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'{{Short description|1985 film by Wolfgang Petersen}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2016}} {{Infobox film | name = Enemy Mine | image = Enemy mine.jpg | alt = | caption = Theatrical release poster | director = [[Wolfgang Petersen]] | producer = {{Plainlist| * [[Stephen J. Friedman (producer)|Stephen Friedman]] * [[Stanley O'Toole]] }} | screenplay = [[Edward Khmara]] | based_on = {{based on|[[Enemy Mine (novella)|''Enemy Mine'']]|[[Barry B. Longyear]]}} | starring = {{Plainlist| * [[Dennis Quaid]] * [[Louis Gossett, Jr.]] }} | music = [[Maurice Jarre]] | cinematography = [[Tony Imi]] | editing = [[Hannes Nikel]] | studio = {{Plainlist| * Kings Road Entertainment * SLM Production Group }} | distributor = [[20th Century Fox]] | released = {{Film date|1985|12|20}} | runtime = 108 minutes | country = {{Plainlist| * United States * West Germany }} | language = English | budget = $29 million | gross = $12.3 million<ref name="mojo">{{cite web |title=Enemy Mine |url=https://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=enemymine.htm |website=[[Box Office Mojo]] }}</ref> }} '''''Enemy Mine''''' is a 1985 West German-American [[dark]] [[science fiction film|science fiction]] [[action film]] directed by [[Wolfgang Petersen]] and written by Edward Khmara, based on [[Barry B. Longyear]]'s [[Enemy Mine (novella)|novella of the same name]]. The film stars [[Dennis Quaid]] and [[Louis Gossett, Jr.]] as a human and alien soldier, respectively, who become stranded together on an inhospitable planet and must overcome their mutual distrust in order to cooperate and survive. The film began production in [[Budapest]] in April 1984 under the direction of [[Richard Loncraine]], who quickly ran into "creative differences" with producer [[Stephen J. Friedman (producer)|Stephen Friedman]] and executives at [[20th Century Fox]]; the project was shut down after a week of shooting. Petersen then took over as director and reshot Loncraine's scenes after moving the production to [[Munich]]. Originally budgeted at $17 million, the film ultimately cost more than $40{{nbsp}}million after marketing costs were factored in, and was a [[Box-office bomb|box office failure]] during the 1985 holiday season, earning only a little over $12{{nbsp}}million. However, the film had a big success in the former [[Soviet Union]], where it became the first Western [[sci-fi]] film shown in the theaters. It gained a cult following afterwards. ==Plot summary== In the late 21st century, an [[Interstellar medium|interstellar]] war between humans (associated as the Bilateral Terran Alliance, or BTA) and [[Dracs]] (bipedal reptilian humanoids) is fought. Battles are periodically fought between fighter spacecraft, and no human hates the Dracs more than Willis E. Davidge ([[Dennis Quaid]]). During one such battle, Davidge and Drac pilot Jeriba Shigan ([[Louis Gossett, Jr.]]) engage in a [[dogfight]] which results in them both crash-landing on Fyrine{{nbsp}}IV. After initial hostilities where they viciously hunt one another, the two learn to cooperate to survive. Over the next three years they become friends, each saving the other's life several times. Davidge, haunted by dreams of spaceships landing on the planet, leaves in search of help. He finds evidence of humans, but learns that the planet has only periodically been visited by human miners known as Scavengers who use Dracs as slave labor. He returns to warn Jeriba (nicknamed "Jerry") only to discover that Jerry is now with child; Dracs are [[hermaphroditicism|hermaphroditic]] and reproduce [[Asexual reproduction|asexually]]. To pass the time, Davidge and Jerry memorize each other's ancestry, agreeing that Davidge's lineage is "very thin". Jerry later dies in childbirth, but not before making Davidge swear to take the child, Zammis ([[Bumper Robinson]]), back to the Drac homeworld and recite ''his'' lineage and join Drac society. Davidge raises Zammis, who calls him "Uncle". One day a ship flies overhead and Davidge goes to investigate. Zammis is curious and follows. He is discovered by a pair of Scavengers. Davidge attacks the men, but Zammis inadvertently stands between Davidge and one miner, and Davidge is gunned down. Later, a BTA patrol ship finds Davidge apparently dead, and returns him to his base space station. During an impersonal funeral ceremony, Davidge suddenly awakens. He is later reinstated to duty but not as a pilot, as his superiors want to make sure he has not been brainwashed. Unable to get help in rescuing Zammis, Davidge steals a ship to find the child by himself. He manages to find the Scavenger ship and sneak aboard. Davidge speaks to the Drac slaves in their own language; they know about Zammis and realize he is Uncle. Davidge enters the facility, fighting one miner after another, and the slaves revolt. Towards the end of the battle, they are assisted by the BTA crew who pursued the stolen ship. In the [[epilogue]], Davidge and Zammis are on the Drac homeworld: "...