Hump Day Classic Movie: The Last Starfighter

My husband did the snoopy dance in the middle of Safeway when he spotted this little gem on Blu-ray. He loves those early 80s space movies. Loves, loves, loves. Me? I like them in a campy way, but still make fun of the horrible special effects. I almost prefer the string method of spaceship effects in those 1950s movies to the early computer animated stuff.


In this movie, a teenager stuck in the middle of nowhere, living with his family in a trailer park, dreams of doing big things. But circumstances constantly force him to put others before himself. His only escape is a video game (a really primitive arcade style game!) called the Last Starfighter.

After one really bad day, he retreats to the game and manages to break the all time record. Little does he realize that the game was a test, and soon he's recruited by an alien(!) to become a Starfighter.

Yes, it really is that silly. But other than a few explosions and some mild sexual references, it's much tamer than anything but children's movies being put out today.