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Shame on Sony. “Starman” received kudos and a much
deserved Academy Award nomination for Jeff Bridges in the
title role of this romantic science fiction thriller. So
how does the studio that won the format war treat fans of
this classic film? Badly. Sony, if you’re going to do such
a lousy job on the Blu-ray release of “Starman” license
it out to Warner who will do the film justice. This bare
bones presentation does a disservice to the film, fans and
even to Sony particularly given the absurd retail price
they are charging for the disc. ***
One of John Carpenter’s finest and most emotionally
powerful films, “Starman” did well at the box office but
didn’t generate the break out numbers that Columbia anticipated.
The film which was in development at the same time as “E.T.”
found itself compared to Steven Spielberg’s fine but less
adult film and audiences had the impression they had already
seen this movie. Luckily the film found a second life on
HBO and then on home video which created a large cult audience
for the film. Bruce A. Evans and Raynold Gideon’s screenplay
had been floating around for some time when it finally found
a home at Columbia. Producer Michael Douglas considered
a number of directors for the project from Tony Scott (“Crimson
Tide”, “Déjà vu”), Mark Rydell (“On Golden Pond”), John
Badham (“Dracula”, “Blue Thunder”, “War Games” and “Saturday
Night Fever”) and Adrian Lyne (“Indecent Proposal”, “Jacob’s
Ladder”, “Fatal Attraction”) before hiring Carpenter who
hadn’t demonstrated that he could handle the romantic elements
of the film in any of his previous films but that he could
easily integrate action, science fiction and humor with
his films. He clearly had the talent to do the film and
Michael Douglas along with his co-producers took the leap
of faith. It turned out to be a wise decision because in
lesser hands it could easily have been a mess. Carpenter
stayed true to the science fiction roots of the original
story without betraying the romantic subplot of the film.
***
That’s not to suggest that Evans and Gideon’s script
is flawless. The script is occasionally clunky with scenes
of exposition that could and should have been better handled.
Additionally, the subplot involving their pursuit by the
U.S. government while it increase the suspense in the story
lacks the subtly and deft characterization of Jenny and
the Starman himself. I’m not sure if that’s due to Evans
and Gideon’s original script for the revisions that were
done by the late writer Dean Riesner (“Charley Varrick”,
“Play Misty for Me” and a high paid script doctor). Either
way the flaws that are evident in the screenplay were probably
much less apparent at the time the film went into production.
I wouldn’t doubt that Carpenter also an accomplished writer
himself probably took a crack at some of the revisions and
as with all Hollywood films the actors probably had their
input as well. ***
One can only imagine how much different “Starman” might
have turned out if a different director, different actors
(Kevin Bacon was originally cast and I don’t doubt that
he would have done a job every bit as good as Bridges but
different) or different writers were brought on to alter
the script. Luckily, Douglas followed his instincts resulting
in one of Carpenter’s most memorable films from the 80’s
(among a string of them which included “Big Trouble in Little
China”, “The Thing” and “Escape from New York”). ***
Back in the 70’s the United States sent out a probe
with a disc that featured pictures and music from our world
as well as an invitation to stop by some time. An alien
race responds by sending one of their own. Jenny Hayden
(Karen Allen) is surprised to see her dead husband Scott
standing in the living room of their house. The “Starman”
(Jeff Bridges) takes the form of Scott when his craft is
damaged. He forces Jenny to drive him across country to
a rendezvous with his people. Pursued by government agent
George Fox (Richard Jaeckel) and SETI astronomer Mark Shermin
(Charles Martin Smith), the duo must stay out harm’s way
and Jenny finds herself wanting to help this strange, innocent
visitor. ---
Image & Sound:
Sony presents “Starman” in an amazing looking Blu-ray
transfer that manages to stay true to the films “look” and
avoid the over processed look of many other films that have
migrated to Blu-ray with poor transfers. Colors, detail
and textures are pretty strong throughout the presentation.
***
Audio sounds quite good as well with a nice 5.1 Lossless
mix that compliments the late Jack Nitzsche’s minimalist
and unusual synthesizer score as well as the dialogue driven
scenes in the film. ---
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