Starman

Plot synopsis:
In 1977, Voyager 2 was launched containing a gold, phonographic disk with messages of peace embedded within it and inviting visitors to come to the planet Earth. The Voyager probe is intercepted by an alien space ship which sends a small observational scout vessel in response to the invitation in order to establish first contact with Earth. However, instead of being greeted by its human hosts, the spacecraft is promptly shot down by the US government. The ship crashes in Chequamegon Bay, Wisconsin and the alien, a blue ball of energy, emerges from the wreckage. It stumbles upon the house of recently widowed Jenny Hayden (Karen Allen). There, it finds a lock of hair belonging to deceased Scott Hayden in a photo album and uses it to clone a new body in the likeness of Scott, which the stunned Jenny witnesses.The Starman (Jeff Bridges) is seen to possess seven small silver spheres which he turns into pure energy to perform miraculous feats. He uses the first one to send a message to his people that his craft has been destroyed, that the environment is hostile, and that he will rendezvous with them at "Landing Area One" in three days, located in Arizona. He then uses the second one to create a holographic map of the United States in order to compel the dumbstruck Jenny to help him get to Arizona. However, Jenny is frightened of the Starman and reacts with hostility towards him, doing what she can to avoid traveling with him. After repeatedly and unsuccessfully attempting to escape, she finally implores the Starman to shoot her with her pistol. Instead, the Starman releases the pistol's magazine and tells her he means her no harm. As they continue on their journey the Starman, who developed a rough understanding of English syntax from the Voyager 2 disk, learns to communicate exactly who he is and what his purpose is to Jenny while she tries to teach the Starman that humanity is not completely savage.The Starman explains to Jenny that he has three days to get to the rendezvous point, Arizona's Barringer Crater, or he will die. She teaches him how to drive a car and use credit cards, intending to leave him self sufficient enough to continue the journey alone. However, while they are stopped at a small diner, they connect on a more emotional level with Jenny attempting to explain to him what love is. She also witnesses the Starman revive a dead deer that had been tied to the front of a hunter's (Ted White) car. Deeply moved, she resolves to help him.Meanwhile, the US army, after discovering the crash site of the Starman's ship, is tracking the couple's trail to Arizona. The army battilion is led by the cold-blooded NSA Chief George Fox (Richard Jaeckel) who is reluctantly assisted by SETI scientist, Mark Shermin (Charles Martin Smith). Shermin is clearly a more understanding and empathic man and, after he finds the Voyager 2 disk in the Starman's ship, Shermin deduces that the Starman was invited to Earth peacefully and discovers that the alien has taken the form of Scott Hayden through collected pieces of evidence around Jenny's house.Once news of the fugitives becomes publicized, a couple of cops (Dirk Blocker, M.C. Gainey) intent on becoming local heroes, discover Jenny and Starman residing at a motel. They decide to hold position outside until the government arrives but, when Jenny and Starman attempt to escape, despite employing a distraction, the cops pursue them by car and one shoots Jenny. Starman crashes their vehicle into an overturned gas tanker, protecting himself and Jenny from the ensuing explosion with one of his spheres. Under cover of the chaos, he seeks refuge in a mobile home being transported on a trailer bed.Jenny never regains consciousness but Starman, down to his last two spheres, uses one to revive her, gently kissing her as her wounds heal. He then leaves her and attempts to reach the Crater alone; afraid she will be hurt again. Jenny regains consciousness and heads off to find him, aware that they were being pursued by the government. Meanwhile, the Starman hitches a ride with a local truck driver, telling him that his name is Scott and he's headed for Arizona. A large traffic jam awaits them. Several miles back, Jenny manages to hitch a ride with another truck diver and, after a while, are met by the same traffic jam. Police have barricaded the road and are interrogating people. When she locates Starman standing anonymously within the crowd, and knowing it's only a matter of time before he's revealed, Jenny employs the truck driver to stage a distraction for her. He explodes a gas can which incites the police to chase after him, enabling Jenny to reach Starman. They escape in the panic and continue their journey, stowing away on a train boxcar.En route, they become close and consumate their feelings for one another. Starman tells Jenny that he gave her a baby, despite Jenny's insistence that she is infertile. Starman assures her to believe what he says and tells her that the child