{{nbsp}}and when, in the fullness of time, Zammis brought its own child before the Holy Council, the name of 'Willis Davidge' was added to the line of Jeriba." ==Cast== * [[Dennis Quaid]] as Willis "Will" Davidge (called "Dah-witch" by Jeriba) * [[Louis Gossett, Jr.]] as Jeriba Shigan (called "Jerry" by Davidge) * [[Brion James]] as Stubbs, the Scavenger leader * [[Richard Marcus]] as Arnold, Davidge's squadmate * [[Carolyn McCormick]] as Morse, Davidge's squadmate * [[Bumper Robinson]] as Zammis * Jim Mapp as Old Drac Slave * [[Lance Kerwin]] as Joey Wooster, Davidge's copilot * Scott Kraft as Jonathan, a Scavenger * Lou Michaels as Wilson, a Scavenger * Andy Geer as Bates, a Scavenger * Henry Stolow as Cates, Davidge's squadmate * [[Herb Andress]] as Hopper, Davidge's superior officer * Danmar as Wise Guy * Mandy Hausenberger as 1st Medic ==Production== [[File:Stanley O'Toole, Dennis Quaid, Wolfgang Petersen.jpg|thumb|250px|right|(from left) producer [[Stanley O'Toole]], [[Dennis Quaid]], director [[Wolfgang Petersen]] while filming ''Enemy Mine'' in 1984]] The novella was published in 1980 and won a Hugo Award for Best Novella.<ref>Hugo Awards Announced The Washington Post 1 Sep 1980: C6.</ref> ===Richard Loncraine=== The film began shooting in April 1984 with [[Richard Loncraine]] (''[[Brimstone & Treacle]]'') as director and a budget of $18{{nbsp}}million.<ref name="LAT120785">Roderick Mann, [https://articles.latimes.com/1985-12-07/entertainment/ca-14268_1 A Gentleman And A Drac], ''Los Angeles Times'', December 7, 1985, Accessed December 23, 2010.</ref> However, after three weeks of shooting in [[Iceland]] and [[Budapest]], producers became concerned about a mixture of budget overruns, creative differences and poor quality [[dailies]]. "It looked like the planet Earth," said one executive close to the production. "It was costing millions of dollars to create a different look and both the location and Lou Gossett's costume made it look like a cheap '50s horror movie."<ref name="globe">WOLFGANG PETERSEN; THE CREATOR OF 'DAS BOOT' VENTURES INTO OUTER SPACE: Blowen, Michael. Boston Globe 17 Dec 1985: 67.</ref> "He kind of directed himself into a corner," Gossett said later. "Because of the weather, he couldn't shoot anything that matched. We would still be there."<ref>Gossett makes his own breaks Scott, Jay. The Globe and Mail 19 Dec 1985: D.7.</ref> Filming was stopped. The studio had already spent $9{{nbsp}}million in production costs and had [[Guarantee (filmmaking)|"pay or play" contracts]] committing an additional $18{{nbsp}}million, so executives needed to decide whether to cut losses or go with a new director.<ref name="LAT123085">David T. Friendly, [https://articles.latimes.com/1985-12-30/entertainment/ca-29993_1_enemy-mine One Studio Has Seen The 'Enemy', And It Is Costly], ''Los Angeles Times'', December 30, 1985, Accessed December 23, 2010.</ref><ref>FILM CLIPS: IT'S NO BULL: MGM/UA DROPS 'BO-BOLERO' London, Michael. Los Angeles Times 11 May 1984: i1.</ref> ===Wolfgang Petersen=== [[File:Lanzarote Timanfaya.jpg|thumb|right|[[Timanfaya National Park]]]] At the same time, Fox changed its upper management and new Chairman, [[Barry Diller]], and head of production, [[Lawrence Gordon (producer)|Lawrence Gordon]], decided to move ahead with a new director. The studio had faith in the story and actors involved, and asked Wolfgang Petersen to take over as director.<ref name="LAT123085"/> "They made it sound as if they were having a bad dream," said Petersen. "I explained that I'm not the kind of director who can jump on a plane and finish someone else's work."<ref name="globe"/> However Peterson changed his mind when he read the script. "I'm not a fan of ''[[Star Wars]]'' science fiction," said Petersen. "I thought I would hate ''Enemy Mine'', but after reading the script I realized that there was more going on than just a shoot-'em-up in outer space. I really was very much impressed with the script but I had too much to do. That's when they offered to stop production until I was done with ''[[The Neverending Story]]''."<ref name="globe"/> Petersen did not like any of Loncraine's work. "All the magic was gone," he said. "Lou Gossett Jr. looked like a man in a rubber lizard suit and Iceland looked like Iceland. You always had a feeling of a human inside something and the feeling of the (foreign) planet was missing."