Despite popular consensus, the Hollywood sci-fi cinema of the 1980s was not always teen-orientated – and the cult endurance of the 1984 time-travelling gem The Philadelphia Experiment is a sure-fire testament to this…
Whilst genre buffs will probably always cherish the summer of 1984 for such established classics as Ghostbusters, Gremlins, Indiana Jones And The Temple of Doom and The Last Starfighter, at least one lesser known, but equally ambitious, epic slid out in those hot and humid months to etch its way into sci-fi history. The motion picture in question is The Philadelphia Experiment – debuting in American theatres on 3 August 1984 from the short-lived but aspiring mini-studio New World Pictures (which had previously been run by Roger Corman) and underperforming its way to a gross that was just a touch over $10 million. It had to be a crushing disappointment for a project that was based on a famous conspiracy theory and featured John Carpenter’s name on the credits (as an executive producer) as well as a solid cast, headlined by Brian DePalma regular Nancy Allen and rising star Michael Paré…
“I loved making the movie,” gushes Paré to SciFiNow. “The Philadelphia Experiment is one of the great pictures on my resume and I am really proud of it. I read the book, by Charles Berlitz, in high school because my brother had given it to me and it had really left an impression. The idea of going into another dimension was a really interesting thing to a young mind and I remember going over it in my head a lot and wondering if it even happened (laughs). I felt there was some distant reality– Einstein and Nikola Tesla had explored that sort of thing anyway – you know, alternate lives and dream theories, and I went on to read a lot of that stuff because it enthralled me. A lot of people don’t know this, but Kirk Douglas had starred in a variation on The Philadelphia Experiment before us – it was called The Final Countdown but in that movie they travelled back in time, to before Pearl Harbour. In our version, the idea was that these two sailors would be sent forward 40 years and end up in 1984.”
The entire legend around the so-called ‘Philadelphia Experiment’ stems from the late Morris K. Jessup who was known for his writing on UFOs and interplanetary visitations – most of which was seen as little more than glorified fan fiction by the critics of the era. Nonetheless, Jessup created an enduring myth with claims that a United States naval ship, the USS Eldridge, had been set-up for an invisibility experiment in 1943 – during the height of the Second World War. The author and astronomer would claim that the American government had managed to parlay the latest technology into creating an ocean liner that would be undetectable to enemy radars but had, in a crisis of inter-dimensional proportions, accidentally sent the vessel into an alternate universe.
Whilst few onlookers took the claims seriously, the urban legend was an intriguing one for an era in which Orson Welles had also fooled radio listeners into believing that an alien landing was forthcoming…
“I thought it was a really great idea,” admits Paré. “It was just a stroke of luck that I had been a massive fan of the book. So when this came to me, I said ‘Hey, where do I sign on?’ I really wanted to be part of that story. I even remember when I got the script. I was shooting Eddie And The Cruisers and my manager came to me on the set and said, ‘Hey, there is this new movie that some producers have you in mind for.’ And the director on Eddie And The Cruisers actually got mad that I was getting this pitch for another movie – ‘Hey, keep your mind on this one please,’ you know? [Laughs] Anyway, when I was told what it was I said, ‘The Philadelphia Experiment? Are you kidding? You have to get me this role!” It was destiny, man [laughs]. But filming The Philadelphia Experiment seemed to take forever because we shot it all over America – we went all across the country. It was the longest shoot I have ever been a part of.”
Nevertheless, the actor admits to being a little surprised when he realised that, far from the action-packed sci-fi adventure that might have emerged from such a story, The Philadelphia Experiment was instead going to cast Paré as a sailor who, along with his best friend, is swept from 1944 to 1984. Shortly after arrival, his colleague’s health begins falter, whilst Paré begins a romance with a young misfit called Allison (Nancy Allen). Together they fall in love, defy government forces and try and work out exactly what caused an experiment in hi-tech nautical defence systems to create a time-tunnel to the future…
“It is interesting because when I got involved I remember that John Carpenter’s name was on the screenplay,” continues Paré. “That was reassuring and exciting because I had seen The Fog and Halloween, which are great films, but when The Philadelphia Experiment came out he was only credited as one of the producers and I never saw him on the set. Luckily a few years later I did get to work with John, it was on his remake of Village Of The Damned, and I asked him what had happened. He told me, ‘I knew there was a great story there but I did not know how to make it into a movie so I had to walk away from it…’ So he explained that it got moved onto someone else and John told me, ‘I think that what they eventually did with it worked. By adding the romance, it meant that the story was much easier to tell’. I would say he is right. I mean, I am just a regular guy who gets drafted – I am not even a captain, I am just a sailor – and here I am in 1984 all of a sudden. It would not make any sense if my character arc was to be this strong and confident personality jetting around different time zones. Instead, my direction was to think ‘Why me? Why did this have to happen to me?’ I am not a hero, I am just someone who is in a very difficult situation but finds love out of it. But I know the sci-fi fans still appreciate it – some of them have even told me it’s their favourite film of all time.”
