Director: Graham Baker
Writer: Rockne S. O’Bannon
Cinematography: Adam Greenberg
Editor: Kent Beyda
Music: Curt Sobel
Notable Cast: James Caan, Mandy Patinkin, Terence Stamp, Leslie Bevis, Peter Jason, Jeff Kober, Roger Aaron Brown, Brian Thompson, Earl Boen, Frank Collison
It was October 7, 1988 that cinemas saw the release of two films, one of which no one talks about now, and another which became a cult hit and spawned a TV series. Punchline, starring Tom Hanks and Sally Field, and Alien Nation, starring James Caan and Mandy Patinkin, vied for box office supremacy that weekend. My good buddy and I, barely 13 years old at the time, went to the cinema that Saturday, where both films were playing. My friend was determined to see Alien Nation, but I wasn’t so sure (I had a fear of scary movies as a kid, and I feel like I may have been scared to see Alien Nation, unsure if it would give me nightmares. I had, and still have, a very vivid imagination and tried to avoid things that would put that mind into overdrive).
When we got to the theater, I noticed Punchline was starting at the same time as the buddy cop sci-fi flick, and had a decision to make. Would I see the new Tom Hanks “comedy,” or the schlocky looking sci-fi? Bonehead that I was, I chose Punchline. My buddy, prescient as he was, chose Alien Nation, and never let me forget it. Punchline fucking sucked, just a turgid piece of studio slop that left zero impression on audiences and eventually served as a mere blip on Tom Hanks’ rather illustrious resume. It’s embarrassing to think I paid hard money to see a Sally fucking Field movie, but such are the transgressions of youth (although I did pay to see Forrest Gump, but could that really be considered a Sally Field movie? I don’t think so. Now, if it was Forrest Hump, maybe you could make a case…).
Alien Nation, on the other hand, became a cherished sci-fi classic that spawned a TV series, and a series of TV movies, and was even rumored to be in line for a remake starring none other than Zod himself, Michael Shannon (interesting that the original Zod, Terry Stamp, is the bad guy in this). That remake never got off the ground, thankfully, but another unofficial remake did, known as District 9.
District 9 was one of those rare films you see that start out amazing only to turn into utter garbage by the second act. I should do a feature on it, as I positively loved the first act of that film before it totally shit the bed and dropped the faux documentary angle that made the first act so interesting and unique. District 9 sucks, is basically what I am saying…
But enough about that crap, we’re here to talk about the one that started it all. Who knew way back when on that October day we’d still be talking about this flick over 35 years later? I’d wager not many, including the filmmakers themselves.
But it still begs the question, how were the 1ST 5 Minutes?
1ST 5 MINUTES
Note: Alien Nation footage was incredibly hard to come by. A handful of clips I found a few months ago were recently nuked by YouTube. Very odd for such a popular film. The two videos embedded in this article are the ONLY non-trailer clips I could find. Apologies…
-SBD
On screen chyrons in a very of-its-time sci-fi font, lets the audience know it’s 1991 Los Angeles and “they have landed, and now they are among us.” Cut to a video/TV image of a giant disc shaped UFO hovering over the desert. YES! What a great first shot. In 1988, the use of video on film was still new, and it is used to great effect here, as we segue into a broadcast news segment where we learn the aliens came to be known simply as, The Newcomers, and have been on Earth for 3 years now.
Cut to the anchor, and we see he’s played by the great Earl Boen (Terminator fans will be familiar), as he gives us a brief rundown explaining how the aliens were genetically bred to be a slave class. As this plays, we cut to a bar where patrons are watching this very same news segment, featuring the great character actor Peter Jason (fans of They Live will recognize him instantly).
We hear people in the background mouthing off and our first utterance of the slang term, “slag,” which is how the aliens are referred to by the not so enlightened, to be delicate. The news segment continues with some man-on-the-street interviews complaining about the Newcomers, including one guy who clues us in on the fact that the Newcomers are incredibly intelligent and even at 10 years old can compete with college aged humans (“there goes my job future”).
What strikes me about this entire segment is how incredible a job they did of aping the real news. Oftentimes in film, faux news segments feel just that, faux, fake, artificial, instantly takes you out of the film. Not here. As someone who has toiled in the broadcast network news biz for over two decades, I am pretty much an expert at how this shit looks and sounds, and this movie nails it. Not a false note to be seen or heard.
