It appears my approach to watching movies is “better late than never”. God only knows how I managed to avoid 1987’s Innerspace for so long. I was at the right age for such a sci-fi adventure comedy in its original theatrical run. Although I didn’t know it back then, it was directed by Joe Dante, somebody whose movies I later sought out specifically because they were his works.
I was very pleasantly surprised by what, on the surface, appeared to be just an update of 1966’s Fantastic Voyage. This time, it isn’t an entire crew that is miniaturized, but only Dennis Quaid’s test pilot in a capsule not unlike those very small subs sent to the deepest parts of the ocean. And he wasn’t even shrank down to microscopic size to perform surgery within the body of the U.S. President. Instead, this inaugural mission was to inject him into a rabbit. Through a series of unexpected events, he ends up in something slightly more hyperactive than a hare, and that is Martin Short.
Short had been advised by his doctor (William Schallert) to get some relaxation. I was never sure if Short is a hypochondriac or if he somehow has ever disease known to man and then some. It seems to me he has at least contracted a case of whatever weird ailment every character played by Jerry Lewis must have had in the 50’s and 60’s, as I felt Short was almost paying tribute to those. Still, I actively seek out films with Short in them and I avoid most of those starring Lewis (but not all—The Nutty Professor is shockingly good).
If Short appears to be channeling Lewis, Quaid initially seems to be Jack Nicholson. We first see him stumbling drunk into a “Test Pilots of America” dinner, doing what appears to be a riff on that actor’s trademark “devilish imp” persona. Fortunately, he drops that shtick after a while, which I guess is necessary, as our hero will curiously spend the vast majority of the film seated in a small capsule.
It’s just as well, as his life before this mission seemed to largely consisted of laying around his house where he has a robotic arm he built just for the purpose of pouring endless drinks for him, and it doesn’t even do a decent job at that. The one bright glimmer in his existence seems to be an on and off relationship with Meg Ryan.
Quaid’s mission was supposed to take place entirely in the confines of a JPL-like laboratory where, as I learned from the commentary track, a great many actual JPL scientists appear as extras. That definitely makes for some solid verisimilitude. I also liked how the capsule is not some sleek, finished thing that looks like it was designed by Apple. Instead, it is how something in progress should look, with all kinds of stuff obviously just shoehorned it. It’s a nice touch.
Not even the head scientist is predominately an actor in real life. Curiously, John Hora, isn’t even a scientist, but is best known as a cinematographer, a service he provided on many of Dante’s films. I’m surprised Hora didn’t act in more features, as he is very effective as a scientist here.
Surprisingly, he will even be in an extensive chase scene where he flees on foot and bike the car driven by Vernon Wells, a henchman of villainess Fiona Lewis. Hora doesn’t exactly have a build I think would be conducive for such an action sequence, and that made the pursuit even funnier for me than I think was intended. Wells follows Hora to a mall where we see the first of the henchman’s mechanical hands in action, as he points a gloved finger at the scientist and actually shoots a bullet out of that finger at him. Just try and do that, Dr. Strangelove! The various mechanical hands he employs will be used throughout the runtime, including a brief moment which surprised me, where he apparently has a special attachment designed for pleasuring Lewis.
It is at the mall where Hora, in a desperate last measure, injects the miniaturized capsule into an unsuspecting Short. Lewis and Wells will track Short to his job as a supermarket cashier. It is here the man first starts to have strange experiences, such as the cash register and bar code reader malfunctioning, ringing up groceries at astronomical prices. Another interesting tidbit I gleaned from the commentary is animator Chuck Jones is the third customer in line, and he spent the day drawing Bugs Bunny for everybody who wanted one.
That hardware malfunction was due to an “electro-magnetic booster” that is part of the machinery of Quaid’s pod. He will deliberately use that to destroy Short’s television in an effort to convince him he is not having a psychotic break when he’s starts hearing Quaid’s voice in his head. You see, the pod has a number of interesting abilities, almost as if the scientists were trying to create the titular vehicle from Yellow Submarine. Especially useful is a robotic arm that can latch onto an optic nerve and see what Short is seeing or grab part of the ear (wasn’t sure which part, exactly) and hear what the carrier is hearing. It can also intercept for Quaid some whiskey he has encouraged Short to down, and I wondered what on earth would drive somebody to drink some of another person’s backwash. Perhaps the strangest device Quaid has at his disposal is one that can scan somebody’s face and then stimulate the muscles in Short’s face until he looks exactly like the other person. I really wondered how that was intended to be deployed when the mission was originally to inject the capsule into a rabbit. In this reference only fans of the service Father Ted will get, I was hoping it was to make the hare look like Harvey Keitel.
The visuals inside the body as astonishing, with the film justly winning the Oscar for Best Visual Effects. One can easily imagine how badly these would be accomplished nowadays through the inevitable CGI. Instead, these purely physical effects are largely done underwater, using floating flecks of diamond dusk to capture the light. Even today, such visuals as the giant orb that is the back of an eye is truly stunning.
The stunt work is also quite impressive. Perhaps the most notable sequence is where Short is hanging on to the swinging door on the back of a freezer truck barreling down a road. Ryan has pulled alongside in a convertible, and there is an astonishing moment where a motorcycle from the opposite direction goes between the two vehicles and under the legs of the actor, who was one on each vehicle. Even more astonishing is when Short finally gets both feet onto the convertible, only to briefly find himself balancing on the windshield of a fast-moving car. From the commentary, I learned this was accomplished via struts run up from the car body up through Short’s pants. Just try to imagine how terrifying it must have been to be the actor in that moment.
But what really makes the film so enjoyable are the performances, big and small. I especially liked Schallert’s doctor, who can keep a straight face while making such bizarre pronouncements as not ruling out “theistic hysteria” for the voice Short has started hearing in his head. It’s like something on SCTV when he describes the medieval remedy for that condition being flaying “the skin off your body with brands of fire”. And there is a small SCTV reunion in the doctor’s waiting room when Short finds himself flanked by Joe Flaherty and Andrea Martin.
Innerspace is great fun, and has dated surprisingly well. The effects are awesome, the jokes are still funny and it has creativity to burn. Not only is the movie highly recommended, but the commentary track is almost as necessary as the film itself.
Dir: Joe Dante
Starring Dennis Quaid, Martin Short, Meg Ryan
Watched on Warner Bros. blu-ray