will be the son of her husband, since he is a clone of Scott. He explains that the child will know all that Starman knows and will grow up to be a teacher. However, he gives her the option of taking it back but Jenny refuses, joyfully accepting his gift.The couple mistakenly travel too far on the train and arrive in Las Vegas and, to make matters worse, Jenny has lost her wallet. The Starman uses their last quarters in a slot machine which he manipulates with his powers in order to win a $50,000 jackpot. The couple use their winnings to buy a new car to complete the drive to Winslow, Arizona, which is near Barringer Crater.Meanwhile, Fox has received information from NORAD that the trajectory of The Starman's Observation Craft, prior to it being shot down, was to Barringer Crater, and concludes that the Starman, along with Jenny Hayden would be in that general vicinity within the next 24 hours of that determination.Near the end of the journey, the Starman, growing weaker, and Jenny are confronted in a cafe in Winslow, where Mark Shermin interviews the dying Starman. The Starman explains to him that his people had previously visited Earth and are interested in humans because, out of all the many savage intelligent races in the universe, humans are at their best when things are at their worst. Confronted with this, Shermin decides to ruin his career to help the Starman and Jenny escape.The couple reach the crater as Army helicopters buzz them. Suddenly, the aliens' large, spherical mothership appears in the sky and descends into the crater. A blue light surround the couple and the Starman is instantly restored to health. He tells Jenny he will never see her again. Jenny confesses her love and begs him to take her with him but he says she would die on his world. He then gives her his last silver sphere, telling her that her son will know what to do with it before asking Jenny to tell her son about him. He asks her to tell him how to say goodbye and they kiss one last time before the Starman walks away into the beam. As Jenny watches in silence, the mothership rises, carrying the Starman away.

Tags: comedy, suspenseful, boring, cult, violence, clever, psychedelic, revenge, home movie

Review:
His gentle alien comes in the form of a human clone (Jeff Bridges), and as we watch him interact with the rest of our race, we see both the good and the bad in all of us.
John Carpenter directed "Starman" in 1984, hot off the mega-success of the landmark horror movie "Halloween" in 1978 and the cult science fiction/adventure flick "Escape from New York" in 1981.
"Starman" was a significant departure and change-of-pace from all of Carpenter's earlier works.While essentially a science fiction story involving all the essentials - aliens, the United States Army, government cover-ups, a countrywide chase adventure and what's this, an intergalactic love story?
And who can forget that awesome synthesizer score by Jack Nitzsche (strange since Carpenter usually composes his own film scores)?Evans and Gideon's script, taking its cues from "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951) and "E.T. the Extraterrestrial" (1982), concerns an alien who has come to Earth after answering an invitation he found on the Voyager II space probe.
After sampling DNA taken from a lock of hair of her late husband, the alien grows into a human clone of him, where he is now played by the actor Jeff Bridges.After overcoming the obvious speech barrier when he learns to speak in English, Starman then requests that Jenny Hayden drive him from Wisconsin to Arizona, where he will meet the mother ship that will take him back to his home planet.
Along the way, Jenny grows from being fearful of this visitor from another planet, to respecting him and finally loving him, while he gets to learn about human beings and BEING human.It's not enough to say that both Jeff Bridges and Karen Allen are this film's magical centerpiece.
We see no trace of the actor "Jeff Bridges" in there, all we see is "Starman," defined largely by his awkward mannerisms and patterns of speech, and it is a skillful, humorous, and touching performance that is the pure anti-thesis to Carpenter's earlier "The Thing" (1982).John Carpenter, unfortunately, has not received a whole lot of recognition for this picture.
The focal point comes in the diner where our alien asks Karen Allen to "Define Love."  If everyone would take this definition to heart, this world would be a much better place!This is what movie making should strive to achieve.
The achingly gorgeous Karen Allen and the sublime Jeff Bridges star in this story of love and innocence.A magical movie, with a poignant, otherworldly score sees John Carpenter direct a movie outside his usual genre.
The spacecraft crashes in Chequamegon Bay, Wisconsin and the alien wanders in a form of energy to the house of the young widow Jenny Hayden (Karen Allen), where he uses the DNA from a hair of her husband Scott (Jeff Bridges) to take his human form.