Helmed by English filmmaker Stewart Raffill, whose genre credits also include such cult favourites as The Ice Pirates (1984) and Mac And Me (1988), The Philadelphia Experiment has certainly held up well. Anticipating Back To The Future (1985) with some of its plot strands, including a time-spanning romance, the film also broke ground with visual effects which are as good as anything else of the period and also helped to initiate the very early stages of digital trickery…
“I do remember the ending, which had a lot of effects work, took a long time to film,” mentions Paré. “It was not just the special effects – it was also trying to get the romance right, trying to make the audience tear-up. There had to be that question about whether or not I was going to return to the 1940s or continue my life with Nancy in 1984. We wanted to make people feel like they were going to get their money’s worth with a big emotional conclusion (laughs). I recall the ending with Nancy went through hours and hours of different takes.”
However, as the actor also reveals, there were some behind-the-scenes rumblings that, perhaps, The Philadelphia Experiment was not going in a direction that would satisfy a modern audience…
“There were a lot of producers on the movie and the film did go through a number of writers,” states Paré. “When I agreed to do the movie, I remember Stewart telling me that he wanted to make a romantic love story. But there was some behind-the-scenes stuff saying ‘Hey, can you get Nancy to seduce Michael in her stockings and suspenders?’ because this was the actress who had just done Dressed To Kill and she was a sex symbol. But that wasn’t what we were making. I remember when The Philadelphia Experiment came out, some critics said I played a ‘weepie character’. I got called ‘weepie Michael Paré’ (laughs). And I was a bit annoyed by that. I didn’t make that choice – the film went in the romantic direction instead of the action direction. That was not necessarily my call, but in the end I think it worked and I am not surprised that it still has such a huge following.”
Indeed, thanks to the success of the film on videotape, audiences eventually had the chance to see The Philadelphia Experiment II. Released into cinemas in late 1993, and without Paré (his role is recast with Brad Johnson. Nope, us either), the film was a flop – unfortunately unable to exploit the fan following that had begun to surround the original…
“The biggest mistake I made in my career was that I never did the sequel,” states Paré. “The director was a friend of mine called Stephen Cornwell. He told me he was going to be doing it and that it would be about my character a few years later, in which another time experiment causes the present day to be very different. I said I was really excited about it and then one of the producers got in touch with me and he offered a fee that I did not think was fair. I said that to him and he really got in my face about it and shouted, ‘This is what you are worth to me’. So instead of going to Stephen and sorting it out that way, I walked away from it entirely. It was a bad move on my part because I loved my character and I would have liked to return to that story.”
On the plus side, at least, Paré would get to make a return to the mythology – of sorts – when he agreed to appear in SyFy Channel’s remake of The Philadelphia Experiment in 2012. An inevitably lower budgeted affair, hampered by TV movie production values, the rehash is surprisingly watchable and not quite the disaster that one might expect (which is not say that it should be at the top of anyone’s must-see list)…
“It was cool to be asked to do that,” smiles Paré. “It was only a couple of days on the set and it was fun – but you need a big budget for this sort of story, and I think that showed. The original film is a classic and they tried to do a direct sequel, which was honourable but didn’t work for a lot of the fans, and then they did the TV movie – which was okay. It shows how the original film has lasted and I am sure you will eventually see a proper big remake in the future. I know that when they do that, I’ll be demanding that I get a cameo (laughs).”
This article first appeared in SciFiNow issue 162.
The Philadelphia Experiment is available on DVD from Anchor Bay. Get all the latest sci-fi news with every issue of SciFiNow.
