Alien Nation (1988)

Director:

Graham Baker

Writer (WGA):

Rockne S. O'Bannon (written by)

Release Date:

7 October 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Prepare Yourself.

Plot:

A few years from now, Earth will have the first contact with an alien civilisation. These aliens, known as Newcomers...

Plot Keywords:

Alien | Police | American Flag | Drug Dealing | Bullet Proof Vest

Awards:

1 win & 4 nominations

Cast

James Caan	...	Det. Sgt. Matthew Sykes
Mandy Patinkin	...	Det. Samuel 'George' Francisco
Terence Stamp	...	William Harcourt
Kevyn Major Howard	...	Rudyard Kipling
Leslie Bevis	...	Cassandra
Peter Jason	...	Fedorchuk
Conrad Dunn	...	Quint (as George Jenesky)
Jeff Kober	...	Joshua Strader
Roger Aaron Brown	...	Det. Bill Tuggle
Tony Simotes	...	Wiltey
Michael David Simms	...	Human Dealer
Ed Krieger	...	Alien Dealer
Tony Perez	...	Alterez
Brian Thompson	...	Trent Porter
Francis X. McCarthy	...	Capt. Warner (as Frank McCarthy)

Also Known As:

Future Tense (USA) (working title)
Outer Heat (USA) (working title)
Spacecop L.A. 1991 (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
Alien Nation (Greece) [el]
Alien nación (Spain) [es]
Alien nation, Nazione di alieni (Italy) [it]
Futur immédiat (Canada: French title) [fr]
Futur immédiat, Los Angeles 1991 (France) [fr]
Lebkouni (Czechoslovakia) [cs]
Misión aliens (Argentina) [es]
Missão Alien (Brazil) [pt]
Muukalaiset (Finland) [fi]
Obca rasa (Poland) [pl]
Obcy przybysze (Poland) [pl]
Os novos Invasores (Portugal) [pt]
Przybysze (Poland) [pl]
Yabancilar (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Belgium:16 (video rating) | USA:R (Certificate #29061) | UK:18 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Norway:18 | Sweden:15 | West Germany:16 | Singapore:PG | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

American Entertainment Partners II L.P.

Trivia:

The trailer shows a portion of a fight scene between George and Rudyard Kipling with a burning car in the background, meaning that in an earlier edit Kipling exits the car before it explodes (you see him regain consciousness at one point with a groan) and then fights with George. This would also explain why it is that Sykes compliments George on showing "some good moves back there".

Goofs:

Continuity: During the chase scene with the police car the tail lights on Sykes and Francisco's car change from broken to intact to broken again.

Quotes:

Det. Sgt. Matthew Sykes: [Sykes has just cornered Harcourt] Hands Up!
[Harcourt raises his hands, producing a tube of ja-bru-kha]
Det. Sgt. Matthew Sykes: You make one move and you're history.
William Harcourt: Not history... ETERNITY!
[consumes the ja-bru-kha]

Movie Connections:

Featured in Shooting the Police: Cops on Film (2006) (TV)

Soundtrack:

SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL

Entertaining allegory

I've always liked this film despite its flaws. It is an interesting allegory of racial conflict, using a sci-fi premise and a "buddy-cop" formula. You have the minority rookie cop assigned to the bigoted partner, who are then assigned a case involving the minority group. The rookie proves to the bigot that people are the same, despite their physical differences and they slowly become friends.

Mandy Patinkin is great here, conveying the idea of an outsider who is not totally familiar with his new environment. James Caan is fine, but doesn't seem committed to the film, and his performance is a bit uneven. Terence Stamp is hurt by his makeup, as his face is one of his greatest strengths as an actor. Much of his characters come from his facial expressions and the makeup inhibits this.

The story is a bit cliched, but the sci-fi gloss keeps things from falling flat. The tv series was better able to explore the racial allegory, as the film just doesn't have enough screen time. The mystery component is pretty much standard fare. If you look beyond the surface of this film, there are some worthwhile ideas here. They just get a bit lost in the "cop" trappings.