When Steven Spielberg's E.T. THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL burst onto movie screens in the summer of 1982 and became a huge success both critically and at the box office, audiences waited in anticipation to see what other films about aliens (both good and malevolent) visiting planet Earth would follow. Hollywood was never one to shy away from a hit film about a cute little extraterrestrial without capitalizing on its success with similar cute alien films. One of the surprise and underrated movies that spawned from E.T. was STARMAN (1984) directed by the most unlikely director to make a romantic, uplifting film about a visitor from outer space. That director was John Carpenter.
At the time, Carpenter was the horror film king of the late 70s and early 80s with hits like HALLOWEEN (1978), THE FOG (1980), and THE THING (1982) which intentional or unintentional was the polar opposite (no pun intended) of E.T. THE THING was about a frozen space alien that thaws out and terrorizes a U.S. Science Base in Antarctica. Carpenter films were not warm and fuzzy. Perhaps looking for something to make outside his wheelhouse, Carpenter chose STARMAN. What differentiates STARMAN from E.T. is that the alien that crash lands on earth isn't an adorable space creature. The outer space visitor takes on the appearance of a recently widowed woman's dead husband after cloning itself in his image from a strand of the husband's hair kept in a photo album.
Carpenter is a film aficionado and one of his favorite directors was Howard Hawks who besides directing great westerns like RED RIVER (1948) and RIO BRAVO (1959) made several romantic screwball comedies as well including BRINGING UP BABY (1933) and HIS GIRL FRIDAY (1940). In STARMAN, Carpenter has the opportunity to play with some other genres besides horror and science fiction. STARMAN is part buddy film, part road trip film, and in a strange way, a romantic screwball comedy with Karen Allen (RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK) as the grieving widow and Jeff Bridges (THE FABULOUS BAKER BOYS) as the fish out of water alien who takes on her dead husband's appearance and tries to make sense of this brave new world he has come to visit.
Directed by John Carpenter from a screenplay by Bruce A. Evans and Raynold Gideon (and uncredited re-writes from Dean Riesner), STARMAN begins with the United States launching Voyager 2 into outer space in 1977 with an invitation to visit Earth. Among the items on the probe are a gold phonographic record with greetings from 54 nations and musical recordings including the Rolling Stones "Can't Get No Satisfaction." The probe passes by an unknown planet that intercepts it and sends an emissary to take up mankind's invitation. The alien ship enters Earth's atmosphere where it's mistaken first for a meteorite by NORAD before National Security Agency director George Fox (Richard Jaeckel) orders the UFO shot down by two fighter jets. The space ship crash lands in northern Wisconsin in a fireball. Fox orders Mark Shermin (Charles Martin Smith) with SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) to fly to Wisconsin to investigate. A blue light aka the Star Man emerges from the crash and heads toward a cabin on a lake. Inside, Jenny Hayden (Karen Allen) watches home movies of her deceased husband Scott Hayden (Jeff Bridges) before going to bed. The blue light enters the cabin, floats around the living room, and finds a lock of Scott's hair in a photo album. It completes a full symbiotic transformation and clones itself to look like Scott. Using one of seven silver spheres he carries, the Star Man sends an emergency transmission to his home planet to pick him up in three days at a pre-determined location. Jenny is awakened by a noise and investigates. She finds her dead husband naked in her living room. Star Man hears helicopters in the distance. The Army are looking for the space visitor.
