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U.S.A.
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1980
Directed
by Jimmy T. Murakami
Starring
Richard Thomas
Robert
Vaughn
George Peppard
Color |
104 Minutes |
PG
Format: DVD (R0 - NTSC)
Shout! Factory
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Also
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Review
by
Brian Lindsey
Film:5
DVD:10
|
|
| Replaces
EC's review of the 2001 New Concorde edition |
| In
a spacecraft shaped like a plucked turkey sporting a women's
bosom, no less John-Boy Walton scours the galaxy in search of
mercenaries to help his people defend their planet against an
evil warlord... |
|
George Peppard, Robert Vaughn and Sybil Danning battling John
Saxon in a Roger Corman Star Wars
rip-off? Cheese aficionados will certainly want to see this one. |
|
The
plot is lifted straight from The Seven Samurai
(or The Magnificent Seven, take your
pick). Ruthless space villain Lord Sador of the Malmori (Saxon)
is cruising the galaxy in his giant aircraft carrier of a ship
demanding fealty to the New Order his Order or else.
He can back up this threat with his Stellar Converter, "the most
powerful weapon in the universe", which can turn any resisting
world into a blazing sun. (Leaving exactly squat left to conquer,
I might add.) Now Sador has targeted the peaceful planet of Ak'ir.
Warning of genocide if his demands are not met, Sador gives the
Ak'ira "seven risings of the Red Giant" to surrender. He leaves
a scout ship to monitor the planet while his dreadnought goes
elsewhere to further the Malmori campaign. |
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There
is but a single hope for Ak'ir's salvation. Young Shad (Thomas)
is the one person among his people who can pilot the planet's
only space vessel. He is to seek out fighters and try to convince
them to help Ak'ir make a stand. After evading Sador's rear guard
he heads out into the void to begin his quest. In episodic fashion,
Shad aided by his ship's annoying female-voiced computer, Nell
encounters various aliens who for individual reasons sign up
to battle the Malmori. Cardboard characters all, these include
Nanelia (Darlanne Fluegel), a computer expert and love interest
for Shad; Cowboy (Peppard, The
Blue Max), a gunrunner and ex-military man from Earth
who's a fan of old Westerns; Gelt (Vaughn, The Man from U.N.C.L.E.),
deadly, enigmatic soldier of fortune who tops the galaxy's 10
Most Wanted list; Nestor, a group of albino-skinned clones who
share a collective consciousness; Cayman of the Lambda Zone (Cool
Hand Luke's Morgan Woodward), a gregarious reptilian being
with two heat-generating alien dwarves, the Kelvin, as sidekicks;
and Saint Exmin (bodacious Sybil Danning of Chained
Heat and Malibu
Express), an obviously Frazetta-inspired warrior woman
from the planet of the Valkryies. Once assembled, the group's
small flotilla of ships heads for Ak'ir and the showdown with
Sador... |
|
Clichιd,
with TV-level production values (you've seen sets and creature
makeup like this on the original Battlestar Galactica of
the '70s), the movie nonetheless retains a sense of good cheer
and nostalgic, old fashioned fun. Taken with tongue firmly in
cheek one can overlook the shortfalls of an obviously low budget
one which skinflint producer Roger Corman and first-time special
effects supervisor James Cameron (yep, the self-proclaimed "King
of the World" himself) manage to stretch well beyond its means.
Cheesy sets aside, the models and miniatures all look pretty darn
good considering. The space battle laser and sound effects are
another story, however. (This movie sounds a lot like an '80s
video arcade.) The majestic early score by James Horner which
he liberally cannibalized two years later for his Star
Trek II: The Wrath of Khan compositions helps to keep
things engaging and seem much grander than they truly are. |
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Most
of the recognizable cast are clued to what's afoot and play accordingly.
