Your enjoyment of this film does not depend largely on your acceptance of the story of a crashed alien spacecraft and a government cover up that just does not seem to want to go away. If you believe the narrative, which is based upon Kevin Randle's book UFO crash at Roswell, you will be amply rewarded by a tale that adheres closely to the story, and which treats the subject matter with respect. Even if you think the whole story is stuff and nonsense, you can still enjoy a well made, well cast film that has plenty of atmosphere and crisp direction. Although made for television, Roswell has above average production values which add greatly to the overall tone of the film. Kyle Mclachlan's performance as the perplexed Marcel is fine and some of the set pieces, especially the discovery of the spacecraft wreckage are truly unnerving.
23 Reviews
added alien autopsy footage
carlmc296702 May 2005
i'm not sure about the other versions of incident at Roswell already reviewed here. I have a different version which has an exclusive. contains extra alien footage never seen before..be advised...viewers may find contents disturbing!. The whole documentary was quite interesting but what fascinated me was this extra footage at the end. Was it real or was it a very very very good hoax. I mean how do you fake an autopsy on an alien and at the same time make it look pretty genuine. The copy i have MER 1023. MER standing for Merlin Home Entertnainment. It is copyrighted 1995 Channel 4 Television Corporation. Production Company: Union Pictures/Big World for Channel Four Television Producer: John Purdie Director: Tim Shawcross
The Roswell Incident is marketed by MASTERvision Limited. Running Time: 75 Min's (approx) E Exempt from classification.
I can't understand the rating considering the warning on the front of the VHS box 'viewers may find disturbing'. also additional footage supposedly of debris taken from crashed spacecraft. I particularly liked the piece that looks like it says V I D E O on it. This is supposed to be where we got the word video from. I mean what does Video stand for. My guess is Vertically, Interlaced, Dynamic or Digital, Encoded, O ? O ? what on earth does O stand for. Does anyone know.
The Roswell Incident is marketed by MASTERvision Limited. Running Time: 75 Min's (approx) E Exempt from classification.
I can't understand the rating considering the warning on the front of the VHS box 'viewers may find disturbing'. also additional footage supposedly of debris taken from crashed spacecraft. I particularly liked the piece that looks like it says V I D E O on it. This is supposed to be where we got the word video from. I mean what does Video stand for. My guess is Vertically, Interlaced, Dynamic or Digital, Encoded, O ? O ? what on earth does O stand for. Does anyone know.
Docudrama vs WTF REALLY HAPPENED
tstoneami25 October 2009
Warning: Spoilers
This was a decently made movie, and payed homage to the LEGEND.
If as much money was spent investigating the actual events, we might actually learn something.
The movie was along to lines of the disinformation that Martin Sheen's character threw at the main character.
IF the son was the recipient of alien materials, as the movie suggests, where is he now, and where is that interview? IF the mother witnessed was she was supposed to have witnessed that night the main character brought the debris home, did she give an interview, where is that for the public? etc, etc, etc....
UNTIL we are no longer influenced by the engineers of controlled thought, those who spin, who are bought, who are PROFESSIONALS at portraying information, then movies like this are as significant as (insert irrelevant BS here).
Or, maybe we are really alone.
If as much money was spent investigating the actual events, we might actually learn something.
The movie was along to lines of the disinformation that Martin Sheen's character threw at the main character.
IF the son was the recipient of alien materials, as the movie suggests, where is he now, and where is that interview? IF the mother witnessed was she was supposed to have witnessed that night the main character brought the debris home, did she give an interview, where is that for the public? etc, etc, etc....
UNTIL we are no longer influenced by the engineers of controlled thought, those who spin, who are bought, who are PROFESSIONALS at portraying information, then movies like this are as significant as (insert irrelevant BS here).
Or, maybe we are really alone.
Is The Truth Already Out There?
FallynAngel24 April 2000
Having been privy to many of the related details in this fine made-for-tv movie, i feel that 'Roswell' is probably the most well-researched film dealing with the subject of close encounters and linked government conspiracies that one can find, and i recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone interested in this subject. Further, allow me to direct interested viewers to the similar, if largely dramatized, 1980 film 'Hangar 18'.
Good at what it's meant to be
outtkolsa315 July 2004
When watching this film , viewers have to keep 2 things in mind: That this is a TV movie, and that this movie was made to tell a story, not to blow you away. While some things in this movie were made up in order to tell the real story
(As far as I know, the whole thing about the reunion of all the soldiers and Jesse Marcel talking with a lot of them in order to find out what happened , is made up. While Jesse Marcel did exist and everything that the movie said that happened to him really did happen to him, the scenario of him talking to all this people 30+ years later was created to tell the story of the crash). But when it comes to what is important: The Roswell Incident, this movie is accurate with what eye witnesses have been saying for years. If you are an skeptic who really doesn't care about the subject at all, then you will find little, or no entertainment value here.
But if this subject interests you, this movie will entertain you and inform you. Highly recommended to all of you who are curious about what happened in Roswell New Mexico in July of 1947.
(As far as I know, the whole thing about the reunion of all the soldiers and Jesse Marcel talking with a lot of them in order to find out what happened , is made up. While Jesse Marcel did exist and everything that the movie said that happened to him really did happen to him, the scenario of him talking to all this people 30+ years later was created to tell the story of the crash). But when it comes to what is important: The Roswell Incident, this movie is accurate with what eye witnesses have been saying for years. If you are an skeptic who really doesn't care about the subject at all, then you will find little, or no entertainment value here.
But if this subject interests you, this movie will entertain you and inform you. Highly recommended to all of you who are curious about what happened in Roswell New Mexico in July of 1947.
Effective Conspiracist Propaganda
Steve_Nyland17 May 2008
I really hate conspiracy theorists. They make me want to vomit, honestly. Everything from the Kennedy assassinations to 9/11 to the freaking Illuminati, Masonic Templars working with the Mossad to abduct our cattle or whatever, there's no end to it. My favorite is actually Sterling Hayden's theory about fluoridation of the water from DR. STRANGELOVE and the global commie plot to sap & impurify all of our precious bodily fluid. Now THAT I can believe.
I'd rank ROSWELL up there with Oliver Stoneground's JFK as amongst the most effective examples of conspiracy theory propaganda masquerading as an entertainment extravaganza. The proof is that I am actually acquainted with several dunderheads who are of the opinion that BOTH films show what really happened, albeit in the form of historical reconstructions. Both films press every button in their respective conspiratorial play book, with ghoulish government secrecy, evil rogue military industrial shenanigans, shady men in black suits, doubletalk, doublethink, and a conveniently noble hero/fall guy "everyman" at the center of both stories, ROSWELL delivers the goods and is convincing enough to get away with re-writing history as the paranoid would have it be taught. But it's only a movie, and a flawed one at that.
The main problem is that contemporary teaching implies that both heroes misled themselves in regards to much of the mythos that made their stories so compelling, and that the truth behind the conspiracy is actually mundane, anti-romantic and a buzzkill compared to the sexy conspiracies outlined. Punctuated by official sounding military jargon (the expression "mandate" is sternly referred to repeatedly), an apparent obsessive eye for period detail right down to Kyle MaClachlan puffing on unfiltered cigarettes, snappy looking 1940's suits and some laughable matte paintings showing that which the dingbats drawn to this stuff WANT to see.
To quote Harry Nilsson, we see what we want to see and we hear what we want to hear. In 1995 when I first encountered this movie I also desperately wanted to believe every last bit of nonsense hurled at the viewer like a face full of compressed cheeze. Sure, there probably are some basic truths suggested by the film but it's done with such a zest for showing those myths in a suggestive enough manner so that people are actually convinced that they have seen what the wreckage field really looked like, what the aliens really looked like, heard the threats made against the witnesses to stay silent or perpetuate some lie, and the finger of blame pointed squarely at the US government.
