Friday Flashbacks: Starman

Starman 1984
Director: John Carpenter
Writers: Bruce A. Evans and Raynold Gideon
Starring Jeff Bridges, Karen Allen, Charles Martin Smith, Richard Jaeckel, Robert Phalen, Tony Edwards, John Walter Davis, Ted White, Dirk Blocker, M.C. Gainey and George "Buck" Flowers

This film is probably John Carpenters most bittersweet and benign film. At it's heart the film is about lost and found love and the strength of the human heart to overcome the boundaries of species difference and language barriers. At it's simplest though, the film is a chase film and that is why it works so well. It can be a love story for the people who are into that aspect or it can be a rousing chase film for the viewers who are more into the more masculine aspects of the film. The film is cemented by a bravura performance by Jeff Bridges, who received a Oscar nomination for his outstanding work in this film, The film moves at a brisk pace and takes the viewer on a roller coaster ride till the heartfelt and somewhat tragic and yet still hopeful ending that it ends on. As I revisit this film it seems to me that it is Carpenter's answer to Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind. I think this is a superior film too, as it does not fall into the schmaltzy overtones that Spielberg has to hit you over the head with. This film is haunting and touching and it has a organic flow to it that many stories like this do not have and that is what makes it a all the more of a standout film.
The plot basics are this, due to the Voyager exploratory ships that were sent out to investigate outer space in the 70's, one of the ships comes in contact with a inhabited planet and after the denizens investigate they send a ambassador (Bridges) to Earth to meet them and start a dialog between the two worlds. He enters the Earth's atmosphere and he is shot down by Norad. The ship is damaged but he survives and he lands near a lake where a recently widowed woman, Jenny Hayden (Allen) lives. The visitor comes out and takes the guise of her recently deceased husband, which of course freaks her out. After her initial distress she comes to trust the Starman and decides to aid him in his quest. He only has 3 days to reach the crater in Arizona, so he can get back home before he dies on Earth. A government team is hot on his trail led by Mark Shermin (Smith) and they will stop at nothing to retrieve the Starman so they can experiment on him and learn all they can about his world. Along the way Jenny falls for the Starman and it all leads to a climactic showdown in Arizona.
This is a awesome film. The direction by Carpenter is flawless as always and he really shows that he can do a film that has no horrific elements in it. He still makes it readily watchable and gets the viewer well entrenched with the film from the beginning. His use of the landscape is very well done too. The final chase scenes through Arizona are breathtaking to watch. The script is another great addition to the film. The characters of Jenny and the Starman are very fully realized and never seem like they are cartoonish, but seem very organic and completely believable. The final twist at the end of the film really connects you with the characters too and that is one of the defining characteristics of the film. The cast is extraordinary. Bridges plays the Starman with a great sense of empathy and curiosity and does this mostly with body language. Allen as Jenny is great as well. The way she at first freaks and then gradually comes to terms with what is happening and begins to fall for him is a great example of a talented actress. Smith as the villain of the piece is great too and he has a certain charm to him that you never quite hate him as much as you should. The SFX and effects of the film are astounding too, I loved the transformation scene in the beginning, it was both eerie and beautiful. The score by Jack Nitzche has a very sentimental and evocative feel to it and really amps up the emotions that you witness during the film. This film was quite a change of pace for Carpenter and it shows that he is at home within any genre and this film is definitely a SF classic.
This film gets 5 out of 5