Director: Gerald Potterton
Writers: Daniel Goldberg, Len Blum, adapting comics stories by Dan O’Bannon, Thomas Warkentin, Moebius, Richard Corben, Berni Wrightson, Angus McKie
Producers: Ivan Reitman, Leonard Mogel
Cast: John Candy, Richard Romanus, Eugene Levy, Harold Ramis, Sue Roman, Marilyn Lightstone, Jackie Burroughs, Roger Bumpass, Alice Playten, Joe Flaherty, Don Francks, John Vernon, Martin Lavut, August Schellenberg, Al Waxman, Harvey Atkin, George Touliatos, Zal Yanovsky, Patty Dworkin, Warren Munson, Thor Bishopric, Ned Conlon, Len Doncheff, Joseph Golland, Charles Joliffe, Mavor Moore, Cedric Smith, Vlasta Vrána
Space explorer Grimaldi (Don Francks) returns home to his young daughter (Caroline Semple) and shows her a gift he has brought. It is a glowing, green orb that immediately destroys the girl’s father. The orb’s voice (Percy Rodriguez) explains to the horrified child that it is called the Loc-Nar. It is an evil power that has appeared in various civilizations throughout time and space. Before it destroys the child, the Loc-Nar will relate various narratives about its malevolent influence.
The Flashback Fanatic movie review
First published in 1974, Métal hurlant (Howling Metal) was an adult-oriented French magazine featuring various comics stories of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. In 1977, the US publishers of National Lampoon started another magazine reprinting many of the comics from Métal hurlant translated into English. This US version of the publication was called Heavy Metal. While introducing US readers to many European comics, Heavy Metal also printed stories by American talents.
Heavy Metal was catering to an audience that appreciated the comic book medium who also wanted more mature content. That “maturity” was often seasoned with the sex and violence that the approved-for-all-ages comics could never get away with. Heavy Metal’s more sophisticated full-color printing process was an ideal way to present stories with often highly detailed and painterly graphics. Frankly, that did not always make for better stories, but it was certainly an alternative that seemed almost mind-blowing, at first.
The Heavy Metal movie was an anthology of stories mostly adapted from various features in the magazine. This was an animated film co-produced by Ivan Reitman, who had directed such comedy hits as Meatballs (1979) and Stripes (1981) and would soon helm the blockbuster Ghostbusters (1984). Most famous among the cast of voice actors were veterans from the Canadian sketch comedy television series SCTV: John Candy, Harold Ramis, Eugene Levy, and Joe Flaherty. The animation was done by no less than six different studios giving each story an individual style, which also strove to imitate the look of the original comics. This was mostly achieved using that now sadly neglected art of hand-drawn cell animation. Aside from the anthology’s “Soft Landing” opening credits sequence and the “Grimaldi” framing device story of the evil Loc-Nar, the rest of the film is comprised of six individual tales.
“Harry Canyon” is probably my favorite segment of the film. It is a neo-noir tale set in the future, dystopian New York City of 2031. Cab driver Harry Canyon (Richard Romanus) rescues a beautiful girl (Susan Roman) pursued by thugs. They have killed her professor father to take possession of the Loc-Nar he discovered and had turned over to her.
“Den” is a wild, coming-of-age story about a slightly built, brainy teenager named David Ellis Norman (John Candy). He finds a green meteorite in his yard and adds it to his rock collection. The meteorite is actually the Loc-Nar. While David is conducting an experiment at home during a lightning storm, the Loc-Nar transports the boy to a strange and savage world called Neverwhere. The cosmic trip has transformed David into a naked, bald, musclebound man. He now calls himself Den and is soon involved in sex with beautiful women and battles between two hordes competing for possession of the Loc-Nar.
“Captain Sternn” deals with a legal trial aboard a space station. Space Captain Lincoln F. Sternn (Eugene Levy) is being tried for numerous charges that could get him executed. Despite the advice of his defense lawyer (Joe Flaherty) to plead guilty for a reduced sentence, Sternn calmly assures him that the testimony of his bribed witness will clear him. That witness is the meek Hanover Fiste (Roger Bumpass), who toys with a green marble during his questioning. That marble is the Loc-Nar, which suddenly causes Fiste to grow into an angry giant that runs amok disrupting the court proceedings and stalking after Captain Sternn.
“B-17” is about a damaged World War II bomber flying home from an aerial dogfight. The Loc-Nar soars through the sky after the plane and crashes into it. Its green energy reanimates the corpses of the bullet-riddled crew members. The zombies then attack the pilots (Don Francks and George Touliatos).
"So Beautiful & So Dangerous” refers to the Loc-Nar that is now set in a locket adorning the cleavage of Gloria (Alice Playten), a beautiful stenographer at a meeting of The Pentagon. The government and military are concerned about green radiation from space causing a wave of mutations afflicting people throughout the United States. Scientist Dr. Anrak (Roger Bumpass) is addressing the assembly and seems unconcerned about the mutation phenomenon, but he is tantalized by the Loc-Nar locket on Gloria’s ample chest. Dr. Anrak loses control and leaps onto the beautiful stenographer. His assault is interrupted by a huge spaceship that has taken position above The Pentagon. The spaceship is piloted by two stoned aliens (Harold Ramis and Eugene Levy) retrieving Dr. Anrak, who is an alien android. They mistakenly also abduct Gloria, who soon begins a sexual relationship with the spaceship’s horny robot (John Candy).
“Taarna” takes place on another world that the Loc-Nar lands on. It causes a volcano to erupt, engulfing a band of people in green lava and mutating them into green-skinned barbarians. They attack a nearby city of peaceful scholars. The scholars summon Taarna, a mute, beautiful woman who is the last of the Taarakians, a warrior race that made a pact to protect the scholars. Finding that everyone in the city has been killed, Taarna embarks on a quest to avenge the slaughter.
Heavy Metal only aims to be visceral and titillating. It does not explore characters in elaborate plots; it simply revels in situations that are hellbent on unleashing the id of the hetero male teenager (and immature oldsters like me). Therefore, it is laced with action, horror, humor, lust, and rock ’n’ roll. Tunes from contemporary rockers Cheap Trick, Grand Funk Railroad, Sammy Hagar, Don Felder, Blue Öyster Cult, Devo, Black Sabbath, Stevie Nicks, Riggs, Donald Fagen, Journey, Nazareth, and Trust really compliment this hedonistic head trip, man. So, lighten your load by ditching your good taste, maturity, and inhibitions. If you are all out of Plutonian Nyborg to snort, just crack open a cold one and take a ride on Heavy Metal.