Jenny tries to flee in her '77 Mustang but the battery is dead. Star Man touches the ignition and it starts. Star Man explains he's from another planet, a high evolved civilization. He needs her to take him to Arizona. Jenny reluctantly agrees to take him to his rendezvous point. When Star Man scares her by quoting "Satisfaction," Jenny tries to cause an accident with another a van to be rescued. Star Man scares the other driver Brad Heinmuller (John Walter Davis) away by melting his lug wrench and causing a tree to explode. Back in Wisconsin, Shermin inspects the alien craft. The meteorite turns out be hollow aka a space ship. He finds the gold phonographic record inside. Star Man observes Jenny as she talks and drives. He learns about restrooms, becoming hungry, speeding through a yellow light, the joy of apple pie, and making obscene gestures. Star Man reveals to Jenny if he misses his pickup, he will die. They stop at a truck stop diner. Scott is intrigued by a dead deer tied to the hood of a car by a redneck hunter (Ted White). Star Man revives the dead deer. Drawing the ire of the hunter and his pals, they beat him up before Jenny fires a pistol she brought along in the air. They race away from the hunters only to be followed by a pair of state troopers (Dirk Blocker, M.C. Gainey) to a Holiday Inn.
While Jenny sleeps, Scott watches FROM HERE TO ETERNITY on TV, taking particular attention to the famous love scene on the beach. Jenny and Scott slip by the state troopers the next morning. The troopers give chase and Star Man naively brandishes the gun at them. Jenny is shot by one of the troopers. Star Man uses another silver sphere to protect them as he crashes the Mustang into an overturned tanker. Star Man carries the dying Jenny away from the fiery inferno. They hide in an empty manufactured home pulled by a flatbed. Star Man uses his second to last silver sphere to bring Jenny back to life. When the flatbed stops at a diner, Jenny discovers Star Man has left her behind, catching a ride out west with the diner's cook (George "Buck" Flower). Jenny calls the police to tell them she has not been kidnapped. Her call is transferred to Shermin. Shermin has a road block set up to catch the Star Man. Jenny hitches a ride with a young Hot Rodder (Sean Stanek). They cause a small explosion to distract Shermin and the army at the checkpoint. A Native American family take Jenny and Star Man to a railroad yard. During the drive, Jenny reveals to Star Man she can't have children. They jump onto an empty railroad car heading to Arizona.
Star Man and Jenny make love on the train. The Army figures out Star Man is headed for Arizona. They set up a mobile command center. Shermin reports to it and discovers the center includes an emergency autopsy room. The Army doesn't want to interview the alien visitor. They want to kill and dissect the Star Man. Star Man tells Jenny she's pregnant with his and Scott's baby. He will know everything Star Man knows and grow up to become a teacher. Star Man and Jenny get off the railroad car to discover they're not in Winslow, Arizona. They're in Las Vegas. Jenny realizes she has lost her wallet. Star Man uses his powers to win $500,000 on a slot machine. They buy a Cadillac and continue toward Winslow. Director Fox orders the helicopters looking for Star Man and Jenny to be armed. Star Man and Jenny stop for directions to the crater outside Winslow. The police arrive and detain them for Director Fox. Shermin arrives first and tells the trooper they have the wrong people. Shermin has them released. Star Man and Jenny hike down into the crater. A group of helicopters swarm the crater, firing rockets at the couple to stop them. A miniature version of the Star Man's planet arrives to pick him up. It begins to snow in the crater. Jenny wants to go with Star Man. He tells her she would die on his planet. He gives her his last silver sphere and tells her to give it to their child. Scott aka the Star Man rejoins his spaceship.
STARMAN may seem like an adult rip-off of E.T. but there's more to that coincidence than meets the eye (see that story below in Trivia Tidbits). Both films have similarities and differences. Both the alien E.T. and Jeff Bridges' Star Man have child-like, naive qualities to them. Both visit Earth from their respective planets. E.T. is accidentally left behind by his parents. Star Man has come as an ambassador from his planet, accepting Earth's invitation via the Voyager probe. Both will find human companions that will guide them in this foreign environment they find themselves in. E.T. is discovered by a young boy named Elliott (Henry Thomas). Star Man is accepted reluctantly at first by widow Jenny Hayden. Her trepidation may stem from the fact that Star Man has cloned himself into the image of Jenny's dead husband Scott. Oh, and she had to watch Star Man grow from an infant to a grown, naked copy of her husband in just twenty seconds.
