Selectric can you hear me?
June 4, 2019 4:49 PM Subscribe
I'm trying to find a movie I saw on cable decades ago with a character who used a voice-operated typewriter. Can anyone hook me up with a title?
No idea what the overall plot was. Here's what I remember:
It was from the 70s (possibly 60s). One character (probably the protagonist) was an author who in one scene in the movie was using a voice-operated typewriter -- he would dictate and the typewriter would type it out. I seem to remember that the typewriter was a smart-ass (or just dumb) because it would interpret some things literally and type them out for example if he said "delete that last sentence" it would type "delete that last sentence" and he would get exasperated.
I remember the author was in a house that had a very contemporary design for the time period. I think the author had black hair and possibly a mustache. Maybe a Charles Bronson look about him.
No idea what the overall plot was. Here's what I remember:
It was from the 70s (possibly 60s). One character (probably the protagonist) was an author who in one scene in the movie was using a voice-operated typewriter -- he would dictate and the typewriter would type it out. I seem to remember that the typewriter was a smart-ass (or just dumb) because it would interpret some things literally and type them out for example if he said "delete that last sentence" it would type "delete that last sentence" and he would get exasperated.
I remember the author was in a house that had a very contemporary design for the time period. I think the author had black hair and possibly a mustache. Maybe a Charles Bronson look about him.
Reminds me of part of Lawnmower Man, like, in the second half.
posted by evilmonk at 8:14 PM on June 4, 2019
posted by evilmonk at 8:14 PM on June 4, 2019
There's a voice-operated typewriter in Hands of Steel (1986).
posted by Chrysostom at 11:02 PM on June 4, 2019
posted by Chrysostom at 11:02 PM on June 4, 2019
Best answer: So here we have finally come full circle, because I asked this very question several time periods ago, and here it is. (Unfortunately the youtube link from 2013 is no longer functional, but here is the IMDB page for Computercide.)
posted by disconnect at 1:00 PM on June 5, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by disconnect at 1:00 PM on June 5, 2019 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Awesome! Disconnect nailed it (and 1970s Antihero by extension)!
Thank you!
posted by duoshao at 2:55 PM on June 5, 2019
Thank you!
posted by duoshao at 2:55 PM on June 5, 2019
The Final Eye is still on YT, for the moment, and that link takes you right to the scene in question.
posted by hanov3r at 3:43 PM on June 5, 2019
posted by hanov3r at 3:43 PM on June 5, 2019
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His look is more Steve McQueen, though. Here's a bit in which his secretary, on her first day, encounters the typewriter unexpectedly. (He doesn't yet know that she's a contemporary Earther, not a secret agent from an alien power like he is.
posted by Sunburnt at 4:56 PM on June 4, 2019 [2 favorites]