Morons from Outer Space is a 1985 British comedy-science fiction film directed by Mike Hodges and written by and starring Griff Rhys Jones and Mel Smith. It also stars Jimmy Nail and James B. Sikking.
| Morons from Outer Space | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Mike Hodges |
| Written by | Griff Rhys Jones Mel Smith |
| Starring | Griff Rhys Jones Mel Smith Joanne Pearce Jimmy Nail James B. Sikking |
| Edited by | Peter Boyle |
| Music by | Peter Brewis |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment |
Release date |
|
Running time | 91 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | £5 million[1][2] |
| Box office | £1.5 million (in UK)[1] or £1,968,000 (UK)[2] |
Plot
editA small spaceship docks with a refuelling station. On board are four aliens: Bernard, Sandra, Desmond, and Julian. During a particularly tedious period of their stay at the station, the other three begin playing with the ship's controls while Bernard is outside playing spaceball. They accidentally disconnect his part of the ship, leaving him stranded while they crash into a nearby blue planet — Earth.
The three aliens find themselves in the UK and become instant celebrities on arrival, despite being able to bring no great revelation or technical ability to the people of Earth (as is central to the plot of many "aliens on Earth" films). They find a manager (Jones) and become wealthy practically overnight, packing fans in auditoriums who just want to see them.
Meanwhile, Bernard arrives on Earth via other means of transport and finds himself in the US. Despite being by far the most intelligent of the group, Bernard is not afforded any celebrity, and is in fact condemned to vagrancy and a brief stint in a mental hospital before reuniting with his fellow travellers near the end of the film. The others, fearing that the introduction of Bernard would lessen their popularity and celebrity, fail to mention that they had originally been travelling with a fourth.
Cast
edit- Joanne Pearce as Sandra Brock
- Jimmy Nail as Desmond Brock
- Paul Bown as Julian Tope
- James Sikking as Col. Raymond Laribee
- Dinsdale Landen as Commander Grenville Matteson
- Tristram Jellinek as Simpson
- George Innes as Stanley Benson
- Mel Smith as Bernard
- Griff Rhys Jones as Graham Sweetley
- Mark Lewis Jones as Godfrey
- Leonard Fenton as Commissionaire
- Andre Maranne as Prof. Trousseau
- Jimmy Mulville as motorway policeman
- Leslie Grantham as motorway policeman's assistant
- Miriam Margolyes as Doctor Wallace
Production
editThe film was announced in November 1983. It was part of the initial slate of four films from Thorn EMI's new chairman, Verity Lambert, the others being Slayground, Dreamchild and Comfort and Joy. It was written by Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones and directed by Mike Hodges.[3] Lambert offered the film to Mike Hodges, who agreed if EMI would make a script of his, Mid-Atlantic, and signed a two-picture deal.[4][5]
In December 1984, Thorn EMI offered investors the chance to invest in several films by issuing £36 million worth of shares. The films were A Passage to India (1984), Illegal Aliens, Dreamchild, Wild Geese II and The Holcroft Covenant.[6] Illegal Aliens was later retitled Morons from Outer Space.
The release of the film caused Mel Brooks to retitle a film he was working on from Planet Moron to Spaceballs.
Reception
editCritical
editThe film has received generally negative reviews, and holds a rating of 4.5 out of 10 on IMDb.[7]
The Observer called the film "so embarrassingly unfunny I often felt like crawling under my seat."[8]
Empire criticized its "loose script whose weaknesses are all the more glaring for the film's inability to exploit the power of absurdity."[9]
Mike Hodges disliked the film, regarding it as a "misfire". He clashed with Smith and Jones in post production, an article claiming "they did not trust, or perhaps understand his comedic judgement or cinematic visual satire and the film became far more broad than he had intended." However, he did enjoy satirising the sentimental "Spielbergian vision of the world".[10]
Box office
editThe film performed moderately at the box office in the UK and only earned $17,000 in the US.[11]
References
edit- ^ a b Alexander Walker, Icons in the Fire: The Rise and Fall of Practically Everyone in the British Film Industry 1984-2000, Orion Books, 2005 p. 35
- ^ a b "Back to the Future: The Fall and Rise of the British Film Industry in the 1980s - An Information Briefing" (PDF). British Film Institute. 2005. p. 26.
- ^ EMI back with four feature films Fiddick, Peter. The Guardian 16 November 1983: 2.
- ^ Davies, Steven Paul (2014). Get Carter and Beyond: The Cinema of Mike Hodges. Pavilion Books. ISBN 9781849942478.
- ^ Cinema Verity: Peter Fiddick talks toEMI-Thorn 's new film production chief Fiddick, Peter. The Guardian 24 November 1983: 13.
- ^ Producer splits cost of films The Guardian 10 January 1985: 4.
- ^ "Morons from Outer Space". IMDb.
- ^ Heat and rust French, Philip. The Observer 24 March 1985: 25
- ^ "Morons From Outer Space Review". empireonline.com. 1 January 2000.
- ^ Spira, Jon (23 December 2014). "Why I Love… Morons from Outer Space". BFI.
- ^ These Movies Flopped at the Box Office; Now You Get to See Them on Videotape By Michael Cieply. Wall Street Journal, 27 Jan 1986: 1.