Best movie of this year hands down!

Admirable film.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Even as a kid, with very little taste, I though this had to be about as stupid as anything I've ever seen. First of all, the two men, Ray Milland and Rosey Grier, look like they are sleeping in the same bed and got stuck. Nobody knew what to do with their necks. Of course, the question is, "What would happen to a being with two heads?" This is an uncomfortable question when you think of everything. I won't criticize it too much because the campy idea of a black mand and an old white man stuck in the same body with their own thought processes is entertaining to a point. I just couldn't buy it.

Less straightforward than one might expect for a tale about a racist surgeon whose head is transplanted onto an African American man's body, the vast majority of 'The Thing With Two Heads' is actually played straight (not as a comedy), nor does the surgeon gradually overcome his prejudices as one might expect. The difficulty of pinpointing what exactly the filmmakers were going for here has lead to the film acquiring a mixed reputation, but it is a decidedly different sci-fi tale at least. As mentioned, the comedy angle does not take off until rather late in the piece (around halfway in) and it is furthermore a good thirty minutes before the transplant takes place with the film going into glorious detail regarding its head grafting pseudoscience and how host bodies need to learn to accept newly transplanted heads before the original heads can be removed and so on. This early part of the film also features a two-headed gorilla, wonderfully crafted by Rick Baker. It is really only as the comedy angle starts to warm up that the film loses its way with prolonged racing and chase scenes when the better moments are the ones in which the Thing interacts with others, including the African American's girlfriend, curious if he has two of anything else (!). If not a film that be unreservedly recommended, the movie's strangeness alone might make it worth a look for some.

First, I did not give it 9 stars because it is a good movie. In the traditional sense, it is a terrible movie, but it's really delightfully terrible! Although Ray Milland was still acting a dozen years beyond this, maybe it was late enough in the game that he was less choosy about parts? In any case, he put his whole heart and soul into it, not just his head. His scathing bigotry made Archie Bunker a choirboy by comparison. Rosie Greer, the giant football great, was fairly new to movies, but was perfect for this role. Rosie, a criminal on death row, agreed to this "scientific experiment" so he could buy time to prove his innocence. The bigoted Milland wakes up from surgery, cheek to cheek with a enormous black man and says "is this part of a joke?". Without giving away much, let's just say this Odd Couple get in to more funny (imo) situations than Felix and Oscar ever did.The reason I clicked "spoiler" is just for one scene. I got sucked into this movie with a couple siblings when it appeared on TV in the 70's. We had no idea what we were getting into, but we couldn't take our eyes away. When the thing with two heads approached a surprised security guard, his spontaneous "Holy Sh*t" was not censored. EVERYTHING was censored back then. But we laughed. What else could the guard say? Even the censors understood.

The movie starts with a rich doctor named Kirshner (Milland) who's developed a way to transplant the head of another creature, in this case an ape on to another's body and it survives. It will revolutionize science. Since he's the leading expert in medical transplants a young black doctor Williams (Marshall) wishes to work with him and learn all he can. We soon see that Kirchner wants nothing to do with blacks and says he can't work there. Williams gave up a lot to go there and is mad, so Kirshner reluctantly allows him to work for a short time. Kirshner confides in his colleague Dr. Desmond that he is dying and must have body immediately. The word goes out, and a death row inmate decides to "donate his body to medical science." Jack (Grier) claims he's innocent, but is brought over and put under for the procedure. In one of the funnier parts of the film Kirshner wakes up on a black mans body. They plan was to keep the other head sedated until Kirshner can control the body, but Jack makes a run for it, with Kirshner's head attached, taking Marshall hostage. In a chase that never seems to end Jack finally gets away from the cops and the brothers decide to get rid of the white mans head. One thing leads to another and Kirshner ends up with his head ready to be transplanted again while Jack, Marshal, and his girl take off for freedom. The End, what a stupid film. This has to be one of the dumbest films I have ever scene. Not only is it totally outlandish, everything else is bad as well. From the acting to the special affects its just bargain basement bad. With all that being said I watched the whole thing and was amused by most of the film. The effects are so bad you can't help but laugh, especially at Milland's head on Grier's body throughout much of the film as they run, ride and elude police. The effects are laughable, certainly Rick Baker went on to much better things. I guess this would be practice for future works with ape costumes, King Kong, Mighty Joe Young and Planet of the Apes (all remakes). And the story, Racist white guy gets his head put on black man's body? That's funny. This is your classic blaxploitation film with most of the white guys being shown as villains in the film, but just from a comedic angle. There are plenty of solid films of this nature but this is not one of them. This only serves to garner some stupid laughs from a stupid script. One of the worst parts of the film has to be the never ending chase. For what seems like and eternity Grier is chased by the cops on a dirt bike. But its goes on FOREVER! they must have spent half the budget on crashed police cars. Milland's a good actor so I'm surprised he did some of these low budget yarns, somewhat like "Frogs." The rest of the cast did their job, Grier was amusing nothing bad to say just a silly film all together. So overall stupid film of the era, but so bad its good quality bumps it up bit, 2 and a half stars.