UFOria

I have two sets of standards for big-budget vs. low-budget films. Big-budget films have to be epic and sprawling. They have awesome special effects and sets that have to be seen on the big screen.

By contrast, small films have to have interesting characters and witty writing. "UFOria" fits this category snugly.

Sheldon (Fred Ward), who fancies himself to be another Waylon Jennings, rides into town where he meets grocery cashier Arlene (Cindy Williams). In spite of each other, they fall in love. Even when Arlene proclaims herself a prophet to an alien landing. I loved watching them relate to each other and the quirky characters that inhabit the film. The desert setting seems conducive to their sort. Harry Dean Stanton is great again as the preacher more interested in profiting than prophecy.

I recommend this simple gem. Eight stars.

It took the producers of "Uforia" five years before they could find a distributor willing to release it. My guess is that distributors couldn't think of an easy way to market a movie that is very unconventional and doesn't follow an easy-to-report formula. This is a character-based movie, not really one with a substantial plot, but don't let that discourage you from giving the movie a try. The characters are not only all likable, they all have various quirks that make them interesting to watch talking and interacting with each other. As a bonus, the movie has a great country and western soundtrack (and I normally dislike that music genre!) The only real flaw the movie has is the very ending, which seems out of place for a movie that otherwise focuses on characters. But despite that ending, this movie is a gem well worth your time.

I haven't seen this gem in years, which is my loss. I came to IMDB hoping to see that it was out on DVD. Alas, no. The characters are funny and quirky (not Hollywood phony-quirky) and the story unfolds organically. Having grown up in the 1960s, there were moments that made me laugh out loud in recognition.

Two in particular: Toby (Darrell Larson) a wide-eyed hippie-innocent and his wife are cuddling their newborn son. Toby asks her "Do you think JesusKrishnaBuddha is too heavy a name for him?" Later, when supermarket checker Cindy Williams asks him if he believes in flying saucers. He replies, with a beatific smile, "I believe in everything." It's a great companion line to the hippie in Louis Malle's "Atlantic City," who is cautioned to buckle her seatbelt on the airplane and replies sincerely, "Oh, I don't believe in gravity."

This is one of my favourite films. Unfortunately it didn't get a mainstream release here in Sydney. Instead it got released through an art-house theatre (The Valhalla). It could be classified as a country and western comedy with a dash of sci-fi I guess.

The opening scenes establish that the central character, Sheldon, (played by Fred Ward) is a man, who, for all his external bravado is in fact an unhappy, lonely, drifter who badly needs an escape to a better life. He meets his perfect match, Arlene, played appealingly by Cindy Williams. She sees through Sheldon's facade immediately. She catches him shoplifting in the Supermarket she works in and sees through him in an instant (Waylon Jennings wouldn't go in for shoplifting). Not that Arlene isn't lonely herself. Sheldon manages to seduce Arlene, intending to leave her afterwards. Despite his misgivings about her belief in flying saucers, he finds himself unable to move on.

As the other reviewers have said, the supporting cast is great as well. Harry Dean Stanton is great as the phony "Brother Bud", the hippy grocery packer, the "Colonel", etc etc.

An absolute gem.

Cindy Williams gives a superb, luminous, heart-warming performance as daffy, but endearing small mid-western town grocery check-out girl Arlene, whose constant, deep-seated belief that she'll soon be visited by alien beings from another planet brings together a motley collection of New Age religious kooks, shiftless no-hoper losers, snoopy media newshounds, and other such colorful societal oddballs which include longtime Western movie bit player Hank Worden as a senile World War II vet and fellow ubiquitous Western character thesp Harry Carey Jr. in one of his standard affable good ol' boy roles. Arlene's nutty notions also attract the attention of aimless grifter drifter Sheldon (a grungily engaging Fred Ward, who's rarely been better) and amoral, cynical, opportunistic phony roadside preacher Brother Bud (the inestimable Harry Dean Stanton doing a splendidly sour reprise of his avaricious fake blind priest part from "Wise Blood").

Capably directed and smartly written by John Binder (who co-wrote the equally off-beat "Endangered Species"), with smooth, sparkling cinematography by David Myers, a lovely, lulling honkytonk score by Richard Baskin, and a top-rate country and western soundtrack (several choice Waylon Jennings and John Prine tunes are prominently featured herein, while the always great Roger Miller exuberantly belts out the wonderfully wacky theme song), this beautifully quirky and amiable sleeper offers a delightful, astute, pleasingly eccentric seriocomic look at how one person can indeed have a substantial positive impact on other people, the profound need to live a happy life, and how the ability to believe in something -- hell, man, just anything -- gives life purpose and meaning, thus making it easier for one to persevere and prevail through that dull, unceasing, sometimes disheartening daily grind we all must contend with. Intelligent, affectionate, often funny, and ultimately quite moving, this simply lovely favorite rates a sunny, uplifting, totally terrific little beaut.