Wade's (John Huckert) girlfriend Monica (Lynn Odell) is raped, upon
which Wade tracks down the rapist (Albert B.Smith) and kills him rather
violently in a combination of hanging him and tearing him apart, helped by
a hydraulic lift. He's caught for his crime though and put on death row
... Unfortunately that's only a subplot of the movie, the main plot is
about Ernie (James Carroll Plaster) and his black friend Rose (Welton
Benjamin Johnson), who have been friends since World War II and are now
living together as the winter of their life is approaching. And Ernie
feels the urge to look after Rose the best he can as Rose once saved his
life in the war. Then Ernie learns about a program that would turn him
into a young man again, and he figures, as a young man he could take care
of Rose all the better - so one day he just leaves home to have himself
rejuvenated, without telling Rose anything though, just leaving him a note
... that gets lost. We are now back with the subplot about Wade on death
row, where he signs up for being a donor person on the newly founded
rejuvenation program, just to escape execution (even though it doesnt make
much of a difference, now does it?). When Ernie arrives at the
rejuvenation clinic and sees the by now lifeless body of Wade that's going
to be his new body, he has second thoughts and tries to run - but old
man that he is, he doesn't get far, and eventually, he wakes up in Wade's
body, and as Wade, he returns to Rose - who has gotten worse since his
friend has left him, having thought that Ernie has abandoned him for good. The
two men have just enough time to reconcile, then Rose dies from a heart
attack, and young Ernie feels his life has just become hollow ... until at
a bar he meets Monica, Wade's girlfriend ... Very uneven mix of
science fiction, revenge thriller and sentimental and cheesy tearjerker
about two old men - and unfortunately, the film puts its emphasis on the
tearjerker-aspects of the story, which makes the mix all the more uneven -
I mean, you don't expect a rape, a brutal murder and sci-fi elements in a
story about two old men who have a proto-homosexual relationship (not that
the film ever puts an emphasis on the homoerotic aspects of its story
though), now do you? But what's really annoying about the film is not
its being uneven but its being dead boring, it's mostly the two old guys
talking about one thing or another, things you couldn't care less
about, especially since despite all their conversations and despite the
World War II-flashback, you learn way too little about the two guys to
actually care about them. Simply put, a waste of time.
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