Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler/Tales of the Unexpected(1971)

The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler

Television newsman Harry Walsh (Leslie Nielsen) holds fast to the maxim "seeing is believing" in this political/medical thriller, with science-fiction overtones. Harry saw a well-known U.S. Senator (Bradford Dillman) have a car accident, and took video coverage on the scene. When he arrives at the hospital to follow up on the story, he is told that no such person is, or ever was there. Since the senator is a presidential hopeful, this is a very important story, and Harry keeps at it. His TV station, which ran a report on the accident, retracts the story with an apology when the senator’s office calls with the story that the senator is on a fishing trip. Harry doesn’t believe it. In a parallel story, the senator wakes up in a hospital with all sorts of transplanted organs, etc., when he should simply be dead. He discovers that his survival is part of a worldwide medical blackmail scheme involving world political leaders.

1971, colour, 100 minutes

Tales of the Unexpected

Darkly humorous and playful macabre, each standalone episode in this acclaimed series is a brilliantly acted little gem of creepy delight.

Arthur Hiller, Don Johnson, Dick Smothers, Sharon Glass, Charles Dance

1979, colour, 101 minutes