UFO: Target Earth (1974)

Powerful

Memorable, crazy movie

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

***SPOILERS**** Laughable film about UFO's that starts off like a documentary on the subject with realistic TV interviews of people who saw UFO's and ends with a cheap l"2001" like light show of mostly figure eights as it descends into total chaos. That in trying to figure out, by its filmmakers, a way to finally ends it before the outraged audience storms the projection room- As well as demand their money back-and lynches the projectionist as well as burns the theater down. It's electronic student Alan Grimes who picks up a series of messages from outer space that seem to be from a UFO that's also sucking the power out of the local power station in the area outside of Atlanta Georgia.Checking with the local military Alan is told by Gen Gallgher-who's played by the late Montgomery Cliff's big brother Brooks- to just forget about it and let the US Army take care of the situation. Refusing to take no for an answer Alan checks out collage astronomy professor-Wearing a very obvious as well as embarrassing looking cheap sliver wig-Ed Lynch who tells Alan that the sightings of UFO's have to do with the appearance of "Haley's Comet" that will bring in a new age of enlightenment for the human race! It's much later when by now a totally confused Alan gets in touch with local psychic to the stars Vivian that she taps into, by going into a trance, with the UFO entities brain waves that have been trapped at the bottom of a local lake since before the year 1,000 A.D.****SPOILERS*** It's then that a spaced out and out of touch with the real world Vivian tells Alan-Through her alien contacts-that it's him that been chosen! Chosen to save the human race like the previous trio of historical figures Enoch Elijah & Jesus by having or getting himself offed or killed for the good of all humanity! As well as have the stuck in the mud or at the bottom of the lake aliens be able to finally go airborne and back to the far off home planet from where they originally came from! Alan who by now want's to end this whole insanity walks into the lake as he slowly ages some 50 years in the blink of an eye! And despite Allan's friend Alan II, they both share the same first name, trying to save him he dissolves into a skeleton to be used at the local medical collage for the students to study anatomy.

"Under the depths of a lake located near a small town, lies a strange alien spacecraft that is unknown to the town's residents. An electronics expert picks up signals emitted by the spacecraft and begins to investigate the source of these mysterious transmissions. The electronics expert hopes to recruit a group of scientists to aid him in investigating the signals, hoping to discover the secrets contained within the alien ship," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.Young teaching fellow Nick Plakias (as Alan Grimes) has a startling change-of-life UFO experience. Extra sensory perceptive Cynthia Cline (as Vivian) unfortunately gets swept up in his investigation. "UFO Target Earth" plays like a stretched-out "Outer Limits" episode, with one-tenth of the old show's budget. But, in this case, there IS something wrong with your television set. Brooks Clift (as General Gallagher) appears in a brief, uninteresting role; he was Montgomery Clift's brother. * UFO Target Earth (1974) Michael A. de Gaetano ~ Nick Plakias, Cynthia Cline, Brooks Clift

Aside from a really cool title and a neato disco UFO trip movie opening titles sequence, this movie sucks. Ever hear of a movie called BOG about a swamp monster that goes on the rampage and starts tearing apart ply-board movie sets? BOG is a better movie that UFO: TARGET EARTH. Ever seen Larry Buchanan's ZONTAR, THING FROM VENUS? ZONTAR: THING FROM VENUS is a better movie than UFO: TARGET EARTH.I very fondly remember the UFO craze that gripped Amercia around the time of CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, and while a bit early (1974) this film is surely a part of that craze. There were a bunch of faux documentary films on UFOs & other worldly phenomenon at about the same time -- my favorite will always be IN SEARCH OF NOAH'S ARK -- and I was kind of hoping this would be one of them. It isn't, and the last 20 minutes of TV blending feedback color head trip space junk might be great free-form visual expression, but please.I wish I could be kinder on this film: The only UFOs you see are still photos used for the opening credits, which I come back to again as the high point of the film. I suppose if you were zonked out of your mind on blotter acid this might be somewhat engaging, it has a sort of naive earnestness about itself that is charming in a slack-jawed kind of way. I also dig the cheapo 70s interiors, editing room (literally) production design, and the idea of trying to make a movie about UFOs that essentially consists of people sitting around talking about them, followed by endless sequences of pre CAD or Apple Mac computer renderings instead of showing us space aliens. Kind of like the end of 2001 (complete with an ambiguous close-up of a star person's eye) but without all the fuss & bother involved with getting us there.Something tells me also that the three 8/10 votes dragging this movie's user ratings curve up to 4/10 are in on the plot to deprive target audience viewers of a film with a name like UFO: TARGET EARTH of 83 minutes of their life that could be spent doing constructive things like playing golf, masturbating, or strangling small animals.3/10; I did just raise it a point after reconsidering the movie. It's awful but then again like eating snails, awful movies can be an acquired taste. Try lemon butter sauce, or better yet a case of beer.

I have always been very interested in the UFO phenomenon and i couldn't wait to see this movie when it came out in 1974, so my ex-wife and i went to see it at a drive-in movie, and at first i thought it was going to be OK, but as it dragged on, it got worse instead of better, the whole movie made no sense at all to me.This movie was so bad i looked around and everyone else left, and we were the only ones left, i finally couldn't take it anymore and we also left, i can only hope this disaster of a movie never comes out on DVD or video, only someone who had never saw this sorry excuse for a movie would rent it or buy it!!!! Thank goodness much better UFO movies came out later such as ''Close Encounters of the third kind'' and '' The interrupted journey'' and ''Fire in the Sky''