You know all those 1950's paranoid cold war science fiction movies about Communists from outer space? Well, this was about a capitalist from outer space, in this case getting patents on advanced alien technology and making a fortune.
It was different from They Live, the John Carpenter movie about parasitic alien capitalists. The Man Who Fell to Earth had a 1920's vision of capitalism, where the head of the corporation personally invents (or appears to in this case) his company's products, like self-developing photographic film which would have been pretty good in the days before digital photography.
David Bowie as the space alien. He did seem weird and alien. A costume designer said he was so thin that they dressed him in clothes from the boy's department.
Buck Henry as the alien's lawyer. It wasn't obvious to me watching the movie, but I heard years ago, probably when Vitto Russo spoke at the university here, that his character was gay. It was 1974 and people involved in the production didn't understand it. WHY was he gay? The director explained that he just happened to be gay. It wasn't a big plot thing.
A surprising amount of sex and nudity, like a serious, arty version of one of those nudie science fiction movies. It has a professor (Rip Torn) who sleeps with his students. He drives a Rambler Rebel which was several years old at that point. It's always weirdly refreshing to see AMC's in old movies.
It was prophetic in its way. The wealthy alien capitalist, like Bezos and Musk today, ends up building a private space craft.
Directed by Nicolas Roeg (Walkabout, Don't Look Now).
Available on The Criterion Channel and free on Movieland.Tv, Freevee, and Hoopla among others.
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