1984 science fiction, dir. John Carpenter, Jeff Bridges, Karen Allen:
IMDb /
allmovie. They come in
peace; shoot to kill.
This wasn't an E.T. ripoff. Really. The script was written
first, though E.T. was released before this and it had some
last-moment changes to try to distinguish it. But it took a whole for
Columbia to find a director; ones who turned it down included Adrian
Lyne (went on to make Flashdance instead), John Badham (went on to
Blue Thunder and WarGames), Tony Scott (Top Gun), and Peter
Hyams (went on to make 2010 which was released the week before
this), Carpenter was brought in as a last-ditch effort, though even
then he didn't get as much control of the script as usual; what he did
do was emphasise the rapport between the unnamed alien (I'll call him
"Starman" for convenience) and recently-widowed Jenny, after Starman
makes an initial major error by replicating the form of her late
husband.
We have of course met Karen Allen before, in Raiders of the Lost
Ark. Unlike many actors she is able to portray that she's seen a bit
of life and it hasn't always been good to her. Jeff Bridges had
already survived two major turkeys (the 1976 King Kong and the 1980
Heaven's Gate before getting a real career break with Tron in
1982.
But what makes this film work is the developing rapport and
relationship between them, even as they both know that this is very
strictly a short-term thing. And it fits well into the road trip
pattern, even as the scenery turns into classic American West to meet
it half-way.
Oh, and there's a government guy who has a redemption arc. But this
whole side of things is relatively minor, for me; not to mention that
nobody ever thinks to say to the general who stands for the military
establishment "he casually melted a crowbar, do you really want to
start the first interplanetary war by attacking him?".
Not amazing, but fun. The Carpenter touch shows through.
I talk about this film further on
Ribbon of Memes.