We then cut to a clip of the actual Ronald Reagan where they appropriate some real speech he delivered to make it sound like he’s talking about the Newcomers (interesting to look at now, because despite Reagan’s reputation as some conservative stalwart, his amnesty legislation actually precipitated the situation at America’s southern border today).
Peter Jason then asks the off screen bartender, Henry, how he’s doing, and we finally get our first look at an actual Newcomer, as Henry turns to reveal he’s an alien. He kind of half smiles at Jason’s green card remark as he looks down at a glass he’s wiping, and then, without tilting his head up, he just uses his eyes and gives this amazing look, accompanied by a music sting and the title card for the film. It’s so fucking good… that glare he gives under his brow is easily my Favorite Shot in the film. Gives me chills every time I see it.
This is a really good sign. Barely two minutes into the flick and we have great use of video on an SFX shot, two great character actors, a realistically written and performed news segment, and my Favorite Shot in the whole goddamn film! I’m already in by this point, but let’s keep going for the sake of the theorem.
Ah, our first look at the late, great James Caan as police detective Matthew Sykes, with his partner, Bill Tuggle, played by the underrated Roger Aaron Brown, who, in his limited screen time, really imbues his character with depth and soul. Not easy.
First thing you notice here is the great cinematography by Adam Greenberg. No sci-fi flourishes here, this is a down and dirty L.A. crime flick that looks like a down and dirty L.A. crime flick… that just so happens to feature extra-terrestrials. The realism of the photography and use of practical locations really helps sell the concept here and makes it incredibly believable. Rare for sci-fi to be so immersive like this, especially nowadays with the digital effects. When the setting is a real place populated by unreal characters, it creates a great atmosphere that makes it easier to forgive some of the obvious deficits of a picture like this.
The two detectives are driving around what Caan refers to as “Slagtown,” and we get our first extended look at the various Newcomers and how they’ve integrated into society. They play sports, take dance lessons, appear in Pepsi ads (you notice how huge Pepsi was in 80’s movies? They really went all out to dethrone Coca-Cola, but alas…) and even prostitute themselves. Hell, there’s even drunk, homeless Newcomers (I don’t know why, but the fact they get drunk on sour, curdled milk is one of my favorite things about the movie. How the fuck they even think of that? I love it).
Now, while I like the compact way they introduce the major elements of the movie here, it makes no sense within the context of the world of the film. Caan is talking to his partner like this is the first time he’s ever seen a Newcomer! His partner knows everything Caan is talking about, and is the kind of stuff they already would have discussed and joked about years ago. It’s clunky as hell, and is a well-worn movie conceit, but that doesn’t excuse it. This could have been handled much better. I really despise when characters say things to other characters simply because the audience supposedly needs to hear it. It’s just lazy writing. Uh-oh, is this actually not a good movie?
Then they get into a discussion of Caan’s daughter getting married and the fact Caan isn’t attending despite his partner and his partner’s wife going. This is marginally better dialogue, but still feels odd and not how they’d actually be talking if they worked together all the time. I get that the writer wants to set the story up quickly and set the stakes, I get it, and I do appreciate the effort, but the result is wanting. You really don’t want to be rolling your eyes at cliché dialogue in the 1ST 5 Minutes.
But then things pick up right near the end of these 1ST 5 Minutes as Caan and Brown see two Newcomers in long black leather trenchcoats enter a convenience store in such a way as they look like they’re about to rob the joint. They pull over to surveil, and see one Newcomer pull a shotgun out from under his trench. Let’s fucking go!
And that does it for the 1ST 5 Minutes of Alien Nation. A mixed bag, to be honest, with a great first couple of minutes, some good world building (love the Newcomer’s written language and how we see it in graffiti and on billboards) accompanied by lame dialogue, but the main plot gets going right as those 1ST 5 wrap up. Some intriguing stuff, definitely enough to make me keep watching (thank god), but I can understand if people turn it off here (a shame).
The rest of the flick
Your faith is immediately rewarded with a great action sequence, involving an elderly Newcomer getting blown away, followed by Caan’s partner, in a particularly brutal death, and then a brief chase sequence where we’re introduced to the mysterious blue liquid drug the Newcomers abuse (I love that kind of shit in movies, futuristic drugs, reminds me of the eyedrops in Looper, or SloMo in Dredd) and appears to give them some measure of super strength. It’s a great set up for the main plot. Tense. Tragic. Terrifying. This is what I go to the cinema for!
