ENEMY MINE

   Film (1985). Kings Road Entertainment/20th Century-Fox. Dir Wolfgang Petersen, starring Dennis Quaid, Louis Gossett Jr. Screenplay Edward Khmara, based on Enemy Mine (1979 IASFM; 1989 chap dos) by Barry B. LONGYEAR. 108 mins, cut to 93 mins. Colour.

   During a space battle between humans and the reptilian (and hermaphroditic) Dracs, two pilots, one from each species, crashland on an inimical planet. The human (Quaid) and the Drac (Gossett) first try to kill one another, but soon reach an uneasy rapprochement, which warms into mutual respect and affection. When the Drac dies giving birth, the man raises the infant. It is later captured by illegal slaver/miners, its adoptive father being left for dead. However, he returns with assistance, the miners are defeated, and the child is saved. This uneven film works quite well on the intimate level, with excellent small moments of culture clash and mutual education; Gosset's performance is memorably good. On the larger scale, the effects creating the planetary surface and, at the end, the Drac planet are striking. But the film's earnest liberalism is both preachy and slickly sentimental, with too many scenes designed to evoke tearful, kneejerk responses; and overall it seems more selfconscious than the much earlier ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS (1964), the Crusoe-Friday parts of which its plot somewhat resembles. The novelization is Enemy Mine * (1985) by Barry B. Longyear and David GERROLD.

   PN

   See also: CINEMA.