Director
John Carpenter
Cast
Jeff Bridges - Scott Hayden / Star Man
Karen Allen - Jenny Hayden
Charles Martin Smith - Mark Shermin
Richard Jaeckel - George Fox
Robert Phalen - Major Bell
Tony Edwards - Sergeant Lemon
John Walter Davis - Brad Heinmuller
Ted White - Deer Hunter
If our government... heck, if several governments around the world got together and sent a message into the vast spaces of space inviting whomever is out there to come visit Earth, and someone from another planet accepted that invitation and showed up, these governments would probably welcome them with a lot of firepower. If aliens are visiting us, that's probably why they do so cautiously and secretly. Such a global welcome wagon doesn't seem far-fetched and alies are too smart to put it past us.
On a personal note, I've unwittingly focused on sci-fi movies about charming and likeable aliens released during the 1980s in my last few reviews. Maybe I ought to toss in a few movies with hostile aliens trying to take over Earth and ruin everyone's good time. Remember in "Ghostbusters II" when Dr. Venkman (Bill Murray's character) said, "And that is the whole problem with aliens, is you just can't trust them. Occasionally you meet a nice one: Starman, E.T. But usually they turn out to be some kind of big lizard!"
John Carpenter's 1986 sci-fi romance "Starman" is a movie that pops up in conversation from time to time. Not often but comes up.
In this movie, Marion Ravenwood from "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and...uhh... the last two Indiana Jones movies, "Crystal Skull" and "Dial of...weak characters," hooks up with "the Dude" from "The Big Lebowski" who's actually an alien from Alienland.
In 1977, in "Starman" time, a space probe is launched carrying a gold LP. That's a record for anyone who has no idea what an LP is. This record has a message inviting any alien civilizations with record players that might exist out there to come visit Earth.
Well, an alien civilization picks up the invitation and accepts the offer.
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| Karen Allen and Jeff Bridges in "Starman." |
So, they send a scout to Earth to see if it's safe to visit and worth their time, because these aliens aren't stupid. To nobody's surprise, the U.S. Government shoots down the alien scout spacecraft, which was sent to make contact with earthlings.
The ship crashes somewhere in Wisconsin.
The alien scout, which looks like a ball of glowing energy, makes its way into the home of Jenny Hayden (Karen Allen). She's a widow living on her own.
While she's asleep, it rummages through some photo albums of her late husband Scott (Jeff Bridges). She keeps a lock of his hair in her album. The alien extracts some of her husband's DNA from that lock of hair, and is able to take his form.
Jenny witnesses the alien's quick development from baby to grown man right in her own living room. Once the shock where's off, she thinks this thing that looks just like her deceased husband must be hostile. So, she tries to escape.
The only English this alien knows is what he and his race heard from the message sent by the government.
He doesn't know how to ask Jenny to drive him from Wisconsin to a rendezvous point in Arizona to meet up with the head ship his people are sending to pick him up. He only has a few days to meet up with them, or they'll ditch him and he'll die.
Jenny thinks he's kidnapping her and forcing her to drive him to Barringer Crater in Arizona. He finally reveals to Jenny that he means no harm, and is really a friendly entity. He's here to observe.
National Security Agency director George Fox (Richard Jaeckel) is able to determine that the spaceman's ship was initially heading to the Barringer Crater before being shot down. So, he sends scientist Mark Shermin (Charles Martin Smith), who helped develop the original invitation, to find the spaceman and capture him on behalf of the U.S. Government.
Shermin manages to figure out that the spaceman is disguised as a human, and that he and Jenny are travelling across the U.S. towards Arizona.
Meanwhile, as Jenny and the Starman drive day and night to get to Arizona, the spaceman closely observes how people of Earth behave. He also has special alien powers, like the power of healing and reviving dead things.
As expected, Jenny falls in love with him, which is understandable considering he's a clone of her deceased husband! The Starman, meanwhile, is a kind-hearted loveable alien who just wants to see how people on Earth behave, and do good things along the way, like revive a dead deer.
I have to take some points off for a weird sex scene that's presented as charming. Since the alien is basically a clone of Scott, he and Jenny have sex on board a box car. And afterwards, he tells her, "I gave you a baby tonight." It's awkward!
Earlier, Jenny told the alien she and Scott had tried to have a baby but couldn't due to medical issues.
So, since he has Scott's DNA, he says the baby is from both himself and from Scott's. The baby will have his huge alien intellect and special alien powers. It's creepy and anything but touching.
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| Jeff Bridges doing weird alien things in "Starman." |
The movie could easily go into the realm of being a silly fish-out-of-water flick, but it doesn't. It narrows things down between two characters and makes them interesting and memorable. It's a more personable and relatable film, with some feel-good elements. I'm not referring to that weird sex scene.
How Karen Allen could maintain a straight face working alongside Jeff Bridges as he delivers his lines like he's impersonating an dubbed monster movie while moving his head like a timid canary deserves a round of applause.
Director John Carpenter needs no introduction. He's directed some fantastic and popular movies. Carpenter is a legend in the realm of horror and sci-fi.
I've mostly seen his horror movies, which is what Carpenter is best known for - "Halloween," "Christine," "In the Mouth of Madness," and "The Fog" to name a few titles, his science fiction movies don't normally go the route of romance. "The Thing," "They Live," and "Village of the Damned" are certainly not light-hearted feel-good sci-fi flicks.
His 1992 comedy-drama "Memoirs of the Invisible Man" with Chevy Chase and Daryl Hannah, which I watched over 20 years ago, might be considered a bit similar to the kind of story "Starman" is as far as its romance is concerned. Carpenter's style is something I'm eager to dig into and discuss at some point. That'll be another post at another time.
Until then, there's one or two more friendly alien movies from the 80s I plan to get to. Whether I do them next, or avert my attention to the hostile aliens, I haven't decided yet.
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