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On a cold night in a remote cabin, Professor John Oldman (David Lee Smith of CSI: Miami) gathers his most trusted colleagues for an extraordinary announcement: He is an immortal who has migrated through 140 centuries of evolution and must now move on. Is Oldman truly Cro-Magnon or simply insane? Now one man will force these scientists and scholars to confront their own notions of history, religion and humanity, all leading to a final revelation that may shatter their world forever. John Billingsley (Star Trek Enterprise), William Katt (The Greatest American Hero), Ellen Crawford (ER), Richard Riehle (Office Space) and Tony Todd (Candyman) co-star in this provocative final work by Jerome Bixby (Fantastic Voyage, Twilight Zone The Movie, Star Trek), renowned as one of the greatest science-fiction authors of all time. Audio Commentary with Producer/Director Richard Schenkman and Actor John Billingsley Audio Commentary with Executive Producer Emerson Bixby and Author/Sci-Fi Scholar Gary Westfahl From Script To Screen Featurette Star Trek: Jerome Bixby's Sci-Fi Legacy Featurette On The Set Featurette The Story Of The Story Featurette
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Vine™ Review
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Jerome Bixby was a scriptwriter of some of the strongest episodes of the original Star Trek and Twilight Zone television series and this film is very much in the same vein. John Oldman is a senior lecturer at a California university who is moving on and refuses to tell his colleagues where. At his goodbye party, he makes the astounding confession that he is in fact a late Cro-Magnon man, born with the ability to continually regenerate, and who has witnessed the whole of human history in his 14,000 year lifetime. His revelations over one long evening shake his colleague's beliefs and perceptions to the core.
This film is certainly unusual, and bears all the hallmarks of a labour of love. The budget is obviously minuscule, but the cast to their spirited best with a very unusual script and a very limited locale. The performances are generally sound, with some less than impressive, it has to be said.
The central concept has been explored not only by Bixby in his Star Trek script Requiem for Methuselah, but in stories like Clifford Simak's 1980 Hugo award winning short story `The Grotto of the Dancing Deer'. The fact that Oldman was, in fact, a very significant historical and religious personage pushes the plot further than it really needs to go. The point it makes about this `religious personage' is an entirely valid one, but I'm not sure it needed to be made here, and it is the central weakness of the film.
A quirky watch, probably best rented rather than bought, a touching tribute to a talented scriptwriter of the golden age of TV SF, and a pleasant example of a SF film trying to drive itself forward with ideas rather than special effects.
This film is certainly unusual, and bears all the hallmarks of a labour of love. The budget is obviously minuscule, but the cast to their spirited best with a very unusual script and a very limited locale. The performances are generally sound, with some less than impressive, it has to be said.
The central concept has been explored not only by Bixby in his Star Trek script Requiem for Methuselah, but in stories like Clifford Simak's 1980 Hugo award winning short story `The Grotto of the Dancing Deer'. The fact that Oldman was, in fact, a very significant historical and religious personage pushes the plot further than it really needs to go. The point it makes about this `religious personage' is an entirely valid one, but I'm not sure it needed to be made here, and it is the central weakness of the film.
A quirky watch, probably best rented rather than bought, a touching tribute to a talented scriptwriter of the golden age of TV SF, and a pleasant example of a SF film trying to drive itself forward with ideas rather than special effects.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
The Man From Earth is classic Sci-Fi made into a film. It's all about the idea of a man who never dies, living 14,000 years and finally telling his friends who he is before he moves on to his next fake life. During the film many aspects of being ancient are explored; memories, relationships, religion, meeting great people, being somewhere else when big events happen.
The whole thing takes place in a one room cabin and it's just a bunch of people talking - but is the main character just making it all up or telling the truth, at least as he sees it?
Not only does Christianity feature large in this film, but the concept of watching your children die of old age in front of you makes for compelling viewing. All the mysteries that man is drawn too are examined.
It's a simple storyline, with believable acting, and it hangs together brilliantly, with the film dealing with all the objections that people would make to the idea of one man living forever.
This is a film for all adults, a cold night with a real fire, a mug of hot chocolate and you've got 90 minutes of enjoyment to look forward to.
The whole thing takes place in a one room cabin and it's just a bunch of people talking - but is the main character just making it all up or telling the truth, at least as he sees it?
Not only does Christianity feature large in this film, but the concept of watching your children die of old age in front of you makes for compelling viewing. All the mysteries that man is drawn too are examined.
It's a simple storyline, with believable acting, and it hangs together brilliantly, with the film dealing with all the objections that people would make to the idea of one man living forever.
This is a film for all adults, a cold night with a real fire, a mug of hot chocolate and you've got 90 minutes of enjoyment to look forward to.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This is a slow movie with with plenty of philosophical discussion thrown in, as it winds its way around a leaving party, for a character who decides to share his longevity of 30,000yrs with his friends. Obviously they think he is misguided and possibly insane, you can decide.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Very enjoyable.
For those who found it too slow..........well perhaps you should live 14000 years. Liked it a lot, very thought provoking.
Published 23 hours ago by giaspa251
Very watchable, but the low budget shows.
When this film started I thought I'd bought a TV movie by mistake. The action started straight away without any dramatic opening music or fancy graphics, the picture looked rather... Read more
Published 1 month ago by ant
Disappointing
Here, our hero announces he's been alive since prehistoric times. His friends are startled and think he might be mad. That's the premise of the story. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Dragon
Cliche characters & terrible acting ruin a wonderful concept.
My title covers my feelings for this film in their entirety.
You'd be better off spending your time watching random videos on Ted. Read more
You'd be better off spending your time watching random videos on Ted. Read more
Published 1 month ago by E. Crossley
Interesting
It feels more like a tv series pilot than a movie at the beginning, and the low budget feel and slightly dodgy acting (from some) continues throughout. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Heligany
No budget, high concept play
I was irritated by the poor quality of the video production until the premise became clear. The script could quite easily be transformed into a great one man show on stage. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Brion O'Quigley
The thinking person's movie
Cant believe I missed this one. Watched it last night. Great concept. Mind expanding premise. Sure it has a few holes in the script, but this is basically a simple well acted... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Mr_MeAgain .
Low budget, good concept but poor execution.
A good idea however the entire movie is set in one room, with a bunch of people and the MAN from Earth. Read more
Published 6 months ago by AJR
Thought Provoking
With no CGI, no mega-sets, no special effects, no action other than debate, everything happening in a single, sparsely furnished room, Man from Earth must still rank as one of the... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Saitchy
Kept guessing
I found this film intriguing - a group of educated teachers could neither prove nor disprove the assertion that one of their group was in fact over a 14,000 years old. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Peter Orton
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