In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

RELEASED TO TV IN 1977 and written & directed by Kenneth Johnson, "The Incredible Hulk" is the pilot movie for the series that ran for five seasons from late 1977 to early 1982. Bill Bixby stars as Dr. David Banner, a grieving research scientist whose experiments with gamma radiation curses him with the propensity to morph into a jade monster (Lou Ferrigno) when undergoing extreme emotional stress. Susan Sullivan plays David's caring colleague while Jack Colvin appears as the annoyingly nosy reporter who smells a big story.This first movie incarnation of the Hulk was limited by its TV budget and no CGI, which meant that the creature was far less powerful than in the comics and the future theatrical versions where the Hulk could throw tanks around and bounce around the landscape with his powerful leg thews. What I like about this rendition is the totally serious take on the story, which contains elements of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Frankenstein and werewolf sagas. Despite its comic book origins, this is a tragic tale with a melancholic vibe. The haunting piano theme is Exhibit A.If you're used to the Hulk from the movies of the new millennium I can see why you'd scoff at this presentation. It's extremely low budget by comparison and you can tell by the spare cast, limited locations and one-dimensional script: Everything revolves around Banner's frustrating grief, his research and the ramifications of his accidental overexposure to gamma radiation. However, the moving close revolving around Sullivan's character wins the day, not to mention Ferrigno's exuberant efforts as the angry behemoth. Moreover, Sullivan shines in the female department, as does Lara Parker in a small role as Banner's wife. Perhaps most important of all, Bixby carries the movie (and series) as the brilliant, sympathy-inducing protagonist.THE FILM RUNS 94 minutes and was shot in California (Santa Clarita, Valencia, Universal City, Burbank, Inglewood and Los Angeles).GRADE: B/B- (6.5/10)

If one were to summarize the problems with most 1970s speculative fiction films, it's that they focused on their fantastical elements at a time when special effects weren't up to the task ("Star Wars" is the exception, not the rule). "The Incredible Hulk" misses that pitfall by focusing instead on the characters and the themes. Indeed, there's an artiness to this made-for-TV film. For starters, the first line of dialogue doesn't come until almost 10 minutes in.It's apparent from every aspect of this film that writer/director/executive producer Kenneth Johnson wanted the Incredible Hulk series to be taken seriously. Rather than introducing David Banner, having him accidentally transform into the Hulk, and proceeding promptly to adventures, the entire first half is devoted to showing how and why Banner became the Hulk. The seemingly absurd notion that a brilliant scientist would conduct an experiment with dangerously high levels of radiation on himself, without supervision, and then transform into an inhumanly strong monster is over the course of 40 minutes built up into a frightening reality.One of the strongest points of David's slow meltdown into the Hulk is that every step is, on one level at least, driven by the scientific method. Some pseudo-science is of course employed out of necessity, but the actual process by which Dr. Banner and his partner Dr. Elaina Marks come to their conclusions is classic scientific method. The trouble is that David's actions are, at the same time, driven at every step by his grief over his wife's death.The climactic first transformation into the Hulk is a classic scene. Bill Bixby conveys an incredibly realistic buildup of anger - you know when you're so blindly angry that you do everything with a careless, sloppy forcefulness, and when you inevitably get hurt as a result, that just makes you angrier and angrier? As a longtime reader of the Hulk comics, I knew what was coming in this scene, and that only made David's rage all the more frightening. It really feels as though growing into an enormous monster and smashing a car into debris is the inevitable result of his seething fury.The second transformation is an even more striking scene. Part of it is that the sheer power and fearfulness of the Hulk is better conveyed here than in any of the episodes I've seen so far. But the center of the scene is Elaina. The Hulk appears as she's recording an audio log, and like any good scientist, instead of fleeing, she continues recording her observations, albeit in a voice that makes clear her terror. Keeping it up, she approaches the creature and is bold enough to take a blood sample from him! It's a thoroughly convincing example of how human beings often react to dangerous situations in ways that seem bizarrely casual in hindsight.Elaina's death is a moment made especially tearful by her words, "My poor David... Who's going to look after you now?" This simple line summarizes the true core of David and Elaina's relationship: not partners, not lovers, but mother and child. Throughout the story, Elaina has been a guiding, protecting hand for the emotionally frail David. In a delicate and beautiful performance, Lou Ferrigno displays the confusion and subsequent anguish of a child discovering that he has become an orphan.As well-crafted an emotional journey as "The Incredible Hulk" is, its epilogue (which is the lead up to the series proper) is decidedly flawed. David allows the world to think he is dead, while McGee tells police that the Hulk killed both him and Elaina, resulting in a warrant being put out for his arrest. This is all an excuse for the TV series to follow the Fugitive formula, but while the formula is fine, the excuse is not. Even if the police are nutty enough to put out a warrant for a big green monster, why should David flee? It's just McGee's word against David's that he killed Elaina, and that's assuming there isn't evidence showing that an accidental explosion was to blame.That aside, this is an excellently done film on every front which eloquently captures the tragic nature of the Hulk.

