"Just because it made loads of money...doesn't mean Total Recall isn't ruggedly individualistic art!"
— Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice
January 8, 16, & 21 New York, NY FILM FORUM
"Just because it made loads of money...doesn't mean Total Recall isn't ruggedly individualistic art!"
— Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice
USA, 1990
Director: Paul Verhoeven
Producer: Buzz Feitshans, Ronald Shusett
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sharon Stone, Rachel Ticotin, Michael Ironside
Screenwriter: Ronald Shusett, Dan O'Bannon, Gary Goldman, Jon Povill
Inspired by the short story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale"
by Philip K. Dick
Cinematography: Jost Vacano
Music: Jerry Goldsmith
Genre: Science Fiction, Action
Color
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Language: English
Running Time: 113 minutes
Synopsis:
Doug Quaid (Arnold Schwarzenegger) seems to have it pretty good in 2084 A.D. A heavily muscled construction worker, he boasts a beautiful wife, Lori (Sharon Stone), good friends, and a technologically advanced home featuring video phones and even video walls. But he is haunted by dreams of a mysterious brunette woman and the red wastelands of Mars. Quaid visits Rekall, a unique travel agency that implants the memory of an adventure into its customers’ minds, to get the chance to live out his Martian fantasies. When something goes terribly wrong and a blocked off portion of his mind is activated, Quaid finds himself at the center of a dangerous conspiracy. He must travel to Mars and get to the bottom of why he is being hunted by trigger-happy henchmen. But how can he know that what he’s experiencing isn’t just part of the Rekall experience? Are the mutant revolutionaries on Mars his allies, enemies, or complete fabrications? And is the lovely brunette at his side nothing more than a figment of his imagination?
Awards and Recognition:
Special Achievement Award for Visual Effects (Academy Awards, 1991)
Best Sound Effects Editing, Best Sound nominations (Academy Awards, 1991)
Best Special Visual Effects nomination (BAFTA Awards, 1991)
Best Sound Editing - Dialogue, Best Sound Editing - Sound Effects (Motion Picture Sound Editors, 1991)
"Verhoeven's gusto, ingenuity and guts know no bounds!"
— Time Out London
"A vigorous, super-violent interplanetary thriller that packs in wallops with metronomic regularity."
— Janet Maslin, The New York Times
"SCI-FI ON STEROIDS!"
— Owen Gleiberman,
Entertainment Weekly