Looker (1981)

Lisa Convey (Terri Welles) consults Dr. Larry Roberts (Albert Finney), a highly-regarded plastic surgeon, about having work done.  Her specifications are to the millimeter and will be unnoticeable to most observers.  She is not the first model to request such surgery and his partner thinks it's a fad.  Roberts performs the surgery.  Soon after she has fully recovered, Terri plunges to her death from her apartment balcony.  In fact, 3 of Dr. Roberts' 4 patients have died and Lt. Masters (Dorian Harewood) is investigating them as potential murders.  Roberts decides that he is going to keep a close eye on the last remaining model, Cindy (Susan Dey) while he tries to determine what happened to the others.  He quickly finds that Reston Industries, run by John Reston (James Coburn), has links to both the models and the production of the television commercials in which they appeared.

Residing on the edge of a sci-fi movie, there is a light-gun that puts targets into a hypnotic state, a digital imaging system that allows for computer-generated commercials staring imaged actors, and even a roving robotic custodian that services a high-tech facility.  Crichton has inserted commentary about the power of television and posits potential dangers.  Is television a tool for brainwashing to which the viewer voluntarily submits?  Not a new idea - the subliminal message was old hat by 1981 - but a different angle.  Here is a Crichton movie that does not have an associated book.

The movie starts strong but begins to crumble in the 3rd act.  The car chase picks up mid-chase with no setup.  Roberts' infiltration for the climax is both implausible and too convenient.  Though frequently funny, the climax spends entirely too much time having the principals creep around empty stages.  There is also a comical trope of scantily clad women throughout the movie.  Sure, they are models, but the one who takes off her robe to answer her apartment door was laughable.  Then there was the model who feared for her life and was leaving town immediately, but not until she changes clothes at her apartment.  Sigh.

Good popcorn fun!