David Bowie \"Man Who Fell To Earth\" 35mm Full Feature Film 1976 Rip Torn For Sale

35 mm. Stored last 30+ yrs. on two large 24\" reels. no smells, no fading. ready to view. 1976 David Bowie Rip Torn Candy Clark others...Lots of history here. Rare as it gets. Rock and Roll Baby!!! Science Fiction Drama Must be shipped separately and packaged carefully. Approx. 40 lbs each reel. I cannot put these on smaller reels. You will have to do that. I don\'t have the equipment or know how. email me with any questions. Will be listing a few more movies soon. ThanxThe Man Who Fell to EarthFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaThis article is about the 1976 film by Nicolas Roeg. For other uses, seeThe Man Who Fell to Earth (disambiguation).The Man Who Fell to EarthOriginal British release posterDirected byNicolas RoegProduced by

• Michael Deeley
• Barry Spikings

Screenplay byPaul MayersbergBased onThe Man Who Fell to Earth
byWalter TevisStarring

• David Bowie
• Rip Torn
• Candy Clark
• Buck Henry
• Bernie Casey

Music by

• John Phillips
• Stomu Yamashta

CinematographyAnthony B. RichmondEdited byGraeme CliffordProduction
companyBritish Lion FilmsDistributed byBritish Lion FilmsRelease date

• 18March1976

Running time138 minutes[1]CountryUnited KingdomLanguageEnglishBudget$1.5 million[2]

The Man Who Fell to Earthis a 1976 Britishscience fictiondrama filmdirected byNicolas Roegand written byPaul Mayersberg, based onWalter Tevis\' 1963novel of the same name, about anextraterrestrialwho crash lands on Earth seeking a way to ship water to his planet, which is suffering from a severe drought.[3]The film maintains a strong cult following for its use of surreal imagery and its performances byDavid Bowie(in his first starring film role),Candy Clark, and Hollywood veteranRip Torn.[4]The same novel was later remade as a less successful1987 television adaptation.

The film was produced byMichael DeeleyandBarry Spikings, who reunited two years later to work onThe Deer Hunter.

Contents[hide]

• 1Plot
• 2Cast
  • 2.1Cameos
• 3Production
• 4Music
• 5Release
• 6Reception
• 7Home media
• 8In popular culture
• 9References
• 10External links

Plot[edit]

Thomas Jerome Newton is a humanoid alien who comes to Earth from a distant planet on a mission to take water back to his home planet,[5]which is experiencing a catastrophic drought.[6]

Newton uses the advanced technology of his home planet to patent many inventions on Earth, and acquires incredible wealth as the head of a technology-based conglomerate, World Enterprises Corporation, aided by leading patent attorney Oliver Farnsworth. His wealth is needed to construct his own space vehicle with the intention of shipping water back to his planet. While revisitingNew Mexico, he meets Mary-Lou, a lonely, unloved, and simple girl who works as a maid, bell-hop, and elevator operator in a small hotel; he tells her he is English. Mary-Lou introduces Newton to many customs of Earth, including church-going, alcohol, and sex. She and Newton live together, eventually in a house Newton has had built near where he initially landed in New Mexico.

Meanwhile, Dr. Nathan Bryce, a former womaniser and college professor, has landed a job as a fuel technician with World Enterprises and slowly becomes Newton\'s confidant. Bryce senses Newton\'saliennessand arranges a meeting with Newton at his home where he has hidden a specialX-raycamera. When he steals a picture of Newton with the camera, it reveals Newton\'s alien physiology. Newton\'s appetite for alcohol and television (he watches multiple televisions at once) becomes crippling and he and Mary-Lou fight. Realizing that Bryce has learnt his secret, Newton reveals his alien form to Mary-Lou, and her resulting reaction is one of pure shock and horror. He leaves her.

Newton completes the spaceship and attempts to take it on its maiden voyage amid intense press exposure. However, just before his scheduled take-off, he is seized and detained, apparently by the government and a rival company; his business partner, Farnsworth, is murdered. The government, which has apparently been told by Bryce that Newton is an alien, holds him captive in a locked luxury apartment, constructed deep within a hotel. During his stay, they keep him sedated with alcohol (to which he has become addicted) and continuously subject him to rigorous medical tests – notably one involving X-rays which causes the contact lenses he wears as part of his human disguise to permanently affix themselves to his eyes.

Toward the end of his years of captivity, he is visited again by Mary-Lou, who is now much older and whose looks have been ravaged by alcohol and time. They have mock-violent, playful sex that involves firing a gun with blanks, and afterwards occupy their time drinking and playing table tennis. Mary-Lou declares that she no longer loves him, while he says that he doesn\'t love her either. She leaves him. Eventually Newton discovers that his \"prison,\" now derelict, is unlocked, and he escapes.

Throughout the film are brief sequences of his wife and children back on his home planet, slowly dying, and by the end of the film they are dead and Newton is stuck on Earth, broken, alcoholic, and alone. He creates a recording with alien messages, which he hopes will be broadcast via radio to his home planet. Bryce, who has since married Mary-Lou, buys a copy of the album and meets Newton at an outside restaurant in town. Newton is still rich and young looking despite the passage of many years. However, Newton has also fallen into depression and alcoholism and the film ends with an inebriated Newton passing out in his cafe chair.

Cast[edit]

• David Bowieas Thomas Jerome Newton
• Rip Tornas Dr. Nathan Bryce
• Candy Clarkas Mary-Lou
• Buck Henryas Oliver V. Farnsworth
• Bernie Caseyas Mr. Peters
• Tony Mascia as Arthur
• Rick Riccardo as Trevor
• Adrienne Larussaas Helen

Cameos[edit]

In the scene in which Newton attempts to board his spacecraft, he is greeted by a crowd that includes real-life astronautJim Lovell(commander of the ill-fatedApollo 13mission), playing himself, and by authorTerry Southern, as a reporter.[7]In the scene set in the record store, an advertising banner for Bowie\'s albumYoung Americanscan be seen hanging from the ceiling as the shot follows Bryce\'s walk behind the record bins.

