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Stranger, The
Stranger, The (1973) Movie Poster
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USA  •    •  100m  •    •  Directed by: Lee H. Katzin.  •  Starring: Glenn Corbett, Cameron Mitchell, Sharon Acker, Lew Ayres, George Coulouris, Steve Franken, Dean Jagger, Tim O'Connor, Jerry Douglas, Arch Whiting, H.M. Wynant, William Bryant, Virginia Gregg.  •  Music by: Richard Markowitz.
       After a freak mishap, an astronaut finds himself on an almost precise copy of Earth (right down to the Plymouth cars). However, this planet has three moons, and is run by an Orwellian government called The Perfect Order, who seek out and crush all dissidents either by outright assassination or by having them treated at "Ward E." Hunted and alone, the astronaut's tries to evade capture and return home.

Review:

Image from: Stranger, The (1973)
Image from: Stranger, The (1973)
Image from: Stranger, The (1973)
Image from: Stranger, The (1973)
Image from: Stranger, The (1973)
Image from: Stranger, The (1973)
Image from: Stranger, The (1973)
Image from: Stranger, The (1973)
Image from: Stranger, The (1973)
Image from: Stranger, The (1973)
I can concur with the comments that production values were poor, but I still believe it would have been interesting as a variation on "The Fugitive". I can also see where it would not be believable for him to ever get home, since his best and only chance to get onto a spacecraft was in the pilot. Every Terran spaceport would be alert to him after this. Also, being on their toes, the Perfect Order would have been steadily improving their chances of catching Neil by imprinting his face in every mind. Now, that said, it could have been interesting if Neil discovered a totally different thing going on: the steady erosion and breakdown of the Perfect Order - a growing dissidence that the Order cannot deal with. The suspense would be: what happens first? Neil is caught, Ward E'd and killed, or the dissidence becomes organized and he's in the dilemma of staying out of it or helping it.

The movie would have been helped if there were clues that the history of the planet was identical to Earth up to the time of WW2, explaining the similar technology, and if most of the cars seen were less popular and more unusual models, seen so often that they seem to be the preferred models. The three moons should have had some texture, some cratering and maria, and shifted position from night to night, so that at the end of the movie, one is missing and the other two are further apart. Also, there should have been at least a few "northpaws" - in a society that views right-handedness as being as sinister as our society used to regard left-handedness. (Maybe in Ward E, they fix people who are right-handed. Now, what if Bettina was right-handed but they let her pass, then they fixed her while doing the other conditioning, and Dylan wondered about it when she reappeared.)

I noticed that all the guards - the rank and file - seemed to be "old guys" - in their mid to late 40s or early 50s - and thus old enough to remember pre-Perfect Order conditions. They look older than Benedict and Dr. Revere, so it looks like they cast guys happy for the work, not because they looked like young, well-educated supporters of the system.

But I liked the touch of authoritarianism, and the perverse fact that it had solved poverty, crime and disease, but was ruthless against "thoughtcrime" (a "1984" term) that could cause such problems.

Review by gbcapp from the Internet Movie Database.

 

Featurettes:

   Length:  Languages:  Subtitles:
 MST3K Movie Edition
 95:16
 
 
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