In `Starman,' directed by John Carpenter, Jeff Bridges stars as the alien who responds, only to be met with a less than cordial greeting once he arrives.
As it is, it's a good film, better than the average sci-fi offering (especially for it's time, 1984), but given that Bridges brought so much to this with his creation of such a memorable character, the movie as a whole could have been so much more.
Although it is not what you would call a `great' or `classic' movie, `Starman' does succeed in making us take pause to reconsider some of our possibly preconceived notions of the way things are or should be; in the end, it's a call for understanding and love between all people everywhere, and a proposition put forth for universal peace.
A strong story, that succeeds in avoiding all the predictable jokes about a stranger getting to know the customs of a new environment (like e.g. Crocodile Dundee, or Blast from the Past), good actors, strong directing and great special effects (Bridges' transformation from a baby to an adult!) that never predominate the rest of the story.
Carpenter who tends to write his own music for films left it to Jack Nitzsche although I assumed for years it was Carpenter's music with that stirring theme.I was mesmerised by this film when I saw it 30 years ago and it's lost nothing of its charm and power since then even though the film has of course aged.The alien who arrives on Earth takes the form of Jeff Bridges the late husband of Karen Allen who still mourns him.Allen is of course uneasy about this arrival and Bridges needs to get to Arizona in three days so he can be reunited with his spacecraft and get back home.
He starts out as almost infant like when he arrives, learns to speak, move and navigate with a sense of wide eyed wonderment.The film is essentially a road/chase movie as the government and military are on the hunt for our alien with Allen wondering whether to abandon him.
John Carpenter's Starman is a wonderful film!Jeff Bridges and Karen Allen are really good in this movie!The beginning is scary and the film is never boring and its very in interesting and yet sad and the same moment.It has great effects and a good ending!If you like alien films then check Starman today because it is a fantastic movie!.
The film talks about a widow (Karen Allen) who solely lives in a countryside cottage and embittered for his husband's death when suddenly crashes a craft appearing an alien that takes shape from him (Jeff Bridges).
Being the only John Carpenter film to have an Academy Award nomination , Jeff Bridges as Best Actor .
Another unpredictable film from John Carpenter with an Oscar-nominated performance by JEFF BRIDGES, at a time when his career was in high gear.JEFF BRIDGES is an alien with the ability to transform himself into the exact duplicate of KAREN ALLEN's husband Scott who has died.
Carpenter does express his shock tactics and trick photography he employed on classics like Halloween, The Fog and The Thing, and even though Starman isn't a horror movie, these tactics seem more suitable to this Sci-Fi/Romance.The two vital components in making Starman work are Jeff Bridges and Karen Allen.
Bridges gets to grips with the Alien he is playing but plays it so gentle and mesmeric that when the love affair between Starman and Jenny Hayden [Karen Allen] blossoms, you are at once cheering it on.
A sweet, tender & heartwarming portrait of love & sympathy, Starman offers John Carpenter an avenue to try his hand at romance and though it comes pierced with elements of sci-fi, the film functions as a surprisingly warm & thoroughly human love story led by a wonderful chemistry between its two leads.The story follows a young widow who's grieving the loss of her husband.
Her life spirals out of control when an alien, who's visited Earth to establish first contact after intercepting the Voyager 2 space probe, crash-lands near her house, takes the form of her deceased husband, and asks for her help while being hunted by the government.Directed by John Carpenter, the film marks a new territory for him but his careful approach to the subject matter in addition to his innate ability to build tension & suspense from nothingness makes it an engaging sit.
With more emphasis on the bond that develops between the two characters, the film turns out to be a silent meditation on love, loss & companionship.Treated more like a cross-country road trip than a conventional sci-fi, the film is a departure from what Carpenter is best known for but he shows that he can revel in any genre if given the creative freedom and it's a fine addition to his directorial oeuvre.
And this story is further uplifted by smooth camerawork, relaxed editing, steady pace & an intimate score that surprisingly isn't from Carpenter.Coming to the performances, Starman is steered by a terrific showcase from Jeff Bridges who portrays the confusion, adaptation & growth of his alien character in human skin in a deft & relatable manner and his chemistry with Karen Allen is the core ingredient that makes this film work.
