ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

The key to understanding this film is to understand the title; it doesn't refer to the fact that the alien (David Bowie) crashlands on Earth, it refers to his 25 year descent from a proud and noble alien to a broken, ersatz human, alcoholic and destitute.

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After arriving on Earth, Bowie wears a disguise to hide his hairless body and cat-like eyes from the greedy Earthlings to whom he peddles technological wonders, amassing a vast fortune which he plans to use in the building of a spaceship so he can return to his family on a dying, waterless world.

But as the years roll by, the ruthless men who profit from his superior knowledge finally realize who he really is, and they plot to prevent this Golden Goose from ever leaving Earth. Eventually he is reduced to serving as the subject of countless medical tests, a mere guinea pig for the curious doctors.

The once-proud alien ends up a desert hermit, plagued by memories of his distant home and family, tortured by the knowledge that he'll die on this alien world, Earth.

Director Nicholas Roeg's strange and beautifully photographed film isn't intended to glorify aliens but to humble mankind. Bowie is excellent, establishing his character as much by what he doesn't say as by what he does.

Candy Clark is the girl who betrays him by falling prey to her own human greed, hating herself for it afterwards. Buck Henry, Rip Torn, and Claudia Jennings co-star.

Screenplay by Paul Mayersberg. Bowie wrote and recorded several songs for the film, but none of them were used.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Rick]

To me, this is one of the very best all time s-f films, and a genuinely great film regardless of genre.

I saw it in the theater when it was new and was pretty well blown away. But . . . I was also depressed. This is not a happy film. It's brilliant, it's powerful. It's pretty damn sad.

I think I've watched it only once since then because of, you know, that depressing thing. But it's about time to watch it again. As I've aged (and boy, have I aged!) I've tried to avoid or delay or in every way minimize my exposure to things that depress me or make me sad. But I also love great movie making, so I'm gonna have to bite the bullet soon.

The problem with being honest about this movie is that I fear it will dissuade someone from giving it a try. So forget I said all that other stuff and just remember this --THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH is a great motion picture.
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Man need not kneel before the angels,
Nor lie in death forever,
But for the weakness of his feeble will.

[Bogmeister]

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______________ THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH


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This is one of those sf films which invites controversy and disagreement (about whether it's brilliant or foolish) and — more than anything — puzzlement.

Many film fans have trouble figuring out what director Nicolas Roeg was intending. The story sounds simple — an alien (singer David Bowie) comes to Earth in order to acquire water for his dying planet. Roeg's execution of this simple plot is often mystifying and convoluted. As written elsewhere, the film —

Craig W. Anderson wrote:

— is pretentious, earthy, amusing, sad, meaningful, and wonderfully oddball in its approach to the "alien among us" theme, first brought to the screen with panache by director Robert Wise and scenarist Edmund H. North in The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). While watching The Man Who Fell To Earth time seems to stand still.
~ from SCIENCE FICTION FILMS OF THE SEVENTIES 1985 McFarland and Co., Inc.

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Craig W. Anderson wrote:

The Man Who Fell to Earth is the science fiction equivalent of Alain Resnais' Last Year at Marienbad (1962) with jump cuts, unsettling changes in time and place, scenes inserted here and there with no apparent reason or function within the structure of the film, philosophical polemic scattered into every nook and cranny of the film . . . a contentious parable of mankind's perverse ability to destroy himself and his surroundings. It is also a searing indictment of a heartless society, poisoning people and environment alike in the quest for the almighty dollar . . . I think.
~ from SCIENCE FICTION FILMS OF THE SEVENTIES 1985 McFarland and Co., Inc.

As this last suggests, the alien in this film is simply a stand-in for ourselves. As the film unreels, the alien is steadily poisoned and destroyed by the pernicious aspects of our society — that's the gist of it (he gets addicted to TV, for one thing).

As a result, he utterly fails in his mission to help his world and, more to the point, his own family back on his home world. Myself, I don't really see how, even with his advanced knowledge, he would be able to launch so huge an undertaking all the way back to his planet — in other words, enough water to aid an entire planet. Maybe he was only intending to help his immediate family, but it's probably not too important a question, even in its pragmatism. The title actually says it all — the man who FELL to Earth — he didn't land on his feet, so to say.





The film also has an interesting cast — the humans that the alien encounters and deals with in his own unattached manner. Rip Torn plays a dissatisfied college professor who joins the alien's new corporation and ends up becoming his chief aide until things fall apart. He seems disloyal from the start.

Candy Clark, a small town hotel employee, becomes the alien's girlfriend. Buck Henry plays another cog in the system, an attorney, who eventually gets discarded. And Bernie Casey has a mysterious role, starting as what seems to be a simple enforcer and ending up as the new guy in charge.

Bowie was ideal at the time to portray the alien, someone who looks like us, but not exactly like us, with a hint of alien — though it's made apparent when his real eyes are revealed. Though a singer, he had a pretty good film career in the next few years, usually playing characters which were not routine or even human.

BoG's Score: 7 out of 10



BoG
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