I am still convinced that something out of the ordinary happened at Roswell in 1947 without the laughable nonsense portrayed in this movie. I am not sure if it involved the crash of an extra terrestrial spacecraft so much as misidentification of something that shouldn't have been where it was found. And in spite of my stern admonishment above I don't believe that the feds have come clean on the incident, mostly because whatever may or may not have happened was "covered up" so quickly that there isn't a paper trail that can prove OR disprove the wildest of allegations -- That a flying saucer crashed, a rancher found bits of the junk, that a second crash site was found complete with alien life forms who may not have been quite dead.
The second crash site is important because, like all good conspiracy theories, it answers one of the basic problems with it's core premise, in this case the legendary "debris field" reports: Where were the working parts? Where were the engines and the cabin seats and the landing gear? All they found was a few yards worth of tinfoil, balsa sticks, scotch tape and some filament materials. How do you get a rocket ship out of that? And the obvious answer is that it wasn't the rocket ship, just part of it. That lets the theorists off the hook for not having enough junk to make a rocket ship, with the convenient answer that the government hid it all away in the Blue Room at Wright Patterson or out at Area 51.
One thing you have to keep in mind when thinking about paranormal phenomenon is that eye witnesses are statistically unreliable: You can't reproduce what they claim to have seen, and their stories tend to change over time. Jesse Marcel himself was guilty of embellishing his story of coming in contact with the wreckage, adding new details every time he told the story. One could argue that he was simply remembering more detail as time went on, but the fact remains that when you look at the reports and evidence collected in 1947 it sounds a lot less sexy than what was being remembered thirty, forty, and fifty years later.
That doesn't make this a bad movie by the way; In spite of some retarded high school drama club "aging" makeup, histrionic over-acting (the "I saw the bodies!" by a fictional nurse character is a really bad laugh), Martin Sheen lurking around just being Martin Sheen, and a condensed cliffnotes version of the story, ROSWELL is immensely watchable, conspiracy thinking viewers will find it very entertaining and as others point out some of the issues the movie raise probably have a certain amount of veracity to them. But just remember it's propaganda made by people who want viewers to arrive at a specific conclusion, and if you don't keep your thinking cap on you'll find yourself snookered into believing it like some of the people I know, one of whom I had a heated argument with over the fact that it's a MOVIE, a work of fiction, and an entertainment. Just like JFK, though a bit more fun, innocent, and less obnoxious.
4/10
I'd rank ROSWELL up there with Oliver Stoneground's JFK as amongst the most effective examples of conspiracy theory propaganda masquerading as an entertainment extravaganza. The proof is that I am actually acquainted with several dunderheads who are of the opinion that BOTH films show what really happened, albeit in the form of historical reconstructions. Both films press every button in their respective conspiratorial play book, with ghoulish government secrecy, evil rogue military industrial shenanigans, shady men in black suits, doubletalk, doublethink, and a conveniently noble hero/fall guy "everyman" at the center of both stories, ROSWELL delivers the goods and is convincing enough to get away with re-writing history as the paranoid would have it be taught. But it's only a movie, and a flawed one at that.
The main problem is that contemporary teaching implies that both heroes misled themselves in regards to much of the mythos that made their stories so compelling, and that the truth behind the conspiracy is actually mundane, anti-romantic and a buzzkill compared to the sexy conspiracies outlined. Punctuated by official sounding military jargon (the expression "mandate" is sternly referred to repeatedly), an apparent obsessive eye for period detail right down to Kyle MaClachlan puffing on unfiltered cigarettes, snappy looking 1940's suits and some laughable matte paintings showing that which the dingbats drawn to this stuff WANT to see.
To quote Harry Nilsson, we see what we want to see and we hear what we want to hear. In 1995 when I first encountered this movie I also desperately wanted to believe every last bit of nonsense hurled at the viewer like a face full of compressed cheeze. Sure, there probably are some basic truths suggested by the film but it's done with such a zest for showing those myths in a suggestive enough manner so that people are actually convinced that they have seen what the wreckage field really looked like, what the aliens really looked like, heard the threats made against the witnesses to stay silent or perpetuate some lie, and the finger of blame pointed squarely at the US government.
I am still convinced that something out of the ordinary happened at Roswell in 1947 without the laughable nonsense portrayed in this movie. I am not sure if it involved the crash of an extra terrestrial spacecraft so much as misidentification of something that shouldn't have been where it was found. And in spite of my stern admonishment above I don't believe that the feds have come clean on the incident, mostly because whatever may or may not have happened was "covered up" so quickly that there isn't a paper trail that can prove OR disprove the wildest of allegations -- That a flying saucer crashed, a rancher found bits of the junk, that a second crash site was found complete with alien life forms who may not have been quite dead.
The second crash site is important because, like all good conspiracy theories, it answers one of the basic problems with it's core premise, in this case the legendary "debris field" reports: Where were the working parts? Where were the engines and the cabin seats and the landing gear? All they found was a few yards worth of tinfoil, balsa sticks, scotch tape and some filament materials. How do you get a rocket ship out of that? And the obvious answer is that it wasn't the rocket ship, just part of it. That lets the theorists off the hook for not having enough junk to make a rocket ship, with the convenient answer that the government hid it all away in the Blue Room at Wright Patterson or out at Area 51.
One thing you have to keep in mind when thinking about paranormal phenomenon is that eye witnesses are statistically unreliable: You can't reproduce what they claim to have seen, and their stories tend to change over time. Jesse Marcel himself was guilty of embellishing his story of coming in contact with the wreckage, adding new details every time he told the story. One could argue that he was simply remembering more detail as time went on, but the fact remains that when you look at the reports and evidence collected in 1947 it sounds a lot less sexy than what was being remembered thirty, forty, and fifty years later.
That doesn't make this a bad movie by the way; In spite of some retarded high school drama club "aging" makeup, histrionic over-acting (the "I saw the bodies!" by a fictional nurse character is a really bad laugh), Martin Sheen lurking around just being Martin Sheen, and a condensed cliffnotes version of the story, ROSWELL is immensely watchable, conspiracy thinking viewers will find it very entertaining and as others point out some of the issues the movie raise probably have a certain amount of veracity to them. But just remember it's propaganda made by people who want viewers to arrive at a specific conclusion, and if you don't keep your thinking cap on you'll find yourself snookered into believing it like some of the people I know, one of whom I had a heated argument with over the fact that it's a MOVIE, a work of fiction, and an entertainment. Just like JFK, though a bit more fun, innocent, and less obnoxious.
4/10
"Christ, you think I'm some kind of fool just because I wear a cowboy hat? I know what I saw...I held it in my Godda*# hands!"
scott_satori22 May 2006
Kyle MacLachlan may be the star of this movie but Dwight Yoakam steals the show with his portrayal of Mac Brazel. If you're not familiar with the Roswell Incident (who isn't by now?) this movie will clue you in quickly and accurately without having to read your way through a stack of books on the subject. If you're already a believer, this movie will quickly become on of your favorites. It is a docu-drama. DOCU...DRAMA - of course some of the acting is melo-dramatic - it's a made-for-TV movie about the crash of an alien spaceship...hello.... That aside - the movie is true to its subject matter and the acting is not the horror show some have claimed. I went to film school (Columbia) and believe me, compared to what I've seen - this is A+++. They are also Hollyweird actors, not schlocks so how bad can it be? I won't restate the plot here but I wanted to refute the few 'this is horrible!' posts out there. It's not horrible and it's very informative. Unlike others, I also found it suspenseful. The suspense doesn't come directly from the action but from slowly uncovering what happened right along with Jesse himself.
See it - you won't regret it.
See it - you won't regret it.
Tedious.
rmax30482325 October 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Kyle MacLachlan is the real-life retired USAF Major Jesse Marcel. He was one of the first people to handle the debris from a suspected alien spacecraft crash on a remote field in Roswell, New Mexico. The government then ordered him to shut up. Many years later, at a reunion of his unit, MacLachlan is old and dying of emphysema, and is intent on prying the Truth out of the several others who were involved in collecting and disposing of the mysterious trash.
