The Last Starfighter (1984)

A video-gaming boy, seemingly doomed to stay at his trailer park home all his life, finds himself recruited as a gunner for an alien defense force.

Director:

Nick Castle

Writer:

Jonathan R. Betuel

Stars:

Lance Guest, Robert Preston, Kay E. Kuter

4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kay E. Kuter	...	Enduran
Dan Mason	...	Lord Kril
Lance Guest	...	Alex Rogan / Beta Alex
Dan O'Herlihy	...	Grig
Catherine Mary Stewart	...	Maggie Gordon
Barbara Bosson	...	Jane Rogan
Norman Snow	...	Xur
Robert Preston	...	Centauri
Chris Hebert	...	Louis Rogan
John O'Leary	...	Rylan Bursar
George McDaniel	...	Kodan Officer
Charlene Nelson	...	Rylan Technician
John Maio	...	Friendly Alien
Robert Starr	...	Underling
Al Berry	...	Rylan Spy

Storyline

Alex Rogan lives in a trailer court where his mother is manager and everyone is like a big extended family. He beats the Starfighter video game to the applause of everyone in the court and later that day finds he has been turned down for a student loan for college. Depressed, he meets Centauri, who introduces himself as a person from the company that made the game, before Alex really knows what is going on he is on the ride of his life in a "car" flying through space. Chosen to take the skills he showed on the video game into real combat to protect the galaxy from an invasion. Alex gets as far as the Starfighter base before he really realized that he was conscripted and requests to be taken back home. When he gets back home, he finds a Zando-Zan (alien bounty hunter) is stalking him. Unable to go home and live, Alex returns to the Starfighter base to find all the pilots have been killed and he is the galaxy's only chance to be saved from invasion. To defeat the invaders, who are ...

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Plot Keywords:

alien | trailer park | planet | space battle | arcade game | 

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Taglines:

In his wildest dreams Alex never suspected that tonight he would become...

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 July 1984 (USA)

Also Known As:

El último guerrero espacial

Filming Locations:

Santa Clarita, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$15,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lorimar Film Entertainment, Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) Dolby (35 mm prints)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film is called "The Last Starfighter" because Alex becomes the only Starfighter left, when the Starfighters and the navigators are massacred when the base is destroyed by an Ko-Dan meteor attack.

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Goofs

When Alex first meets the Beta Unit, he already appears to have Alex's facial features and hair - albeit in silhouette. However, he is later taking form with skin and facial features growing over a robotic skeleton.

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Quotes

Grig: Remember, Death Blossom delivers only one massive volley at close range... theoretically.
Alex Rogan: What do you mean "theoretically?"
Grig: After all, D.B. has never been tested. It might overload the systems, blow up the ship!
Alex Rogan: What are you worried about, Grig? Theoretically, we should already be dead!

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Connections

Spoofed in South Park: Best Friends Forever (2005)

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Soundtracks

Incommunicado
(Craig Safan & Mark Mueller)
Performed by Clif Magness

User Reviews

A fun movie and... hey in it's own way... Legendary

I love THE LAST STARFIGHTER... it's a good, fun movie. A matinee type of film. It's not as great as Star Wars or some of the big budget movies of the time... (hmmm, where there any big budget Sci Fi movies other than Star Wars at the time?) The acting, though not great was charming. Lance Guest (brillantly playing Alex and the very naive Beta), Greg O'Herlihy (sp) playing the loveable Lizard creature Grig and of course.... Robert Preston as rascalous Centauri. And something that I forgot for a long time (until I saw it at a local store and had to buy it on DVD) was that this was one, if not THE, first movie to utilize CGI. Yeah, it's a far cry from what filmakers can do now with Apple Rendering software. But when I saw the movie in the Theater, I was impressed and thought that if Computer Graphics were this good in the this first movie... how much it will grow. It's a movie well worth having in your library. And as I'm watching it right now, I'm glad that I have it in mine.