The Man Who Fell To Earth
|
|
Felltoearthcover.jpg
The Man Who Fell To Earth is a novel by Walter Tevis about an extraterrestrial who crashlands on earth seeking a way to ship water to his planet which is in severe drought. The novel served as the basis for the cult 1976 Nicolas Roeg film and a less-successful 1987 television adaptation.
| Contents |
Plot
David Bowie is Thomas Jerome Newton, a humanoid alien who comes to Earth seeking a way to ship back water to his home planet which is experiencing a terrible drought.
Felltoearth.jpg
Newton uses advanced technology from his home planet to patent many inventions on earth and he rises as the head of a technology-based conglomerate to incredible wealth, what he needs to construct his own space vehicle program. Along the way he meets Mary-Lou, a girl who falls in love with him. However, he does not count on the greed and ruthlessness of big business and ultimately fails in his mission to save his dying planet and ends up trapped on earth, broken, lonely and embittered.
"We'd have probably done the same to you, if you'd come 'round our place"
Cast
- David Bowie Thomas Jerome Newton
- Buck Henry Oliver Farnsworth
- Rip Torn Nathan Bryce
- Candy Clark Mary-Lou
Trivia
- Images from the film appear on the covers of the Bowie albums Station to Station and Low, which are said to contain fragments of the soundtrack music he wrote for the film, but which was not used.
- Toward the end of the film, in the record store, Bryce walks past a display for David Bowie's "Young Americans" album.
- The music that Oliver Farnsworth is listening to in his first scene and in one of his last is Holst's The Planets.
- At one point Mary-Lou shouts to Tommy, "Tommy Can You Hear Me?". A reference to The Who's rock-opera Tommy.
- Nicolas Roeg was nominated for the Golden Bear award at the 1976 Berlin International Film Festival.
- In the novel Mary-Lou is known as Betty Jo.