It's pretty dull going, even for UFOlogists. MacLachlan goes from barbecue to swimming pool to dinners, encountering others, and getting their stories in flashbacks.
The more dubious aspects of the legend -- disappearing participants, living alien corpses, "men in dark suits" -- are accepted with the same eager alacrity as the more credible claims -- the government's throwing all kinds of humdrum explanations against the wall to see if any of them stick, the tendency of agencies to beef up their own importance by classifying information about what they do.
The movie gives you the legend in its full-blown form here, with Michael Sheen showing up as "Townsend", the man who takes MacLachlan aside and spills the beans in their entirety, in a scene that is an anti-climax if there ever was one. The explanation is all hearsay from an anonymous source. MacLachlan must depart the scene still in a state of distress and confusion.
With the exception of some of the supporting players, the acting is perfunctory. The direction is pedestrian. There isn't any real tension and there is no real ending. It all just seems to fade away.
These comments, I ought to emphasize, are about the movie, not about the question of UFOs. I should think that by now, with multiple, credible witnesses, the presence of something inexplicable is indisputable. Oh, maybe not alien space ships but surely something. The alternative belief is that many of our military and commercial pilots, scientists, police officers -- people to whom we entrust our lives -- are crazy. Well, let's throw out 99% of the most reliable sighting. That leaves 1% who are believable. All it takes is one case. Too bad none of the UFOs has been obliging enough to put down on the White House lawn.
It's pretty dull going, even for UFOlogists. MacLachlan goes from barbecue to swimming pool to dinners, encountering others, and getting their stories in flashbacks.
The more dubious aspects of the legend -- disappearing participants, living alien corpses, "men in dark suits" -- are accepted with the same eager alacrity as the more credible claims -- the government's throwing all kinds of humdrum explanations against the wall to see if any of them stick, the tendency of agencies to beef up their own importance by classifying information about what they do.
The movie gives you the legend in its full-blown form here, with Michael Sheen showing up as "Townsend", the man who takes MacLachlan aside and spills the beans in their entirety, in a scene that is an anti-climax if there ever was one. The explanation is all hearsay from an anonymous source. MacLachlan must depart the scene still in a state of distress and confusion.
With the exception of some of the supporting players, the acting is perfunctory. The direction is pedestrian. There isn't any real tension and there is no real ending. It all just seems to fade away.
These comments, I ought to emphasize, are about the movie, not about the question of UFOs. I should think that by now, with multiple, credible witnesses, the presence of something inexplicable is indisputable. Oh, maybe not alien space ships but surely something. The alternative belief is that many of our military and commercial pilots, scientists, police officers -- people to whom we entrust our lives -- are crazy. Well, let's throw out 99% of the most reliable sighting. That leaves 1% who are believable. All it takes is one case. Too bad none of the UFOs has been obliging enough to put down on the White House lawn.
Fairly even handed, given the subject matter!!
VHSVET8 November 2005
This Docu-Movie (apparently TV Release in USA) starts off all Doco style in the opening credits, which is great, not highly original, but sets the mood instantly. All key players are present. Marcel (both Jesse and Jess Jr), Ramey, Dubose and Brazel, and are played well.
If you want a retrospective of the Roswell incident played out in Hollywood style, this is the best yet. Not much artistic license taken, which when dealing with something based in fact, is much appreciated.
The crash site was what I really wanted to see portrayed, as this hasn't been recreated previously on film (well, that's even mildly believable) and (if also based on fact) proved to be, the SMOKING GUN. The size of the site is the "Think Tank" for this film.
Fans of Kyle Mclachlan will love this too. Maybe not as much as Blue Velvet, but that's another story...........
If you want a retrospective of the Roswell incident played out in Hollywood style, this is the best yet. Not much artistic license taken, which when dealing with something based in fact, is much appreciated.
The crash site was what I really wanted to see portrayed, as this hasn't been recreated previously on film (well, that's even mildly believable) and (if also based on fact) proved to be, the SMOKING GUN. The size of the site is the "Think Tank" for this film.
Fans of Kyle Mclachlan will love this too. Maybe not as much as Blue Velvet, but that's another story...........
An interesting, if workman-like sci-fi
bob the moo31 January 2002
At an army reunion, Jesse Marcel still finds he is treated with derision by his colleagues for claims he made years ago when serving in Roswell, New Mexico. Marcel finds the reunion provides him with more information and a fresh perspective on what happened. In flashbacks he remembers his original discovery of a suspected crash site with unearthly metals, his report and the following coverup. However as more witnesses confide in him how much can he believe is true, a problem that becomes even more pronounced with the input of the mysterious Townsend.
This tv movie is actually quite good. The story is told in flashback and allows us to hear witnesses put in their accounts rather than just see events unfold as fact. This allows the story to be less of a story about what happening at Roswell, but instead to be an account of what may have happened - pieced together over the film. The end result is that the picture painted is quite reasonable and is a bit more believable because we get it bit by bit, accounts adding to other accounts making the whole thing more believable. The only downside of this is that the film doesn't manage to come down on either side of the arguement and doesn't take a stance on what it thinks happens (although this may be a good thing).
The story moves along slowly, trying to remain credible despite the nature of the material,, but eventually it ruins this slow building in one key scene. The final scene between Marcel and Townsend is really enjoyable and moves really fast. Like Marcel we're not sure if Townsend is telling the truth or if he's misleading Marcel and us - in this respect it's still good. However this scene takes away a lot of the credibility that it has built up - Townsend begins to reveal all sorts of stories including tales of aliens messing with human DNA to shape evolution etc, and it really makes you doubt the whole thing. However, despite this it's still a very interesting story.
MacLachlan is good here as the man who knows what he saw but can't explain it, but his makeup for his "old-age" character is quite poor. Sheen may only have a small role but he does manage to have a great screen presence. The rest of the cast is really well filled out by well known faces such as Gunton, Xander Berkeley, Peter MacNicol and Charles Martin Smith.
Overall this is an interesting film that almost manages to move gradually enough to keep cynics on board while still satisfying the X-files crowd. The ending is a little sudden and requires a great leap of faith to accept Sheen's suggestions - but then maybe that's the point. Good.
This tv movie is actually quite good. The story is told in flashback and allows us to hear witnesses put in their accounts rather than just see events unfold as fact. This allows the story to be less of a story about what happening at Roswell, but instead to be an account of what may have happened - pieced together over the film. The end result is that the picture painted is quite reasonable and is a bit more believable because we get it bit by bit, accounts adding to other accounts making the whole thing more believable. The only downside of this is that the film doesn't manage to come down on either side of the arguement and doesn't take a stance on what it thinks happens (although this may be a good thing).
The story moves along slowly, trying to remain credible despite the nature of the material,, but eventually it ruins this slow building in one key scene. The final scene between Marcel and Townsend is really enjoyable and moves really fast. Like Marcel we're not sure if Townsend is telling the truth or if he's misleading Marcel and us - in this respect it's still good. However this scene takes away a lot of the credibility that it has built up - Townsend begins to reveal all sorts of stories including tales of aliens messing with human DNA to shape evolution etc, and it really makes you doubt the whole thing. However, despite this it's still a very interesting story.
MacLachlan is good here as the man who knows what he saw but can't explain it, but his makeup for his "old-age" character is quite poor. Sheen may only have a small role but he does manage to have a great screen presence. The rest of the cast is really well filled out by well known faces such as Gunton, Xander Berkeley, Peter MacNicol and Charles Martin Smith.
Overall this is an interesting film that almost manages to move gradually enough to keep cynics on board while still satisfying the X-files crowd. The ending is a little sudden and requires a great leap of faith to accept Sheen's suggestions - but then maybe that's the point. Good.
First time around, boss, second, not so much.
