes...

The sealed vessel—The Proteus—is reduced down by a secret branch called CMDF (Combined Miniature Deterrent Forces) and injected into one artery of a defecting Russian scientist who has suffered brain injury and he's in a coma from an assassination attempt... The crew must navigate to the scientist's brain (within exactly 60 minutes) where Dr Duval will attempt to dissolve the coagulum with a laser beam… After that everything starts growing back to its original size…

"Fantastic Voyage" is a film of authentic wonder: An ocean of life, the corpuscles, the heart, the lungs of the human body through which the crew move are exquisitely designed in great detail with artistic quality...

The plot creates unceasing moments of suspense as the ship and its crew are continually threatened by the scientist's natural defenses: white corpuscles, reticular fibers, antibodies and other factors… Leonard Rosenman's futuristic score nicely complements the adventure on screen with the strange sound of the human blood rushing through arteries, veins, rhythmical muscular movements, and of course, the sabotage occurred on board…

With two Oscar Awards for Best Visual Effects and Best Art Direction, 'Fatastic Voyage' is certainly the most unusual journey into the human body, where the 'medieval philosophers were right. Man is the center of the universe. We stand in the middle of infinity, between outer and inner space. And there's no limit to either.'