BATTLE
BEYOND THE STARS (1980)Director: Jimmy Murakami
New Concorde
BATTLE
BEYOND THE STARS (1980)This particular film brings back memories for me and it was a pleasure to sit down and watch it no less than three times for this review. I actually had not seen it since the 1980 release and had forgotten what a nice little low budgeter it was. It is also very interesting to note the enormous talent that went into the production and the "alumni" of this movie are now some of the biggest names in filmed entertainment today.
The story is basically a retread of SEVEN SAMURAI (which of course was spun off into THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN). An evil conqueror named Sador (John Saxon) is running around the cosmos taking over civilizations that will submit to him and destroying those who do not. The film opens as his ship approaches the planet Ak'ir, populated by a peace-loving race of people. Sador threatens the planet with destruction unless they submit and gives them a period of time to decide. Shad (Richard Thomas) decides that he must help his people and takes the planet's only working spaceship on a quest to find mercenaries in order to help.
In a series of adventures, he meets a variety of interesting characters and manages to recruit them. The film ends in an exciting battle with the various mercenaries pitted against Sador's huge spaceship from Hell, who is just on the brink of destroying Ak'ir. The remainder of the cast is rather eclectic to say the least. Robert Vaughn revisits the character he played in THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, George Peppard plays a rebel rousing cargo pilot named "Cowboy," Sybil Danning is on hand as the seductive Valkyrie Saint Exmin, and screen veterans Jeff Corey and Sam Jaffe make nice cameo appearances.
The behind the scenes talent is nothing to sneeze at, either. James Cameron built a lot of the ship models used in the special effects and also served as art director. The story is attributed to John Sayles and Anne Dyer, with the final script written by Sayles. James Horner wrote the musical score. Of course, the great Roger Corman produced and his assistant was Gale Anne Hurd.
The most disappointing aspect of this disc is the film transfer. The archival print used for the transfer is in far from perfect condition. White speckles and negative scratches particularly trouble the first reel here and there. The remainder of the film looks a little better, but blemishes such as the speckles tend to recur. The image is also often rather heavy on grain, and the contrast is at times poor. The image is presented in a 1.85:1 AR matte, preserving the original theatrical aspect ratio. For goodness sakes, the film is only 20 years old! Did they store the negative in a ditch in Corman's backyard?? Perhaps this is the best we can hope for in terms of survival of this low budget epic. Given my "nit-picking," however, the image is sharp and pleasantly viewable for the majority of folks I suspect. The soundtrack has been "remastered" in 5.1 Dolby Digital, but the mix isn't particularly spectacular given that the film was not produced originally with matrix surrounds.
The disc has some interesting extra features. First, there is the original theatrical trailer which spoils the ending of the film--so if you've never seen the film, don't see the trailer first! Also included: a trivia game, biographies, and trailers for four other New Concorde releases. "Production stills" is a feature mentioned on the back cover of the case, but are not included. The meat of the supplements, however, is two separate audio commentaries. These are somewhat mislabeled on the back cover as well. One is by John Sayles and Roger Corman (credited only to Sayles on the cover, but the DVD menu lists both he and Corman as participants) and the other is by Gale Ann Hurd. The Corman/Sayles commentary is by far the most interesting. You KNOW that you're in for a treat when the first voice you hear over the title sequence is Roger Coman's, and he says: "This particular series of special effects we used in at least half a dozen other pictures!..."
Corman was/is the master of low budget filmmaking and the art of ultimate film economy. He and Sayles have a very nice interactive talk during the film and their stories are quite interesting. They often refer to specific scenes during the commentary and discuss several behind the scenes topics along the way including the genesis of the story, the budget, the art of editing, and film distribution. If you have any interest in movie making at all, Corman is a great teacher and is worth a listen.
The Hurd commentary is more "nuts and bolts" about the production and the technical aspects of the special effects. It is a bit less interesting and somewhat dry, but she does tell some interesting stories as well. She talks about first meeting James Cameron and mentions that Bill Paxton worked as a carpenter on this project. She also talks a bit about working as Roger Corman's assistant, which sounds like a very interesting job.
Overall, I doubt that there will ever be a better presentation of this movie on DVD and would encourage fans of the film to pick this one up. Over the years, this film has been belittled, but some great acting performances, quirky special effects and ship designs (including a ship with "breasts!"), and "tongue firmly planted in cheek" attitude easily overcome the small budget. Enjoy! (Jason R. Casey)