The Return

In fact, the cheesiness of the whole thing lends itself quite well to the overall alien encounter stuff.

Nothing is really explained. Some odd things happen. It never really drags.

And it is not the low point in the career of any of the cast. So it has that going for it.

THE RETURN stars Cybill Shepherd and Jan Michael-Vincent as adults who meet again, years after a childhood incident involving extraterrestrial activity. Jennifer (Shepherd) is now a scientist, and Wayne (Jan-Michael Vincent) is a lawman who enjoys shooting car stereos. Events lead the duo to remember what happened to them that fateful night.

Jennifer's dad (Raymond Burr) arrives in town, pontificating furiously due to a local cattle mutilation epidemic. Enter rancher / hot head, Walt (Neville Brand), who yells a lot in a gruff voice. This man definitely knows his cows!

Simultaneously, the sheriff (Martin Landau) is on the case, while trying to figure out how to dunk doughnuts in a can of beer. Could alien mischief be behind all this? Can Waynifer figure things out, before the sheriff dunks his first doughnut? And, what about the peculiar prospector, his mini- light saber, and his devil dog? And, why does he have a black hole in his cave? Annnd, just why did Wayne drive his motorcycle through that window, in slow-motion? Was Mr. Vincent symbolically recreating his final scene from WHITE LINE FEVER?

Regardless, this is one hilariously funny movie, and you will believe! In aliens? No, in the power of love, doughnuts, light sabers, Raymond Burr, and the ability to float elegantly in black holes!...

" The Return" views like a puzzle that is impossible to solve. It features some intriguing actors including, Neville Brand, Martin Landau, and Vincent Schiavelli, in supporting roles. A small New Mexico town is visited by aliens, putting on a light show. Two children and Schiavelli, are "contacted" for an unknown purpose. Fast forward twenty five years when Cybil Shepherd and Jan Michael Vincent, are enlightened that they were the two chosen children. Chosen for what is of course unknown. Meanwhile Neville Brand, playing a local rancher, is dealing with cattle mutilations, that he blames on scientist Shepherd. Raymond Burr, Shepherd's Father, deduces that the aliens left some sign carved on a rock for an unknown purpose. "The Return" is a movie asking all questions while revealing zero answers, and is a very frustrating viewing experience. - MERK

The Return (1982)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Jennifer (Cybill Shepherd) is a scientist who goes to a small New Mexico town after seeing some bizarre images. Once there she begins to notice that a few things aren't quite right and she teams up with the Deputy Wayne (Jan-Michael Vincent). At first some strange cattle mutilations are happening but before long humans are being killed and it all might be connected to something Jennifer and Wayne witnessed as children.

Despite a terrific cast, Greydon Clark's THE RETURN has pretty much been forgotten and overlooked. It was certainly an attempt to try and cash-in on the sci-fi boom that took off after the success of Steven Spielberg's CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND and I think this film was meant to try and be in the same league. With that said, there's no question that they were dealing with a very small budget here that prevented that but on the whole THE RETURN was more entertaining than I thought it would be.

The film certainly has some flaws and I will start with them. This includes the ending, which I won't spoil here but I think it fell well short of the emotional punch that the director was going for. I'd also argue that the film started to drag during the final twenty-minutes, which was another problem. The special effects certainly aren't as good as one would hope for but considering the budget this here can be forgiven. With all of that being said, the film does start off pretty strong and hold your attention throughout most of it.

I thought the cattle mutilation sub-plot was actually interesting and it was done in a good manor. I liked how the townspeople, backwards rednecks, were more worried about the scientist and their dumb fears that she was the ones killing the cows. We get some very familiar faces here so this also helps hold your attention throughout. Vincent and Shepherd make for a good team but we also get veteran actors like Martin Landau, Raymond Burr and Neville Brand. Vincent Schiavelli, the one and only, also appears in a good role.

I'm sure a higher budget would have allowed the film to do a bit more but if you look at THE RETURN the same way you would the "B" sci-fi movies of the 1950s then you should find enough to keep you entertained.

Two children who grow up to be Jan-Michael Vincent and Cybill Shepherd have a close encounter with an alien spaceship. Twenty five years later they reunite as some strange things are happening in the small New Mexico town where Vincent is now part of law enforcement and Shepherd is now a scientist.

The Return is a ripoff of Close Encounters Of The Third Kind only it was done on the budget that that science fiction classic spent on its catering. We learn here that Raymond Burr who plays Shepherd's father was so bored with the whole thing that he read his lines off a teleprompter. I can't blame him, the whole thing bored me as well.

The term worm hole had not been given to us courtesy of Star Trek - The Next Generation. But that's what Burr and Shepherd and the rest of the scientists have monitored and that's why Shepherd is back to investigate. I still haven't figured out just what it was there for.

The rest of the cast took Raymond Burr's somnambulist approach to the film. It can put anyone to sleep even the players.