Slipstream

Dir: Steven Lisberger

1989

****

Remembered as being one of the biggest flops of the 1980s, Slipstream remains unloved and forgotten. Not by me though, I have a huge amount of affection for Steven Lisberger and Gary Kurtz’s financial disaster and think it deserves far more praise than it has received. The big problem with the film is obvious – it has a severely low budget - but once you look beyond this, the rest of the film is of a high calibre. Lisberger was famous for directing Tron and Kurtz was known for producing Star Wars, so expectations were very high. Add the fact that is starred Mark Hamill after a six-year hiatus and the film had a huge buzz surrounding it. Hamill had wanted to get away from the young hero persona he had established in the Star Wars film and spent much of the 80s working in the theatre. He starred in many Broadway productions including Amadeus in 1983 but when the play was adapted to film in 1984, Hamill auditioned to reprise the role for the big screen but lost the part to Tom Hulce. A studio executive told the producers of the film, "I don't want Luke Skywalker in this film". Hamill decided to return to the work of film and indeed sci-fi but this time he would play the villain, rather than the hero. I think it’s his big overlooked performance. The film is filled with great actors, including Bill Paxton, Bob Peck, Robbie Coltrane, Ben Kingsley and F. Murray Abraham which makes for quite the eclectic mix. The beginning of the film is in North By Northwest territory when we see an aeroplane as it pursues a man running down a canyon, cornering him at a precipice. The plane lands and its occupants, bounty hunters Will Tasker (A bleach white-haired Hamill) and Belitski (Kitty Aldridge), chase the man and shoot him with a grappling hook. The fugitive looks at his arm, but seems intrigued rather than distressed. Tasker pulls on the rope and the man tumbles down the side of the canyon, but he is not harmed. Immediately after his fall, the fugitive quotes from the aviator and poet John Gillespie Magee, Jr.: "I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth–put out my hand and touched the Face of God." The fugitive's name is revealed to be Byron (Bob Peck). The bounty hunters take their prisoner to a busy airstrip, where he stands beside them, handcuffed, as they eat in the diner. Matt Owens (Bill Paxton), a small-time arms dealer, nearly gets his arm broken when he makes a pass at Belitski, then tries to sell contraband grenades to Tasker. It is then revealed that Tasker and Belitski are part of the remnants of a law enforcement agency, trying to keep the peace in a post-apocalyptic society. Tasker seizes Owens' weapons. However, as the pair are leaving, Owens takes Bryon prisoner so that he can claim the large reward. Belitski shoots Owens with a dart, both poisoning him and planting a tracking device in his body, enabling Belitski and Tasker to follow them. Owens and Byron first fly to Owens' home, Hell's Kitchen. There, Byron heals a boy blinded by cataracts, and Owens begins to wonder if Byron is more than he appears. After getting lost, they land at the home of a cult of cave-dwellers who worship the Slipstream and who have recently been under attack by bandits. Byron attempts to help, lifting a heavy milling stone off Avatar (Ben Kingsley), the cult's leader. Avatar, in his dying words, curses Byron as being part of the out-of-control technological advancements that led to the apocalyptic Convergence. The cultists decide to let the wind decide what to do with Bryon, and tie him to a massive kite. The bounty hunters arrive in the middle of a windstorm, and Owens bargains with them to work together to get Byron down. Tasker reveals to Owens that Byron is an android. After a rough landing from the destroyed kite, Belitski allows Byron and Owens to get away. Another visitor to the valley, Ariel (Eleanor David), helps them escape and convinces them to give her a lift home. Ariel takes them to her people, who inhabit a fortified underground museum. Byron's knowledge and appreciation of the museum's ancient contents lead to Ariel becoming emotionally attached to him. Byron and Ariel spend the night together, while Owens gets drunk and hooks up with a local girl. The girl helps Owens decide to free Byron, who has become his friend. Later, Byron reveals that the man he killed was his master. Byron also excitedly tells Matt that he has slept for the first time, and that he dreamed of a land at the end of the Slipstream, inhabited by other androids. Having tracked the trio to the museum, Tasker and Belitski force entry, killing guards and some inhabitants. After beating the Curator, Tasker forces the rest to find the fugitives. Byron is captured while Belitski shoots Owens in the chest with a dart; Owens retaliates by knocking her out and handcuffing her to a bed. She wakes and tells him that the dart is the antidote to the poison. Owens engages in a shootout with Tasker in which Ariel is killed. Enraged, Byron pursues Tasker to his plane. Tasker shoots Byron to no effect, then tries to run Byron down as he takes off. However, Byron manages to climb on and smash his way into the cockpit. As Byron is on the verge of killing him, Tasker quotes the Magee poem and he relents. He then attempts to regain control of the damaged aircraft by using the control wires, but it crashes. Tasker is killed, but Byron survives. He returns to the museum to find that Belitski and Owens are now a couple. Byron leaves to seek his promised land. Slipstream could have been the next Blade Runner in my opinion but money was an issue. Slipstream was the second feature Gary Kurtz made as a producer after splitting from his former creative partner George Lucas. Kurtz's early production credits included the films Chandler and Monte Hellman's cult road movie Two Lane Blacktop. He then began his hugely successful collaboration with George Lucas by producing Lucas' commercial breakthrough, the low-budget American Graffiti, which went on to become one of the most profitable films of all time. Kurtz then produced, worked as a second-unit director, and played a major creative role in the first two Star Wars films, but the partnership ended acrimoniously in the interval between Empire and the third installment of the series, Return of the Jedi, when Lucas and Kurtz fell out over the creative and commercial direction of the franchise. Following the acrimonious split with Lucas, Kurtz acted as executive producer on the fantasy film Return to Oz, which was not a commercial success. He returned to commercial favour as the producer of the hit fantasy film The Dark Crystal in 1982. He evidently hoped that he could recapture his earlier success in science fiction with Slipstream, which co-starred popular actors from two of the major sci-fi franchises of the period - Hamill from Star Wars, and Paxton from Aliens. However, in spite of the many prominent names involved, including Kurtz, the cast, and distinguished Hollywood composer Elmer Bernstein, Slipstream proved to be a disastrous financial and critical flop. Kurtz was having major financial difficulties while the production and filming on the film took place. He was in the middle of a divorce case, which he lost, and he also lost all of his profits from the Star Wars films that he was using to finance the film. The final piece was not what was initially intended. Its failure reportedly drove Kurtz into bankruptcy. It annoys me though when so many dismiss the film before they’ve actally seen it. It didn’t have a cinematic release in the US which I can’t help but think was part of the problem. The infamous ‘director’s cut’ is still spoken about to this day but is yet to see the light. I loved it as a kid and I love it now even though it hasn’t aged well from a visual perspective. The characters and performances shine through the special effects though in my opinion and the script is great too. It’s a classic sci-fi that deserves a second look.