The two mismatched cops who are forced to be partners was a well-worn cliché back in 1988, following closely on the heels of Lethal Weapon, probably the perfected form of that genre, but now, in 2024, is practically a joke. Even so, the choice to make the mismatched partner a fucking alien is inspired as hell, and is obviously what sets this film apart, and it all starts with Mandy Patinkin’s performance as Sam “George” Francisco.
Patinkin has such a gentle kindness to his demeanor. He brings a real pathos and thoughtfulness to his roles, none moreso than here. In the hands of another actor, perhaps this movie fails, but Patinkin really brings the character to life, giving him an emotional core that provokes real sympathy from the audience. While Caan is doing his usual tough guy schtick (and make no mistake, he’s masterful at it), Patinkin is doing the heavy lifting here in terms of getting the audience invested in the central mystery, which is why these seemingly unrelated Newcomers are being murdered (it actually is a really interesting plot, deceptively simple, but I like the way it continues the world building, where we hear about, but never see, some quarantine all the Newcomers went through once they arrived on Earth).
Caan keeps trying to bait Patinkin with some bigoted comments, but Patinkin’s such a good guy, he never bites, and this goodness and decency permeates every scene, which makes it all the more shocking when he rages out in the third act. A truly stellar performance from an actor who always delivers.
When Caan and Patinkin go to the morgue to see if the dead Newcomer bodies hold any clues, it leads to my Favorite Scene in the film, where Caan is talking to the human coroner, Patinkin goes off to talk to the Newcomer assistant, played by the great Frank Collison, who fans of The Last Boy Scout would remember as Pablo, the piano playing henchman when Chet gets his nose put through his brain by Hallenbeck.
It’s the first time we hear the Newcomer language, and it is in whispers despite neither human being able to understand them even if they were talking at normal volume. The language they created for the Newcomers is great. It doesn’t sound like words, or any kind of actual spoken dialogue on Earth, it sounds truly alien, to the point where I can’t even describe it really. It’s a fantastic moment, because it’s obvious they’re talking about some serious shit they don’t want the humans privy to. It’s a great “what the fuck is really going on here?” moment.
Another great scene is the beach murder.
To the Newcomers, seawater is like battery acid. Terrence Stamp plays the main villain, William Harcourt. I love Terrence Stamp. Has the guy ever given a bad performance? Not that I know of. Between this, Superman, and Wall Street, he was one of the main bad guys of my youth. It’s funny how so many of the Newcomers were given wacky names like Sam Francisco, Rudyard Kipling, Humphrey Bogart, but our main villain is given a dope name like William Harcourt, and not only that, he speaks with an English accent despite indications being that ALL the Newcomers landed in Los Angeles. Where the fuck did this cat learn to speak the King’s English with such a posh accent? Absolutely hilarious.
You kind of just go with it cause Stamp is so good and this is the kind of picture where if you think about certain things too long it all begins to make zero sense (who was driving the Newcomer ship? It says they were a slave class, ok, whose slaves? Did they intend to land on Earth? Why did they land on Earth? Are there others? Part of the greatness of the movie, and its main weakness, is the fact much of the Newcomer backstory is mysterious. I like how there are only hints, but others’ tolerance may vary).
This scene also features the great character actor Jeff Kober as Strader, the nightclub owner who Stamp has been using to push the mysterious blue liquid alien drug out to the public. I love the part where they speak to each other in the Newcomer language, but no subtitles are provided. Little touches like that really elevate a film. We don’t need to know what is said because the two actors are so good we know exactly the feeling and intent of the alien words. And when the human henchmen drag poor Strader into the ocean, his screams echo into the night. Good stuff.
The scene set at the Newcomer bar where Caan and Patinkin go to try and find some answers for the convenience store murder is another standout in the film.
It not only features the great Brian Thompson, it also has my Favorite Line in the whole picture. There’s lots of funny lines in this flick (Caan’s character’s last name sounds like “shithead” to the Newcomers, Patinkin thinking condoms are way too small to fit a penis). When they go to question Thompson, he’s not interested in talking and instead hurls an insult in the alien language at Caan. Patinkin reluctantly translates for Caan, “Your mother mates out of season.” That shit always makes me laugh.