'John-Boy' Thomas, as Luke Skywalker substitute Shad, delivers
an earnest performance that's absolutely right for the film's
Saturday afternoon tone. Scenery chewing John Saxon (Cannibal
Apocalypse, Fast
Company) is in full Ming the Merciless mode as the villain
Sador. Morgan Woodward is obviously having a blast with his part
as the hammy alien gator man; check out his loopy war cry just
before the character's immolation. The late George Peppard seems
to be having fun as well in a trial run of his A-Team Hannibal
Smith character. B-movie queen Sybil Danning's space Amazon is
given the silliest lines to deliver but her talent for wearing
a leather bustier and thigh-high boots is beyond question. Of
the well-known actors present only Vaughn seems a bit disappointed
to be working in a Roger Corman genre picture (again, 22 years
after Teenage
Caveman). He overcompensates when playing the aloof, saturnine
mercenary Gelt. At times his cold, distant demeanor comes off
less Gelt's personality than a bored, phoned-in performance. And
why does he spend most of his screen time staring at the ceiling?
(At least his spaceship has the coolest looking dashboard.) |
|
Battle
Beyond the Stars
is undeniably cheesy and derivative sci-fi schlock. Still, the
flick can be an enjoyable time waster in the right frame of mind
i.e., low expectations. Just be glad that the mimes (playing
androids) are only in the movie for about ten minutes. |
|
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| Shot
in five weeks for about $2½ million, this represented the
priciest Corman budget to date (he put up half) yet well below
what a major studio would've pumped into such a project. Cameron
and his fellow novices did a pretty good effects job with what
they had to work with. In fact, the ever economizing Corman has
gone on to reuse its spaceship footage over and over again in
other movies ever since (Forbidden
World, for just one example). These tidbits of trivia,
and a great deal more, are covered in the two audio commentaries
included on Shout! Factory's new Battle
Beyond the Stars DVD. While the commentary by Corman production
assistant (and later Terminator producer)
Gale Ann Hurd is informative, it's the track with screenwriter
John Sayles and Corman himself that's certainly the more interesting
of the two though they spend relatively little time on the actual
film at hand. Sayles discusses many of the challenges and processes
that go into crafting a sci-fi screenplay, while Corman, through
often amusing anecdotes, covers numerous aspects of low budget
indie filmmaking from the vantage point of both producer and director.
Great stuff here for cult movie freaks. |
|
In addition to these commentaries (ported over from the long-OOP
New Concorde disc), Shout! has added two newly-produced featurettes
to the mix. The first, The Man Who Would Be Shad (15 min.),
is a recent interview with star Richard Thomas, who speaks enthusiastically
about his participation. Genuinely thrilled at the time to be
appearing in an atypical (for him) genre film, Thomas relates
his impressions of the almost guerilla-style production and working
with his various co-stars. Turning to key members of the technical
crew, Space Opera on a Shoestring (33 min.) delves into
the nuts and bolts of mounting a special effects-filled extravaganza
with very little time actors were performing their scenes on
sets with the paint still drying and even less money to work
with. Assistant production manager Aaron Lipstadt, effects deisgners
Robert and Dennis Skotak, model/miniatures specialist Alec Gillis
and assistant art director Alex Hadju are among those interviewed
for the featurette, which is illustrated with film clips and numerous
behind-the-scenes photographs and production stills. Those same
photos and many more are featured in a pair of extensive step-through
image galleries, joined by a third spotlighting differing poster
variations and lobby cards. The battered theatrical trailer (fullframe)
and a radio spot complete the roster of bonus materials. |
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Oh, I almost forgot... How does this new edition look and sound?
Better, perhaps, than when first released in theaters. The anamorphic
1.85:1 transfer looks marvelous, especially in comparison to the
New Concorde DVD of ten years ago, even with a few nicks and scratches
popping up here and there. Sure, there's plenty of grain, but
this is inherent to the original film elements (particularly the
FX shots); colors are strong and stable. An upgunned Dolby Surround
audio track, clean and clear, finally does justice to Horner's
score. 7/16/11 |
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