--- title: "The Man Who Fell to Earth" year: 1976 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-man-who-fell-to-earth" fi1m_score: 82 critics_score: 80 critics_reviews: 20 published: "2026-09-16T11:01:12.386469+00:00" updated: "2026-09-16T11:01:14.397900+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) Directed by Nicolas Roeg · 2h 19m · MPA R · Science Fiction, Drama, Fantasy **Fi1m score: 82** · Critics 80 from 20 reviews *In a sentence:* David Bowie visits Earth, and we feel faintly obliged to apologise for the place > Nicolas Roeg’s alien visitor finds a planet full of temptations and little comfort. David Bowie’s gentle performance makes this strange, disjointed science fiction moving, though the wandering second half asks for more patience than it always earns. ## Synopsis An alien visitor, Thomas Jerome Newton (David Bowie), arrives on Earth and begins building a technology empire. Around him are Mary-Lou (Candy Clark), Nathan Bryce (Rip Torn) and Oliver Farnsworth (Buck Henry), inhabitants of a planet whose habits are unfamiliar to him. Newton enters a world of commerce in which his abilities offer a way forward, while human desires and distractions threaten to draw him away from his purpose. Desert landscapes frame his arrival among people who can offer company without necessarily understanding the stranger in their midst. ## Review Nicolas Roeg’s *The Man Who Fell to Earth* is absorbing, often moving science fiction, provided we accept that it will sometimes leave us waiting for the story to catch up. Its alien visitor, Thomas Jerome Newton, sets about building a technology empire on Earth. David Bowie makes that predicament worth watching even when the film becomes needlessly obscure. The director is interested in how our habits look to someone who has never learnt them. He makes a persuasive case that they would look rather unhealthy. The casting could have encouraged a performance built entirely around being unusual. Instead, David Bowie gives Newton a gentleness that keeps the strangeness from becoming a pose. We were surprised by how protective we felt of him. His reserve seems so easily mistaken for indifference, and his vulnerability makes the surrounding human appetites feel threatening. Candy Clark, as Mary-Lou, supplies a welcome warmth; her contribution matters in a film that can otherwise keep people at an uncomfortable distance. Anthony B. Richmond’s cinematography is especially effective in the desert landscapes, which make this supposedly familiar planet seem difficult to inhabit. The open space looks inhospitable, and the film needs no elaborate explanation to make us believe that Newton is far from home. Brian Eatwell’s production design also helps make the world of commerce feel uninviting, despite everything it promises. The surroundings are worth looking at, but the film never makes us eager to live in them. Graeme Clifford’s editing leaves gaps where a more conventional film would insert an explanation or a clear transition. The effect is disorientating, and it suits a protagonist for whom ordinary experience cannot be taken for granted. The music credited to John Phillips and Stomu Yamash’ta contributes to that unsettled feeling. Together with the disruptive sound, it prevents the pictures from becoming a comfortable sequence of attractive oddities. At its strongest, the film makes us feel how much effort it takes Newton simply to be here. The second half does wander, and there are stretches where the uncertainty stops being interesting. Paul Mayersberg’s screenplay, adapted from Walter Tevis’s novel, gives the film plenty to consider about loneliness and materialism, but these scenes add little to what we have already understood. At 139 minutes, that repetition is a substantial demand on our patience. Several scenes could lose some time without making the character or his predicament any less strange. An alien who builds a technology empire has found something humans will readily understand. Nicolas Roeg uses that business success to make human dealings look suspicious, without turning Newton into a blameless judge of our behaviour. The visitor is susceptible to the distractions around him, and the performance allows us to understand their appeal. Science fiction often invites us to imagine what superior abilities might solve. Here they seem of little use against ordinary loneliness. See it when there is time to let a scene remain puzzling without immediately reaching for an explanation. The second half asks for more patience than it always earns. Anyone expecting a brisk account of an alien’s business plan should make other arrangements. *Fi1m score 82, published 16 September 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics respond warmly to Nicolas Roeg’s disorientating science fiction, with praise clustering around David Bowie’s casting and performance. The reviews repeatedly find vulnerability beneath his unearthly presence, giving the film’s treatment of exile and alienation an emotional centre. Roeg’s surreal imagery, landscapes and elliptical editing also draw broad admiration, particularly for making Earth seem unfamiliar and allowing mood and feeling