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The Earthling (24-Jul-1980)

Director: Peter Collinson

Writer: Lanny Cotler

Music Score by: Dick De Benedictis

Producers: Elliot Schick; John Strong

Keywords: Outdoor Adventure, Terminal Illness

NameOccupationBirthDeathKnown for
Ray Barrett
Actor
2-May-1927 8-Sep-2009 Peter Thornton on The Troubleshooters
William Holden
Actor
17-Apr-1918 16-Nov-1981 Stalag 17
Rick Schroder
Actor
13-Apr-1970   Silver Spoons
Jack Thompson
Actor
31-Aug-1940   Sunday Too Far Away

CAST

William Holden   ...   Patrick Foley
Rick Schroder   ...   Shawn Daley
also starring
Jack Thompson   ...   Ross Daley
Olivia Hamnett   ...   Bettina Daley
Alwyn Kurts   ...   Christian Neilson
Pat Evison   ...   Meg Neilson
Redmond Phillips   ...   Bobby Burns
Ray Barrett   ...   Parnell
Tony Barry   ...   Red
Allan Penney   ...   Harlan
Willie Fennell   ...   R. C
Walter Pym   ...   Uncle
Cul Cullen   ...   Dawson
Dawn Schroder   ...   Dalton
Maggie Blinco   ...   Jessica
Tui Bow   ...   Lyla
Danny Adcock   ...   Bus Driver

REVIEWS

Review by teddy (posted on 19-May-2005)

Extraordinarily touching film. I saw it for the first time years ago and remember being deeply moved by it. I just saw it again in TNT, and being much older couldn't avoid, again, finding myself on the verge of tears. The acting both by William Holden and Rick Schroder is superb. The way Fosey (Holden's character)begins a quick process of toughening the boy out of necessity,is perfecty carved, well paced, nothing short of brilliant. The bond that generates between both of them, one coming from a tough and hardened man who had lost hope of loving again, the other from a kid who had suffered the most terrible of loses,is something to watch. I'll never forget the scene in whick the boy tells him "I love you" twice, and he says, "I never told that to my father... Never be afraid of telling someone you love him". I highly recomend this film, and it should definitely be included within the classics.


Review by anonymous (posted on 9-Aug-2006)

This movie is a masterpiece. Although modest about his skills as an actor, William Holden was an actor of considerable skill. Beginning as a 'golden boy", in later years he created a credible persona as a hard-bitten adventurer. As he aged, a certain weariness and disappointment appeared in his characters, and when he was in a role which suggested that he had been an adventurer, this weariness suggested a man who had seen and done it all, and found it wanting. And this is the role he plays in The Earthling: an old adventurer who has come back to the land of his birth to die. He has only a short time to live, and he is determined to return to the place he was born, far back in the wilds. Just as he embarks on this final journey, he encounters a recently orphaned child. He hasn't time to take the boy back to civilization, so he takes the boy with him, and along the way, he teaches the boy self-reliance. Although his methods appear harsh, he is just, and in reality, kind. This is a movie of great tenderness and beauty. In my own view, it is One of Holden's finest performances.


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