Shaun_of_the_Dude19 April 2022
Warning: Spoilers
I will keep this short and sweet.
The film itself is good in part. The fact that a lot of it was played out like a docudrama (JFK) gives it a somewhat believable veneer.
This drove us nuts in the 90s. Me and my family w were UFO nuts. Just like many others, thanks to Spielberg, X-Files and pretty much every other thing you could swing a cat at.
As for the subject matter. Hmmm. Well in 2022, it really hasn't aged well.
The Roswell incident was no doubt an event of some magnitude. However, whether it was a crashed ufo or not is still up for question.
Yet ask the basic questions and you get a case of Occam's Razor.
It happened at a time after two World Wars, after War of the World's and at a time when Hollywood was lapping this stuff up and UFOs were a convenient zeitgeist that will have been something akin to the Internet of its time. Big business.
Jesse Marcel, an intelligence officer, astrology nut, avid film goer and combat photographer finds what this movie states as being remnants of a ufo crash. He takes some home for his son.
In a family of three, with access and knowhow of cameras and intelligence, don't think once to take a picture... In fact, a media savvy military town has an event this big, and no-one thought it may be a good idea to take a single picture?
I mean, it is a great convenience that the aliens decided to visit earth at this time and head to one of the remotest towns in New Mexico. And before you say they were scoping the military base, why Roswell? Because of the bomb? OK. Sure.
It all adds up to a populace searching for answers and cashing in on big business. It is clearly stated that 3000 dollars was the going rate for anything ufo related. Whether this figure is true or not is moot. It does in fact show that it was big business.
Then we have the military. UFOs are a convenient cover story and distraction for a tensely paranoid military wrapped in a cold war. It is not only a perfect cover for their own experimental avionics service, but it is fun right? I mean, Hollywood and the military had been hand in fist for years before this.
Then there's the press. Again, UFOs are biiiiig business for the press and they'll have wanted anything to get away from the droll of two world wars.
Roswell and UFOs are now a billion dollar industry that keeps needing to reinvent itself for a newfangled audience.
Do UFOs exist? Yes, they probably do. But I'd say there is more likelihood that they are unidentified man-made machinery than visitors from the cosmos.
I mean, only a civil society who invented something as insipid as religion, santa and the tooth fairy could craft antithesis' surrounding visitors from another planet. I mean, are we really that interesting...
Whatever. Go watch this for entertainment value, but always keep in mind that EVERYONE gains from the lore of UFOs and extra terrestrials.
Even the late Jesse Marcel himself I would wager.
The film itself is good in part. The fact that a lot of it was played out like a docudrama (JFK) gives it a somewhat believable veneer.
This drove us nuts in the 90s. Me and my family w were UFO nuts. Just like many others, thanks to Spielberg, X-Files and pretty much every other thing you could swing a cat at.
As for the subject matter. Hmmm. Well in 2022, it really hasn't aged well.
The Roswell incident was no doubt an event of some magnitude. However, whether it was a crashed ufo or not is still up for question.
Yet ask the basic questions and you get a case of Occam's Razor.
It happened at a time after two World Wars, after War of the World's and at a time when Hollywood was lapping this stuff up and UFOs were a convenient zeitgeist that will have been something akin to the Internet of its time. Big business.
Jesse Marcel, an intelligence officer, astrology nut, avid film goer and combat photographer finds what this movie states as being remnants of a ufo crash. He takes some home for his son.
In a family of three, with access and knowhow of cameras and intelligence, don't think once to take a picture... In fact, a media savvy military town has an event this big, and no-one thought it may be a good idea to take a single picture?
I mean, it is a great convenience that the aliens decided to visit earth at this time and head to one of the remotest towns in New Mexico. And before you say they were scoping the military base, why Roswell? Because of the bomb? OK. Sure.
It all adds up to a populace searching for answers and cashing in on big business. It is clearly stated that 3000 dollars was the going rate for anything ufo related. Whether this figure is true or not is moot. It does in fact show that it was big business.
Then we have the military. UFOs are a convenient cover story and distraction for a tensely paranoid military wrapped in a cold war. It is not only a perfect cover for their own experimental avionics service, but it is fun right? I mean, Hollywood and the military had been hand in fist for years before this.
Then there's the press. Again, UFOs are biiiiig business for the press and they'll have wanted anything to get away from the droll of two world wars.
Roswell and UFOs are now a billion dollar industry that keeps needing to reinvent itself for a newfangled audience.
Do UFOs exist? Yes, they probably do. But I'd say there is more likelihood that they are unidentified man-made machinery than visitors from the cosmos.
I mean, only a civil society who invented something as insipid as religion, santa and the tooth fairy could craft antithesis' surrounding visitors from another planet. I mean, are we really that interesting...
Whatever. Go watch this for entertainment value, but always keep in mind that EVERYONE gains from the lore of UFOs and extra terrestrials.
Even the late Jesse Marcel himself I would wager.
People forget..The past remembers
sol-kay5 March 2005
(There May Be Spoilers) Story about the crash outside of Roswell New Mexico, in the early summer of 1947, and how it changed the lives of everyone involved in the investigation and handling of the evidence of that incident as well as those who were witnesses to it. Both in the military as well as those of the local population.
The story of "The Incident at Roswell" begins some thirty years later at the 30 year reunion of members of the famed 509th Bomb Wing of the 8th USAAF the only group of bombers who were armed with atomic bombs in the world at that time back in the late 1940's. It was the 509th who's B-29 bombers dropped the two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima & Nagasaki in August 1945 that ended the Second World War.
At the reunion is retired Maj. Jesse Marcel,Kyle MacLachian, who was the intelligence officer of that bomber wing back in 1947 when the Roswell crash happened. Sick and dying Jesse want's to finally get to the bottom of what happened back then and make it public before he dies and tries to get as much information from the soldiers airmen and civilians who were there and knows what happened but have been too afraid to talk about it all these years.
At the time of the crash in July 1947 Jesse and his commanding officer at the air base in Roswell Col. Blanchard, John M. Jackson, came to the conclusion that the debris that was found outside of Roswell at the Brazel ranch was out of this world and very possibly that of an extraterrestrial space craft.
Col. Blanchard released the startling story "US Army Captures a Crashed Flying Saucer outside of Roswell NM" that made headlines all over the world. The next day Gen. Ramey, Matthew Falson, arrived from D.C and told both Col. Blanchard and Maj. Jesse Marcel to change their story from a "flying saucer" to an army weather balloon crashing in the desert outside of Roswell.
Jesse was made out to look like a fool and incompetent with him having to stand before newsmen and news photographers looking like a jerk holding pieces of a weather balloon and making it look like he didn't know the difference between that and an alien spaceship. It also hurt Jesse that both his wife Vy and young son Jesse Jr. (Kim Greist & J.D Daniels), who knew that Jesse was telling the truth, were both made to swallow that made up story and having to see him humiliated in front of the American public and his friends as well.
At the reunion Jesse finally gets to the truth about what happened from many of those who were involved in the investigation and the cover up of the evidence at Roswell, as well as those UFO investigators who were investigating it then in 1977. In the end he dies in peace, Jesse died some nine years later in 1986, feeling that hopefully in the near future the truth would come out and prove, once in for all, that he was right about what happened at Roswell back in 1947.
What really happened at Roswell in 1947 we may never know if we have to count on the US government and military to release the evidence about that incident. In 1994 the US Air Force released a statement that the people who claimed that a space ship crashed at Roswell and that there were a number of alien bodies recovered, one of the aliens was reported to have survived, mistook that for the US Air force's Operation Mogul. Mogul had high altitude balloons drop dummies in parachutes to see if humans can survive those high parachutes drops in the future.
