UFOria (Blu-ray Review)
Director
John BinderRelease Date(s)
1985 (April 14, 2026)Studio(s)
Melvin Simon Productions/Universal Pictures (Kino Lorber Studio Classics)- Film/Program Grade: B-
- Video Grade: A
- Audio Grade: A
- Extras Grade: B
Review
Contact with extraterrestrials has been the subject of jokes on late-night TV for years. Those claiming to have been whisked away in spaceships were usually country folk whose accounts couldn’t be corroborated by reliable sources but were followed avidly by readers of The National Enquirer. In UFOria, a science fiction comedy, a young woman believes wholeheartedly that extraterrestrials exist and contact is inevitable.
Arlene (Cindy Williams), a grocery-store clerk in a small Southern town, is intrigued by UFOs and believes that they’re as real as her own two feet. She knows in her heart that visitors from space are coming. Sheldon (Fred Ward) is a drifter who travels the country in a convertible, beer in hand. Brother Bud (Harry Dean Stanton) is a phony faith healer who conducts regular services in a tent outside town. When Sheldon sees Arlene at work, he’s immediately attracted, and the feeling is mutual. The couple settle into a domestic relationship in her mobile home.
Brother Bud and Sheldon are real brothers. They devise a plan that can be financially rewarding to both of them. Sheldon will pretend to have a game leg that Brother Bud heals with his hands-on faith-based cure as his congregation watches in awe and empties their pockets into Bud’s collection plates. Meanwhile, Arlene’s faith assures her that the UFOs will arrive sometime soon.
Because of Arlene’s obsession with an alien visit, Sheldon cautions her that she’ll crack up if she doesn’t concentrate on what’s real, concrete, something you can see or touch. He gives her an ultimatum to shut up about flying saucers or he will disappear. Williams plays Arlene as 100% sincere, decent, humble, and religious. She treats the character respectfully, as a real person rather than a walking joke.
Sheldon is the kind of guy who wanders into places and situations, sizes them up, and decides whether it’s worth staying. He’s not above shoplifting or breaking into vending machines to steal quarters to survive, and has no long-range plan for his life. He simply goes with the flow.
Brother Bud is a professional grifter who’s found his specialty in bogus faith healing. His preaching is a lot better than his results curing folks, but he fills his tent and his coffers with those who believe he’s God’s vessel. Brother Bud is a showman, hustler, swindler, and “man of faith”—the perfect combination to con his congregants. Harry Dean Stanton is perfect as Brother Bud. He conveys sincerity but has a naughty twinkle in his eye that shows his true motivation.
Writer/director John Binder has put together a film with oddball characters who interact amusingly, yet he never treats them with disrespect. Brother Bud has found a way to prey on the gullible. Sheldon, practical and self-assured, relies on his wits to make his way through the world. Arlene is a trusting person with firm moral values and an unshakable belief in an imminent visit by ETs in a flying saucer. Humor derives from assorted situations that arise and the ways in which the three main characters handle them. There are no outright jokes, which gives the film a strong connection to reality. These are people living their lives, providing their unique spin on what they encounter.
UFOria was shot by director of photography David Myers on 35mm film with Panavision Panaflex cameras and spherical lenses, processed by Consolidated Film Industries, Hollywood, CA, and presented in the aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics features a new HD master from a 4K scan of the original camera negative, approved by director John Binder. Clarity is sharp with details well delineated, such as items on shelves in the grocery store, Arlene’s clothing patterns, objects in Brother Bud’s tent, news broadcasts on TV, piles of cash, desert cacti, and signs at the revival meeting. Complexions are well rendered from Cindy Williams’ rosy, youthful skin to Fred Ward’s rugged, stubbled face. Crowd scenes are modest, likely due to the film’s limited budget. Bright lights shine from the sky spotlighting the ground in a key desert sequence.
The soundtrack is English 2.0 mono DTS-HD Master Audio. English subtitles are an available option. Dialogue is clear and easy to understand. Though the setting is the American South, characters don’t speak with a heavily regional accent. The music soundtrack consists of country & Western songs, including Quicksand (T Bone Burnett), I Know an Ending (Emmylou Harris), Break It to Me Gently (Brenda Lee), Euphoria (Roger Miller), and Stoned Again (Lee Montgomery). Fred Ward sings Good-Hearted Woman and I’ve Always Been Crazy. Because the producers never secured the licensing rights to the songs beyond the theatrical release, UFOria was released on VHS with a different soundtrack in 1987. The film was absent from home video from the late 1980s until now.
Bonus materials on the PG-rated Blu-ray release from Kino Lorber Studio Classics include the following:
- Audio Commentary by John Binder and Jeanne Field, Moderated by Daniel Kremer
- Trailers:
- UFOria (:57)
- The Experts (1:32)
- The Monster Squad (1:57)
- Spaceballs (2:36)
- Airplane II: The Sequel (2:16)
- The Nude Bomb (2:48)
- The Man Who Wasn’t There (2:07)
- Amazon Women on the Moon (1:32)
- Coneheads (2:06)
- Remo Williams... The Adventure Begins (2:18)
Audio Commentary – Director John Binder and associate producer Jeanne Field share this commentary with filmmaker/historian Daniel Kremer serving as moderator/interviewer. UFOria started at Fox where it fell apart when it couldn’t be delivered on time. The studio cut it loose. Eventually Universal took it on. UFOria was test screened unsuccessfully and the studio refused to test it in New York. It played briefly theatrically, and received bad reviews. The film is described as “one-of-a-kind.” Because of all the obstacles in getting the film made and into theaters, Binder calls it a cursed film. The idea for it came to him when he read an article in The New York Times about a couple who were serious about taking people into space. He decided to give his characters the benefit of the doubt. He knew they’d be funny but didn’t want to portray them negatively. To research the subject, Binder attended a psychic fair where he encountered a range of people—some serious, some silly—who believed in aliens visiting Earth. UFOria isn’t mean-spirited. Binder talks about casting the three principals. Once Cindy Williams was signed, the project was able to obtain financing. The picture was shot at a cost of $4 million. Williams suggested Harrison Ford for the role of Sheldon, but Binder felt Ford wasn’t a serious actor. When Ward auditioned, Binder knew he was perfect for the role because he had been a real blue-collar working man. UFOria was Binder’s first film as director. He details highlights in the development of the film and believes it was misunderstood. It played for 17 weeks at the Bleecker Street Cinema in New York City. Associate producer Field talks about how filmmaking has changed since UFOria was made and talks about friends in the business. UFOria was “in the zeitgeist of the new Hollywood,” according to Field. One of the film’s main locations was only 90 minutes from Los Angeles, but it offered a completely different vibe from LA. Temperatures hit 125 degrees during filming. Binder went on to become a script doctor to avoid going through “development hell.” In addition to working for Robert Altman, he contributed to the feature Honeysuckle Rose, a series of TV Westerns, a documentary about Sam Houston, the second Lonesome Dove, and the TV series Black Fox. He says the heart of the movie is “You have to believe in something.”
UFOria follows colorful characters in a part of the country where religious faith allows for a scammer to take unfair advantage of hard-working people. The actors show the humorous aspects of decent people and how important belief is in rural lives. Without condescending, director John Binder provides a tapestry of a world that often seems as alien as the ones Arlene hopefully awaits. Williams is touching as Arlene, Ward looks the part of a by-his-wits drifter with sex appeal, and Stanton is exceptional as the crooked faith healer. UFOria is a quirky film that defies pigeonholing. As a comedy, it’s far from rollicking, but as a portrait of a place and its people, it feels authentic.
- Dennis Seuling