MIDDLE-AGED MATINEE! #11 - 'The Last Starfighter'

'The Last Starfighter' (1984)

It's time for another "Middle-Aged Matinee!" article where I take a look at a film from the year of my birth, 1984. This time, I'm taking a look back at "The Last Starfighter". As always, I hope you enjoy the aritcle!

Alex Rogan (Lance Guest) is a young man living in an isolated trailer park where his girlfriend Maggie (Catherine Mary Stewart) also resides. The trailer park is so isolated that the tenants there all know each other and the biggest event in their lives is when Alex beats the high score on an arcade game called Starfighter.

Alex is your typical everyman character that wants to escape his little world and find something bigger in his future. Well, as it turns out, the arcade game is not just simply a game. It’s a recruitment device built by an alien named Centauri (Robert Preston) in order to recruit new Starfighters for the Rylan Star League. The Star League is trying to defeat the evil Ko-Dan Empire and their leader, Xur (Norman Snow).

Meanwhile, Guest also plays a Beta Unit, an android that takes on the appearance of Alex so no one will think he’s missing. This leads to some rather humorous scenes with Beta and Maggie as she doesn’t know what’s wrong with her boyfriend and Beta is trying to learn how to act appropriately.

Lance Guest and Dan O'Herlihy star in 'The Last Starfighter'!

Now, the movie had what was, at the time, great computer visual effects. In fact, it was the first real film to try and make all of its action using computers rather than traditional models and practical effects. Unfortunately, it was a tad ahead of its time and the effects are admittedly dated by today’s standards.

Some people can’t stand dated effects and some people can accept them. So, I just wanted to point them out before moving forward.

What really makes the movie work, though, is a story that is easy to compare to “Star Wars” but has a lot going for it on its own. The subplot with Maggie and the Beta Alex gives it a more unique feel and the idea of a video game being used as a recruitment device from aliens in outer space is also a unique idea.

It also helps that the performances are pretty special too. The love story between Maggie and Alex feels genuine because Guest and Stewart have amazing chemistry with one another. This relationship also adds more stakes for Alex as he heads off to fight the Ko-Dan Empire. Alex also has two other relationships in the movie that work extremely well.

Robert Preston plays Centauri, an alien in disguise that recruits Alex.

Alex first befriends Centauri, the man who recruits him and is also a bit of a flim-flam man though his heart is in the right place. Centauri was Preston’s final theatrical performance and he plays a unique version of the “mentor” character that has to clue Alex in to what’s going on. Again, the chemistry between Guest and Preston is spot on and you enjoy their evolving friendship.

When Alex embraces the idea of becoming a Starfighter, he meets his eventual navigator Grigs (Dan O’Herlihy). Grigs is a gnarly looking alien who has a humorous desire to be in an epic space battle where the odds are stacked against him. Despite being under heavy alien make-up, O’Herlihy’s considerable acting chops still comes through strongly and he’s another fun character in this wild universe.

The movie is one of the highlights of the adventurous movies that came out in the 1980s. Yes, this movie could easily be compared to “Star Wars” and even a few Spielberg films at the time. However, the movie’s unique story allows it to stand out from the sci-fi formula that it also readily embraces with wit, charm, humor, and more importantly, fun.

FUN FILM FACT: The movie has several connections to the “Halloween” film series. The movie was directed by Nick Castle, the first actor to play Michael Myers in “Halloween”. Lance Guest had a supporting role in “Halloween II” and Dan O’Herlihy was Conal Cochran in “Halloween III: Season of the Witch”.