The paper trail totally disputes that claim since Operation Mogul was conducted in the early to mid 1950's years after "The Roswell Incident" was said to have taken place. In fact it's "The Roswell Incident", not Operation Mogul, that's supported by the newspapers magazines radio and television reports at that time in the fateful summer of 1947. The Then Secretary of Defense James Vincent Forrestal, Eugune Roche, was reported to have had a major hand in the Roswell Investagation back in 1947 that at the time was classified above Top Secret by the newly formed CIA. Within two years Forrestal lost his mind and was committed to the Bethesda Naval Hospital in Washington D.C after suffering a severe mental breakdown. Forrestal later fell or jumped out of his 16th floor hospital room window to his death in the early morning hours of May 22, 1949. Was it what he saw at Roswell, and forced to keep silent about it, that drove him to kill himself?
What exactly did happened outside of Roswell in the summer of 1947? The American people as well as the world may never know. What's positive about the "Incident at Roswell" is that those in charge of finding out what happened, then as well as now, will never let it see the light of day. Those in charge will continue to cover up the "Roswell Incident" and keep it covered up for as long as they have the power and authority to do so. And nothing short of a massive landing of alien space crafts in all the major capitals and cities on earth, to show the people on earth that they in fact do exist and are real, will finally make the US Government reveal what really happened at Roswell almost sixty years ago.
The story of "The Incident at Roswell" begins some thirty years later at the 30 year reunion of members of the famed 509th Bomb Wing of the 8th USAAF the only group of bombers who were armed with atomic bombs in the world at that time back in the late 1940's. It was the 509th who's B-29 bombers dropped the two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima & Nagasaki in August 1945 that ended the Second World War.
At the reunion is retired Maj. Jesse Marcel,Kyle MacLachian, who was the intelligence officer of that bomber wing back in 1947 when the Roswell crash happened. Sick and dying Jesse want's to finally get to the bottom of what happened back then and make it public before he dies and tries to get as much information from the soldiers airmen and civilians who were there and knows what happened but have been too afraid to talk about it all these years.
At the time of the crash in July 1947 Jesse and his commanding officer at the air base in Roswell Col. Blanchard, John M. Jackson, came to the conclusion that the debris that was found outside of Roswell at the Brazel ranch was out of this world and very possibly that of an extraterrestrial space craft.
Col. Blanchard released the startling story "US Army Captures a Crashed Flying Saucer outside of Roswell NM" that made headlines all over the world. The next day Gen. Ramey, Matthew Falson, arrived from D.C and told both Col. Blanchard and Maj. Jesse Marcel to change their story from a "flying saucer" to an army weather balloon crashing in the desert outside of Roswell.
Jesse was made out to look like a fool and incompetent with him having to stand before newsmen and news photographers looking like a jerk holding pieces of a weather balloon and making it look like he didn't know the difference between that and an alien spaceship. It also hurt Jesse that both his wife Vy and young son Jesse Jr. (Kim Greist & J.D Daniels), who knew that Jesse was telling the truth, were both made to swallow that made up story and having to see him humiliated in front of the American public and his friends as well.
At the reunion Jesse finally gets to the truth about what happened from many of those who were involved in the investigation and the cover up of the evidence at Roswell, as well as those UFO investigators who were investigating it then in 1977. In the end he dies in peace, Jesse died some nine years later in 1986, feeling that hopefully in the near future the truth would come out and prove, once in for all, that he was right about what happened at Roswell back in 1947.
What really happened at Roswell in 1947 we may never know if we have to count on the US government and military to release the evidence about that incident. In 1994 the US Air Force released a statement that the people who claimed that a space ship crashed at Roswell and that there were a number of alien bodies recovered, one of the aliens was reported to have survived, mistook that for the US Air force's Operation Mogul. Mogul had high altitude balloons drop dummies in parachutes to see if humans can survive those high parachutes drops in the future.
The paper trail totally disputes that claim since Operation Mogul was conducted in the early to mid 1950's years after "The Roswell Incident" was said to have taken place. In fact it's "The Roswell Incident", not Operation Mogul, that's supported by the newspapers magazines radio and television reports at that time in the fateful summer of 1947. The Then Secretary of Defense James Vincent Forrestal, Eugune Roche, was reported to have had a major hand in the Roswell Investagation back in 1947 that at the time was classified above Top Secret by the newly formed CIA. Within two years Forrestal lost his mind and was committed to the Bethesda Naval Hospital in Washington D.C after suffering a severe mental breakdown. Forrestal later fell or jumped out of his 16th floor hospital room window to his death in the early morning hours of May 22, 1949. Was it what he saw at Roswell, and forced to keep silent about it, that drove him to kill himself?
What exactly did happened outside of Roswell in the summer of 1947? The American people as well as the world may never know. What's positive about the "Incident at Roswell" is that those in charge of finding out what happened, then as well as now, will never let it see the light of day. Those in charge will continue to cover up the "Roswell Incident" and keep it covered up for as long as they have the power and authority to do so. And nothing short of a massive landing of alien space crafts in all the major capitals and cities on earth, to show the people on earth that they in fact do exist and are real, will finally make the US Government reveal what really happened at Roswell almost sixty years ago.
Educational, not over the top
trevor_adcock30 December 2006
Warning: Spoilers
This movie presents the details of the Incident at Roswell very accurately in accordance with the books published on the event. Whilst the movie obviously portrays the incident to be the crash of an alien craft in New Mexico in 1947, the scene in which Martin Sheen and Kyle MacLachlan meet in the hangar I believe gives the viewer the opportunity to make up their own mind about that incident and other U.F.O. sightings in general.
Whilst much of the movie revolves around Jesse Marcel,the government's efforts to make him look like a fool, and the subsequent cover ups, I felt the viewer was given the chance to understand why such an issue would have to be hidden from the general public. I believe the producers and director were smart to avoid the over the top, cliché, tacky Hollywood conspiracy theory theme.
Whilst the movie is based on the events at Roswell in 1947 some scenes that have been dramatised for the purposes of the movie are wonderfully incorporated to allow the viewer the opportunity to understand why the government would hide such an event. In particular, the scene in which a secret government committee has been set up to investigate the incident and the round table discussion that takes place. The dialogue such as, "We're here to ensure domestic tranquility, not eliminate it", "what of our religious institutions", and "what if this was to all come out, what are people going to believe" gives the viewer an understanding for why the government would shield us from such information.
The War of the Worlds radio broadcast in 1939 demonstrates how feeble minded the human race is to the possibility that we are not alone. If suddenly we were told that yes there was a crash of an alien spacecraft in New Mexico in 1947 then the world would go into a frenzy. The beliefs of an overwhelming percentage of the world's population, in particular religious institutions who are of the view we are the sole occupants of this enormous universe, would be instantly proved wrong. To tell such a large number of people that what they have believed their whole life is completely inaccurate would have devastating consequences. The government has to protect the majority of its people from themselves.
Therefore the information needs to be leaked slowly to allow people the chance to make up their own mind over a long period of time. That, in my view, is what is happening.
A wonderful movie perfectly produced that has not been given the full credit it deserves. The movie is not for those with a simple, uncomplicated mind however. You need to be able to think in a complex manner. Try watching it with an unbiased view on the event and see what you believe afterwards.
Some who have criticised the movie, in particular students from Melbourne, might be better advised to ask their teachers to try movies such as High School High, Down Periscope or Date Movie to better evaluate how a movie should not be made. Every movie made can have the s#*t picked out of it if you are watching it to do such.
Roswell is essential viewing on more than one occasion.
Whilst much of the movie revolves around Jesse Marcel,the government's efforts to make him look like a fool, and the subsequent cover ups, I felt the viewer was given the chance to understand why such an issue would have to be hidden from the general public. I believe the producers and director were smart to avoid the over the top, cliché, tacky Hollywood conspiracy theory theme.
