Cheap The Man Who Fell to Earth (DVD) (David Bowie, Rip Torn, Candy Clark) (Nicolas Roeg) Price

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Customer Reviews of The Man Who Fell to Earth

This aside, the film itself, though somewhat abstract, is terrific, as it is not just a science fiction film with a twist. It is a film that explores themes that are timeless: desolation, alienation (no pun intended), and loneliness. At times, these themes are palpable, due to David Bowie's wondrously androgynous performance, which is heartbreakingly moving at times.

The plot is fairly simple. An alien, Davie Bowie, leaves his family on his dying and arid planet in search for water. He lands on earth and begins his project to send water to his devastated planet by amassing the wealth that he needs to do this. He patents numerous lucrative inventions which eventually find him at the head of a world wide conglomerate. He joins up with a kindly, though stupid and vapid woman who drinks gin like a fish, Candy Clark, with whom he begins a liaison of sorts. Yet, he is always lonely and melancholic, and like her, begins to spiral into an alcoholic haze, sometimes sidetracking him from his purpose here.

At some point, excruciatingly sad and lonely, longing for his family, he reveals himself to her for who he truly is, shedding his earthly appearance, only to be met with absolute horror and repugnance by her at the sight of him. She ultimately tries to understand him, but it is truly beyond her ken. He is infinitely sad at this and longs all the more for home.

On the threshold of returning to his planet and loved ones, he is kidnapped by corporate raiders who take over his holdings, and it is here that the movie begins to disintergrate somewhat. Yet, it remains strangely hypnotic and compelling, and becomes a sort of "Lost Weekend" of betrayal, booze, and promises that will never be kept. A parable of wanting to belong, yet knowing one never will. A story about wanting to go home, but knowing on some level that one can truly never go home again.

Restored science fiction art classic
It was an odd year. 1976 saw the release of Logan's Run with its occasionally heavy handed parable about the youth culture, Ralph Bakshi's Wizards gathered steam at the box office and included a trailer for some movie called Star Wars. Along came Nickolas Roeg with his arthouse science fiction epic and totally mystified everyone. David Bowie is perfect as the alien in this classic science fiction film. He's left his arid, dying planet and come to Earth in hopes that some of "his" inventions could create enough capital so that he can take resources from our planet to save his.

Unfortunately, Bowie's character pretends to be human all too well--he's sucked into the very flaws that cripple humanity. He becomes a victim of our culture rather than master of it. Roeg's film is fragmented and spooky (particularly the scene where Candy Clark discovers that Bowie's character has various attachments to make him seem human). The visually unsettling photography and editing help bring an edge to the film. Roeg manages to fuse science fiction to his European art sensibilities very well. In fact, Man is probably Roeg's most powerful film outside of Don't Look Now his gothic take on the horror film.

Anchor and Bay have restored the film to its original, uncut running time. They also have gone back to the original negative and camera elements to create as sharp a print as I've ever seen. The aspect ratio is finally correct and the sound, while not perfect, is a huge improvement over the previous DVD, video and television versions that have been floating around.

How to explain this movie...
This is one of those films that is best watched in the dark, by yourself, because sometimes, you just might want to shout out "WHAT?"

Basically this movie is a great cult classic about an alien who comes to our planet in search of water for his desert planet. David Bowie... how do you rate his performance with that of other conventional actors? You can't. He is brilliant in his role as Mr. Newton! I was completely mesmerized and even attracted to him as the thin redhead. I was surprised however that he was completely unclothed in one scene, but hey, it didn't hurt any part of the movie!

I would recomend this to anyone, period. I give the movie a 5, but Bowie's performance gets a 10!