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Philadelphia Experiment (Widescreen)
 
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Philadelphia Experiment (Widescreen)

Michael Paré , Nancy Allen , Stewart Raffill    PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)   DVD
3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)

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The Philadelphia Experiment takes as its jumping-off point an incident that is now paranormal legend, the U.S. Navy's supposed 1943 induction of an extremely powerful electromagnetic field around a destroyer in Philadelphia, causing its crew to become transparent, go insane, burst into flames, and so forth. The movie takes the tack that this was to render the ship invisible to radar, because of the war that was on. The test goes awry, however, and two of the crew leap forward in time to the filmmakers' present tense, 1984, where a similar experiment has caused a vortex that has trapped the 1943 ship and its crew along with a small Nevada town. The key to unbollixing this sad time-fracture lies in our heroes, the two time-travelling crew members, David Herdeg (Michael Paré) and Jim Parker (Bobby Di Cicco), whose electromagnetic instability keeps drawing them painfully back to the vortex to set things straight. This is silly stuff, but it's very fun silly stuff. One might cavil at gaps in plot logic, such as when Michael Paré seeks out the '80s version of his partner and finds more or less a trauma patient, while subsequent action contradicts this characterization. Still, there are plenty of still-worthy special effects, creating the requisite sense of awe and wonder. And for romantic interest, there's Nancy Allen's '80s girl paired with Michael Paré, affording plenty of amusing occasions for culture comparisons, most notably when Paré sees Ronald Reagan on TV, says, "Hey, I know that guy!" and refuses to believe he's president. --Jim Gay

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Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
good movie - BAD DVD Jan 19 2004
By A Customer
Format:DVD
I am a 29 year old man who remebered this movie fondly from my childhood. So i pointed, clicked and oredered it up. I was horrified the instant the menu came up on screen and the option to start the movie was spelled wrong, it read "STRAT MOVIE". This should give you some idea as to the level of care and attention that went into the production of this inferior product.
The picture quality was unforgivable. Usually a bad transfer doesnt bother me that much as long as I can see whats going on, but this movie transfer is pathetic. I am not kidding when I say that you are better off ordering a clean VHS copy than wasting your time and money on this DVD. It was absolutely unwatchable on my widescreen TV, I eventually had to put it in my computer to watch it as the "pixelization" was so bad ... consider youself warned.....
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A nice little twisted time travel tale (that is not true) May 28 2004
By Lawrance M. Bernabo HALL OF FAME TOP 50 REVIEWER
Format:DVD
"The Philadelphia Experiment" is supposedly the about an experiment the U.S. Navy conducted in 1943 to make the U.S.S. "Eldridge" invisible to radar. However, the experiment goes (surprise) horribly wrong and the ship is contaminated with a deadly dose of radiation. Two of the sailors, David Herdeg (Michael Paré) and Jim Parker (Bobby Di Cicco), jump overboard as their crewmates are catching on fire and getting trapped in bulkheads and end up traveling through a rift in time to 1984 (i.e., the present in terms of that being the year this movie was made). One of them gets sent back but the other does not and not only are the authorities after him but it seems that pesky hole in time is wrecking havoc with the climate (not as bad as "The Day After Tomorrow," but serious enough).

This is a fun little B-movie that most science fiction fans can enjoy as long as they do not take it too seriously. The reason it is considered to be based on a "true" story is that it is based on a 1979 "non-fiction" book that claimed the Navy was fooling around with Einstein's Unified Field Theory and sent the "Eldridge" from Philadelphia to the harbor in Norfolk, Virginia, and then back again. The story is based on some dubious evidence and apparently since the U.S.S. "Eldridge" never ever docked at the Philadelphia Naval Yard the title appears to be suspect as well. The Navy has offered an official explanation that what happened was a routine degaussing of the ship, which meant it was surrounded with electrical cables to negate the magnetic field (the idea is that it would render the ship invisible to radar but not to human eyes). Of course to some people this explanation just screams cover up.