Whilst the movie is based on the events at Roswell in 1947 some scenes that have been dramatised for the purposes of the movie are wonderfully incorporated to allow the viewer the opportunity to understand why the government would hide such an event. In particular, the scene in which a secret government committee has been set up to investigate the incident and the round table discussion that takes place. The dialogue such as, "We're here to ensure domestic tranquility, not eliminate it", "what of our religious institutions", and "what if this was to all come out, what are people going to believe" gives the viewer an understanding for why the government would shield us from such information.
The War of the Worlds radio broadcast in 1939 demonstrates how feeble minded the human race is to the possibility that we are not alone. If suddenly we were told that yes there was a crash of an alien spacecraft in New Mexico in 1947 then the world would go into a frenzy. The beliefs of an overwhelming percentage of the world's population, in particular religious institutions who are of the view we are the sole occupants of this enormous universe, would be instantly proved wrong. To tell such a large number of people that what they have believed their whole life is completely inaccurate would have devastating consequences. The government has to protect the majority of its people from themselves.
Therefore the information needs to be leaked slowly to allow people the chance to make up their own mind over a long period of time. That, in my view, is what is happening.
A wonderful movie perfectly produced that has not been given the full credit it deserves. The movie is not for those with a simple, uncomplicated mind however. You need to be able to think in a complex manner. Try watching it with an unbiased view on the event and see what you believe afterwards.
Some who have criticised the movie, in particular students from Melbourne, might be better advised to ask their teachers to try movies such as High School High, Down Periscope or Date Movie to better evaluate how a movie should not be made. Every movie made can have the s#*t picked out of it if you are watching it to do such.
Roswell is essential viewing on more than one occasion.
Conspiracy or fact? This film doesn't tell you.
Grekel Zender17 April 1999
Interesting, but rarely exciting look at the events surrounding Roswell - a New Mexican town plagued with rumour and notoriety ever since an apparent U.F.O. crashed there in 1947. Of course, this above-par TV movie plays around with the myths and conspiracy theory's put forward by crackpots and officials ever since.
Story is told from Jesse Marcel's (MacLachlan) point of view, a soldier with the U.S. Army back in '47 when the incident happened. Story also takes place in 1977, where Jesse (with his tired wife Kim Griest and sceptical son Doug Wert) is still searching for the truth.
Film uses intriguing and long flashback sequences to explain the events of '47. In these flashbacks, we are told how Jesse is with the team that finds the wreckage of a craft. He takes some of the material home, and finds it is nothing like anything made on Earth, but soon enough, he finds there has been a cover-up, and then finds out he has been made the scapegoat. The army come out with the explanation that is was a weather balloon, various reports go missing and people are unwilling to talk. Jesse's search for the truth starts here. Jump forward to '77 again, and Jesse is regarded as a crackpot as well - with even his own son is beginning to think he should give it up. However, Jesse manages to track down old soldiers, doctors and officials, who 30 years on, may now be willing to speak.
Roswell never really answers the questions it and many others have raised, but it is still an intriguing insight in to a significant incident that still raises arguments today. A top notch cast - including Martin Sheen as a government official - also helps.
Story is told from Jesse Marcel's (MacLachlan) point of view, a soldier with the U.S. Army back in '47 when the incident happened. Story also takes place in 1977, where Jesse (with his tired wife Kim Griest and sceptical son Doug Wert) is still searching for the truth.
Film uses intriguing and long flashback sequences to explain the events of '47. In these flashbacks, we are told how Jesse is with the team that finds the wreckage of a craft. He takes some of the material home, and finds it is nothing like anything made on Earth, but soon enough, he finds there has been a cover-up, and then finds out he has been made the scapegoat. The army come out with the explanation that is was a weather balloon, various reports go missing and people are unwilling to talk. Jesse's search for the truth starts here. Jump forward to '77 again, and Jesse is regarded as a crackpot as well - with even his own son is beginning to think he should give it up. However, Jesse manages to track down old soldiers, doctors and officials, who 30 years on, may now be willing to speak.
Roswell never really answers the questions it and many others have raised, but it is still an intriguing insight in to a significant incident that still raises arguments today. A top notch cast - including Martin Sheen as a government official - also helps.
Well-told story about an over-looked event.
ElijahCSkuggs22 May 2008
First off, I'm a huge believer in the existence of Aliens, abduction, implants, crop circles etc. etc. etc. (Did you just hit Not Useful already?? Jerk-off.) So, prior to this movie, I had decently high expectations. I wanted a movie that would deliver an intriguing story but at the same time give lots of interesting facts. Low and behold, my expectations were met and the movie delivered on both accounts.
At Major Jesse Marcel's 30th Anniversary for his Nuclear Bomb Unit, he's set on getting the facts straight about what he experienced and what went on during the Roswell incident. Through flashbacks mostly, the movie retells what most probably occurred.
With an intriguing and important story being told in a entertaining way, the movie succeeds more than it fails. The acting overall, is kinda average, especially by Kyle MacLachlan, but with an always impressive Dwight Yoakam, and a usually solid Martin Sheen, the movie also ends up succeeding here as well. Overall, Roswell was a entertaining film that delivers a nice story with some nice knowledge concerning the incident. If you're even slightly interested in aliens or Roswell, and if you get the chance to watch this movie, don't hesitate, it's easily worth the 90 minutes.
At Major Jesse Marcel's 30th Anniversary for his Nuclear Bomb Unit, he's set on getting the facts straight about what he experienced and what went on during the Roswell incident. Through flashbacks mostly, the movie retells what most probably occurred.
With an intriguing and important story being told in a entertaining way, the movie succeeds more than it fails. The acting overall, is kinda average, especially by Kyle MacLachlan, but with an always impressive Dwight Yoakam, and a usually solid Martin Sheen, the movie also ends up succeeding here as well. Overall, Roswell was a entertaining film that delivers a nice story with some nice knowledge concerning the incident. If you're even slightly interested in aliens or Roswell, and if you get the chance to watch this movie, don't hesitate, it's easily worth the 90 minutes.
some likely truths
starman20033 June 2004
One thing that impressed me a bit about his movie were the scenes of government officials discussing what to do in the wake of Roswell. I consider it highly likely that the coverup was (and still is) motivated primarily by a realization that advanced ETs, if revealed, would devastate existing religious beliefs and political institutions. Also intriguing were the tactics proposed to help the coverup. Bad information was to be leaked through good sources and good information through bad sources. There is fairly good evidence of this. The whole Roswell case is awash with nonsense and disinformation put out by people in touch with the government, notably Corso, Courtney Brown and K.Korff.The latter supports the official line that no ET crash occurred; it was just a balloon array, supposedly difficult to identify because it consisted of 23 balloons. But many people can see through official explanations, so outright denial must be supplemented by disinformation.If they can't prevent some people from believing at least they can try to prevent them from drawing the right conclusions.That is the purpose of disinformation. The truth is that Roswell was a deliberate crash, intended to contact the government without frightening it, as landing intact would have. Note that the aliens don't land and reveal themselves yet, not any more than the government discloses their existence. The two have collaborated since the outset, in 1947.To obscure this, Corso portrayed the aliens as hostile, while the putative briefing document says their intentions are completely unknown. The obvious implication, and purpose of the phoney document, is to discredit the reality: ET-government collaboration.
Accurate, according to one who was there
paul-2860416 January 2022
Well told even for ones that don't know the truth
bellino-angelo201428 November 2021
When it comes to discoveries about aliens few are more famous than the ones that happened in Roswell in the summer of 1947. This event returned to notoriety with this made for TV movie and it's probably one of the best about the topic.
It begins at a dinner for veterans of a military bomb unit. Jesse Marcel (Kyle MacLachlan) is a retired Army Air Force Intelligence officer who finds himself returning to the case 30 years later. Then the story moves in flashbacks: rancher Mac Brazel (Dwight Yoakam) found accidentally some strange debris in his ranch. Soon Marcel and a few others take it to the military base for investigating where it came from: many won't believe Marcel in his battle for the search of truth about that debris except for Lewis Rickett (Peter McNicol) and the mysterious Townsend (Martin Sheen) who has the first contact with an alien from Roswell.
