The Power Within (1979 film)

The Power Within is a 1979 American television film.

The Power Within
Genre	Fantasy
Written by	William Clark Edward J. Lakso
Directed by	John Llewellyn Moxey
Starring	Daniel Pilon Peter Billingsley Christopher Hewett
Music by	John Addison
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Executive producers	Aaron Spelling E. Duke Vincent
Producer	Alan Godfrey
Cinematography	Emil Oster
Editor	Dennis C. Duckwall
Running time	74 mins.
Production company	Aaron Spelling Productions
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	May 11, 1979 (1979-05-11)

The film was originally an unsold TV pilot and is also known as The Power, The Man with the Power, and The Power Man.^[1]

Plot

A pilot develops super powers after being struck by lightning.^[2][3]

Cast

• Art Hindle as Chris Darrow
• Edward Binns as Gen. Tom Darrow
• Joseph Rassulo as Bill Camelli
• Eric Braeden as Stephens
• David Hedison as Danton
• Susan Howard as Dr. Joanne Miller
• Dick Sargent as Capt. Ed Holman

Reception

The Los Angeles Times film critic Kevin Thomas called The Power Within "amusingly absurd".^[4] Gail Williams of The Hollywood Reporter praised the film for being "surprisingly entertaining" and liked the "convincingly earnest performances" by Joe Rassulo and Joanna Mills.^[5] In a negative review, Variety said of the plot, "If it all sounds like kid stuff, it was indeed, with performances no better than they had to be."^[6] VideoHound rated the film 1.5 bones.^[7]

The film critic Leslie Halliwell criticized the film, writing, "You'd think there'd be a comic strip series in a hero who can shoot lightning from his fingertips, but this busted pilot bungles even that."^[8] Shock described the film as "an Aaron Spelling produced dud about an ordinary dude with electrical super powers, which hoped to lure in viewers with its low-rent science-fiction premise, since once-popular shows like THE BIONIC WOMAN and MAN FROM ATLANTIS had run their course."^[9]