Starman

The eighth feature film from director John Carpenter is a wonderful and unexpected blend of romantic drama and friendly alien visitation picture. On paper, the project seemed to have "hit" written all over it. "It's E.T. for adults," everyone at Columbia Pictures thought, but Starman was a major box office disappointment. Coming out the same week as David Lynch and Dino De Laurentiis' much anticipated Dune and just a week after the surprisingly successful 2010: The Year We Make Contact, Starman zagged by being more of a road movie than a sci-fi picture. Still, the very thing that people didn't respond to in 1984 is what gives this movie its distinctive charm. Carpenter, then known for his thrillers Halloween, Escape from New York, The Thing, and the amusing Stephen King adaptation Christine, saw the film as his opportunity to finally get some critical and studio respect as a director of more than just "horror movies," comparing the project in interviews to It Happened One Night rather than either E.T. or The Thing. 

The simple story follows a peaceful representative from an alien culture who comes to Earth as a result of the Voyager 2 space probe launched in 1977, which carried a recorded invitation to alien civilizations to visit Earth. The alien takes the form of the recently deceased husband of a grieving young widow. Shocked by this strange intruder who looks exactly like the man she just lost, the woman reluctantly agrees to drive him from her home in Wisconsin to Arizona's Barringer Crater within the three days he can survive on the planet. But the US military, despite the government's friendly invitation, sees him as a threat and tries to hunt him down. The only official who is on the side of the starman is a goofy SETI scientist named Mark Sherman.

The picture works so well because of the performances. Jeff Bridges fully commits as the naive, awkward alien stumbling around in a strange body, struggling with his rudimentary understanding of English and baffled by the violent nature of human beings. It's a role that could have come off quite silly in the hands of a less talented, less likable actor, but Bridges wins us over within seconds. The wonderful Karen Allen makes the tragic yet hopeful young widow, Jenny Haden, deeply sympathetic. The character's choices and actions in the picture feel completely credible because of the sincerity Allen brings to the role. This is also the most beautiful Karen Allen has ever been in a movie—I once saw this in 70mm and nearly swooned over her astonishingly natural beauty. Rounding out the cast is the always-welcome Charles Martin Smith as the somewhat befuddled SETI scientist. Aside from American Graffiti, Never Cry Wolf, and The Untouchables, Smith didn’t get to play many lead roles, but Starman was ideal for his oddball charms.

This is one of those ‘80s movies that feels like it hasn’t aged a day. Even though the picture would be quite different if made in the era of cell phones and GPS tracking, the emotional story would play exactly the same. With so many genre movies of today focusing on themes of grief and loss, Starman's narrative and approach would fit right in, except without any pretensions. Jack Nitzsche provides the rousing score and it's just as big, sincere, and emotional as the rest of the movie. The 35-year-old Bridges was nominated for his third Best Actor Oscar for this performance, making Starman the only film by Carpenter to receive an Academy Award nomination. This is a movie that plays better and better with each rewatch.