First TV movie pilot that introduced Lee Majors as Steve Austin, a former astronaut who had walked on the moon, but now is test piloting an experimental aircraft that unfortunately crashes, badly injuring Steve near death, but with the skill of brilliant surgeon Dr. Rudy Wells(played by Martin Balsam) and funding by secretive government representative Oliver Spencer(played by Darren McGavin) rebuild Austin with bionic limbs and sight, increasing his strength and survivability immensely, making him an ideal government operative, if he can only emotionally adjust to his new condition... Good setup to the eventual series has a smart, thoughtful script and good direction by Richard Irving. Pity this realistic style wasn't continued though...

This is the pilot movie for what later became "The Six Million Dollar Man" TV series. In some ways it's quite a bit like the later series, but for the most part I found it quite different and pretty exciting--even when I see it today. I say that because I liked the movie and show when I was a kid--but I had no idea how well either would hold up decades later. Frankly, I am a lot pickier with what I watch now--and I was half expecting to hate it. However, the Martin Caidin story turned out to be pretty engaging.

Now you need to understand up front that this film, like many pilots, is not exactly the show. A different guy plays the good doctor (Martin Balsam) and Steve Austin's boss (Darren McGavin) is VERY different--much more amoral and scheming compared to the relatively nice Richard Anderson from the show as 'Oscar Goldman'. I liked McGavin's character and wished they kept him for the show. The big similarity between the movie and show is that Steve Austin was played by the same guy in both--Lee Majors. Overall, this is a very interesting a well made TV movie. Part of it is that it relied less on action and more on characters. Plus, I liked how you did NOT see and hear the weird 'cyborg' effects--Austin just did cool things without the silly accompanying sounds. Worth seeing and clever.

I was brought up in the seventies and by stupid coincidence I found a box of The Six Million Dollar Man. I remember it from my youth but was afraid to pick it up, I had seen so many old series that didn't stand their time. Before I would start with the series of The Six Million Dollar Man I wanted to pick up this flick. This is were it all started with. The original version is still available on VHS but the re-edited version was brought out on DVD under the name 'The Moon And The Desert' and it's exactly what this flick did, going to the moon and rescuing a prisoner in the desert.

The first 45 minutes is were you see how Steve Austin (Lee Majors) got involved in his terrible accident. And this is a must see. Okay, it's based on the book Cyborg by Caidin. But the editing of his accident and going to the moon was edited with real footage of the crash of the Northrop M2-F2. It did work out fine and still works nowadays. Once his accident happened it's decided that Steve needs some robot arm to become a cyborg, even his legs and eye were replaced making him the six million dollar man.

The second half of this flick Steve had to agree with making him some cyborg and starts to life with it which results in being given orders to use his strength.

Some pieces were a bit slow but the acting was top notch, Lee Majors surely gives the feeling that he can't go on with his new body but once he's used to the prosthetics the six million dollar man is (re)born.

The score used is a bit out dated and the traditional bionics sound effects are not heard in this film, what they did was the use of slow-motion, another thing that became a trademark for the series.

Just after this flick Barbara Anderson (Joan Kahn) made the horror Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark. Weird to see is that the personalities used here was played by actors never appearing again in the series but what a popular names they were, Martin Balsam (Dr. Rudy Wells) of Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) fame and Darren McGavin (Oliver Spencer) , he is most fondly remembered by cult TV fans as heroic newspaper reporter Carl Kolchak in the classic but short-lived horror TV series Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974-75),both sadly died.

This is a must see with some effects still used today, just watch when his arm is injured during a rescue, and long before the Cyborg flicks from the Cannon Group became notorious in the eighties. Recommended for all sci-fi geeks. Even as it had a few mistakes in editing, suddenly 2 moonwalkers while Steve is on his own, and script, his bionic eye wasn't used even as they showed it a lot.

Gore 0/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 4/5 Story 4/5 Comedy 0/5