<ref name="globe"/> He opted to start anew, scouting locations along the African coast. Stars Quaid and Gossett remained on during the duration of the film's delays and were paid "holding" money.<ref name=LAT120785/> Petersen moved the production from Budapest to [[Munich]] and the studio he used for ''[[Das Boot]]''.<ref name="LAT123085" /> Large sets were constructed, including a man-made lake, and Gossett's Drac makeup was redesigned, taking several months on its own. Filming resumed in December 1984 in the [[Canary Islands|Spanish Canary Islands]] before going on to Germany.<ref>'COP' DIRECTOR BREST IS BACK ON THE CASE: FILM CLIPS London, Michael. Los Angeles Times 15 Dec 1984: k1.</ref> "I can't tell you how much it cost to scrap the original," says Petersen. "And I don't even want to know. All I do know is between $24{{nbsp}}million and $25{{nbsp}}million was the new budget they gave me and I ended up with that figure."<ref name="wolf">Lizard-suited Gossett admits transformation to Drac tough: [FINAL Edition] Noel Taylor The Citizen 16 Dec 1985: D8.</ref> The film finished shooting seven months after its delay.<ref name="LAT123085"/> The film's budget, originally planned at about $17{{nbsp}}million<ref name="LAT123085"/> rose to $29{{nbsp}}million,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Harmetz |first=Aljean |title=At the Movies |date=November 29, 1985 |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/11/29/movies/at-the-movies.html |access-date=June 13, 2011}}</ref> and ended up costing more than $40{{nbsp}}million with marketing costs.<ref name="LAT123085"/> ==Release== The president of Fox's marketing department felt the film was an "extremely difficult movie to market"—that its story of two species' evolving from enemies to friends made the science fiction picture less about technology and more along the lines of brotherhood, as epitomized by the [[tagline]]: "Enemies because they were taught to be. Allies because they had to be. Brothers because they dared to be."<ref name="LAT123085"/> The studio pushed the film with a full [[Blitz Campaign|marketing blitz]] the Sunday before [[Thanksgiving (United States)|Thanksgiving]] with full-page advertisements in 43 of the largest newspapers in the United States. Meanwhile, Fox arranged for a television "network roadblock": virtually simultaneous thirty-second [[prime time]] commercials on [[Television network#History|all three]]. Still that same day, 3,500 [[Trailer (film)|theatrical trailers]] were shipped to theaters across America, and 164 of the nation's biggest shopping malls were covered with posters for the film.<ref name="LAT123085"/> The campaign received some critical scorn from those in the industry. The poster, with the two leads staring at each other, was singled out for failing to convey the warmth of the story. A marketing head at another studio called it "one of the worst of the year, really terrible. There was a way to make the movie much more palatable."<ref name="LAT123085"/> In the United Kingdom, the original 108-minute movie was cut down to 93 minutes when first released theatrically, and later on VHS,<ref>[https://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/enemy-mine BBFC: ''Enemy Mine''—film]</ref> although the full-length version was reinstated for the 2002 DVD.<ref>[https://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/enemy-mine-2002-0 BBFC: ''Enemy Mine''—video]</ref> ==Reception== ===Critical response=== ''Enemy Mine'' was met with mixed reviews upon its release. As of 2021, on review aggregator [[Rotten Tomatoes]] it has an approval rating of 63% based on reviews from 24 critics.<ref>{{rotten-tomatoes|enemy_mine|Enemy Mine}}</ref> [[Roger Ebert]] gave the film {{frac|2|1|2}} out of 4{{nbsp}}stars, saying it "made no compromises in its art direction, its special effects and its performances—and then compromised everything else in sight."<ref>{{cite news |date=1985-12-20 |title= Enemy Mine |first=Roger |last=Ebert |author-link=Roger Ebert |work=[[Chicago Sun Times]] |url= https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/enemy-mine-1985 |access-date=2021-01-01 }}</ref> [[Janet Maslin]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' referred to it as "This season's ''[[Dune (1984 film)|Dune]]''", referring to the critically panned science fiction epic from the previous year.<ref name="NYT122085">{{cite web |date=20 December 1985 |last=Maslin |first=Janet |author-link=Janet Maslin |title=Screen: Enemy Mine |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/12/20/movies/screen-enemy-mine.html |website=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=2021-01-01 }}</ref> ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' magazine called it "an anthropomorphic view of life but touching nonetheless".