If you loved spaceships and video games as a kid, then this movie is your next Christmas.
The Last Starfighter is a 1984 American space opera film directed by Nick Castle. The film follows Alex Rogan (Lance Guest), a teenager recruited by an alien defense force to fight in an interstellar war, and his recruiter the Centauri in a stunning performance. by Robert Preston, who made an impression despite being buried in makeup. The Last Starfighter was Robert Preston’s final role in a theatrical film. The character of Centauri, a “lovable trickster”, was written with him in mind and is an allusion to his most famous role as Professor Harold Hill in The Music Man.
The film also stars Dan O’Herlihy, Catherine Mary Stewart, Norman Snow and Kay E. Kuter. The Last Starfighter, along with Disney’s Tron, holds the distinction of being one of the first films in cinema to make extensive use of “real-life” computer-generated imagery (CGI) to depict various spacecraft, field and battle scene.
Alan Dean Foster subsequently published a new novelization of the film, as well as a video game based on the production. In 2004, it was also adapted into an off-Broadway musical.
