Idaho Transfer

Creepy. Different. And rarely viewed in public. In fact, most Peter Fonda buffs won't even know it exists. I have many books on the genre with no mention of this film. Anywhere. Mr. Fonda constructs a distinct bird's nest view on the end-of-the-world branch of "hippy" cinema. Don't look for impressive acting work--you will not find it here. Keith Carradine has a small taste of screen time but shows nothing. The unusual setting (Idaho?) fairs better. We are shown jagged terrain, colorful rainbows, barren wastelands and frozen mountains. You half expect the gods to explode a volcano and rain down all types of debris. Otherworldly. This dark zone--from a world of tomorrow--is shifty. And the exact time is never etched in granite. The transfer station is a time portal to the far-off future. Bare bones special effects (the time-travel device looks like a cooling unit flipped over on to its belly) work well in conveying the long trek through time. The ending is so bleak and perverted in its resolution that you may need to rub your eyes and seek out counseling. There is one sequence involving a futuristic teenager that I found shocking. She is planted in the backseat of a modern sedan, parents in front, twirling a screwdriver, unaware of its practical use. It has the name "Great Neck" floating in its gold plastic handle. Her verbal cadence is detached and spooky. You will not be able to erase this image and her words from your mind. I promise.

I saw this movie many years ago completely by mistake (the video store had got it mixed up with another film called Deranged) and it has haunted me ever since.

After years of searching for a copy I finally located it on Ebay. On watching it again I was surprised to find it had lost none of its hypnotic power. I was also surprised to find it was directed by Peter Fonda.

The story concerns a group of youngsters who go into the future to study the earth, post apocalypse. A number of incidents result in them getting stuck in the future, left with the notion of restarting civilisation.

The film itself is unbelievably stark in its presentation, this is mainly due to the restrictions of a clearly minuscule budget (the sets in their entirety include a road, a corridor, a room and a desert plain). There is very little warmth from the story, sets or characters, the script is fairly cheesy and the special effects are pretty poor.

Despite of this the film someone creates a hold over you. Despite its flaws I never once considered turning it off, I sat, hypnotised as the scenes unfolded. Ever had a dream from which you've woken up slightly troubled, though you're not sure why? This is the film version of one of those dreams.

It's hard to explain in writing. If you ever come across a copy of this film I urge you to see it. You may not like it but I guarantee you'll not forget it too soon.

and I've not even mentioned the ending...!

I haven't seen this film since it was first released, but can remember being particularly impressed by what a fine example it was of low budget, higher than average concept sci-fi. Not unlike an extend above the norm Twilight Zone episode, there were no stunning sets, or even matte paintings as I can recall, but very effective use of location at the Mountains of the Moon National Monument in Idaho---why hasn't anybody shot anything else there since?

Briefly the story revolves around a group of student scientists who have developed a time travel portal which delivers them to the same locale some few decades in the future. Discoveries are made, things happen, etc.; of necessity I can tell you little more without spoiling, what other reviewers rightfully refer to as the "punch line". I'd say it was positively Swiftean in its social satire as the best science fiction often is. Idaho Transfer is a wry, tragic, amusing, horrific, cautionary little tale somewhere between the much-upon-us worthiness of "Silent Running", and the full-blown apocalyptic satire of "A Boy and His Dog", and certainly deserving of the same cult status. It is also, I believe, Peter Fonda's directorial debut, and would be of interest to his fans for that reason alone.

As other people have commented, there is something mysteriously appealing about this movie. At first it looks like a bit of hippy fun for director Peter Fonda, and probably was. I purchased it for $3 dollars in a second hand video shop for it's 'Tron' like front cover. I then found no computer special effects in the movie at all. My copy is called 'Nuclear Escape', and looking on the net, i found it to have been called derranged also. Intriguingly odd.

The film is unusually well written, one of the more thoughtful sci fi films. Esp if you get frustrated by bloated excuses for FX and empty attempts to be "gritty."

The problem obviously is, virtually everything else about the film. Poor direction, no budget, unknown actors who are a mix of needing a chance to show what they can do, and should never act again.

You find yourself constantly wishing this were remade with a better director with a budget. But it's still interesting enough that I watched to the very end, wanting to see what happens.