Starman (1984)

Full Screen????

I love Starman and have been waiting for a wide screen version forever. What's up with this full screen nonsense? I advise people to wait and buy the DVD when the studio wises up and releases the widescreen version all the fans of this movie deserve! December 9, 2008

Could have been better in someone else's hands...

I love me some Jeff Bridges (seriously, one of our greatest working actors today) and I thought he was outstanding in this science fiction melodrama; but the film as a whole was a little too hokey for my taste.

I know a lot of people love this movie; but honestly...

So the film revolves around Starman, an alien being who gets shifted off his course and winds up taking on the identity of the recently deceased husband of Jenny Hayden. He persuades Jenny to take him across country to the place he was supposed to land, where he can be taken back home. If he is not there in three days he will die. Things would go fine if it weren't for the pesky government trying to find and capture Starman, thinking he is some kind of threat to the human race.

The film builds on the relationship between Starman and Jenny, mostly focusing on Jenny's shift in attitude towards Starman. She is initially frightened and unbelieving; then she is concerned and almost sympathetic and finally she finds herself falling in love with her husband who is not her husband all over again. It is touching in scenes, but overall the film has this very heavy-handed manipulated feel about it.

John Carpenter is not Ron Howard.

Jeff Bridges, like I mentioned, is outstanding here. He really captures the feeling of being out of place and foreign in a world you can barely understand. He captures these muted emotions, emotions that he isn't quite sure how to express, and he does so in a beautifully sincere way. Karen Allen is also quite good here, filtering through her characters state effortlessly. She conveys a real sense of empathy for Starman, even when she is frightened and confused.

The film is not a failure, and it is not a waste of time; but it isn't as strong as it could have been. Carpenter is better known for his horror movies, so seeing this science fiction romance story come from him feels a bit off; and it shows in his direction. In more comfortable hands this could have been an even better film; but Carpenter's approach takes away from the films impact.

See it for Bridges and Allen, but don't expect anything `out of this world'. October 27, 2008

classic

This was perhaps Jeff Bridges' best performance in a movie. He plays an alien who crashes on earth, takes on the appearance of a lady's dead husband, and makes her drive him cross country to meet up with his spaceship. Along the way he learns about what it is like to be human. This is one of my favorite movies of all time. If you can find it (Blockbuster or Netflix would be a good bet) definitely watch it. You will love it.
September 2, 2008

Get the European Starman DVD

I have had the VHS version of this film for years - purchased used from Hollywood video. Pan-and-scan, not the greatest fuzzy picture, mediocre sound (its difficult to remember how bad the VHS format was back when that was all we had). I went to watch this the other day and couldn't find it (I think I lent it to someone and never got it back), so, since I had been thinking about getting the DVD for quite a while I came to Amazon to order it.


Thanks to Wayne Klein's review I was immediately informed that the only version available on Amazon U.S. was a "full screen" version (yeccch) without any extras - and that there was a European version that was in wide-screen letterbox, Dolby Digital, WITH extras.

Well, that was a no-brainer for me. Since I had purchased a year or so go (from Amazon, I might add) a DVD player (Pioneer) that has all the bells and whistles, and ALSO plays PAL (the DVD format for Europe) disks, I immediately went to Amazon U.K. http://www.amazon.co.uk/ and ordered this DVD.

It arrived at my place in California (from England) air mail in about five days.

Let me tell you that this disk is AWESOME (let me mention again that regular DVD players in the U.S. will not play this disk - you must have a player that will play the PAL format. My Pioneer plays both PAL and NTSC - US format - disks). Amazingly clear and crisp picture and sound. From watching this DVD one would not guess that this film is a few years old.

I had never had the pleasure of watching Starman in widescreen with a sharp, clear picture and awesome Dolby surround, and it is almost like watching a whole new film. Hell, it IS like watching a whole new film. The extras are nice - a "making of" documentary, a voice-over narration by director Carpenter and actor Bridges.

My one possible gripe about the voice-over (and a small one, at that!) is that it was obviously recorded many years after the making of the film so Carpenter and Bridges sometimes go off on riffs that have little to do with the action onscreen - just at the point when some meaty commentary would have been nice.

On the other hand, the "riffs" that they get off on are fascinating. At one point Bridges (in commenting on the difficulty of doing love scenes) makes some statements that I found extremely interesting. It was something to the effect that in order to make love scenes believable the actors must really "open their hearts" to one another, because if they don't it just doesn't work onscreen.

He then goes on to say that when you DO open your heart to someone it makes it very difficult NOT to actually fall in love - but if you do (actually fall in love) it really "messes up your life". He says it's strange - part of "the job" is to open your heart. He says this is probably why there are so many romances between actors during the filming of movies.

I found his statements very profound.

I have loved this movie for years, and have watched it many times (and will, without doubt, watch it many times more) so I will leave the actual reviews of the film to the others here that like it as well as I do - *definitely a Five Star*.

However, if you like this movie as much as I do (and it definitely one of my all-time favorites) go for a PAL/NTSC DVD player (mine cost about $60.00) and DO go for the wide-screen, letterbox, Dolby digital surround version from Amazon U.K.

You will be glad that you did.

Ps. Once you have your PAL player you will begin to realize that there might be a lot of other disks that you might like to watch that are not available on the U.S. NTSC format and are only available on PAL.

By the way - this is a film the whole family can enjoy. For those who care (I don't) - there is one brief love scene that is basically just passionate hugging and kissing - no nudity. Also, Mr. Bridges' back is viewed briefly in the nude early in the film as he becomes the Starman.
Nice bod. :-)

Happy watching! August 10, 2008

Alien visits Planet Earth

Jeff Bridges plays the part of an alien visiting Earth. A project initiated by scientists sends an invitation out to space, where in 54 Earth languages, aliens are invited to come and see the human race.

The alien takes on the DNA structure of a dead painter whose wife is still grieving for him and the movie starts as she watches old films of her dead husband. The album is on the table and the alien transforms right before our very eyes into human form. Karen Allen plays the part of the widow, who at first believes she had a dream, but soon goes from fear to acceptance to falling in love with the likes of her dearly departed.

It is nice to see one of our favorite actors from "The Untouchables" playing the part of the government agent who investigates the alien sighting and ultimately saves his life. Don't miss this 1984 movie that shall leave you with the gentle feelings evoked by the likes of E.T.
August 4, 2008

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