Enemy Mine (1985)
June 17, 2024 8:04 PM - Subscribe
1985 film about an alien and a human who crash land on a dangerous planet after a space battle, then continue their war one-on-one until they realize they have to work together to survive. With Louis Gossett Jr. under 4 hours of makeup and gargling his own spit to give the alien language that extra....something, Dennis Quaid as the jerky human who must learn to live with The Other, and a fun biological twist. Directed by Wolfgang Petersen soon after Das Boot and The Neverending Story.
Detailed, very spoilery look at the film, including interesting connections to various Star Treks and other things (one of the makeup team would, a year later, win a shared makeup Oscar for The Fly), and to the 1958 Tony Curtis/Sidney Poitier movie “The Defiant Ones”.
You can get a sense of the Louis Gossett Jr's fantastic physical and emotional performance in this clip, and his character just gets more rich and interesting from there. (This was 3 years after his historic Best Supporting Actor Oscar for An Officer and a Gentleman.)
Giant Freakin Robot notes the film had a troubled production and went over budget, costing $40 million and only making $12 million in theaters before becoming a cult favorite, then pokes Disney for owning the rights but not making it available on Disney+. Instead it's available for rent at some of the usual places.
Oh, also: ‘Star Trek: Picard’ Showrunner Terry Matalas Tackling Remake of 1980s Sci-Fi Movie ‘Enemy Mine’.
Detailed, very spoilery look at the film, including interesting connections to various Star Treks and other things (one of the makeup team would, a year later, win a shared makeup Oscar for The Fly), and to the 1958 Tony Curtis/Sidney Poitier movie “The Defiant Ones”.
You can get a sense of the Louis Gossett Jr's fantastic physical and emotional performance in this clip, and his character just gets more rich and interesting from there. (This was 3 years after his historic Best Supporting Actor Oscar for An Officer and a Gentleman.)
Giant Freakin Robot notes the film had a troubled production and went over budget, costing $40 million and only making $12 million in theaters before becoming a cult favorite, then pokes Disney for owning the rights but not making it available on Disney+. Instead it's available for rent at some of the usual places.
Oh, also: ‘Star Trek: Picard’ Showrunner Terry Matalas Tackling Remake of 1980s Sci-Fi Movie ‘Enemy Mine’.
costing $40 million
It’s easy these days to look at that number, which now gets you a mid-budget video game at best, and forget how much it was at the time.
Aliens was 18 million
Bladerunner was 30 million
posted by Jon Mitchell at 10:38 PM on June 17 [2 favorites]
It’s easy these days to look at that number, which now gets you a mid-budget video game at best, and forget how much it was at the time.
Aliens was 18 million
Bladerunner was 30 million
posted by Jon Mitchell at 10:38 PM on June 17 [2 favorites]
Someone, the screenwriter or the director, seemed to be confused by the title, a poetic "My Enemy," and actually wrote a "mine" under "enemy" control into the story.
Yeah, the last part of the film with the miners is the weakest, for sure. This video mentions (without sourcing) at 2:50 that it was studio execs who in their vast wisdom thought there needed to be some actual mining or else audiences would be confused, and if true the movie really suffers for that decision.
The heart of the film is Gossett's performance and the evolving relationship between the 2 main characters, so when that gets resolved the rest is...kinda easily forgettable. But that part really holds up.
posted by mediareport at 5:40 AM on June 18 [2 favorites]
Yeah, the last part of the film with the miners is the weakest, for sure. This video mentions (without sourcing) at 2:50 that it was studio execs who in their vast wisdom thought there needed to be some actual mining or else audiences would be confused, and if true the movie really suffers for that decision.
The heart of the film is Gossett's performance and the evolving relationship between the 2 main characters, so when that gets resolved the rest is...kinda easily forgettable. But that part really holds up.
posted by mediareport at 5:40 AM on June 18 [2 favorites]
This movie has long annoyed me, because I loved the novella, the movie was... not as good as the novella, and after the movie a book-length version of the story was released based more on the movie than the novella and it was... not as good as the novella.