The U.S. Government will be interested in both extraterrestrials. With E.T. it's not clear if the government has nefarious aspirations in capturing E.T. or not. Spielberg keeps their intentions mysterious until the third act. In STARMAN, there's no question that the NSA and the U.S. Army want to capture and perform an autopsy on the Star Man. But besides protectors Elliott and Jenny, both films will have one adult who has wanted to meet someone from another galaxy since they were kids and will make sure that the alien visitor will not be caught. In E.T. it's Peter Coyote who plays a government scientist known as Keys (for most of the film we only see his keys jangling from his keyring). In STARMAN, it's Charles Martin Smith as Mark Shermin, consulting for the NSA but his heart is with SETI a non-profit searching to make contact with someone from another world like the Star Man. Shermin will uncover his superiors don't have any intentions of keeping Star Man alive.
What sets STARMAN apart from E.T. is the adult, romantic relationship that evolves between Jenny and the Star Man culminating in a tasteful sex scene in a traveling rail car. The fact that Jenny gets a second chance to be with a version of her dead husband via the Star Man who has cloned himself into Scott is touching and poignant, after the initial shock wears off. Star Man will find himself moved and touched by the human Jenny. When Jenny confides that she can't have children, Star Man makes it his mission that she will have a baby by impregnating her, giving her a gift that will keep alive both Scott and the Star Man's DNA. E.T. is more about the symbiotic relationship between the alien and the young boy Elliott.
Besides the romantic elements of STARMAN, there are a few not so subtle shots at the behavior of the human species. When Shermin discovers the NSA and Army's plan to dissect and examine the Star Man, Shermin explodes. "What the hell ever happened to good manners? We invited him here!" He has a point. Earth sent out a probe inviting alien races to visit tEarth. When Star Man arrives in our atmosphere, the first thing we do is fire missiles at his spacecraft. Star Man's encounters with humans does not go well either. After resurrecting a dead deer strapped to a car, Star Man is beat up by a group of redneck hunters before Jenny comes to his rescue. After watching Jenny handle a handgun, Star Man will later brandish the weapon at the pursuing state troopers resulting in Jenny getting shot. Mankind is not as civilized as we think we are. No wonder the Star Man wants to get back to his home planet.
One of the credits on STARMAN is actor Michael Douglas who has an Executive Producer credit. Douglas developed the property and was planning on playing Star Man. He would ultimately choose to make ROMANCING THE STONE (1984) instead directed by Robert Zemeckis. Jeff Bridges would land the role of Star Man. It's a great opportunity for an actor and Bridges makes the most of the part, playing Star Man like a naive, young child as he learns about the human race, his movements almost bird-like as he learns to inhabit a human body. Bridges performance as Star Man will make you think of Dustin Hoffman's Oscar Winning performance as autistic savant Raymond Babbitt in Barry Levinson's RAIN MAN (1988). Just remember Bridges STARMAN came first. Hoffman would win a Best Actor Academy Award. Bridges was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor in STARMAN, the first time an actor had been nominated for playing a non-human aka alien character.
Actress Karen Allen is the embodiment of the Howard Hawks female that director Carpenter must have watched in Hawks films like Jean Arthur in ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS (1939) or Lauren Bacall in TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT (1944). A Hawksian woman is tough, sexy, and can drink like one of the guys. Allen played that type of woman to a tee in Steven Spielberg's RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981) as Marion Ravenwood. In STARMAN, Allen's Jenny Hayden is tough but in a different way. She's just lost the love of her life, her housepainter husband Scott Hayden. She's still in mourning nine months later. When the Star Man turns her life upside down (cloning himself to resemble Scott), Jenny has to hold it together. Does she turn the Star Man in to the authorities or help him get back to his planet. Bridges and Allen may not have a lot of snappy banter like in a Hawks screwball comedy (Star Man talks in a monotone voice), but there's plenty of humor between the two as Jenny tries to teach Star Man humankind's customs, jargon, and rules.