Production[edit]

Paramount Pictureshad distributed Roeg\'s previous film,Don\'t Look Now(1973) and agreed to pay $1.5 million for the US rights.Michael Deeleyused this guarantee to raise finance to make the film.[2]

Filming began on 6 July 1975.[8]The film was primarily shot inNew Mexico, with filming locations inAlbuquerque,White Sands,ArtesiaandFenton Lake.[9][10]The film\'s production had been scheduled to last eleven weeks, and throughout that time, the film crew ran into a variety of obstacles: Bowie was sidelined for a few days after drinking bad milk; film cameras jammed up; and for one scene shot in the desert, the movie crew had to contend with a group ofHells Angelswho were camping nearby.[11]

Bowie, who was using cocaine during the movie\'s production, was in a fragile state of mind when filming was underway, going so far as to state in 1983 that \"I\'m so pleased I made that [film], but I didn\'t really know what was being made at all\".[12]He said of his performance:

I just threw my real self into that movie as I was at that time. It was the first thing I\'d ever done. I was virtually ignorant of the established procedure [of making movies], so I was going a lot on instinct, and my instinct was pretty dissipated. I just learned the lines for that day and did them the way I was feeling. It wasn\'t that far off. I actually was feeling as alienated as that character was. It was a pretty natural performance. ... a goodexhibitionof somebody literally falling apart in front of you. I was totally insecure with about 10 grams [of cocaine] a day in me. I was stoned out of my mind from beginning to end.[13]

Candy Clark, Bowie\'s co-star remembers things differently: \"David vowed to Nic, ‘No drug use,’’ says Clark and he was a man of his word, \"clear as a bell, focused, friendly and professional and leading the team. You can see it clearly because of (DP) Tony Richmond’s brilliant cinematography. Look at David: his skin is luminescent. He’s gorgeous, angelic, heavenly. He was absolutely perfect as the man from another planet.\" She added that Roeg had hired \"an entirely British crew with him to New Mexico and I remember David was very happy about that.\"[14]

Bowie and director Roeg had a good relationship on set. Bowie recalled in 1992 that \"we got on rather well. I think I was fulfilling what he needed from me for that role. I wasn\'t disrupting ... I wasn\'tdisrupted. In fact, I was very eager to please. And amazingly enough, I was able to carry out everything I was asked to do. I wasquitewilling to stay up as long as anybody.\"[13]

Music[edit]

Although Bowie was originally approached to provide the music, contractual wrangles during production caused him to withdraw from this aspect of the project. The music used in the film was coordinated byJohn Phillips,[15]former leader of the pop groupThe Mamas & the Papas, with personal contributions from Phillips and Japanese percussionist-composerStomu Yamash\'ta, as well as some stock music. Phillips called in former Rolling Stones guitaristMick Taylor, to assist with developing ideas for the soundtrack. The music was recorded at CTS Lansdowne Recording Studios in London, England.

Due to a creative and contractual dispute between Roeg and the studio, no official soundtrack was released for the film, even though the 1976Pan Bookspaperback edition of the novel (released to tie in with the film) states on the back cover that the soundtrack is available onRCA Records. The soundtrack, derived from recently rediscovered masters, was eventually released on CD and LP in 2016 to coincide with the fortieth anniversary of the film\'s premiere.[16][17]The music by Yamash\'ta had already appeared onhis own albums, as noted below.

Music crew

Musical Directors: John Phillips, Derek Wadsworth
• Piano/Keyboards: Pete Kelly, John Taylor
• Guitars:Mick Taylor, Ricky Hitchcock, Richard Morcombe, Jim Sullivan
• Pedal Steel Guitar:B. J. Cole
• Bass: Dave Marquee
• Drums:Henry Spinetti
• Percussion:Frank Ricotti

Music as listed on end credits

Composed and recorded by Stomu Yamashta:

\"Poker Dice\" (fromFloating Music)
• \"33⅓\" (fromRaindog)
• \"Mandala\" (fromSoundtrack from Man from the East)
• \"Wind Words\" (fromFreedom is Frightening)
• \"One Way\" (fromFloating Music)
• \"Memory of Hiroshima\" (fromSoundtrack from Man from the East)

Performed by John Phillips:

\"Boys from the South\"
• \"Rhumba Boogie\"
• \"Bluegrass Breakdown\"
• \"Hello Mary-Lou\" (featuring Mick Taylor)

Other music:

\"Blueberry Hill\" –Louis Armstrong
• \"Enfantillages Pittoresques\" –Frank Glazer
• \"A Fool Such As I\" –Jim Reeves
• \"Make the World Go Away\" – Jim Reeves
• \"Try to Remember\" –The Kingston Trio
• \"Blue Bayou\" –Roy Orbison
• \"Silent Night\" –Robert Farnon
• \"Any Major Dude Will Tell You\" –Steely Dan
• \"Shades of Scarlett Conquering\" –Joni Mitchell
• \"True Love\" –Bing Crosby
• \"Love Is Coming Back\" –Genevieve Waite
• \"Stardust\" –Artie Shaw
• \"Planets Suite, Op. 32: Mars, Bringer of War & Venus, Bringer of Peace\"
  composed byGustav Holstand performed by theBournemouth Symphony Orchestra

Special electronic and oceanic effects were done byDesmond BriscoeandWoods Hole Oceanographic Institution