Starman (1984)

Starman is John Carpenter’s take on the overused storyline of a friendly alien visitor meeting resistance from the government/military and getting assistance from the unlikeliest of sources to reach a destination while being chased to their destination. This time, it’s us humans that send out a beacon of peace and invitation to whomever or whatever receives the message, via a Voyager probe containing a gold phonographic record containing the message in various languages. Remind anyone else of Star Trek: The Motion Picture? Well, the outcome is a bit different here, with the aliens getting the message, translating it, and sending a probe to see what the human race is all about. The probe, expecting to be greated will open arms, instead gets a missile up it’s afterburner and is shot down.

Carpenter takes a more adult view on the typical storyline that had just a couple of years earlier, garnered all kinds of acclaim and accolades (and tons of $$$$) for director Stephen Spielberg with E.T. – The Extra-Terrestrial. In E.T., the relationship was between a cuddly looking alien with a glowing finger that only wanted to phone home, but in Starman, the alien mimics a grieving widow’s husband and in turn, learns about the good and the bad of humanity, including love, sex, and pie) through his adventures in attemping to reach a pickup spot and hitch a ride home. Similar to E.T. and another club viewing, Iron Giant, the government is the obvious antagonist of the story, hunting down the alien visitor thinking it’s a threat instead of a friend.

Jeff Bridges’ portrayal of an alien entity being molded into a human from his interactions with mankind is stiff and unbearable at times, but I guess that was the point. The good-guy scientist (SETI scientist Mark Shermin) was played servicably by Charles Martin Smith, but the true show stealer was the lovely Karen Allen, playing the female lead role of teacher, widow, and companion to our Starman, Jenny Hayden. She is the reason I keep coming back to this film, despite it’s lack of punch that other great Carpenter Sci-Fi romps The Thing and Escape From New York. However, it still appeals to me more than E.T.

NOTE: One of the most famous scenes of the film was the transformation from orb to infant to child to man early in the movie. For it’s day, this was a great feat in special effects. The team was helmed by the recently deceased legend of SFX, Stan Winston. The team also included other legends Rick Baker and Dick Smith.