The Last Starfighter
The Last Starfighter is a 1984 American space opera film directed by Nick Castle. The film tells the story of Alex Rogan (Lance Guest), a teenager who, after winning the high score in an arcade game that's secretly a simulation test, is recruited by an alien defense force to fight in an interstellar war. It also features Dan O'Herlihy, Catherine Mary Stewart, and Robert Preston in his final role in a theatrical film. The character of Centauri, a "lovable con-man", was written with him in mind and was a nod to his most famous role as Professor Harold Hill in The Music Man (1962).
Plot
Alex Rogan is a teenager living in a trailer park with his mother and younger brother Louis, spending most of his spare time as the park's ad hoc handyman. Aside from his girlfriend Maggie, Alex's only diversion from his mundane existence is an arcade game called Starfighter, in which the player is "recruited by the Star League to defend the Frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan Armada" in a space battle. On the evening he breaks the game's record as its highest-scoring player, Alex becomes angry and depressed on learning his bank loan for a college tuition has been rejected.
More details
| author | Jonathan R. Betuel |
|---|---|
| contentLocation | California |
| director | Nick Castle |
| editor | Carroll Timothy O'Meara |
| events | computing |
| genre | action adventure science fiction |
| keywords | android arcade game attack bank loan even futuristic car game gift kill land learn only way other world outnumber pickup truck recruit reject secret weapon space battle their way trailer park warn wound |
| musicBy | Craig Safan |
| producer | Edward O. Denault Gary Adelson |
| productionCompany | Lorimar Productions |
| publisher | Universal Pictures |
| recordedAt | California |
| theme | coming-of-age science fiction action science fiction war space opera |