One thing you also really notice in this scene is just how alien a lot of the Newcomers look. They don’t just add a spotted bald head to the actors, their entire faces are changed. For people only familiar with the TV show version of the Newcomers, it’s startling. On that show, they all just looked like humans with spotted, bald, slightly enlarged craniums. But in this film, a lot of the aliens look fucking alien. And not gonna lie, kinda scary. Some of them look positively monstrous. Not hard to guess which version of the makeup I prefer. There’s just a toughness to this film that the TV series never achieved. Where the film is dark and gritty the show was bright and airy. The TV show wasn’t bad, it definitely expanded the mythos, and I enjoyed the first few seasons, but it doesn’t hold a candle to this film.
And you really can’t talk about this film and leave out the “end chase,” as it were. They destroy the lab Stamp was using to create more of the alien drug, and finally corner him, at which point he breaks open a giant cylinder of the blue drug and pours the entire thing into his mouth (to this point we’ve only seen Newcomers take a few drops to get them incredibly high and near invincible). Stamp convulses and drops to the ground, appears to overdose and die. When Caan reveals to Patinkin that he didn’t shoot him, that he died of an overdose, Patinkin reacts in horror, there’s no such thing as an OD with this drug. Rather, the Newcomer goes into a sort of stasis where a metamorphosis occurs, turning them into a beast like creature, nearly impossible to kill.
Inevitably the story ends at sea, the only place it could, the one place on Earth that is deadly to Newcomers, even ones hopped up on the blue drug. It’s a great sequence with our three main characters, especially Patinkin, who we already know has a very real fear of the salt water, and despite that deathly fear, still reaches his hand deep into the acid-like water to rescue his partner.
It’s a fantastic moment, which Patinkin plays perfectly. The lingering spotlight on the ocean as the helicopter leaves the scene is eerie. Is the Stamp creature truly dead? Who knows…
The movie wraps up with Caan deciding to go to his daughter’s wedding (yawn), and we see he’s invited Patinkin and his family. It’s a nice character moment between them, showing how far they’ve come since the opening antagonism, even though it’s only been a few days.
Ah, movie time. Nothing quite like movie time. Despite this conceit, it’s still a nice, uplifting scene to end the film on, but then something truly bizarre happens. Out of nowhere we hear NARRATION by Caan’s character! There has been exactly zero narration to this point in the film. It doesn’t fit, it doesn’t work, completely takes you out of the movie. Seems like a leftover from some other cut where the producers or studio execs thought the film needed narration to explain things to the audience? Some kind of Blade Runner shit? It’s incredibly stupid, and makes me literally laugh out loud each time. No idea what they were thinking. Totally schizo, and I am usually a fan of spontaneous narration (as in Blonde with the bathtub drowning). Here, it’s just goofy as fuck and 100% unnecessary.
This TV spot gives you a taste of how bad Caan is at narration. Could he give less of a shit here?
The One Sheet
How fucking great is this poster? I repeat, HOW FUCKING GREAT IS THIS POSTER? This is how you market a film. If you see the movie based on this one sheet, you’re going to love the movie. There is zero doubt whatsoever. The prostitutes suggest the realism you’ll get, the guys in the background in the bar with the alien language on the wall suggests the mystery, with some perfectly written copy that immediately puts you in the frame of the film.
Movie marketing does not get better than this. Just a perfect poster.
And that does it for Alien Nation. A great twist on the buddy cop genre that is guilty of sometimes delving into cliché and obvious dramatic beats. The movie simultaneously subverts tropes while serving them up fresh. And it’s all there in those 1ST 5 Minutes. Original, dope shit mixed in with tired, done to death cop dialogue, while displaying a gritty and realistic color palette. If you dig the 1ST 5, how do you not like the rest of the flick? Impossible. As with almost every film, the 1ST 5 Minutes tell you everything you need to know about this flick. Always trust your instincts.
I leave you with the late, great Siskel & Ebert’s review of Alien Nation. This one had me howling. Not easy to put into words how pumped I’d get to see a new episode of Siskel & Ebert pop up on the random syndicated channel at like 5PM on a Saturday or some shit. But in the end, is it that I miss Siskel & Ebert, or do I just miss the fact I was a child at the time?
The context being those carefree weekend afternoons, just flipping around the channels, no Internet, no smartphones, no fucking nothing, is what really makes it hit. Still though, impossible to disentangle all those threads that make up your history. As for their review, while I agree with Siskel, obviously, as I love this movie, Ebert is not wrong in the least with his critiques. Bottom line, film criticism ain’t what it used to be…
See you in July…