UFOria (1984)

Sheldon Bart is a drifter, and a small-time con man. He meets his old friend, Brother Bud, a big-time con man into faith healing and fencing stolen cars, at his revival tent outside a small... See full summary »

Director:

John Binder

Writer:

John Binder

Stars:

Cindy Williams, Harry Dean Stanton, Fred Ward

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Cindy Williams	...	Arlene Stewart
Harry Dean Stanton	...	Brother Bud Sanders
Fred Ward	...	Sheldon Bart
Beverly Hope Atkinson	...	Naomi
Harry Carey Jr.	...	George Martin
Diane Adair	...	Delores (as Diane Diefendorf)
Robert Gray	...	Emile
Ted Harris	...	Gregory
Darrell Larson	...	Toby
Peggy McCay	...	Celia Martin
Hank Worden	...	Colonel
Alan Beckwith	...	Brother Roy
Andrew Winner	...	Male Newscaster
Pamela Lamont	...	Female Newscaster
Joe Unger	...	Gas Station Attendant

Storyline

Sheldon Bart is a drifter, and a small-time con man. He meets his old friend, Brother Bud, a big-time con man into faith healing and fencing stolen cars, at his revival tent outside a small town. While he's helping Brother Bud, he falls in love with Arlene, a local supermarket clerk who believes in UFOs and is deeply religious and deeply lonely. When Arlene has a vision of a coming UFO, everyone deals with it in their own way.

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Plot Keywords:

title is written in lowercase letters | acronym in title | shoplifting | reference to waylon jennings | convertible | 

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Taglines:

A Down Home Comedy That's Out of This World!

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Genres:

Comedy | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

PG

Did You Know?

Trivia

Completed in 1980 (production having begun that June), this film sat on the shelf for several years. According to a 1983 Rolling Stone article, the studio was unable to come up with a marketing plan for such a quirky, unusual film.

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Quotes

Arlene Stewart: Oh Toby, there's a Space Ship coming, and it's gonna be like Noah and i am gonna be Noah.

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Connections

Featured in At the Movies: Hollywood's Hidden Stars (1990)

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Soundtracks

I Know an Ending
Written by Hank Cochran
Performed by Emmylou Harris
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Records

User Reviews

Can we get this one out of the dust bin please?

As far as i can tell, the only two options for watching this movie is to either find a 30+ year old VHS copy, or watch the low quality VHS rip on YouTube. It feels like I have looked everywhere, but unfortunately thats the only two options i found. I even tried a long shot and messaged John Binder himself to hear if there really is no better way to watch this, but I guess he thought my message was spam (never heard from him).

So how is the movie? Better than expected, but definitely unusual and with plenty of cult potential. Its better than a B-movie and quite stylistic, but it is very sort of low key. The characters are original and well acted, and the country music sound track is something for itself. The comedy is quite subtle, and not of the ba-dum-tss kind of jokes where you know when and what the funny part is. It was sometimes hard to hear the dialog and see what was going on, and sometimes it did not feel like the progression in the story was very well explained, but that "old VHS tape uploaded to YouTube" thing did absolutely nothing good for the quality which most likely explains that. I dont think UFOria would ever have become a blockbuster, even if it had seen a better release, but it certainly deserves better than the dust bin. Should be a no-brainer to pull it out and release it on the numerous streaming services available now.

I would love to rewatch it if i ever come across it in DVD quality or better.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

October 1985 (USA)

Also Known As:

Escape

Filming Locations:

Lancaster, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Melvin Simon Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color