Based on the book Simulacron-3 published in 1964, Rainer Werner Fassbinder directed the 2-part miniseries, Welt am Draht (World on a Wire), in 1973 for German TV, but wow! It coulda shoulda been movies from the start. Criterion describes it this way:

With dashes of Stanley Kubrick, Kurt Vonnegut, and Philip K. Dick, Fassbinder tells the noir-spiked tale of reluctant hero Fred Stiller (Klaus Löwitsch), a cybernetics engineer who uncovers a massive corporate conspiracy.

This was three years before Star Wars and nine years before its closer cinema relative, Blade Runner. More importantly, it was sixteen years before the Berlin Wall came down, so there’s an intensely Cold War feel to story despite some easing of tensions and attempts to make peace with ‘the other side’. Viewers can weigh how much they want to think of the story as parable and how much they want to just watch some early science fiction.

There isn’t much action and the pacing may be too slow for many modern viewers, but it remains an amazing expression of talent for what Fassbinder could make of a limited budget and sweeping concepts. The confusion and tension want space to develop. And sure, the helmet is cheesy compared to the sleek CGI creations we’d get today, but by 1970s standards, it was pretty spiffy. Rather than concentrate on such details, sit back and fall in to a world of lies and suspicion. It is very long. You will appreciate that it is in two parts. Turner Classics Movies lists it under Sunday night, but gives its time in Eastern Daylight (NYC time) as: 2:15am-6:00am EDT Monday Sept. 29. It is also available through various online sites and for purchase at various stores.

The 'helmet'

Side note: The credit music is Albatross by Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac (before he left it and their sound changed).