Starman

One of Jeff Bridges' better performances this one. He is an alien who arrives on Earth and assumes the physical shape of "Hayden". Thing is, he has recently died - so you can imagine how phased his recent widow "Jenny" (Karen Allen) is as he coerces her to drive him to Arizona where he can rendezvous with the others from his race. The crater left by his landing has attracted the attention of SETI - a government agency charged with looking for ET, and - of course - the more militaristic elements under the command of "Fox" (Richard Jaeckel). What now ensues is a road-movie with a difference as the two gradually start to bond whilst being pursued by the authorities. There is a gradually accumulating chemistry between Allen and Bridges, the latter offering a nuanced and gentle performance as if he were but a baby in a man's body lost in a strange and not particularly welcoming environment. It has some touching moments, a little humour and though the ending isn't really ever in doubt, the travels of this couple are demonstrated in a gently sentimental (but not sickly or melodramatic) fashion. It's a bit on the long side - we do take a little bit of time for the thing to get moving, but once it proves to be a well photographed, scored and entertaining character study from John Carpenter. Worth a watch, I'd say.

Look who directed it... and that raises a lot of questions doesn't it? I mean it's espically good and then you see it's john Carpenter doing a... a love story and a very moving and beautiful love story. I guess the draft Carpenter got was extremely political... and he took all the politics out and focused on the love story, that was a great call, it was a great call in the 80s and it is great advice for today. And it's good with Bridges doing a stellar job, and he really didn't learn how to act until the 90s. I totally forgot about it, and then my wife and I saw it, hadn't seen it since the 80s and forgot how amazing it was. It stands the test of time, it's moving, it's beautiful, and it entertains... you can't ask for more.