If my memory hasn't failed me, it seems that most of the science fiction movies I've seen -- going back to "The Day the Earth Stood Still," and some even older, and including this one -- one common situation usually occurs.Some earthlings are intent upon whacking the good-intentioned alien (who always possesses knowledge light-years beyond ours), instead of receiving him and making him welcome and learning a few things.Also, there is usually some guy in-charge (Richard Jaeckel here), a mid-level or minor functionary, or an army bird colonel (perhaps lower).
Despite this, the story and performances here are engaging, the two main characters thoroughly likable, and I do realize the presentattion would have to have been different if the "Starman" weren't being pursued by those intent upon offing him.Jeff Bridges has always been a particular favorite of mine, so when he appears in a truly outstanding flick, it's doubly enjoyable for me..
Original and heartwarming sci-fi romantic thriller with extraterrestrial Bridges  (winning in his Best Actor nominated performance) visiting Earth after an open invite via a satellite and takes form of Allen's recently deceased husband.
Starman is an excellent and underrated SCI-FI-Fantasy-Romance that combines terrific direction,wonderful performances,an amazing score and great special effects.
All of those elements make Starman a great film that is John Carpenter and Jeff Bridges at their best.Starman tells the story of am Alien,a Starman(Jeff Bridges)who's space ship has crash landed on the property of widow Jenny Heyden(Karen Allen)and takes the form of her dead husband.
While on the trip Starman and Jenny get to know each other and fall in love.During his career,master Director John Carpenter has made five films dealing with Aliens with Horror,Action and SCI-FI,his funny feature film debut Dark Star(1974),the excellent and terrifying The Thing(1982),the brilliant and thrilling They Live(1988)and the underrated and entertaining Ghosts Of Mars(2001).
In between those four films came Starman in 1984,a wonderful SCI-FI-Romance that was a modest success at the Box Office,earned an Academy Award nomination for Jeff Bridges,spawned a short lived television series and next to Big Trouble In Little China is Carpenter's lightest film that remains underrated and gives people a different side to Carpenter that wasn't seen before this film.
If you watched Carpenter's other films you should already know he's never been the most sentimental or Romantic filmmaker but he does a great job with the Love and Romance in the movie.
Great special effects.In final word,if you love John Carpenter,Jeff Bridges,SCI-FI,Romance or Fantasy,I highly suggest you see Starman,an excellent,underrated SCI-FI-Romance-Fantasy that you will never forget.
It's a lovely film headed up by Jeff Bridges' wonderful turn as the alien from outer space teaming up with Karen Allen for a road trip to a Nevada crater, where he will be picked up by his own species and taken home.Taking on human form, that of Allen's deceased husband, much of the humour is derived from how the alien tries to adapt to a human lifestyle.
While Jack Nitzsche's synth based musical score is a sci-fi great, perfect.A vastly under valued picture on Carpenter's CV, Starman would like to come and see us, if only we would give it the time.
1984 was a good year for John Carpenter, and this film is evidence of that...Its now 2014, and yet I can still sit and watch this highly enjoyable film.Who needs billion dollar effects if you have a great story?OK!
The result is the director's most under-rated work to date and proof that the man can handle more than one genre at a time with the greatest of ease.Jeff Bridges stars as an alien who finds himself side-tracked upon landing in the backyard of a Wisconsin widow, played by Karen Allen.
Of course, no sci-fi love story would be complete without interference as the two find themselves being pursued by scientists and military personnel alike who -- you guessed it -- don't have the alien's best interest in mind.Although "Starman" is admittedly predictable from beginning to end, Carpenter keeps it fresh throughout by keeping the pace going and making sure we are engaged in the ride the whole way through.
Jeff Bridges plays an alien who lands on earth and materializes in the form of a woman's (Karen Allen) deceased husband.
This sort of sci-fi nonsense was (and still is) beaten to death by everyone from Steven Spielberg to John Carpenter (with this film) to Joe Dokes making his home video down the street.Actually, to be fair, even though we get the predictable alien-is-hero theme, this is more of a love story than anything else.
In one of life's great injustices, it is the only John Carpenter film to have received an Academy Award nomination, and it is an even greater injustice that Jeff Bridges did not win.
