The story of the making of The Earthling might in itself prove to be as interesting a film as The Earthling itself. The film tries, but doesn't quite make it to the top rung of films that William Holden did. As it sadly turned out The Earthling was the next to last film that Holden completed before he died the following year.
Only in the movies could we have the strange tale about one of the two protagonists dying of cancer, directed by someone who was himself dying of the same. Peter Collinson was terminally ill and knew it when he was directing The Earthling. I'm sure his cast didn't know it though. His own plight might have been what attracted Collinson to the project.
According to the Citadel Film series book, The Films Of William Holden, Collinson was especially hard on young Rick Schroder during the making of The Earthling. So much so that Holden had to intervene and the two bonded.
Which may have helped the film because three quarters of it is only dealing with Holden and Schroder on screen. The two really play well together.
Holden has returned to Australia to die where he grew up in a very rugged part of the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. Heading in the same general direction are Jack Thompson and Olivia Hamnett with their child Rick Schroder on a camping holiday. But when their camper goes off a cliff killing the parents and Schroder is left alone in the wilderness, he's lucky to find Holden.
But Bill proves to be a stern taskmaster. He can't tell him that it would be worse to go back, that it's farther than his old homestead. He has to teach Schroder and hope he learns well, the tools needed for survival in the wild. The bulk of the film is concerned with just that.
Collinson died and some scenes were shot afterward, the ending you see is not what Collinson had in mind. But who knows what he did have in mind as the disease ruled him as surely as it ruled Holden's character. The viewers will have to judge for themselves.
Rick Schroder never forgot William Holden and when he married, he named his first child Holden Schroder in honor of the movie legend who was also battling some demons of his own, but took time to help and befriend a young child player.
I think if Rick Schroder reads this review he'd like me to honor William Holden as well. And so this review is dedicated to William Holden one of the cinema's brightest stars.
