140 Character Movie Review – #140RVW
Carpenter tries on new style to great effect with this slow burn alien love story. Straight from the age of acting over action. #DefineBozo
Spoiler-free Movie Review of Starman:
I only vaguely remember seeing Starman on cable at some point. I probably wasn’t interested in the love-heavy story at the time, even if it was courtesy of John Carpenter and starring Jeff Bridges and the love of my early life, Karen Allen.
Executive produced by Michael Douglas? Must be a story there. (There is, although it doesn’t have much to do with Douglas – he brought the project to Columbia. The bigger story is that Columbia optioned two aliens come to Earth projects – this one and another called Night Skies. They had to pick one to run with, so they went with the more adult-themed Starman. Night Skies went over to Univeral Pictures, where it was released under the name E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Whoops…)
So Starman had a difficult birth. Despite being started much earlier than the other picture, E.T. came to market much faster and became a juggernaut that sent Starman into a development tailspin. It would take several years for the film to see release as lots of people attached to the project split, seeing the similarities between the films and presumably not wanting to follow such a tough act. Script doctor Dean Riesner was brought in to more or less rewrite Bruce A. Evans & Raynold Gideon’s screenplay (though Riesner would never receive screen credit for bizarre Writers Guild reasons).
Such a different style for Carpenter. He’s definitely to be commended for stretching himself. Carpenter has stated that he took on Starman after his (amazing) 1982 remake of The Thing bombed and he was concerned he was about to get bounced out of Hollywood. This is the only one of his films that received an Academy Award nomination (Best Actor for Bridges).
Bridges is such a fine actor. He plays alien so well. He has this comfort and command of his body that allow him to convey so much personality.
Karen Allen sings! New favorite movie! So good to see such a meaty role for Allen. Her scene in the restaurant, explaining love and death is fantastic.
(Side note: The 1980’s seems to be the decade of actresses wandering around with shirts but not pants. The whole lounging around in nightshirt and underpants thing. It’s not even about being sexy, it’s just about portraying people realistically. And that is sexy in its own way…)
Charles Martin Smith is one of those great character actors that I’m always happy to see. He’s had a good career, but I always think actors like this could use more work.
It’s not an effects picture, of course, but it punches its weight – the practical stuff is well done and in keeping with the tone of the picture. The scene of the morphing/transformation is awfully strange. Effects were done by Stan Winston & Rick Baker, so while there isn’t a ton of FX work, it’s all pretty good…
You know, sometimes the constraints of the time really work in favor of the filmmaker. That’s not to say that not having great tech turns average directors into Hitchcock, but there is a natural suspense that builds when you have to take things slowly and avoid spending too much time focusing on details.
You can always count on Carpenter for an interesting 80’s synth score.
Love the vintage black & orange 1977 Mustang Cobra.
This SETI investigation where they have actual evidence of a flying saucer must be the most low-key, relaxed secret government project of all time. People are just wandering around, transporting the thing in plain sight. No one is filming or documenting anything. They crack the thing open and the first guy to pop through is wearing street clothes and has a cigar…
There’s this older, seemingly more innocent time on display here that must be just as alien to modern kids as it is to the Starman. The picture was made in 1984, but it could just as easily be 1974. It’s hard to imagine this story playing out the same today. People hopping boxcars, sneaking past roadblocks, plus there’s a Woolworth on the Vegas strip…
“Well, I guess the question is who’s the missionary, and who are the cannibals?”
One possible quibble might be that there’s a predictability to the script that probably was there even 30 years ago. But that’s ok; it’s the journey that’s important.
Starman is a great film. More a character-driven road picture than the sci-fi film it started life as, the performances are wonderful and the whole picture has its own pace and feel that may not be groundbreaking, but are completely welcome. Highly recommended…
Poster:
Trailer:
https://youtu.be/hkJnrFfjElc
Bechdel Test:
Fail
The Representation Test Score: C (5 pts)
(http://therepresentationproject.org/grading-hollywood-the-representation-test/)
| Main Cast | Jeff Bridges Starman, Karen Allen Jenny Hayden, Charles Martin Smith Mark Shermin, Richard Jaeckel George Fox |
| Rating | PG |
| Release Date | Fri 14 Dec 1984 UTC |
| Director | John Carpenter |
| Genres | Adventure, Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi |
| Plot | An alien takes the form of a young widow’s husband and asks her to drive him from Wisconsin to Arizona. The government tries to stop them. |
| Poster |  |
| Runtime | 115 |
| Tagline | In 1977 Voyager II was launched into space, inviting all lifeforms in the universe to visit our planet. Get ready. Company’s coming. |
| Writers | Bruce A. Evans (written by) &, Raynold Gideon (written by) |
| Year | 1984 |
