The Earthling

I had a VHS copy that failed; it is an exceptional opportunity to have a DVD version, although not the best copy; it was difficult to view due to clarity in some episodes. For my collection this is historic because it was one of the last if not the last movie in which William Holden was a star before being deceased. A very young Ricky Schroeder was the boy actor for Shawn Daley. Some of the outback in New South Wales, Australia is very rugged and ideal for the setting in which a young Son lost his parents in a tragic accident. Patrick Foley (William Holden) who is terminally ill was going back to live out his last days in a wilderness home of his youth, by happenstance, he encountered Shawn in hysteria. He mentored the boy and enabled him to survive in the wilderness by teaching him life skills in the wild. After Shawn found Foley dead, he buried his Mentor and covered his grave with stones. Shawn left and as Foley instructed him before his death, the boy went down to the river and followed it back toa town and civilization. Not only is this an excellent movie about human weaknesses but also a spectacular opportunity to view life in the outback of Australia. Despite the lack of viewing clarity, nevertheless for the acting worthy of 5 gold stars!

This is a story of a dying man who reluctantly becomes an embittered but compassionate mentor to a traumatized and grieving child who has no hope of survival in the uninhabited mountains of Australia. Both William Holden and Ricky Schroder give excellent performances. The cinematography is quite good with the Australian landscape full of color and a storyline that I found quite refreshing as no superhuman saves the universe. True this is not a typical ‘Disney’ family movie as several people die during the movie but there are no bloody or gory scenes, you just see the heartbreak of lose. Trust me, this movie will touch your heartstrings.If you decide to watch this movie don’t waste your time with the VHS tape or the DVD, get the Blu Ray. If you have the VHS tape or the DVD then you will definitely want to upgrade to the Blu-Ray as it is a quantum leap in visual quality, thank you Kino Lorber. The audio is also cleaned up.

I am putting this review up not to tell you the story of this movie. Many other reviewer’s have said everything that you need to know. This is a movie that you simply don’t want to miss.The Blu-ray remastered version of this movie is something that you have to see for yourself. If you love this movie and you’ve long to see it in high-quality, then please grab yourself a copy of the Blu-ray remastered edition by Kino Lorber.I am a big fan of Kino Lorber, they do a very good job of taking really good VHS movies that have suffered from low-quality and restoring them. It is very impressive that they have been able to take this movie and rescue it for us all.This version of this wonderful movie is highly recommended by at least myself! If you’re a fan of this movie, and you love everything about this movie, grab yourself a copy of the remastered Blu-ray version.Yes, I know, I am repeating myself. But that is because I am absolutely blown away by what they have done to rescue this movie. And you will be too.

If they waited this long to even make this into a DVD, you would think they would take the time to digitally remaster it. They didn't. They did give a warning up front that it was based on older copies. That meant a bit of rolling at the bottom of the picture at times in the latter half and some inconsistent quality.This was made in 1979 and released in 1980. In those days, I thought just about all movies were widescreen - especially with all the views of the outback! However, this move is fullscreen!There was also NO menu - it just went directly to the movie - just as the older VHS copy did. This was basically a dub from VHS.The story is still good. There's just no beating little Ricky Schroder when it comes to emotional crying scenes! He just tears your heart out.

This review is the Bluray Version. My advice is to Skip the VHS version and the DVD version and Get the BluRay. It has been remastered and is WIDESCREEN (1:85:1)!!! To be fair, it does look grainy in some places but it is a high quality (Hi-Def) transfer from Film to BluRay so you're getting. high definition look at the film. I previously had only the VHS version and I did my own transfer to digital which didn't look great but it was ok. When the DVD came out the reviews seemed to Indicate the DVD version wasn't much better. Then I saw BluRay and I found footage on Youtube from Kino Lorber and although the footage looked great, something was wrong. The footage on Youtube is from the less popular international version which is ALSO included on the BluRay. My advice again is skip the international version. The music score if so bland it makes the movie very depressing. The Halfway home theme is gone and so is the scene at the end with a young Ricky Schroeder stacking the stones on Foley's grave. There is also some extra dialog between the parents just before they plummet to their deaths which seem to suggest the marriage is not all roses. If you've never seen the movie or want to reminisce, skip it and stay with the U.S. Version. If you do see the Kino Lorber footage on YouTube just know, it's the international version, but the quality is on par with the U.S. version, and both are on this disc.