BEFORE: Of course, the problem with watching my movies in a particular order is that occasionally, I think of a better order or a different way to organize them, but just a bit too late. I wish that after "Futureworld" I had watched "Capricorn One", then "The Right Stuff", then "Moon" as a lead-in to "The Day The Earth Stood Still". Oh well, what's done is done - I'm into the alien chain now, so I'll keep going, and I'll have to swing back and pick up astronaut films later on.
THE PLOT: When a group of trespassing seniors swim in a pool containing alien cocoons, they find themselves energized with youthful vigour.
AFTER: It's another case where I've read and heard so much about a movie over the years, it's almost an afterthought to actually watch the film. But I need to watch, in case there are subtle plot points that I would never know about otherwise.
The movie focuses on a trio of elderly-Americans (Don Ameche, Wilford Brimley, Hume Cronyn) and their spouses, who get a second chance at feeling youthful after dunking in a pool full of alien health juice. Just as you sometimes see an older film and wonder why characters don't just call each other on cel phones - you have to remind yourself that this movie was filmed before the invention of Viagra...
Steve Guttenberg plays a boat captain who's hired by the aliens to locate the titular cocoons on the ocean floor. You kind of have to admire a character who, when he discovers he's working for space aliens, doesn't ask "Are they going to enslave humanity?" or "What does this mean for Earth's role in the universe?" but instead wonders about the aliens' credit rating, and if he's going to get stiffed on the boat rental.
Guttenberg's character has the hots for one of the aliens, played by Raquel Welch's daughter - but after experiencing what passes for intimacy on another world, finally decides that they're from two different worlds (duh!).
I guess this is somewhat endearing if you have elderly relatives, or have spent a lot of time around usually depressing nursing homes - but it means you have to endure watching grandparents feeling frisky and making out. Relief finally comes when the seniors are given the chance to leave earth and spend their twilight years whizzing to other planets - presumably the aliens would use their technology to keep them alive for a long period of time, during which the senior citizens would bore them with stories of the Prohibition Era, show them pictures of their grandchildren, and complain about the hard mattresses on the flying saucer...and how you can't get a good brisket sandwich in outer space.
Obviously, this is meant as a feel-good film, confident in its belief in the inherent good-ness of the aliens. But jeez, what if it were all a dodge? I mean, would evil aliens necessarily ACT like evil aliens, or tell you what their intentions are? What if they were evil aliens who just ACTED good? Maybe senior citizen is a delicacy where they come from - puts a whole different spin on it, doesn't it?
Also starring Brian Dennehy, Maureen Stapleton, Jessica Tandy, Gwen Verdon and Jack Gilford
RATING: 5 out of 10 bingo cards
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