1972 Directed by John Korty
A young woman is assigned to teach school in a secluded valley whose inhabitants appear stern, secretive and anti-pleasure. Following two children who disappear to play in the woods, she finds that this is actually a community of extraterrestrials with mild paranormal powers who are attempting to repress and deny their heritage for fear of arousing prejudice and hatred in their human neighbors. Based on a series of novels by the late Zenna Henderson.
USA
USA
Weird, boring 1972 TV movie about Amish space aliens starring William Shatner.
Had creepy potential but never fulfilled it. Not great.
puharichian gifted-kid folkhorror, american* style; also a pastoral contactee hangout like hyper sapien* a "dan o'herlihy has a cult" movie like halloween iii, proto-witch mountain predictive-programming/+children of the stone-core & (spoiler) stigmatic twins like I KNOW WHO KILLED ME!
*not really cuz its slowww
One of those trippy, slightly dippy, sci-fi/fantasy television movies of the week that used to fill the airwaves back in the 70's and were like catnip to my tweener/teenage imagination. The ending of Robert Eggert's The VVitch put me immediately in mind of it (for all the wrong reasons), and I decided that I needed a rewatch.
Since the Letterboxd synopsis already spoils any surprises that the plot might hold for the uninitiated, I suppose it's safe to go and ahead and say that it's based on a series of science-fiction books and short stories written by Zenna Henderson, about a band of aliens who escape to Earth from their dying planet and hide out in an isolated rural ghost…
A young and handsome William Shatner.
Just living among the aliens.
Story was alright.
Slow-paced.
👽
* Previous watch: Max
- What's Up Scooby-Doo?
Ssn 1 Epi 9 +10
A rather sedate made-for-tv flick from 1972. Any synopsis I’ve read pretty much spoils the whole thing, so I don’t feel the need to rehash the plot. The premise is interesting, and it certainly could have been much better, but judging it on what it is: it’s fine. Shatner doesn’t Shatner all that much here. He gets top billing for his name, but his role is barely above a cameo. A quick watch at ~75 minutes, I didn’t feel ripped off.
What do you get when you put together Kim Darby, William Shatner, and a bunch of "Amish-type" people in a movie? Well, one would think you'd get some greatness but, alas, no... you just get this rather boring, snail-paced movie about an 'outsider' going in to teach in an out of the way community. Anything with Shatner in it should be GOLD; it should be a TRIPLE CROWN. Should be but isn't. He just isn't in it enough. He's got three scenes. Three scenes. The rest of the time you get Darby and a bunch of crappy kid actors shuffling (and I mean that literally) around a church turned school house (a la Little House on the Prairie).
Kim Darby…
I don't think a line from a negative review has ever sent me running faster to see said film than 'Weird, boring TV movie about Amish space aliens starring William Shatner' (thanks Lebowskidoo!).
And although this isn't exactly riveting (there's an almost farcical lack of tension, for one thing), there's something really appealing about its gentle, autumnal seventies sweetness. Might just have been in a weird mood (I mean, probably!), but i thought it was even quite moving at times. It's certainly atmospheric, anyway.
The People is a made for TV movie. On its face the movie is about a mysterious and strange people who live in an isolated town. But the movie is really a morality play to say… respect all people no matter their background or where they come from. Be respectful and tolerant of people that are different from you. For a TV movie it’s a decent production, artfully presented, and very 1970’s. Nicely done.
I like a lot of the basic plot of this movie, and I really love that the story doesn't go in the typical direction you would expect, but in execution, it's just kind of boring unfortunately.
A very 70s TV movie about a secretive community who have a secret, and guess what we learn the secret and what a secret it is! Who could've guessed.
It's slow and silly and not very entertaining but I'm a sucker for 16mm-looking shite from this era and the dancing kazoo scene cracked me up. The wire work in this, wait'll you see!
This is one of those stories that was intensely meaningful for viewers at the time but is too slow a burn for younger audiences who have seen similar stories told much faster (if perhaps with less sensitivity and character development: eg the tragic death in STAR TREK DISCOVERY for a character that got half the development of Tasha Yar in 1987). Your mother or grandmother may have been a fan though; THE PEOPLE was the FIREFLY of its day, but its fans have hungered for a decent release for decades.
If you liked both WITNESS and RUBY IN PARADISE, and enjoy fantasy, it might be your thing. This pilot was for a short series, which is why Coppola and company brought in Kim Darby, William Shatner and Diane Varsi. The main appeal here really isn't the science fiction plotline but watching Darby think, and especially Varsi in a rare performance.
