Product Description

AN ALIEN AND A YOUNG WOMAN FALL IN LOVE ON THEIR WAY TO MEET HIS SPACESHIP.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3503 in DVD
• Brand: SONY PICTURES HOME ENT
• Released on: 1998-08-25
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Dubbed in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 115 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
While most movie buffs are likely to call Halloween the best movie from John Carpenter, others--die-hard romantics and anyone who cried while watching E.T.--might vote in favor of the director's 1984 hit Starman. It's easily Carpenter's warmest and most beguiling film, and the only one that ever earned an Oscar nomination. That honor went specifically to Best Actor nominee Jeff Bridges for his performance as an alien visitor to Earth who is knocked off course and must take an interstate road trip to rendezvous with a mothership from his home planet. To complete this journey he assumes the physical form of the dead husband of a Wisconsin widow (Karen Allen) who responds first with fear, then sympathy, and finally love. Carpenter's graceful strategy is to switch the focus of this E.T.-like film from science fiction to a gentle road-movie love story, made believable by the memorable performances of Bridges and Allen. It's a bit heavy-handed with tenacious government agents who view the Starman as an alien threat (don't they always?), but Carpenter handles the action with intelligent flair, sensitivity, and lighthearted humor. If you're not choked up during the final scene, well, you just might not be human. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

5 star movie--2 star presentation
Really what is Columbia thinking? "Starman" is one of John Carpenter's finest films with an Oscar nominated performance by Jeff Bridges, a moving score by Jack Nitsche and a clever, thoughtful script that takes the same themes as Spielberg's "E.T." and develops them better. Yet we have this full screen presentation for DVD in the United States while Europe has it in widescreen (a superb transfer I might add) with commentary from Carpenter and Bridges. What will it take to get Columbia/Tristar to get their act together and do this film justice?

Don't get me wrong the full screen transfer looks decent here but Carpenter's film needs to be seen in widescreen. What's more it also deserves extras such as the original featurette shot for the film, a new retrospective featurette about why the film didn't do better at the box office but remains an enduring classic (simple answer--the audience felt they'd already seen this before with "E.T." or Columbia blew it when it came to the promotional campaign)?

If Europe can get a superior version of this film we certainly deserve one as well. My advice--don't buy this version. Companies look at when DVDs stop selling before they decide which ones to double dip viewers with. Sure it's a great price and its an essential movie but purchasing this will only encourage Columbia to NOT introduce the title again.

"This Film Has Been Formatted ...( yadda yadda)"...What's Up With That?
This review refers to the DVD edition of "Starman"(Columbia/Sony)....

I love this film. It's a film I can view often and never tire of it.Beautifully directed by John Carpenter, wonderfully photographed with great music, and stars Jeff Bridges and Karen Allen have a terrific on screen chemistry. It's got something for everybody. Great Sci-Fi, Romance, some Action/Adventure, Drama and Comedy as well. It's a film that the entire family may enjoy together(may not be suitable for the very young, as there is mild language and violence). The story of a romance between an Earth woman and an alien that looks just like her dead husband, and the ensuing chase as the government tries to capture him, is one that captivates and will keep you under it's spell, time and again. But Sony..what's up with this DVD????

"This film has been modified..., and formatted to fit your screen"..UGH!! Don't ya hate that? The buying info here shows the aspect ratio of this DVD to be 2.35:1, which is the original specs. But beware, it also says full screen and does not say widescreen or letterbox anywhere. On the back of the DVD box it says 1.33:1.This is a film that really should be seen in it's original form. The way the director and cinematographer wanted you to see it. There are some spectacular scenes of the alien ship coming down, an explosion, and some wonderful scenery that begs to be seen from edge to edge. I even checked over at the Internet Movie Data Base, and they also show the DVD with both the original aspect ratio and full screen, but I could not locate a DVD like that anywhere. Maybe it was available once and has gone out of print, but if that is the case, a new edition needs to be released in widescreen, and Sony..some commentary or one or two bonus features for Sci-Fi fans on the "making of" might do nicely too.

That being said, the rest of the transfer to DVD of this fabulous film was well done. The picture is crystal clear,colors wonderful, and the sound in Stereo Surround(2.0) was actually very good. There are subtitles in English Spanish, and French and may be viewed in those languages as well. Or any combination of the languages and subtitles.

I love the film enough to go 5 stars for it, but taking off one for not even having a choice as to how I want to view it.
Sony....Puhleeese! Reissue this film in the original widescreen format. Thanks!....Laurie

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Impossible not to like--a love story with a twist.
This film is simply impossible not to like. Jeff Bridges is unforgettable as an alien from an incomparably advanced race who is stranded on Earth (after taking human form) and seeking to return to his own civilization, and his excellent performance as such earned him an Oscar nomination. He really gets into the role, and plays it to perfection. His gestures and mannerisms as the alien trying to understand human beings are uncannily plausible. Karen Allen is also superb in her role as an ordinary human being caught up in the struggle between Bridges, seeking to escape the Earth, and those darned nasty Big Government agents who fear the alien and seek to capture and destroy him. Darned gummint, isn't that just like them?

There are few special effects in the movie, and none are needed--this is a movie that gets through by sheer excellent storytelling and wonderful acting by Bridges and Allen. It manages to be touching without being sappy, and although our human government is viewed as being narrow-minded and overly paranoid, the alien in the end forms a high and joyous opinion of mankind, which I found uplifting and optimistic.

Well worth watching and owning.