But it is the growing relationship between the Starman and the widowed lady from Wisconsin that is the heart of the film, and it is one of the great love stories of all time.
I am not a big Karen Allen fan, yet I think this was her best work.From allmusic.com:"Nitzsche's thoughtful melodies and arrangements capture the wonder and mystery of life beyond the stars as well as deeply human emotions like love and loss.
Almost everything about this movie was fantastic except for the fanaticism of the government in hunting down the alien; in my opinion, I would think the Powers That Be would try to be more diplomatic with regards to a new intelligence.Karen Allen is fantastic, and Jeff Bridges was surprisingly effective as the alien.
The story is part alien encounter, part road movie, part romance and manages to mix its elements competently and switch gears expertly, propelled by two great performance by a young Jeff Bridges (this was his first Oscar nomination) and Karen Allen.
The movie is also graced with a spectacular score by Jack Nitzsche, elevating scenes like the finale into levels of otherworldly beauty.When it comes to Carpenter films, I consider this to be his finest, even compared to such gems as The Thing and Halloween.
This movie came out in 1984 since then is one of my top ten favorites of all time.First the acting of Jeff Bridges was "out of this world" he really deserves the Oscar Karen allen was Amazing too she really are the vision of the public in the movie the reason on why trust in Starman.Is hard to believe that the movie is directed by the "master of terror" John Carpenter...YES!!!...That John Carpenter the director of Halloween,The Thing,The Fog,Christine and many others great classic of terror cinema so extra point to him and the movie.The plot is very simple:An alien take human form to learn about humans,he try to learn to pain ("Why kind of being kill other for sport?")to love ("You have something that are only in your kind:LOVE")so the way he learn is to say in one word uniqueIf you think this an horror movie you are very mistaken...This is one of the most moving you ever see..
John Carpenter is known for directing famous alien encounter movie The Thing, but Starman, for some reason, is not so well remembered or referenced.
If you're a fan of Jeff Bridges & John Carpenter, or just want a solid Sci-Fi film to watch, this is a good selection7.5/10.
Then the ship crashes to Earth, and a beam of light (very intriguing, one of the best ideas in the film that is raised about life elsewhere not being in a concrete physical form upon arrival) finds its subject: Scott (Jeff Bridges), who died some months early, and left a widow (Karen Allen), who sees this beam of light take shape into her dead husband, from birth until adult-form and bleating out alien language.
Jeff Bridges got an Oscar nomination for his role in the film, but it was Karen Allen that drew me to watch it.Bridges was a space explorer that got stranded, and took the form of Allen's ex to get help to get to Arizona for his ride home.The story is basically about how he learns about love and caring and helping others at Allen's hands.This was Allen in her prime, just three years after Raiders of the Lost Ark. She was fantastic.Some call this an adult ET, and I certainly would not argue with that.
It is the only John Carpenter film to get an Oscar nomination, and it is worth visiting again, not only for the tender story, but to see Allen at her best..
'Starman' directed by John Carpenter is a good film in all aspects, but far from being great.
Jeff Bridges (Oscar-nominated) stars as an alien who has taken the form of a widow's (Karen Allen) late husband.
Evans & Raynold Gideon, he makes the important point that humans can often be at their very best when things get their worst."Starman" is a beautiful story, a heartwarming tale that combines science-fiction, romance, and the road movie into one effective package.
"Starman" works as the flip-side to Carpenters' other classic alien-visitation yarn, the much bleaker and more horrific "The Thing".Bridges and Allen are simply wonderful.
Earth is forever in need of a Saviour, or at least some direction and here We have an Allegorical Alien, once again, to remind us that you gotta have Heart, miles and miles and miles of Heart.This is a beautiful Movie with a much lauded Performance from Jeff Bridges and a slight diversion from Director John Carpenter.
But this movie is just lovely and it has that Sci-Fi mystery feel to it.Now Jeff Bridges as Starman is just magnificent, he definitely deserved the Oscar he won for this.
I saw this in the theater during it's initial release not because it was directed by John Carpenter, although I had seen and liked five of his 15 previous films, but because I liked Jeff Bridges and Karen Allen and felt they would be good together.