Brainstorm

Natalie Wood made her last screen appearance in Brainstorm ; in fact, she died before the film was completed, necessitating extensive rewrites. Wood 's character is secondary to the one played by Christopher Walken . A research scientist, Walken has been experimenting with a revolutionary brain-reading device. This wondrous machine is able to read a person's thought processes and translate these to videotape. When Walken wants to study the brainwaves of his late partner Louise Fletcher , he finds himself seriously at odds with his superiors-not to mention several ominous-looking government types, headed by Cliff Robertson . — Hal Erickson