Verdict
Summary
A quirky “road” movie without a road to travel, UFOria coasts along and remains a watchable lark of a film thanks to its great cast and appealing performances, but the movie is aimless and goes nowhere with a plot that never quite coagulates. Writer / director John Binder seems to know this world very well, a dead-end pocket of America, circa 1980 when it was made (but not released until 1985), and with a good country and western soundtrack and stars on the rise, the movie feels like a statement of America and our weird culture of the time.
Plot:
A drifter falls in with a false preacher and a believer in UFO’s.
Review:
Good ‘ole boy Sheldon (Fred Ward, never more charming) is a drifter who lands in a desert town where he, by chance, reconnects with a buddy from his past who has now become the revered “Brother Bud” (Harry Dean Stanton), who is a con man preacher whose fire and brimstone sermons scare the spuds out of his congregation. Bud uses Sheldon in his cons and goes into “business” with him when he uses him as a driver for stolen cars across state lines, making both of them a bundle of cash. When Sheldon hangs his boots under the bedposts of a local gal, a gullible cutie named Arlene (Cindy Williams), Sheldon becomes a believer in a cause as well, which includes having an absolute certainty that UFOs are going to rapture them to heaven ASAP! But it better happen fast because police are on their trail for the stolen cars!
A quirky “road” movie without a road to travel, UFOria coasts along and remains a watchable lark of a film thanks to its great cast and appealing performances, but the movie is aimless and goes nowhere with a plot that never quite coagulates. Writer / director John Binder seems to know this world very well, a dead-end pocket of America, circa 1980 when it was made (but not released until 1985), and with a good country and western soundtrack and stars on the rise, the movie feels like a statement of America and our weird culture of the time.
Kino Lorber has just released UFOria in a two-disc Ultra HD / Blu-ray combo, bringing the film back into circulation for the first time since its original VHS issue in the mid ’80s. It looks great in a new 4K scan, and since this was the first time I watched it, I assume it looks even better than it did when it was first released. There’s an audio commentary by the director (with a moderator), a trailer, and a slipcover.
