The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)
Genre: Scifi / Drama
Duration: 139 minuten
Country:
United Kingdom
Directed by: Nicolas Roeg
Stars: David Bowie, Rip Torn and Candy Clark
IMDb score:
6,5 (31.750)
Releasedate: 18 March 1976
The Man Who Fell to Earth plot
"Power, space, time and a visitor."
As his planet suffers from a serious shortage of water, Thomas Jerome Newton travels to Earth. However, his spaceship is lost on landing, forcing him to set up a business to finance his return. Until he has collected enough money, he is forced to stay on Earth, with adjustment problems playing tricks on him.
Actors and actresses
Thomas Jerome Newton
Nathan Bryce
Mary-Lou
Arthur
Oliver Farnsworth
Peters
Helen
Peters' Wife
Trevor
Self (Commander of Apollo 13) (as Captain James Lovell)
Reviews & comments
otherfool
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- 18541 messages
- 3404 votes
Meandering, sometimes fascinating and at times also incomprehensible Roeg. The highlight of the film is undoubtedly Bowie, who infiltrates Earth as a mysterious spaceman in order to pay for a return trip through business success to the unnamed planet home.
An angle that is as curious as it is amusing, but not fully exploited: after the first hour, the story is relegated even further to the background than it already was and the film becomes a trip of image and sound. Not bad at all, but the exorbitant length does kill The Man Who Fell towards the end, and Clark's acting also gets on my nerves...
More interesting than good.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Onderhond
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- 87737 messages
- 13162 votes
Nah.
I do appreciate what Roeg tried to do here. It is clearly a film that likes to ignore the plot and plays on atmosphere. Those are the movies I like to watch the most. But the elaboration of Roeg really disappointed me that I never really got to enjoy it, and I can't give a high mark for good intentions alone.
Bowie's casting is not a bad example. Somehow smart to cast him as an alien, otherwise very cheap, easy and not very efficient. Not least because humans can't act. Thanks to Flight of the Conchords, I also just had Bowie's in Space in my head for half a movie
It's the 70s kitsch that I absolutely couldn't appreciate here. Roeg makes it interesting enough that I remained curious about what was to come, but that always turned out to be a disappointment. And the more he played on atmosphere, the more painful I usually found it.
Still more interesting than a lot of old, purely narrative cinema like that, but this 140 minutes long wasn't exactly my favorite movie experience. Looking at Eureka I might like the 80s Roeg a little better.
1.5*
Translated from Dutch · View original
james_cameron
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- 7353 messages
- 10052 votes
Crazy science fiction film that can hardly be described in words, with David Bowie perfectly cast as a man-shy alien who came to Earth due to a shortage of water on his own planet. Or something. Initially, the film is quite intriguing and atmospheric, but gradually things get bogged down in posturing and experimentation. Everything becomes less and less interesting towards the end. Visually, however, there is a lot to enjoy here and there, especially due to the beautiful camera work.
Translated from Dutch · View original
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