An alien must pose as a human to save his dying planet, but a woman and greed of other men create complications.An alien must pose as a human to save his dying planet, but a woman and greed of other men create complications.An alien must pose as a human to save his dying planet, but a woman and greed of other men create complications.
- Awards
- 1 win & 4 nominations
Jim Lovell
- Capt. James Lovell, Commander of Apollo 13
- (as Capt. James Lovell)
Dort Clark
- Waiter
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaBetween takes and when not filming, lead actor David Bowie composed songs, sketched drawings, wrote short stories, planned an autobiography to be titled "The Return of the Thin White Duke", filmed on a 16mm newsreel camera that director Nicolas Roeg had given him, and read books, including a biography of silent film comedian Buster Keaton. This was in preparation for a biopic of Keaton, whom Bowie was to play.
- GoofsWhen Mary-Lou takes Thomas to the hotel's fifth floor in the elevator instead of allowing him to use the stairs, she says, "It's five flights." This would be correct in the UK, but not in America; from the ground floor to the fifth floor of an American building is four flights.
- Quotes
Thomas Jerome Newton: Ask me...
Nathan Bryce: What?
Thomas Jerome Newton: The question you've been wanting to ask ever since we met.
Nathan Bryce: Are you Lithuanian?
Thomas Jerome Newton: [grins] I come from England.
Nathan Bryce: Ah, that's not so terrible.
- Alternate versionsThe US theatrical release of the film was drastically altered. Not only were 20 minutes cut (including the gun sequence) but some scenes were rearranged and a few scenes had different camera angles.
- ConnectionsEdited into We Are the Robots (2010)
Featured review
Loving the alien
I like Nicolas Roeg's films although I don't claim to always "get" or enjoy every minute of them. They're always fantastically shot in a crisp, realistic style, he often pushes back the boundaries, particularly with the censors, and they frequently have scenes which stick long in the memory. However, they often seem to have just as many longueurs, with off-beat characters and non-linear narratives. Maybe I'm the problem...
Anyway David Bowie here plays a part which seemed to haunt him for years to come, in the aftermath of the film alone, he used images from the movie for two of his album covers, a 12-inch single sleeve while it also seems to inspire tracks on his "Station To Station", "Low" and "Scary Monsters" albums not to mention the famous "Ashes To Ashes" video. Bowie was at an artistic peak musically although off stage he was hopelessly hooked on cocaine, in fact just watch the contemporary BBC Arena documentary on him, "Cracked Actor" and he looks here as if he's just walked on-set from there. So can he act then...?
Well if there was one part he was born to play, it was this one, the alien misfit who conquers the world, but to be honest, while he certainly has a presence, you wouldn't say he was extended much. Looks great though.
The film stop-starts its way on his space invader odyssey, as he leaves his family life on Mars (or wherever it is) to start inventing items which quickly become society's new fashion must-haves. He picks up, (or rather she does him) an adoring if simplistic hotel chambermaid and garners a back-up team to make him a vast fortune, his target being to amass enough funds to build a spaceship to take him back home. But something happens on his way to heaven as unsurprisingly, he's abducted by government officials, where he's subjected to excruciating tests which wouldn't be out of place in an animal cruelty lab. Resistance however is futile and the mysterious Mr Newton by the end is a washed-up drunk, still resigning himself to his earth bound fate. In one of the film's most telling lines, he forgives his captor-torturer, as he admits his own race would gave treated a visiting earthling in the exact same way.
There's solid back-up to Bowie's central role with a variety of convincingly portrayed stock characters. Roeg pushes the permissive button pretty far here with more than a smattering of nudity in the sex scenes, not ignoring the fact that males frequently get naked too when being intimate.
I would still say there were too many scenes which for me played like Bowie's own cut-up method for lyrics at around this time, by which I mean I found them puzzling, strange and unconnected. And why no Bowie soundtrack?
Still, an interesting if confounding movie, as strangely addictive in its way as television is to Newton.
Anyway David Bowie here plays a part which seemed to haunt him for years to come, in the aftermath of the film alone, he used images from the movie for two of his album covers, a 12-inch single sleeve while it also seems to inspire tracks on his "Station To Station", "Low" and "Scary Monsters" albums not to mention the famous "Ashes To Ashes" video. Bowie was at an artistic peak musically although off stage he was hopelessly hooked on cocaine, in fact just watch the contemporary BBC Arena documentary on him, "Cracked Actor" and he looks here as if he's just walked on-set from there. So can he act then...?
Well if there was one part he was born to play, it was this one, the alien misfit who conquers the world, but to be honest, while he certainly has a presence, you wouldn't say he was extended much. Looks great though.
The film stop-starts its way on his space invader odyssey, as he leaves his family life on Mars (or wherever it is) to start inventing items which quickly become society's new fashion must-haves. He picks up, (or rather she does him) an adoring if simplistic hotel chambermaid and garners a back-up team to make him a vast fortune, his target being to amass enough funds to build a spaceship to take him back home. But something happens on his way to heaven as unsurprisingly, he's abducted by government officials, where he's subjected to excruciating tests which wouldn't be out of place in an animal cruelty lab. Resistance however is futile and the mysterious Mr Newton by the end is a washed-up drunk, still resigning himself to his earth bound fate. In one of the film's most telling lines, he forgives his captor-torturer, as he admits his own race would gave treated a visiting earthling in the exact same way.
There's solid back-up to Bowie's central role with a variety of convincingly portrayed stock characters. Roeg pushes the permissive button pretty far here with more than a smattering of nudity in the sex scenes, not ignoring the fact that males frequently get naked too when being intimate.
I would still say there were too many scenes which for me played like Bowie's own cut-up method for lyrics at around this time, by which I mean I found them puzzling, strange and unconnected. And why no Bowie soundtrack?
Still, an interesting if confounding movie, as strangely addictive in its way as television is to Newton.
helpful•175
- Lejink
- Jan 25, 2017
- How long is The Man Who Fell to Earth?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Der Mann, der vom Himmel fiel
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $1,500,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $100,072
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $5,922
- Jun 26, 2011
- Gross worldwide
- $166,672
- Runtime2 hours 19 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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By what name was The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) officially released in India in Hindi?
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