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This movie was made for TV in Canada in the 80s and I remember stumbling across it in a video shop many years ago and loving it. It's a story of starcrossed lovers and a flight for freedom. As other reviewers have noted the production values aren't high, but for me the characters made up for the cardboard sets..and the spaceship was rather original for its time I thought. I've been looking for a copy of this on DVD for years without luck.

If you are a James Spader fan this is probably one of his earliest and hardest titles to get your hands on - and impossible to watch if you don't have a VHS system, but its worth taking the time to find if you like a decent B SciFi movie.

Starcrossed had to be one of the better scifi telefilms to emerge in the 80's big three networks realm. This gem orginally airing on ABC had to be one of the more interesting pop scifi films of our time. Blending modern and contemporary art styles, light futuristic drama with familiar locales and most of all, a delicate to spirited electro-jazz score by Gil Melle that set the mood perfectly for the visuals and should have been released for sale. This is probably a movie that most hardcore scifi fans will want to pass on, It has action but not as robust as Star Wars, there are no high tech space battles but there is a good story to be found in Starcrossed. If you ever find yourself wanting a scifi love story, this is definately one of the better ones. It sometimes plays on SciFi channel so keep an eye peeled if you are interested.

As one reviewer has commented, this film is worth watching just for the luscious, talented Belinda Bauer alone, as the alien, which is a standout; or for James Spader's excellent performance as Boston-Irish Joey Callahan. Both were at the beginning of their careers in the mid-1980s and this film is a highly artistic work which has everything going for it except a dismal special visual effects budget which reduces the credibility of the film, script, characters and actors exponentially.

Jeff Bloom's script, direction, with acting, characters, costumes, makeup, performances, art direction, plus edgy electronic music score by Gil Melle are first-rate. With a bigger budget for scope and visual effects, this film could have succeeded as a theatrical feature. Unfortunately, its producers, Charles Fries Productions, cheaped out and made this a good little B-picture which is character-driven instead of effects-laden. Its style and substance make up for the almost nonexistent visual effects, which consist mainly of some early CGI animation which looks like 3-D CAD drawings, standing in for the alien spaceships which are only believable as nocturnal lights, especially at the end.

This film was available on VHS videotape in the late 1980s directly from Fries Entertainment, but was discontinued sometime in the early 1990s. As far as I know it has never been reissued on video. The soundtrack score by Gil Melle is worthy of a CD release also.

Highly recommended. A 7 out of 10.

Weird and poorly made sci-fi romance TV movie about an alien (Belinda Bauer) with an 1980s Human League short haircut who is on the run from alien hitmen and is rescued and romanced by a young James Spader. The romance isn't all the compelling and the action elements are not all that exciting either. The only real point of interest is seeing Spader in an early leading role, getting to play the hero instead of his usual 80s smarmy jerk supporting parts (i.e. "Pretty in Pink," "Mannequin," "Less Than Zero," etc.), although I suppose he did get to play the hero of "Tuff Turf." For an actress I hadn't really heard of before, Bauer is quite good as the alien. After looking at her filmography, I saw that she played a memorable villain in "Robocop 2" and was in "Winter Kills" and "Flashdance," but I don't remember her in those two films. There's also a good score by the underrated composer Gil Melle. Overall, this is a pretty bad movie that's made watchable by two good leads.

Everyone looking for the film you can catch it on Starz Encore Drama. I get DirecTV so not sure which channel you might find it on cable, but Starz Encore is a good bet. Cute film. What is it about 80s film culture that makes you warm and fuzzy inside? Also, I remember the locations shot around Toronto, Canada. Very nostalgic because these places are much different now, and a few buildings and stores no longer exist. I believe this was a failed TV pilot. There are a few other Canadian based TV shows I have been searching for that were filmed around this time (early 80s). Night Heat, Friday the 13th, and War of Worlds.