The Earthling (1980)

I only learned that Briton Peter Collinson, the director of The Earthling, tragically died of lung cancer in the same year The Earthling was released. Peter was famous as the director of the 1969 movie The Italian Job, and here he gives the Aussie touch to a movie with two famous Americans, William Holden and Rick "NYPD Blue" Schroder in the lead.The two Aussie actors, Jack "Petersen" Thompson and Olivia Hamnett (actually British, but migrated to Australia in 1971) tragically get short shrift in the famous campervan scene which goes off the cliff. Credit to the special effects team for this scene which I still remember to this day. I can only imagine the couple's final words and thoughts as they headed down the cliff in the campervan. It reminds me of the scene from a Knight Rider episode where Michael Knight's evil twin and his beau go off a cliff in their car, and also Thelma and Louise.

**SPOILER** I was about 11 years old when i saw this film. I remember being so frightened and even emotionally shook up when the parents go off the cliff. It was an image I couldn't get out of my head for years as a child. As a kid you see this movie through the child's perspective, now as an adult I found my emotion coming from the old man's character (Holden). I think there's so much to draw off of this film for a young child or an adult who has struggled finding his or her way through life. Ricky Shroder is beyond phenomenal in this - and as great as he was in The Champ this in my opinion is his best role ever. The Australian Outback is breathtaking and its great how they captured all the animals and wildlife throughout the film. It's too bad this film somehow managed to fall through the cracks and didn't have a broader appeal - its really a lost treasure.

I'm rarely moved to comment on a movie, but the Earthling is one of my favorites. I like thought-provoking and heart-touching movies, this film aims right at my emotional core and gets me in the breadbasket.It's not a family film in the Disney sense, but it's a true family film in the spiritual sense. Sometimes the happy ending teaches that life is hard, suffering has a cause and an end, and within us lies the answer to the cessation of suffering: We can endure and find happiness, so long as we remember to find love.Holden's performance was right-on, playing the embittered but compassionate mentor to Shroeder's traumatized child. The cinematography was outstanding, the Australian landscape was full of color and the story line quite refreshing.

I saw this movie from time to time as a kid on Sunday afternoons. It's a wonderful film with a heart-breaking ending. Fate brings a rough, way-faring loner and a young child lost in the wild outback together and the result is one hell of a story that is sure to touch the viewers emotions. William Holden's character is aged and wants to trek to his father's remote cabin to live out his final days. Along the way he stumbles into Schroeder's character who's parents recently had an accident on their family vacation there in Australia, leaving the child abandoned and unable to survive. Soured by civilization, Holden is reluctant to aid the boy, who's determination to connect with the older man eventually gets through to Holden's compassionate heart of gold.