<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Enemy Mine |magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |date=1984-12-31 |url=https://www.variety.com/review/VE1117790699.html?categoryid=31&cs=1 |access-date=2010-10-28 }}{{Dead link|date=March 2021}}</ref> Seventeen years later, another ''New York Times'' reviewer gave the film a more positive assessment, noting that if it were "taken in the intended spirit it's often moving, suggesting what might happen if two of earth's perpetually warring peoples were stranded together."<ref name="NYT032402">Neil Genzlinger, [https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F40C16F73C5F0C778EDDAA0894DA404482 Movies: Critic's Choice], ''The New York Times'', March 24, 2002, Accessed December 23, 2010.</ref>{{Dead link|date=March 2021}} The ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' praised the film, calling it "surprisingly coherent, surprisingly enjoyable".<ref name="LAT123085"/> The movie received similar praise from critics [[Gary Franklin]], [[Gene Siskel]], and [[Leonard Maltin]].{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}} ===Box office=== With ''Enemy Mine'' costing over $40 million, the studio hoped for a large first weekend opening. That did not occur, with the film pulling in only $1.6{{nbsp}}million at 703 theaters nationwide. As of [[Christmas]] day, the film had taken in $2.3{{nbsp}}million at the box office. When asked exactly how much the movie would have to take in during its theatrical run to make its money back, an executive with Fox replied "It doesn't really matter, because it's not going to do it."<ref name="LAT123085" /> ==Music== The score was composed and conducted by [[Maurice Jarre]], and performed by the Studioorchester in [[Munich]] and a synthesiser ensemble. The soundtrack album was released by [[Varèse Sarabande]]. {{Infobox album | name = Enemy Mine | type = soundtrack | artist = [[Maurice Jarre]] | cover = | alt = | released = 1985 | recorded = 1985 | venue = | studio = | genre = [[Film score]] | length = 40:52 | label = [[Varèse Sarabande]] | producer = | prev_title = | prev_year = | next_title = | next_year = }} # Fyrine IV (5:03) # The Relationship (3:55) # The Small Drac (2:45) # The Crater (2:15) # The Birth of Zammis (6:14) # Spring (1:27) # The Scavengers (4:48) # Davidge's Lineage (3:33) # Football Game (:44) # Before the Drac Holy Council (9:54) A limited "Deluxe Edition" compact disc, containing the original soundtrack album and unreleased and alternate cues, was released by Varese Sarabande in 2012. ==See also== * [[Surname]] [[Third-person pronoun|''vis'']] Jeriba, Shigan; Jeriba, Zammis; "Davidge, Willis E." * [[Speciesism]] * ''[[The Forty-First (1956 film)]]'' * ''[[None but the Brave]]'' (1965) * ''[[Hell in the Pacific]]'' (1968) * "[[Survival (UFO)|Survival]]", an episode of ''[[UFO (TV series)]]'' (1970) * "[[The Return of Starbuck]]", an episode of ''[[Galactica 1980]]'' * "[[The Enemy (Star Trek: The Next Generation)]]" (1989) * "[[Darmok]]" (another TNG, 1991) * ''[[Contact (1992 film)]]'' * ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team]]'' (1996-1999) * "[[Dawn (Star Trek: Enterprise)]]" (2003) * "[[Enemy Mine (Stargate SG-1)]]" (2003) * ''[[Hunter Prey]]'' (2010) * ''[[Into the White]]'' (2012) * [[List of films featuring space stations]] ==References== {{Reflist}} ==External links== * {{IMDb title|id=0089092|title=Enemy Mine}} * {{Amg movie|15832|Enemy Mine}} * {{tcmdb title|74111|Enemy Mine}} * {{Rotten Tomatoes|enemy_mine|Enemy Mine}} {{Wolfgang Petersen}} [[Category:1985 films]] [[Category:1980s science fiction action films]] [[Category:American science fiction action films]] [[Category:American films]] [[Category:American science fiction war films]] [[Category:American space adventure films]] [[Category:English-language films]] [[Category:Fictional-language films]] [[Category:Films about animal rights]] [[Category:Films based on science fiction short stories]] [[Category:Films directed by Wolfgang Petersen]] [[Category:Films based on short fiction]] [[Category:Films featuring puppetry]] [[Category:Films set in the 2090s]] [[Category:Films set in the 21st century]] [[Category:Films set on fictional planets]] [[Category:Films shot in the Canary Islands]] [[Category:Films scored by Maurice Jarre]] [[Category:20th Century Fox films]] [[Category:Films about prejudice]] [[Category:Films about solitude]] [[Category:American survival films]]'