The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)

Absolutely the worst movie.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Exaggerated performances, dodgy visuals and an incomprehensible story. This, however, cultivated a rather cracking experience.

Something falls out of the sky. A strange man claiming to be British citizen Thomas Jerome Newton (David Bowie) walks into a small town. He begins a rise with only $200. He hires lawyer Oliver Farnsworth (Buck Henry) and creates a giant high-tech company worth $300 million. It's still not enough for his mysterious goal. His motion sickness gets the best of him in a small town hotel elevator. He is rescued by hotel worker Mary-Lou (Candy Clark) who begins to help him acclimate. She becomes his companion. Meanwhile, scientist Nathan Bryce (Rip Torn) is suspicious of Newton. He gets fired for his womanizing among other things. He gets hired by Newton's company. He's invited to meet Newton out of the blue.On the one hand, it is ambitious in its snap editing, otherworldly jumps, and David Bowie is the perfect alien man. The writing is intriguing sci-fi. On the other hand, the directing is not exactly good. It's trying to do something but there is no drive or intensity. David Bowie is compelling mainly because he's playing an odd spacey David Bowie character. This deserves its cult status and it's a fascinating watch for Bowie.

I remember watching it in the late Nineties, when I was 20 or so. I never really got the film back then, feeling that the film made sense up to a point about two thirds of the way through and then seems to lose focus and narrative structure.Having watched it again recently I still feel the same, only now I realise why the film gets so confusing. I won't go to far into it, only to say that there is a jump forward in time towards the end of the film but the world still looks like the mid Seventies. So this passage of time passed me by the first time I watched.Anyway, I digress. The Man Who Fell to Earth features a great turn by David Bowie, who was beginning his coke fueled Thin White Duke period. This really plays into his performance and it's hard to tell where Bowie ends and Thomas Jerome Newton begins.In fact I rate all of the performances in the film highly. I also like the how the film looks. The opening 20 minutes of the film are very atmospheric and really portray how isolated Bowie's alien is.Overall I would recommend the film, with the caveat that this is really science fiction that is particular to the time, as in just before Star Wars came out. It is slow, weird and confusing, and all the better for it

I don't think anyone who has seen this flick can argue with this.... Without the intriguing presence of the androgynous, chameleon-like David Bowie in the title role as The Man Who Fell To Earth (TMWFTE), this flick would have never worked half as well as it did.This would be Bowie's first venture into the realm of movie stardom and TMWFTE was a perfect vehicle for him to be showcased in. Bowie was at the absolute height of his musical career as a Pop Idol when he starred in TMWFTE. Needless to say, Bowie's popularity soared to the absolute heavens with his appearance as an extraterrestrial in this flick.TMWFTE is definitely a strange Sci-Fi flick. It doesn't follow the standard formula which most Sci-Fi flicks are based on. There are no alien attacks. No attempts of an alien take-over. No battles (in the physical sense) to be fought. No mass destruction or laser-gun blasting. I know it's hard to imagine any Sci-Fi flick working successfully without at least a few of these standard Sci-Fi elements thrown in for good measure, but TMWFTE works exceptionally well without them.*Note* - On Jan. 10, 2016, David Bowie died, at the age of 69, from liver cancer.