It's a decent TV movie considering the subject matter and it gives a nice view for folks that are curious about the story or want to know more. Kyle MacLachlan and Martin Sheen shine despite the latter has some sort of cameo even tho he is in the posters. The supporting cast is full of faces many movie lovers would recognize: Dwight Yoakam, John M. Jackson, Bob Gunton and a few others are all well suited for the roles. It's also quite nostalgic in its own way. Not to be missed.
It begins at a dinner for veterans of a military bomb unit. Jesse Marcel (Kyle MacLachlan) is a retired Army Air Force Intelligence officer who finds himself returning to the case 30 years later. Then the story moves in flashbacks: rancher Mac Brazel (Dwight Yoakam) found accidentally some strange debris in his ranch. Soon Marcel and a few others take it to the military base for investigating where it came from: many won't believe Marcel in his battle for the search of truth about that debris except for Lewis Rickett (Peter McNicol) and the mysterious Townsend (Martin Sheen) who has the first contact with an alien from Roswell.
It's a decent TV movie considering the subject matter and it gives a nice view for folks that are curious about the story or want to know more. Kyle MacLachlan and Martin Sheen shine despite the latter has some sort of cameo even tho he is in the posters. The supporting cast is full of faces many movie lovers would recognize: Dwight Yoakam, John M. Jackson, Bob Gunton and a few others are all well suited for the roles. It's also quite nostalgic in its own way. Not to be missed.
Watch The Skies
timdalton0074 May 2017
Warning: Spoilers
When it comes to UFO events, few are more famous than the alleged events that took place outside the New Mexico town of Roswell in the summer of 1947. Yet that wasn't always the case though as for decades the case lingered in obscurity. While it had begun to come back to the fore, it was with this 1994 Showtime film that the case began to make an impact. Looking at the film, it isn't hard to see why as it may well rank among the best films made on the topic.
That is in part because of the cast. Kyle MacLachlan was a perfect choice for the role of Jesse Marcel, the Army Air Force Intelligence officer who finds himself unwittingly at the center of the whole affair who finds himself returning to the case three decades later. MacLachlan has a silent strength to him throughout whether he is the young officer who seems to be catching the break of a lifetime or the old man trying to make sense of the past confronting it head on. It is the sort of performance that lifts up the entire production.
The rest of the cast is solid as well. Martin Sheen effectively has an extended cameo despite being billed second as the mysterious figure Townsend but Sheen does well with the part and gives a strong performance with the little screen time that he has. Dwight Yoakam does well as Mac Brazel, the rancher who starts off the whole business by finding some strange debris on the ranch he's working. The cast is also full of character actors who bring the story to life admirably including John M. Jackson, Xander Berkeley, Bob Gunton, Nick Searcy, and Phillip Baker Hall among others. Kudos as well to Kim Greist as Marcel's wife. It's a solid cast that helps ground what is an incredible story in some much needed human reality.
Beyond the cast, Roswell is a well produced piece of work. From the cinematography of Steven Poster to the production design of Michael Z. Hanan, the costumes from May Routh, and the score by Elliot Goldenthal, the film exudes a competence and firm grasp of the inherent dramatic nature of the events it portrays without overplaying it. Hats off as well to the film's make-up department in aging up several members of the cast for the scenes set in the 1970s. All are brought together under the direction of Jeremy Kagan whose direction shows the occasional flourish but only when the production calls for it. The result is a well made and highly watchable ninety minutes or so.
Yet nothing perhaps does more to ground Roswell firmly to Earth than the script by Arthur Kopit (from a story by Kopit, producer Paul Davids, and director Kagan). One can imagine all too easily from other UFO films that this could have been wildly speculative and more science fiction than anything else. Instead, Roswell sticks with the UFO based accounts of the case and presents them without much fictionalization and without frills to make a compelling and believable case. It's true that the film's 1970 sections are fiction with Marcel effectively standing in for a number of investigators who have examined the case but much of what the film presents in its 1947 sections has eyewitness testimony to back it up (whatever stock you wish to place in it). The film admits when it gets into wild speculation (especially in the last twenty minutes or so) and acknowledges conflicting accounts, all to its credit. The script then is an example of how to take compelling but controversial material and present it on the screen.
In the end, it is no surprise that Roswell was nominated for a Golden Globe as that year's Best Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television. It is a well acted and well made piece of work which brings potentially one of the most fascinating stories of the 20th century vividly to life without becoming sensational along the way. As a result of both its seriousness and how well it stands up even after two decades, it stands out among the pack of UFO related film works as a definite highlight.
That is in part because of the cast. Kyle MacLachlan was a perfect choice for the role of Jesse Marcel, the Army Air Force Intelligence officer who finds himself unwittingly at the center of the whole affair who finds himself returning to the case three decades later. MacLachlan has a silent strength to him throughout whether he is the young officer who seems to be catching the break of a lifetime or the old man trying to make sense of the past confronting it head on. It is the sort of performance that lifts up the entire production.
The rest of the cast is solid as well. Martin Sheen effectively has an extended cameo despite being billed second as the mysterious figure Townsend but Sheen does well with the part and gives a strong performance with the little screen time that he has. Dwight Yoakam does well as Mac Brazel, the rancher who starts off the whole business by finding some strange debris on the ranch he's working. The cast is also full of character actors who bring the story to life admirably including John M. Jackson, Xander Berkeley, Bob Gunton, Nick Searcy, and Phillip Baker Hall among others. Kudos as well to Kim Greist as Marcel's wife. It's a solid cast that helps ground what is an incredible story in some much needed human reality.
Beyond the cast, Roswell is a well produced piece of work. From the cinematography of Steven Poster to the production design of Michael Z. Hanan, the costumes from May Routh, and the score by Elliot Goldenthal, the film exudes a competence and firm grasp of the inherent dramatic nature of the events it portrays without overplaying it. Hats off as well to the film's make-up department in aging up several members of the cast for the scenes set in the 1970s. All are brought together under the direction of Jeremy Kagan whose direction shows the occasional flourish but only when the production calls for it. The result is a well made and highly watchable ninety minutes or so.
Yet nothing perhaps does more to ground Roswell firmly to Earth than the script by Arthur Kopit (from a story by Kopit, producer Paul Davids, and director Kagan). One can imagine all too easily from other UFO films that this could have been wildly speculative and more science fiction than anything else. Instead, Roswell sticks with the UFO based accounts of the case and presents them without much fictionalization and without frills to make a compelling and believable case. It's true that the film's 1970 sections are fiction with Marcel effectively standing in for a number of investigators who have examined the case but much of what the film presents in its 1947 sections has eyewitness testimony to back it up (whatever stock you wish to place in it). The film admits when it gets into wild speculation (especially in the last twenty minutes or so) and acknowledges conflicting accounts, all to its credit. The script then is an example of how to take compelling but controversial material and present it on the screen.
In the end, it is no surprise that Roswell was nominated for a Golden Globe as that year's Best Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television. It is a well acted and well made piece of work which brings potentially one of the most fascinating stories of the 20th century vividly to life without becoming sensational along the way. As a result of both its seriousness and how well it stands up even after two decades, it stands out among the pack of UFO related film works as a definite highlight.
Oh my god....
Neiro3k5 March 2001
....I won't say much. This wasn't going to be a movie that was going to create havoc at the Oscars or break some mold at the box office but, let me just say, we had to watch this for school........it was used as an example of how NOT to make a film. Bad acting. (Martin Sheen, for shame! Hardly broke a sweat standing in the background for most of the duration) Bad direction. (Tried to be creative by having flashbacks in different styles, but may I ask, why the dramatic shots of paintings in the Political meeting? It was like Days Of Our Lives for Chrissake!) Bad BAD script. (classics from the main characters wife, like : "Dance time, dear" and "Your father's back, son".) And bad bad BAD make up! (throw some baby powder over Kyles face to make him look old, yeah, wow.) This film also has to win "most pathetic sick man portrayal" by Kyle Mac in the scene where he grabs one of the witnesses in his living room by the shoulders and coughs, jerking his head back and forth like a duck at a disco. (I tried the same move at a club last weekend, the bouncers almost booted me out). I wouldn't normally even think about watching something like this, but we had to. My God. Really bad. Half a Star. And thats coz it at least had an Alien in it that could'nt act either.
