The Love War

Back in the day, I saw this on a Sunday afternoon syndicated movie(about 1975). Apparently it was a 1970 ABC movie of The Week(Networks did some terrific-but cheaply made- movies of the week, back in those halcyon 70's days.. of a sci-fi or horror nature, like Earth 2, The Stranger Within,Killdozer, The People, Don't Be Afraid of The Dark, The Horror At 37,000 Feet, Gargoyles..way before Sci Fi Channel put on mostly made for TV garbage of recent years. In fact, Sci Fi Channel, in their old days of the mid-90's re-ran many of these old films as well as TNT/TBS back in their retro format years). I think the word "Love" was in style-Love American Style, Love Story, etc all coming out the same year. Lloyd Bridges (who did a lot of made for TV'ers in them days) plays an alien who comes to earth to fight other aliens as the two races have declared the earth their battleground. Bridge's alien claims he's fighting the good fight and going to win the battle and, the earth will be left alone by his race, as he says that if the other race wins, they'll take over earth. Or will they? It's his word against theirs.He falls in love with the earthly Angie Dickinson and reveals his secret to her-you can guess the twist ending to that. Done kind of like a color Outer Limits episode made into a film. Special effects are not bad, for the day, and we only once ever glimpse, quickly, the alien's true visage, from a distance, before it turns... so we know while they look like us, they're quite alien. The aliens can see each other apart from the earthlings via special glasses. Fun stuff for, and of the time.

Like most of the comments here, I'm working off of my childhood memory. But the fact that I remembered the title after all these years has to count for the quality of the storyline, low-budget or not.

I have several scenes of this film stuck in my brain - which I won't give away here should we actually get a DVD box set of the Best of the Movies of the Week some day (hint, hint). But I have to go on record as saying that Spielberg's DUEL isn't the only TV film ABC produced under the Movie of the Week banner that is worthy of note. I'd venture to guess that there were a dozen of these suspense/horror/sci-fi genre films nearly as good (or better) as much of the summer movies we're seeing in theaters these days (and I'm talking about storytelling, not effects and explosions). That may not say as much about the quality of those TV movies as the lack thereof in modern films. But LOVE WAR in particular, was one I watched every time it was on and has held up - at least in my mind.

I'd love to see it again, if only for the sake of nostalgia.

George McGowan must have liked this plot, as he did a second movie along a similar theme that same season for ABC MOVIE OF THE WEEK. That film, THE CHALLENGE, had Darren McGavin in the Lloyd Bridges role. Both films had the same premise-- rather than an all-out war between two forces, a select group of champions is chosen to fight it out, winner take all. McGowan obviously did not care for the final version of THE CHALLENGE, as he attached the dreaded Alan Smithee name to its directorial credit. Maybe THE LOVE WAR is closer to how he wanted to end that other film?

Lloyd Bridges had a great deal going during those wonderful days of the MOVIE OF THE WEEK series. He got a wide range of roles, from action roles like this to horror flicks like HAUNTS OF THE VERY RICH to dramas like SILENT NIGHT LONELY NIGHT. In terms of number of films made, I'd say he and Darren McGavin were the most prolific actors (Bridges= 14, McGavin = 11), with Christopher George and Doug McClure fighting for 3rd and 4th places.

I was fourteen when I saw these and man, did that ending take me by surprise! 31 years later, I'm still not sure what happened after the film's events ended..... Talk about a "Lady or the Tiger" ending!

Aaron Spelling-produced TV-movie has attractive, penniless hitchhiker Angie Dickinson latching onto enigmatic bus traveler Lloyd Bridges outside Fresno. After checking into a roadside motel, he tells her what's really going on: he's an alien from the planet Argon, an assassin vying with hit-men from another planet over who will control Earth and its population. Only Aaron Spelling would put the fate of the world in Lloyd Bridges' hands! Film is very low in budget (making extensive use out of back-projection with scenes on the road and backlot sets for the entire final reel), but this scenario turns out to be restricted in regards to locations, so a bigger budget wasn't really necessary (it just looks tacky). There's a plot twist late in the game that is a surprise (though, in hindsight, doesn't make a lot of sense) and the cast does well with the teleplay, which is neither dumbed-down nor overly complex.

I feel as though an angel has smiled on me. After years of wanting to see this movie I finally saw it. This was one of the ABC movie of the week deals that I learned about in high school back in the 80's. Unfortunately I was born a scant 5 or 6 months before it aired on ABC, which meant my parents were probably enjoying it whilst I was napping in my crib in another room. I can't remember how I found out about it back in 1988 but I did, and had a nice enough of a working idea of the plot to attempt a remake of my own. That became my senior video project in my Mass Media class and while it got me an "A" in the class, it didn't garner me much recognition. I even built the props in addition to making the script! The producers needn't get their lawyers ready as I have long since lost the footage of me and my friends running around reenacting what was poorly but cogent rendition of their movie. However it would be nice if someone would remake the movie for a more modern retelling. A good made for TV movie with a nice twist-ending.