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Starman (14-Dec-1984)
Director: John Carpenter Writers: Bruce A. Evans; Raynold Gideon Music Composed by: Jack Nitzsche Producer: Larry J. Franco Keywords: Sci-Fi, Explosions An extraterrestrial visiting Earth finds his spacecraft shot down over Wisconsin; there he assumes human form as an inquisitive cloned replica of a young widow's deceased husband. He has three days to reach Arizona or he will perish, complicated in that he is under pursuit by military and scientific authorities. Quirky romantic science fiction story, for which Jeff Bridges received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor.
[watch trailer]
CAST | Jeff Bridges | ... Starman | | Karen Allen | ... Jenny Hayden | | | Charles Martin Smith | ... Mark Shermin | | Richard Jaeckel | ... George Fox | | | Robert Phalen | ... Maj. Bell | | Tony Edwards | ... Sgt. Lemon | | John Walter Davis | ... Brad Heinmuller | | Ted White | ... Deer Hunter | | Dirk Blocker | ... Cop #1 | | M. C. Gainey | ... Cop #2 | | Sean Faro | ... Hot Rodder | | Buck Flower | ... Cook | | Russ Benning | ... Scientist | | Ralph Cosham | ... Marine Lieutenant | | David Wells | ... Fox's Assistant | | Anthony Grumbach | ... NSA Officer | | Jim Deeth | ... S-61 Pilot | | Alex Daniels | ... Gas Station Attendant | | Carol Rosenthal | ... Gas Customer | | Mickey Jones | ... Trucker | | Lu Leonard | ... Roadhouse Waitress | | Charlie Hughes | ... Bus Driver | | Byron Walls | ... Police Sergeant | | Betty Bunch | ... Truck Stop Waitress | | Victor McLemore | ... Roadblock Lt. | | Steven Brennan | ... Roadblock Sergeant | | Pat Lee | ... Bracero Wife | | Judith Kim | ... Girl Barker | | Ronald Colby | ... Cafe Waiter | | Robert Stein | ... State Trooper | | Kenny Call | ... Donnie Bob | | Jeff Ramsey | ... Hunter #1 | | Jerry Gatlin | ... Hunter #2 | | David Daniell | ... Letterman | | Randy Tutton | ... 2nd Letterman |
REVIEWS Review by Walter Frith (posted on 7-Jun-2007) Jeff Bridges is one of the most under rated actors of the last two
generations. He's a veteran of four Oscar nominations between 1971 and
2000. Three times for best supporting actor for 'The Last Picture
Show', 'Thunderbolt and Lightfoot' and 'The Contender'. And once for
best actor for his performance in John Carpenter's 'Starman'. In fact,
bringing together two people like Jeff Bridges and John Carpenter is
sort of a double dose of the under rated. Carpenter made the most
successful independent low budget film of his generation with 1978's
'Halloween'. Made for $325,000 it grossed $47,000,000 in the U.S. and
its total was actually much more with all of the world wide grosses and
various forms of home entertainment over the years. Jeff Bridges
himself never really had a huge box office hit that one would define as
a "blockbuster" and 'Starman' was a 180 turn for both of them.
Carpenter's other films such as 'The Fog', 'Escape from New York', 'The
Thing' and his debut (and still his best film) 'Assault on Precinct
13', were hard edged thrillers with a decidedly dark style of
presentation. A perfect slow burn form of story telling for adult
audiences. Watch Carpenter's films carefully and you will always find a
strong female lead. Or a greatly influential supporting female adding
greatly to a story's essence. Something James Cameron would be
influenced by later on and would get all of the credit for showing it
in his films while Carpenter seems to be somewhat forgotten. Now
'Starman' would prove to be a touching and mildly humourous and totally
human story about a being from another world who is not human but
becomes one somewhat during his experience on Earth. In 1977 the
Voyager II probe was launched into outer space and was filled with
pictures, sounds, music and messages from Earth that invited all
intelligent forms of life to visit our world. An alien being came into
contact with the probe and came to our world in search of what he saw
during this multi-media presentation. One dark and mysterious night in
Wisconsin, a young widow named Jenny Hayden (Karen Allen), is sitting
around watching home movies of herself and her deceased husband Scott
(Jeff Bridges). She feels a great sense of loss and is in a serious
state of depression. The alien infiltrates her home after she has gone
to bed and through a single strand of the deceased man's hair hidden at
the back of a scrapbook by his widow, the alien assumes human form and
it's all uphill from here. A journey must now take place from Wisconsin
to Arizona so that the alien can meet up with his kind who will beam
him back up and take him back to his home planet. Jenny Hayden is, at
first, resistant, and feels she's trapped in the ultimate nightmare but
after awhile, as it happens in real life, the more you resist someone
at first, they grow on you and you come to accept them. Tracking their
progress is a scientist named Mark Shermin (Charles Martin Smith) who
is under orders from his superiors to capture the alien so it can be
experimented on but Shermin appeals to his own more humane instincts as
he recognizes an incredible opportunity for co-operation and learning
in the presence of a being that hypothetically is about 100,000 years
ahead of the human race in its progress. 'Starman' is a by-product of
the ripple effect created by 1982's 'E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'. A
film that was the highest grossing movie of all time but now has been
surpassed. But ticket prices have almost tripled today so when adjusted
for inflation, 'E.T.' still holds many box office records to this day.
And, of course, 'E.T.' was a by product of 'Star Wars' and its whole
cultural impact on the world. The biggest pop culture movie of all time
which spawned two sequels, three prequels and essentially created a
whole new religion in the process. A recent survey in England asking
people what their religion is had a significant percentage of
respondents answering "Jedi knight". 'Starman' is a hypnotic film of
unbridled sentimentality. Its creative juices flow like old friend
every time I view it, now 21 years after it theatrical release. It's
part friendship story, part romance story, part action/adventure
thriller and all evenly paced entertainment written by Bruce A. Evans
and Raynold Gideon who would get an Oscar nomination two years later in
1986 for the adapted screenplay of 'Stand by Me' which was another
deeply human story. This writing team would also pen a sleeper classic
from 1987 called 'Made in Heaven' with Timothy Hutton and Kelly
McGillis. To director John Carpenter's credit, he would have a little
bigger budget this time around. John Carpenter's most ambitious film is
probably 1982's 'The Thing'. A film that had a relatively high budget
and low budgets plagued Carpenter for the first six or seven years of
his career and this, I believe, with the exception of 'Halloween', led
to his work never really being appreciated by critics or audiences but
I think he is one of the finest directors of the last thirty years if
you accept his movies as entertainment first and social commentary
second. There's always a market for that and Carpenter's films always
earn an 'E' for effort. John Carpenter's films were always better
received over seas than they were in North America. Furthermore,
Carpenter is quoted as saying: "In France, I'm an auteur, in Germany
I'm a filmmaker; in Britain I'm a genre film director and in the USA
I'm a bum." I strongly and respectfully disagree. [Visit FILM FOLLOW-UP
by Walter Frith]
Review by Andrew Wells (posted on 3-Aug-2007) A very enjoyable Sci-Fi from John Carpenter, which I found not too far
fetched. Excellent performances from Jeff Bridges and Karen Allen. The
story was left wide open for a follow-up, (Karen Allen having his baby
boy), but nothing transpired. Can anyone out there tell me why? If any
film was crying out for a number 2 this has got to be it!
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