Two of my favorite supporting actors appear in STARMAN. Charles Martin Smith made his film debut playing the sweet, goofy high school nerd Toad in George Lucas's AMERICAN GRAFFITI (1973). In STARMAN, Smith plays science nerd Mark Shermin. Shermin works for the bureaucratic NSA, but he's really interested in making contact with an alien species. Shermin will get his wish when he encounters Jenny and the Star Man near the large meteorite crater in Winslow, Arizona after pursuing them from Wisconsin. When Shermin realizes Director Fox and the Army's plans for the Star Man are anything but friendly, he will be the catalyst in helping Star Man to get home. Other great Charles Martin Smith movies to catch include Carroll Ballard's NEVER CRY WOLF (1983) in which Smith has the lead role and Brian DePalma's THE UNTOUCHABLES (1987) opposite Kevin Costner and Sean Connery.
Richard Jaeckel plays Shermin's alien hating superior NSA Director George Fox. I became a big fan of Richard Jaeckel after his Academy Award nominated performance as Paul Newman's logging brother in SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION (1971) co-starring Henry Fonda and Lee Remick. Early in his career, Jaeckel seemed primed to be the next James Dean. I recently watched Daniel Mann's COME BACK LITTLE SHEBA (1952) with Burt Lancaster where a young Jaeckel plays sandy haired high school jock Turk Fisher. Besides bad guy roles, Jaeckel would also play authority figures in films like Robert Aldrich's THE DIRTY DOZEN (1967) as an MP that joins the mission and Sam Peckinpah's PAT GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID (1973) as a Sheriff. In STARMAN, Jaeckel's Director Fox is fairly two-dimensional but his reaction at the film's finale when he notices the giant spaceship above his tiny military helicopter is priceless.
Some final STARMAN Trivia Tidbits. Even though STARMAN appears like it was created after the success of E.T., both films were in development at Columbia around the same time by different production companies. Columbia took a pass on E.T. which got picked up by Universal and the rest is history. Columbia would greenlight STARMAN a few years after E.T.'s success. It's odd that Columbia would pass on E.T. since they were the studio that released Steven Spielberg's CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977) about another alien visitation. STARMAN did well enough at the box office and critically that it spawned a brief television series also called STARMAN. The series ran from 1986-87 for 22 episodes and starred Robert Hays (AIRPLANE!) as the Star Man who returns to Earth 15 years later to reunite with his grown son and find Jenny Hayden (Erin Gray). Lastly, I mentioned John Carpenter was a aficionado of old films. Carpenter was quoted in an interview with LA Weekly that STARMAN "is a love story. It's IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT", a reference to the Frank Capra 1934 comedy starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert as two strangers who go on a road trip together and fall in love. Sort of like...STARMAN.
E.T. brought me to tears especially at its finale when the little alien returns to his family and leaves his human friends behind. STARMAN had that same effect on me. When Star Man brings the dead deer back to life and his farewell to Jenny in the crater, tears well up in my eyes every time. STARMAN also is the rare film where the romantic leads don't walk into the sunset together or live happily ever after. Like William Wyler's ROMAN HOLIDAY (1953), Richard Linklater's BEFORE SUNSET (1995) or Clint Eastwood's THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY (1995), some romantic relationships are fleeting or complicated. STARMAN is the ultimate heartbreaker. Jenny cannot go back to the Star Man's planet. He cannot survive on Earth. STARMAN is John Carpenter's most romantic film. Yes, it has explosions, some special effects, an armada of helicopters, and car chase scenes. But it has a unique love story that will span beyond our solar system, uniting briefly two people whose future was tragically cut short. STARMAN points out we need to be better as a race. The film offers hope that Jenny and Star Man's future son may be the guide to show us how.