Elgin Arizona
burjreview-059035 January 2023
Was on a motorcycle south of Tucson once, near a winery in Elgin when I happened upon a film crew filming a biplane circling overhead. I had to pause because they told me "There's a UFO chasing the plane." I asked who the star was, and was told it was Martin Sheen. "Where is he?" I asked, "in the biplane?" The answer was "no, he's in that trailer up ahead." I didn't wait, but turned back because I was running out of gas, and no gas stations in the area. Plus who knew how long the takes would take?
I have also visited the Roswell museum in NM. There is an alien autopsy room there which my sister took a photo of with me in the photo. This was in 2018. She died in 2019, related to cancer. There are also photographs of the site and newspaper clippings and a mock-up of the UFO with aliens. The museum doesn't take sides. They want both believers and non-believers. I'm a non. The evidence is flimsy. Shredded, flimsy weather balloon secreted away by the Air Force. Thoughts on this, credited with starting the UFO craze?
I have also visited the Roswell museum in NM. There is an alien autopsy room there which my sister took a photo of with me in the photo. This was in 2018. She died in 2019, related to cancer. There are also photographs of the site and newspaper clippings and a mock-up of the UFO with aliens. The museum doesn't take sides. They want both believers and non-believers. I'm a non. The evidence is flimsy. Shredded, flimsy weather balloon secreted away by the Air Force. Thoughts on this, credited with starting the UFO craze?
It's not that bad, it succeeds at mediocrity
debra-139 April 2004
It's not bad enough to be an example of how *not* to make a movie, but it's not good either. It really succeeds at mediocrity, which some consider the greatest sin of all. It tried to find a satisfying reason for ending, but just ended -- or rather, trailed off. My biggest question at the end of the movie was: "How did Martin Sheen get 2nd billing for a couple of shots of him lurking in the background, and basically one speech?" Not "for shame," as another reviewer says -- more like "Nice work if you can get it."
Definitely a movie with an agenda. I feel as though its money wasn't well spent. They should have cut down on the vignettes and extras and sprung for a really good writer and a decent director who could have turned this into a truly suspenseful story with a cliffhanger ending, instead of the sappy try at "We're a family again."
There are worse ways to spend 90 minutes, and the movie was intriguing enough to get me to Google Jesse Marcel. Almost 4,000 hits. Check it out.
Definitely a movie with an agenda. I feel as though its money wasn't well spent. They should have cut down on the vignettes and extras and sprung for a really good writer and a decent director who could have turned this into a truly suspenseful story with a cliffhanger ending, instead of the sappy try at "We're a family again."
There are worse ways to spend 90 minutes, and the movie was intriguing enough to get me to Google Jesse Marcel. Almost 4,000 hits. Check it out.
"Crash" Course On One of the Most (In)Famous Incidents In UFO History
LeonLouisRicci13 May 2023
The Name "Roswell" (the Town Nearest the actual event) has Become a Part of the History and "Mythology" of the UFO-Flying-Saucer Events in the 20th Century.
In 1994 When the Movie was Made, a Number of "Witnesses" and "Hands-On" Individuals were Still Alive and "Talking' about the Crash that Made Headlines Across America.
The Ink wasn't Dry on those Newspaper Headlines when the Government Retracted the "Real" Story and said it was a Mistake.
What was Reported (by Servicemen in the 509th Bomb-Wing, Americas only Nuclear equipped base) was in Error and it was Nothing More than a Routine "Weather Balloon".
Stretching Credulity to the Limit, Folks Bought the "Cover-Up" Story and, for that Matter, every Other Following "Cover-Up" Story about the "Roswell Incident" (Mogul balloons and Crash-Dummies).
This Made for "Showtime" TV-Movie Tells the Tale Mostly from the POV of Maj. Jesse Marcel, who Famously is the One Pictured in the Newspaper Photos Holding the Tin-Foil and Basal-Wood.
The Movie is a Spot-On Dramatization...
Starting in Marcel's Old Age and Flashes Back to the "Roswell Incident" and its Surrounding Circumstances, by the Govt. And Others Involved, Immediately Following the Crash.
From What can be Ascertained from Survivors who Participated, this is an Accurate Portrayal and Look at What Occurred.
Maj. Marcel's Real-Life Son, in His Last Interview Said that it was a Good Look at the Crash, Cover-Up, and Residual Events.
A Fine Cast, Led by Kyle MacLachlan, with an Extended Cameo from Martin Sheen, Highlighted by a Snappy Dwight Yokum as Mac Brazel (the rancher where the debris was discovered), with...
Many Other Recognizable Character Actors Contribute.
The Film is Highly-Entertaining (for believers and non believers), Suspenseful and Informative and has a Surreal Style that is Intriguing, Befitting the Intrigue of the Story.
The Opening Credit Sequence Using Real Newsreel Footage is Worth the Price of Admission.
An Unrecognized "Hidden-Gem" of Ufology that Holds-Up Extremely Well, and Should be More Well Known and Appreciated.
For Fans of the Paranormal, UFOs, Flying-Saucers, and the Conspiracy-Crazed, a...Must-See
For All Others, it's...
Worth a Watch.
Note...Nominated for a "Golden Globe" for Best Cable-TV Movie.
In 1994 When the Movie was Made, a Number of "Witnesses" and "Hands-On" Individuals were Still Alive and "Talking' about the Crash that Made Headlines Across America.
The Ink wasn't Dry on those Newspaper Headlines when the Government Retracted the "Real" Story and said it was a Mistake.
What was Reported (by Servicemen in the 509th Bomb-Wing, Americas only Nuclear equipped base) was in Error and it was Nothing More than a Routine "Weather Balloon".
Stretching Credulity to the Limit, Folks Bought the "Cover-Up" Story and, for that Matter, every Other Following "Cover-Up" Story about the "Roswell Incident" (Mogul balloons and Crash-Dummies).
This Made for "Showtime" TV-Movie Tells the Tale Mostly from the POV of Maj. Jesse Marcel, who Famously is the One Pictured in the Newspaper Photos Holding the Tin-Foil and Basal-Wood.
The Movie is a Spot-On Dramatization...
Starting in Marcel's Old Age and Flashes Back to the "Roswell Incident" and its Surrounding Circumstances, by the Govt. And Others Involved, Immediately Following the Crash.
From What can be Ascertained from Survivors who Participated, this is an Accurate Portrayal and Look at What Occurred.
Maj. Marcel's Real-Life Son, in His Last Interview Said that it was a Good Look at the Crash, Cover-Up, and Residual Events.
A Fine Cast, Led by Kyle MacLachlan, with an Extended Cameo from Martin Sheen, Highlighted by a Snappy Dwight Yokum as Mac Brazel (the rancher where the debris was discovered), with...
Many Other Recognizable Character Actors Contribute.
The Film is Highly-Entertaining (for believers and non believers), Suspenseful and Informative and has a Surreal Style that is Intriguing, Befitting the Intrigue of the Story.
The Opening Credit Sequence Using Real Newsreel Footage is Worth the Price of Admission.
An Unrecognized "Hidden-Gem" of Ufology that Holds-Up Extremely Well, and Should be More Well Known and Appreciated.
For Fans of the Paranormal, UFOs, Flying-Saucers, and the Conspiracy-Crazed, a...Must-See
For All Others, it's...
Worth a Watch.
Note...Nominated for a "Golden Globe" for Best Cable-TV Movie.
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