Eighties Day - Film Opinion - Starman

  

John Collins remembers a forgotten, but much more family friendly, classic from John Carpenter... 

For many the 80’s is a decade synonymous with cult classics showing some of the best that sci-fi and fantasy has to offer. Raiders of the Lost Ark, Back to the Future, The Terminator and E.T. are a mere few that people immediately associate from the decade and remain cinematic classics. However, there are also those forgotten or overlooked titles that either age into obscurity or the passage of time make them inaccessible to a contemporary audience. John Carpenter’s 1984 movie Starman divides people in terms of its modern cultural relevance. Some refer to it as criminally forgotten, others a classic; personally I believe it has its admirers, but nowhere near as many as it should.

Carpenter’s career by 1984 had been firmly established with films such as Halloween and The Thing. Starman is by far his most gentle film to date but is also quoted as his ‘personal favourite.’ The plot is very similar to E.T., indeed Columbia Pictures chose the script of Starman over E.T.; Jeff Bridges plays the eponymous alien who embodies the exterior of the long gone human Scott Hayden. Approaching Hayden’s widow Jenny (Karen Allen) to travel with him across America to the Arizona desert to in order for him to be taken home. As the two grow closer, they are followed by government agencies who want to capture Starman.

Although the special effects probably dates the film amongst its contemporaries and the plot involving the government agents is merely to keep the obstacles coming, it is the romance between Bridges and Allen that is the true highlight of the movie. Bridges performance as the alien who comes to earth and learns the basics including walking, talking and eating is wholly believable and at times comical. According to an interview with Allen, Bridges watched his young children as they learnt their way around world as inspiration, and this observation is evident in his performance for which he earned a much deserved Oscar nomination. Karen Allen, whose best known for playing Marion in the Indiana Jones movies, has been in my opinion a criminally underused actress in movies. Her performance in Starman also demonstrates believability playing a widow who encounters an alien who looks and sounds like her husband and falls in love with him in the same way; she too should have been nominated for an Oscar.

The music score, particularly the haunting theme tune that plays in snippets throughout and then fully at the end, to me is as atmospheric and memorable as any John Williams or Thomas Newman score. It truly captures the movies heart-warming story and is an underrated piece of music that should be included on all Sci-fi Score compilations albums.

Sadly, the movie is probably on the whole forgotten; it didn’t exactly set the box office alight when released, it’s not available on Blu-ray, is expensive on DVD and is rarely aired on TV. But for anyone who enjoys a good romantic film with a dash of sci-fi, action and some beautiful acting, I can’t recommend Starman highly enough.