Dr David Banner works alongside Dr Elaina Marks in a study into the root causes of those people who have had a sudden burst of strength when placed under extreme conditions. David has a vested interest in this having failed to save his wife from a burning car after an accident. Hearing stories of others who saved themselves and loved ones in similar circumstances, he is filled with a sense of self-loathing as well as scientific curiosity. After years of searching they decide to check the DNA of those involved and a few hours later have the answer they want. David decides to expose himself to gamma radiation to mimic his subjects DNA status. It doesn't appear to work, angering him. Things get worse as he drives home in the pouring rain and gets a flat. Unable to change it he gets very angry and his "inner anger" starts to come out. Not only does his inner anger have a complete lack of auto-repair skills, but it also forces him into an actual physical change that overtakes and controls him.Opening with a horribly hammy and soft-focus flashback of Banner being in love with his wife before losing her in a crash, I honestly thought about bailing out and giving the whole thing up as a bad job. However once you get passed these terribly dated opening scenes the films gets better and, although still very much an 1970's TVM, actually has plenty of good points about it. The narrative is engaging if a bit familiar to those who know the Hulk already from different visions and sources. In this regard it is occasionally a bit dull because it has to lean on the side of explanation as part of its role as a pilot but regardless it still does a good job of getting to the heart of the character – which is one of tragedy and loss.Although this is not a work of art it does get the tone right and even produces a suitably downbeat ending that the series could then run with. The narrative could have been better in terms of bringing out the people rather than the plot steps but it has this current running through it and it is for the best. As director Johnson may not ever manage to shake off his television pilot budget but he does seem to understand the importance of Banner's loss in his life and also in the roots of the Hulk. Bixby brings out this aspect well and although his range is limited he does seem to have understood what his character is about. Ferrigno is solid as the Hulk but overdoes the rage aspect without having the ability here to show that Banner is still below the surface – his is a limited performance. With the material being slanted in Bixby's favour the support isn't anything special but do enough for the TV standard of the film.Overall this is a TV movie and a pilot and therefore it has its limitations but it does manage to get the emotional tone (if not depth) right. The opening flashback is shockingly bad but after that even the most instructional of scenes is built on a sense of sadness and loss that does well to make the Banner character interesting even if the Hulk himself is not delivered well enough to run this through the entire film.

The Hulk's first incarnation on TV was this made for television movie starring Bill Bixby as the green giant. I don't know Hulk's origins in the Marvel Comics series, but here Dr. David Banner (Bixby) is experimenting with gamma rays, trying desperately to figure out how people get an incredible flow of Adrenalin when faced with utter danger. Having recently lost his wife in a car crash and not being able to save her in his attempts to lift the vehicle, Banner is nothing short of obsessed with finding out why he failed where others succeeded in saving their loved ones. Once he starts injecting gamma rays into his body he turns into the green giant whenever he gets really mad.This is no grandiose spectacle, it's rather cheap looking really, with that oh so 70's look and feel with special effects at a very minimum. It is however a very well written and totally involving story, well acted and ultimately very tragic. The scenes involving the Hulk aren't spectacular visually speaking but they are powerful, especially his first appearance on that rainy thunderstorm night when Banner gets mad while changing his tier. The love story here, between Banner and a fellow scientist, is very well played out and makes for a strong ending for the film.This film was the starting block for a long running TV series, but on it's own the film is very satisfying, definitely won't entertain younger viewers who're used to such visual extravaganza's as most modern superhero films are these days. I however like it very much, it takes it's time in establishing the character, it's a very human story that doesn't go overboard despite it's subject matter and it has a bitter ending that makes it all the more memorable.This cheap looking made for TV film is also a lot better than the 2003 version which I found simply terrible.