to carry scenes that resist straightforward explanation. The reservations concern narrative coherence, pacing and how much emotional connection survives the fragmentation. Several favourable reviews acknowledge wandering stretches, unfocused scenes or imperfections, but regard these as tolerable costs of the film’s ambition. The spread runs from enthusiasm to one mixed assessment: Collider finds the storytelling incoherent and the adaptation poor, while still praising Bowie and the visuals. Polygon offers a narrower dissent within an otherwise positive response, finding the film sad without being particularly moving. ### Reviews we read (20) - **Little White Lies**, David Jenkins (4/5/5): The review hails the 4K restoration of Roeg's masterpiece, with Bowie astonishing as the alien visitor building a tech empire. It singles out the film's elliptical editing, pessimistic yet hopeful vision of a volatile world, and status as one of the director's most unique achievements. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/the-man-who-fell-to-earth/) - **The Times**, Kate Muir (★★★★★): David Bowie is back in cinemas as the alienated alien in the re-release of Nicolas Roeg’s surreal film. The critic singles out Bowie’s beyond-cool performance as stealing the show in a smorgasbord of strangeness. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/uk/science/article/the-man-who-fell-to-earth-1976-plsp7jmkp) - **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (85/100, inferred): Nicolas Roeg’s 1976 sci-fi about an alien visitor played by David Bowie is rereleased and looks more exotic and fascinating than ever. The critic singles out Bowie’s sui generis central performance for its unselfconscious gentleness and vulnerability. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/sep/08/the-man-who-fell-to-earth-review-nicolas-roeg-david-bowie) - **Empire**, Kim Newman (80/100, inferred): The film is a demanding, disorientating yet beguilingly beautiful work that buries its plot but rewards repeated viewings with its suggestion that Earth is the strangest planet. Roeg's direction captures striking landscapes and the alien lead's unsettling presence amid earthly distractions. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/man-fell-earth-review/) - **The New Yorker**, Anthony Lane (80/100, inferred): The critic finds the film retains its cool, confounding strangeness as a sci-fi dedicated to how freakish Earth would seem to a visitor. It singles out the piercing tristesse of the final scene and Roeg's pessimistic vision of abandoning the hero to his fate. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/06/27/major-tom) - **The New York Times**, Vincent Canby (80/100, inferred): The review calls the film beautiful science fiction that is mainly about exile and being an alien on Earth. It singles out David Bowie's inspired, extraordinary performance as the space visitor for praise. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1976/05/29/archives/man-who-fell-to-earth-is-beautiful-science-fiction.html) - **Time Out**, Tom Huddleston (4/5): The review calls it a haunting classic with a riveting Bowie performance as the alien sidetracked by human flaws. It singles out sublime moments like eye extractions and desert landscapes, while noting the second half wanders and some elements are dated. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-man-who-fell-to-earth-1) - **Los Angeles Times**, Mark Olsen (75/100, inferred): The review highlights the film's cult status and strange imagery about aliens, technology, corporate conspiracy and government interference. It praises the director's approved version and Bowie's powerful performance as the ultimate stranger in a strange land. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-mn-nicolas-roeg-earth-20110703-story.html) - **RogerEbert.com**, Roger Ebert (3/4): The critic praises David Bowie's eerie, urbane performance as the alien visitor and the film's focus on character and ideas over plot. He notes it is slow at times with unfocused scenes but finds it a unique product of 1970s ambition. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-man-who-fell-to-earth-2011) - **Variety**, Robert Hawkins (75/100, inferred): The review establishes Roeg as one of the most talented new filmmakers and calls the film a demanding but stunning visual and aural achievement. It singles out Bowie's inspired casting and performance as the ethereal visitor and Candy Clark's winning contribution. [Read](https://variety.com/1976/film/reviews/the-man-who-fell-to-earth-1200423794/) - **Sight and Sound**, Tom Milne (70/100, inferred): The critic praises the film's emotional continuity over intellectual logic and Bowie's convincing portrayal of vulnerability as an alien. It explores themes of human connection, disorientation, and parallel worlds through elliptical storytelling and motifs like trains and incarceration. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/features/man-who-fell-earth-humanity-lost-found) - **Slant Magazine**, Matt Noller (70/100, inferred): Roeg delivers a singular, haunting sci-fi experience that strips narrative to essentials in favor of tone and emotion through elliptical editing and disruptive sound design. The film is aggressively imperfect yet treasured for its ambitious failures and glorious moments. