Starman Movie Review

An alien from an advanced civilization lands in Wisconsin. He hides beneath the guise of a grieving young widow's recently deceased husband. He then makes her drive him across country to rendezvous with his spacecraft so he can return home. Not the E.T. rip-off you'd expect from that description. This is a well-acted, interesting twist on the “Stranger in a Strange Land” theme. Jeff Bridges is fun as the likable Starman; Karen Allen is lovely and earthy in her worthy follow-up to Raiders of the Lost Ark. A good family sf flick, available in widescreen format on laserdisc.

1984 (PG) 115m/C Jeff Bridges, Karen Allen, Charles Martin Smith, Richard Jaeckel, Robert Phalen; D: John Carpenter; W: Bruce A. Evans, Raynold Gideon; C: Donald M. Morgan; M: Jack Nitzsche. Nominations: Academy Awards ‘84: Best Actor (Bridges). VHS, Beta, LV COL