In 1988, an alien spaceship landed in the Mojave Desert. On board were approximately 300,000 aliens that had been bred as slave labor. The government took in the aliens and has been integrating them into the American way of life. In the three years that they have been here, most of them settled in Los Angeles. They were given American names were assimilated into American culture and were given training and jobs. The aliens are referred to as ‘Newcomers’.
Detective Matthew Sykes (James Caan) is a human who works for the Los Angeles police department. While on patrol with his partner Bill Tuggle (Roger Aaron Brown) they come upon a robbery in progress. The store owner and Sykes’ partner are both killed. One of the robbers, a Newcomer, gets away. Sykes’ boss, Captain Werner (Frances X. McCarthy) notifies his men that one of the Newcomers, Sam Francisco (Mandy Patinkin) has been promoted to detective and needs a partner.
Sykes is prejudice against the Newcomers, but he believes that he can use Francisco, with his knowledge of Newcomer psyche, in helping him investigate who killed his former partner. Sykes thinks that the name Sam Francisco is ridiculous, so he calls his new partner ‘George’. Francisco counters that, in his language, the word Sykes sounds very similar to words that mean ‘Shithead’ in English. The two are off to a rocky start.
The two are charged with investigating the death of a Newcomer named Warren Hubley. Francisco had previously remarked that the special bullets used in Hubley’s death were similar to the ones used to kill the store clerk and Sykes’ partner. Sykes believes this is his pathway to finding the Newcomer who killed Bill. The investigation takes the two men into the Newcomer underworld and the manufacture of a drug called Jabroka that is highly addictive to Newcomers. Francisco is determined to stop the destruction of his people and is fully committed to finding who is responsible for the manufacture of the drug. As they investigate, mutual respect begins to form and the two partners, now working for related goals, begin to trust each other and start to develop a bond.
“Alien Nation” was released in 1988 and was directed by Graham Baker. It is an American science fiction action film with dark comedy. The film spawned a television series that ran for only one year, however, the television series spawned five made for television movies.
The alien race is called Tenctonese. They are originally from the planet Tencton. Sam Francisco’s real Tenctonese name is "Ss'tangya T'ssorentsa". The Newcomers have two hearts and get drunk on curdled milk. They react to salt water the same way humans react to sulfuric acid. They were bred to be salves and are stronger and smarter than humans so are able to adapt to most situations. The Newcomers can’t digest cooked food, so they mostly eat raw meat.
This is one of the stranger ‘buddy cop’ movies out there. I can understand why this film has a cult. It’s a lot of fun to watch and the chemistry and banter between Caan and Patinkin is wonderful.