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-man-who-fell-to-earth/) - **Consequence** (90/100, inferred): The critic calls the film a hallucinatory, heartfelt and wholly bizarre sci-fi masterpiece that endures due to its exploration of alienation and commerce, singling out Bowie's captivating, hypnotic performance as its central strength. [Read](https://consequence.net/2016/05/david-bowie-the-thin-white-duke-and-the-man-who-fell-to-earth/) - **Den of Geek**, Ryan Lambie (90/100, inferred): The film is an experimental, one-of-a-kind piece of filmmaking about alienation, standing alongside Roeg’s finest work. It is worthy of enduring attention thanks to its committed, moving central performances, especially Bowie’s. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/looking-back-at-nicolas-roegs-the-man-who-fell-to-earth/) - **The Ringer**, Adam Nayman (90/100, inferred): The critic praises the film as a rich meditation on spiritual emptiness and materialism, highlighting Bowie's perfect casting and the director's virtuoso weirdness in atmosphere, imagery, and eroticism. [Read](https://www.theringer.com/2018/11/26/movies/nicolas-roeg-director-dead-obituary-dont-look-now-man-who-fell-to-earth-walkabout) - **/Film**, Debopriyaa Dutta (85/100, inferred): Roeg's cult sci-fi remains hypnotic, profound and densely layered nearly 50 years later, with Bowie integral as the alien emitting a timeless aura. It is an ambitious, complex and beautiful experimental triumph open to many interpretations. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/2015874/the-man-who-fell-to-earth-70s-sci-fi-movie-david-bowie-alien/) - **HeyUGuys**, Nick Turk (4/5): Roeg's film stands the test of time thanks to superb casting of Bowie as the alien and its decision not to spoon-feed explanations. Its bold surreal imagery and unconventional structure make it a standout sci-fi experience unlike anything else. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/the-man-who-fell-to-earth-blu-ray-review/) - **Eye for Film**, Jennie Kermode (75/100, inferred): Roeg's sprawling, complex story of an alien who loses his way on Earth is full of dazzling images and striking scenes. The film uses visual beauty as a metaphor for the seductiveness of a world that proves culturally overwhelming for its protagonist. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-man-who-fell-to-earth-film-review-by-jennie-kermode) - **Polygon**, Jesse Hassenger (70/100, inferred): The critic describes the film as challenging and authentically alien due to its fragmented storytelling and elliptical style, praising its striking visuals and Bowie's anchoring performance while noting it is sad but not particularly moving. [Read](https://www.polygon.com/david-bowie-man-who-fell-to-earth-at-50/) - **Collider**, Luna Guthrie (50/100, inferred): The critic finds the film an acquired taste that is incoherent and poorly adapted from the novel, but praises Bowie's uniquely perfect casting and performance along with the surreal visuals and memorable scenes. [Read](https://collider.com/david-bowie-the-man-who-fell-to-earth/) ## Details - **Director:** Nicolas Roeg - **Director:** Nicolas Roeg - **Screenplay:** Paul Mayersberg - **Novel:** Walter Tevis - **Cinematography:** Anthony B. Richmond - **Editor:** Graeme Clifford - **Music:** John Phillips, Stomu Yamash'ta - **Production design:** Brian Eatwell - **Costume design:** May Routh - **Producer:** Barry Spikings, Michael Deeley - **Cast:** David Bowie as Thomas Jerome Newton; Rip Torn as Nathan Bryce; Candy Clark as Mary-Lou; Tony Mascia as Arthur; Buck Henry as Oliver Farnsworth; Bernie Casey as Peters; Adrienne La Russa as Helen; Claudia Jennings as Peters' Wife (uncredited) - **Runtime:** 2h 19m - **Certificate (MPA):** R - **Release (the US):** 28 May 1976 - **Genres:** Science Fiction, Drama, Fantasy - **Budget:** $2 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyEV4Y2NnxM ## Where to watch in the US - Tubi: free, hd, leaving 2026-10-01 - The Roku Channel: free, hd, leaving 2026-10-01 - Amazon Prime Video: add-on - The Roku Channel: add-on, hd - Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $7.99, sd *Checked 2026-09-16.* Also available in: AT, AU, CA, CZ, ES, FR, GB, NZ, RO, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - Hugo Awards 1977: Best Dramatic Presentation (nominated) ## If you liked this - *Solaris* (1972): Patient science fiction in which distance from home makes human attachments harder to escape. - *The Brother from Another Planet* (1984): A gentler alien arrival, with everyday city life supplying the strangeness. - *Under the Skin* (2013): An outsider’s view of human behaviour, with discomfort built into the images. - *The Face of Another* (1966): A changed face turns ordinary encounters into troubling questions about identity. - *Starman* (1984): For a warmer alien encounter, with affection given room beside the unease. --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/the-man-who-fell-to-earth