an underappreciated and almost unnoticed sci-fi movie from the mid 1980's. louis gosset jr is great as the drac Jerry Shigan, who crash lands on a barren planet with his human enemy wills e. davidge (dennis quaid). the two slowly become good friends and band together to try and survive on the harsh planet. this movie had some darn good special effects for it's time as well. one of my favorite movies as a kid. i used to watch it every time it was on cable.

A-

Enemy Mine

This is one strange and fucked up film. In what state the director, writers, producers and stars were in when they thought this was a cool idea I do not know, but it must have been one of immense dillusion. A human forms a close-to-homoerotic friendship with an asexual Drac alien, then tends to its baby after its death, treats it like his own son, then get saved and goes back for the thing later. The Dracs are really crap and hideous looking, but not once was I convinced it was anything but a black guy in a suit.

You can see where the huge $40m budget was spent. The Star Wars space fight imagery, the Winston-esque animatronic puppets, and the grandiose sets and cinematography (of which some is really nice), but the most in need area for funds was the acting (needed a big star or two) and the script/story. Awful story, which then made an awful film. It's weird how anyone thought this was a good idea.

For such a mid-80s fantasy tale, the music was pretty stale and unmemorable. I'm realy not a lover of fantasy/sci-fi adventures like this one. Still, it was nice to see Brion James.

D

Now I have to see it considering Algren hated it. It ought to be good.

This is the type of movie I've seen in its entirety, but can never watch in one setting. It's just not engaging enough. I always found this middle tier at best. Good effects for the time and the performance are good enough. It's just not that interesting.

C

I don't understand the title. I mean, there's a mine in the film, but it doesn't make sense that it's a mine filled with enemies. The only other meaning, I guess, is that it's a mine as in 'landmine', but this also doesn't make sense in the context of the film. Or...a longshot, it's a badly spoken (like "Me, Tarzan, you Jane") way of saying "you are my enemy" ala..."You, enemy, mine". I don't know.

Enemy (of) Mine

As in "Friend of mine", just shortened for some reason. Just guessing though. Obviously it has no connection to mines.

Why is it obvious?

There is a rock mine in the film where the Dracs are used as slaves

If it is Enemy of Mine, I have no idea why it was shortened. Stupid.

It is a play on "mine (my) enemy." As in:

I'll tell thee, ere thou ask it me again.
I have been feasting with mine enemy,
Where on a sudden one hath wounded me,
That's by me wounded: both our remedies
Within thy help and holy physic lies:
I bear no hatred, blessed man, for, lo,
My intercession likewise steads my foe.

(Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet)

Per the trivia section of the film's IMDb page, the studio demanded an actual mine be included in the plot. They feared audiences would not understand the title and expect the involvement of a mine. Go figure.

My Chilean friend said it meant 'my enemy', to which I said "but it doesn't make sense when used like that", hence the nature of me asking here.

Thanks David.

Enemy Mine

fucking A+!

It not just taught me interracial connections but also after I saw it I was able to do the same sound with my mouth as the Alien... giving me some kind of special "power" with girls when I was teenager... still using it but just for fun...

Enemy mine maybe is not grammatically correct... but I can understand if we think that the Alien was learning English and he was like Tarzan at one point... I don't know.. but it could explain it..

So yeah... love this movie for many reasons.... A+ again...

BTW: My English sucks!

Watched this about 5 years ago, damn, time flies...not sure how I felt about it anymore too, not really bad, but pretty strange film for sure.