Ultimately this film is not concerned with the "science" of the so-called experiment because that is all just an excuse for a more traditional time travel story and within that genre there are few interesting things going on here. There are some fun moments as Herdeg encounters the brave new world (Orwell's "1984" did not come out until 1948, so he does not know that the future is brighter than people had thought in the 1940s). Herdeg hooks up with an airhead, Allison Hayes (Nancy Allen), who eventually comes to believe that he is not lying about when he is from and tries to help him get back home. It is just as well because there is really no chemistry between these two. After "Eddie & the Cruisers" and "Streets of Fire" we all thought Paré was going to have a career, but this film seems to have derailed it. Come to think of it the same can be said for Allen, outside of the "Robocop" movies.

The special effects are rather simplistic, but quite effective for the time. They were certainly good enough to lure more than a few people into seeing this film from director Stewart Raffill ("The Ice Pirates," "Mac and Me"). Plus you have the standard lesson than there are some things scientists should not be messing around with otherwise a wormhole will destroy the world as we know it, which was not really an omnipresent science fiction plot line at that point (CGI made destroying the planet much more fun). There is a 1993 sequel to this film, but try to forget about it because it belongs on everyone's short list of worst science fiction sequels ever. This one at least gives you some things to think about, not all of which are about how to poke holes in the story.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
SHIP AHOY May 22 2004
By Michael Butts TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:DVD
When it comes to time travel on the screen, there have been many, many attempts. My favorite is the STAR TREK episode in which Shatner travels back in time, falls in love with Joan Collins, and she gets killed, and he has to leave her behind. In THE PHILADELPHIA EXPERIMENT, things turn out a little better for the timecrossed lovers. Based on what was supposedly a real experiment in 1943, the movie chronicles the fate of Michael Pare and Bobby DiCicco, who during the experiment in Philadelphia find themselves in 1984 Nevada. Somehow the same scientist who did the 1943 experiment is still at it, trying to make a town invisible. In doing so, he opens a vortex that brings the two 40s soldiers to modern times. Pare falls in love with the wonderful Nancy Allen (CARRIE, BLOWOUT, DRESSED TO KILL), and their romance is a key element in the eventual climax.
The special effects are commendable for a 1984 movie; the direction is adequate, and most of the performances very good. Nancy combines her naivete with those lovely eyes to make a wonderful heroine, and Michael Pare shows a good range of emotion in trying to decide where he truly belongs.
This is one of the better time travel movies, and inspired a sequel with Brad Johnson.
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Most recent customer reviews
A Mediocre Science Fiction Film
I found this film to be mediocre at best. It had its moments of being fairly entertaining, but by and large, it was a fairly boring movie that I would not recommend except for hard... Read more
Published 18 months ago by A. Wheeler
Kill him!!
I bought this movie because I thought it was really good, my memory isn't as good as I thought it was. Read more
Published on May 13 2010 by Neil Roy
decent enough,but i would recommend The Final Countdown as a superior...
as time travel travel movies goes this one's pretty decent.i've seen a
few in my time,many of them stinkers,and this is certainly no
stinker. Read more
Published on Feb 28 2010 by falcon
Excellent B Movie
I remember seeing this movie for the first time when I was about 9. It certainly piqued my interest in the paranormal, but at the time, I was unaware that the movie was based on... Read more
Published on Dec 29 2003 by J. C. Jones
Love lost in time and conspiracy classic
As implied in the name there is an experiment in Philadelphia (1943) to make a navel ship invisible to the enemy. Read more
Published on July 11 2003 by bernie
Well scripted and acted
I thought it was well done. Smoothly takes you to the impossible - finding yourself in another time. Believable.
Published on April 21 2003 by Laura Phipps
A so-so film
This movie was ok. I don't know what else to say. It was entertaining, but not fantastic. It didn't leave me wanting to see it again, but it wasn't boring or poorly done. Read more
Published on Jun 26 2002
An Experiment in Good Film Making
THE PHILADELPHIA EXPERIMENT is a pretty good, solid piece of B-Movie sci fi. Loosely based on actual events during World War II, the U.S. Read more
Published on April 9 2002
Terrific sci-fi adventure
Because this film lacked real star power, not many people have caught this as they should have. Even non sci-fi fans will enjoy this one. No need for me to reiterate the plot. Read more
Published on Mar 30 2002 by Scott Prazak
Philadelphia Experiment- [Bad] 80's Movie
This is a good idea for a sci-fi adventure story. But the effects and quality were kinda [bad]. And there were some things that were kinda confusing and didn't make any sense. Read more
Published on Nov 11 2001 by Lee Jordan
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