Enemy Mine *** (1985, Dennis Quaid, Louis Gossett Jr, Brion James) – Classic Movie Review 9284

German director Wolfgang Petersen went from one sweet homespun fantasy film, The NeverEnding Story, to another with the same virtues – startling production designs and eye-catching makeup (here the aliens are created by Chris Walas).

Enemy Mine (1985) is an odd couple sci-fi movie recalling Hell in the Pacific about all-American boy Davidge (Dennis Quaid) and all-un-American space lizard Drac (Louis Gossett Jr), who become the best of enemies for survival after shooting each other down in a space battle onto a barren and hostile planet.

The sentimental story may not be cosmic but it is still quite appealing. Quaid and Gossett (who have the first two-thirds of the movie entirely to themselves) give warm, attractive performances, the film creates a convincing alien world and there is a burst of well-handled action at the finale.

Enemy Mine is based on a novella written by Barry Longyear in 1979. Longyear said the studio asked him to write in a subplot involving a scavenger mine so the audience could understand the title Enemy Mine (though it was supposed to mean My Enemy).

Enemy Mine (1985) has some violence and swearing and is for older teenagers and adults.

Also in the cast are Brion James, Richard Marcus, Carolyn McCormick, Lance Kerwin, Bumper Robinson, Jim Mapp, Scott Kraft and Herb Andress.

Enemy Mine is directed by Wolfgang Petersen, runs 108 minutes, is made by Twentieth Century Fox, Kings Road Entertainment and SLM Production Group, is released by 20th Century Fox, is written by Edward [Ed] Khmara, is shot by Tony Imi, is produced by Stephen Friedman, is scored by Maurice Jarre, is designed by Rolf Zehetbauer, with special effects by Bob MacDonald.

It cost $40,000,000 and grossed only $12,303,411 in the US.

It was shot at Bavaria Studios, Bavariafilmplatz 7, Geiselgasteig, Grünwald, Bavaria, Germany, and on location in the  Canary Islands, Spain.

And there was more tampering and more cutting. Two scenes are longer in the original Germany version. After negative reviews in the US, the UK cinema version was cut by the distributors and was also cut by 27 seconds by the BBFC for a PG certificate with edits made to the severed ear sequence. The cuts were restored to the 1987 15-rated video release and the full US version was released on DVD in 2002.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 9284

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