[7]

For a movie that was no doubt jumping on the E.T. and Star Wars bandwagon, The Last Starfighter manages to carve a niche for itself. Teenager Alex Rogan (Lance Guest) wins the high score on a mysterious video game and is suddenly recruited by an alien to defend the universe from some cosmic bad asses. What counts here is charm. The Last Starfighter oozes with the stuff, and it's not forced. I love the trailer court setting and the depiction of the tight-knit community that live there. Casting "The Music Man" himself, Robert Preston, as a charlatan recruitment officer named Centauri is a stroke of genius. You can't help but love Preston, even when he's peddling bullshit. Dan O'Herlihy also does a commendable job acting through heavy prosthetics as Grig, Alex's lizard-like trainer and shipmate.

My favorite scenes in the movie involve an Alex doppelganger Centauri left behind on Earth. While the real Alex is learning the ropes with Grig among the stars, the socially inept doppelganger is screwing up Alex’s relationships with his girlfriend (Catherine Mary Stewart) and family while simultaneously trying to protect the community from alien bounty hunters.

I think of this flick as the little B-movie that could. Everyone in front of and behind the camera gave it their all and had fun doing it, and it shows. Craig Safan’s score is among the finest from the decade, and the visual effects were a bold, groundbreaking step forward in the evolution of CGI.