Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!mgnetp!ihnp4!mhuxl!houxm!hogpc!houti!ariel!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!hplabs!sri-unix!ddern@BBNCCK.ARPA
From: ddern@BBNCCK.ARPA@sri-unix.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: The Last Starfighter - Recommended (Non-spoiler)
Message-ID: <2043@sri-arpa.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 16-Jul-84 09:52:24 EDT
Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.2043
Posted: Mon Jul 16 09:52:24 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 20-Jul-84 04:01:07 EDT
Lines: 42

From:  Daniel Dern <ddern@BBNCCK.ARPA>

THE LAST STARFIGHTER -- Highly recommended

Here's a four-star summer film with no redeeming social value,
so pack up your troubles and get airconditions for a few hours.

If you like aliens, space ships, video games, and fantasy fulfillment,
you'll love this.

There's also an amazing amount of humorous bits, which I wouldn't dream of
spoil for you by telling.

Try for a theater with a good (dolby) sound system; it's worth it.

The special effects are good.

...

I found myself thinking about Robert Heinlein's "Have Space Suit -- Will
Travel" at times, both during and after seeing this flick.  

The similarity is both protogonists want to "get out of this small town, go to
a good college and do something with my life."

The difference is that Clifford "Kip" Russell (in Space Suit) was a budding
engineer/scientist/boy scout (i.e., a typical Heinlein hero of that era), and
Alex Rogan (in Last Starfighter) has, apparantly, a phenomemal skill [...see
for yourself, for what it's worth] and not much beyond that in the way of
redeeming or interesting character, personality -- the kid would make a good
vanilla ice cream sunday, if you poured hot fudge over him.  His younger
brother is much more interesting, and hip, too.

In fact, Alex is much like Luke Skywalker -- a medium sized galoot ripe for
teenage audience identification, which no real problems or personality of his
own. Yawn.

However, this movie makes no pretensions at being any deeper than a sandbox, or
any more meaningful -- far less than Star Wars -- and I loved almost every
minute of it.  I think this is the golden age of sf films, so let's go go go.

Daniel Dern