That being said, the bit about Mickey Mouse was handled better in the movie than the novella and was a really funny moment.
posted by kyrademon at 7:15 AM on June 18
That being said, the bit about Mickey Mouse was handled better in the movie than the novella and was a really funny moment.
posted by kyrademon at 7:15 AM on June 18
I remember seeing this movie as a kid and being really touched by it. I'll need to rewatch it and then read the book. I didn't know there was a book!
posted by miss-lapin at 8:31 AM on June 18
posted by miss-lapin at 8:31 AM on June 18
Yeah, the novella sounds neater than the film; it was originally published in 1979 in Asimov's scifi mag, and then republished with 2 more stories as The Enemy Papers.
Also, reading more about the film pointed me to an obvious precursor I've never seen: Hell in the Pacific with Lee Marvin and Toshirō Mifune, a 1968 movie about a U.S. and a Japanese soldier who discover each other on a deserted island during WWII.
posted by mediareport at 11:24 AM on June 18 [2 favorites]
Also, reading more about the film pointed me to an obvious precursor I've never seen: Hell in the Pacific with Lee Marvin and Toshirō Mifune, a 1968 movie about a U.S. and a Japanese soldier who discover each other on a deserted island during WWII.
posted by mediareport at 11:24 AM on June 18 [2 favorites]
Overall a good movie, but a poor sci-fi movie.
The story, the characters, the acting, all good.
The production is excellent. But it's a double-edged sword; there isn't enough of it. Good sci-fi needs a minimum level of worldbuilding and Enemy Mine doesn't reach the bar for me.
posted by Stuka at 12:16 PM on June 18
The story, the characters, the acting, all good.
The production is excellent. But it's a double-edged sword; there isn't enough of it. Good sci-fi needs a minimum level of worldbuilding and Enemy Mine doesn't reach the bar for me.
posted by Stuka at 12:16 PM on June 18
It felt a bit like 'Sting's Russians - the SF movie' at the time.
Idk, it tasted like a German TV flic playing dress up as US cinema, but still heavy-handed and sincere in that very specific kind of way you could only get from German TV fare?
But it had its heart in the right place and I liked it better when I rewatched it decades later.
posted by Ashenmote at 9:57 PM on June 18 [1 favorite]
Idk, it tasted like a German TV flic playing dress up as US cinema, but still heavy-handed and sincere in that very specific kind of way you could only get from German TV fare?
But it had its heart in the right place and I liked it better when I rewatched it decades later.
posted by Ashenmote at 9:57 PM on June 18 [1 favorite]
my wife's nephew watched this on cable all the time when he was in 1st or 2nd grade, and got in trouble at school for cursing out some of the other students using words from the alien language.
I also remember reading the original novella in Asimov's magazine and then being disappointed at the adaptation's ending, when the first part did such a solid job of presenting the story's ideas/themes.
posted by jkosmicki at 12:59 PM on June 19 [1 favorite]
I also remember reading the original novella in Asimov's magazine and then being disappointed at the adaptation's ending, when the first part did such a solid job of presenting the story's ideas/themes.
posted by jkosmicki at 12:59 PM on June 19 [1 favorite]
I saw this in the $1 double-matinee second run theater near where I lived in Chicago. We used to go there during summer vacation and they'd let us underaged kids into any movie, R rated or not.
I distinctly remember seeing the reveal in the film of the actual "mine" (as in a mine to extract minerals or coal or whatever)... even as a teenager we were surprised they introduced an actual mine into the movie which absolutely did not need a mining scene or set piece at all! Even as goofy teens, we understood "Enemy Mine" as a way of stating "My Enemy."
Anyway, I loved this movie, but was very surprised by the intimacy of the scenes, the acting and the relationship between the characters. How biology both separates them and connects them, alien to each other or not. Great performance by Gossett.
posted by SoberHighland at 12:09 PM on June 20 [2 favorites]
I distinctly remember seeing the reveal in the film of the actual "mine" (as in a mine to extract minerals or coal or whatever)... even as a teenager we were surprised they introduced an actual mine into the movie which absolutely did not need a mining scene or set piece at all! Even as goofy teens, we understood "Enemy Mine" as a way of stating "My Enemy."
Anyway, I loved this movie, but was very surprised by the intimacy of the scenes, the acting and the relationship between the characters. How biology both separates them and connects them, alien to each other or not. Great performance by Gossett.
posted by SoberHighland at 12:09 PM on June 20 [2 favorites]
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posted by SPrintF at 9:12 PM on June 17 [3 favorites]