ENEMY MINE
PG-13
108 Minutes
Director:Wolfgang Petersen
Writers: Barry Longyear (story), Edward Khmara (screenplay)
Dennis Quaid, Louis Gossett Jr., Brion James
You've gotta get used to Bolivian ways. You got to go easy...(patooiee!!!! Damn it!)...like I do. Course you probably think I'm crazy, but I'm not. (patooiee!!!! Bingo!) I'm colorful. That's what happens when you live ten years alone in Bolivia - you get colorful.
-BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969)
There is a lifelong competition between the Quaid brothers: who is the craziest? I'm not sure who is winning, or how you would define the 'winner' in this particular contest. Today, I review Enemy Mine, made in 1985, right before the Quaid-man received help with his cocaine addiction.
Bumper Robinson to the right of Urkel.Cast
Dennis Quaid........Willis Davidge
Louis Gossett Jr... Jeriba 'Jerry' Shigan
Bumper Robinson...Zammis
Brion James..........Stubbs
"What'chu talkin' 'bout, Willis?"
Just like Grizzly Man (2005) or the 'Enumclaw horse case' (2005), we find a profound bond can exist between two creatures of separate species.
David and Jerry are that classic odd couple, like Riggs and Murtaugh. Willis Davidge looks, and acts like an overgrown Anakin Skywalker; the child, not Darth Vader. Jerry is the non-lunatic and a Drac. Dracs are a race of beings that have been enslaved by a relatively small group of humans. This is done to extract precious ores from this one particular planet. 
Left to right: Willis, Jerry, and Zammis
Dialogue: meeting-ores of truth...think about it.
Jerry: If one receives evil from another,let one not do evil in return. Rather, let him extend love...to the enemy,that love might unite them."
Willis: I've heard all this before in the human Talmon.
Jerry: Of course you have. Truth is truth. But what you have not yet learned is the way we Dracs express the truth. The words of Shismar must be sung.
Jerry: With you humans, birth is a matter of choice. With us Dracs, it happens. When the time comes, it just happens.
Willis: Just because business has been a little slow lately,you expect me to run the whole place alone? You are alone. Within yourself, you are alone.That is why you humans have separated your sexes into two separate halves, for the joy of that brief union.
Willis: You don't know diddly-poop about humans.
Willis: ...if those men ever find us we'll never see each other again.
Zammis: But, Uncle, they're humans, like you.
Willis: The name of this game,
Zammis is football.
Zammis: Football?
Willis: Now, these trees are
my defensive line.
Willis: Those trees over there
are your team.
Willis: They're a bigger than real players,
like the Houston Oilers.
Willis: Now, someday, you're going to go home, and you're gonna forget all about this god-awful planet and all about me.
Zammis: I will never forget you, Uncle.
Willis: No, I guess you won't. I won't forget you either.
Meesa your humble servant. Jar Jar Binks Ani!
This is a film that teeters on the perpetual verge of racism, like a Long John Silver's commercial. Dracs are played by African-Americans. The humans are played by white guys who are 25-50 years old, with only one female cast member (I'm curious to how that worked out). I don't know what they were going for, but whipping the slaves didn't help their cause.
It seemed like a good idea on paper: like roofie/morning after pill-flavored wine coolers. But the film was hemorrhaging cash, all together, $40 million dollars was spent making this film. Midway through production, the studio decided to cut their losses and moved ahead with a new director; kind of like that X-MEN 3 debacle; replacing Byran Singer with Brett Ratner. The end result is a campy, 80s, sci-fi movie that is half-assed.
Most of the movie looks like an episode of RED DWARF, with out the (intentional) humour. What's RED DWARF? Look it up on your own, I'm not going to dork it down for you.
As a kid, I remember watching this movie on AMC, the story brought a tear to my eye; it still does, but for different reasons.
Final Verdict: 55 out of 100
Sidenote: Here is a slide show to give you the gist of the movie. I would call this a spoiler.
