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
Teenager Alex Rogan lives in a trailer park with his younger brother Louis and their mother Jane. Alex works there as a handyman, raising money for college. Aside from his girlfriend Maggie Gordon, 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 deep-space warfare. One evening, Alex becomes the game's highest-scoring player. The moment is spoiled, however, when he learns that his application for a scholarship 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 even futuristic car game gift land mass driver meteor gun only way outnumber raising money recruit reject spoil trailer park 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 |