This movie came out many years ago! So long ago in fact that I was in school at the time! And I’m not saying if I was in grade-school, or high-school! But I do remember seeing it on cable a few years after it came out and recently saw it again on cable. It reminded me of how young the big name stars were in the late 80’s-James Caan and Mandy Patinkin-who looked old to me then, don’t appear as old now some 20 years later!
The movie’s plot is simple-aliens land on earth and are lost. They can’t find their way home and so they crash the INS and start living in LA! Mandy Patinkin’s character is an alien named “Sam Francisco” and it’s a joke that makes you groan to say the least! Patinkin plays a police officer who is partnered with Caan. They stumble on to a new drug that is being produced by the aliens and is about to be widely distributed among the “Newcomer” alien members. We’re told that crack and heroin are like pez compared to this drug!
The story moves quickly-which is a necessity in films but not true in real police work-and we see Caan and Pantinkin’s characters investigating several deaths over the course of a few days. The deaths are all related and lead them to the leader of the alien’s drug operation. An alien named William Harcourt-played by Terrence Stamp. The movie has several very good chase scenes and even an interesting side-line into the personal life of Patinkin’s character and the history of the aliens in general.
Overall the movie is very good and has an interesting sci-fi twist on an old cop movie plot. Old cop and rookie working together to solve a problem larger than themselves and they must put aside their differences and dislikes of each other to achieve the greater good.
Alien Nation [1988] imdb
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094631/
Monday, September 21, 2009
