Special Features
There are numerous special features. There are two trailers, a fullscreen one for Starman and the other, ironically, a lengthy widescreen trailer for Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind. There is also a music video for “All I Have to do is Dream” sung by Karen Allen and Jeff Bridges. A brief (10 minute) “Making Of” featurette offers Carpenter’s view of the film as a departure, and features the actors’ takes on their characters and the movie: Allen refers to the film as “Close encounters of the fourth kind” considering the alien-human romance and related sexual potential running teasingly through the movie. The entertaining commentary track by Bridges and Carpenter covers the romantic score, how they favoured humanity over special effects, how Bridges built his gestural performance, of the process of script revision and which scenes they consider the best work. They also talk of the film as a road movie, as well as the logistical difficulties of filming the driving shots (including the use of a flat bed truck) and conversations in cars on the move. Of the romance, Carpenter refers to the film as “a girl movie”. They talk of the rehearsal process, the magic of the deer scene (perhaps the most telling one in the movie), the visual style as unselfconsciously pretty and of how this was a much more expansive film for the director. Bridges also talks about the acting process, his career and on working with movie directors.
Wider Screenings Star Rating
The Movie: 3 stars
Picture: 3 ½ stars
Sound: 3 ½ stars
Extras: 3 ½ stars
WS DVD rating: 3 ½ stars
Wider Screenings DVD Attractions Trailer
(courtesy of YouTube embedded video)