Main Cast: Kyle MacLachlan, Martin Sheen, Dwight Yoakam, Kim Greist
Release Year: 1994
Run Time: 91 minutes
Plot
Originally made for cable television, Roswell is an entertaining mix of purported actual events and science fiction. The narrative unfolds primarily in flashbacks as retired Army officer Jesse Marcel (Kyle MacLachlan) attends a reunion of the 509th Bomber Group and tries to come to closure on events that had taken place 30 years earlier. Back in 1947, Major Marcel had been part of a military team that investigated a crash site on a ranch near Roswell, New Mexico. The debris recovered from the site had exhibited some remarkable properties such as being able to repair itself instantly after being cut, suggesting that it might have been of extraterrestrial origin. The military brass had ordered Marcel to go along with their phony story that the material was ordinary metal foil from a weather balloon, and he had reluctantly complied. By the time of the 1977 reunion, Marcel is suffering from a terminal illness, and he feels compelled to try to find out what had really happened at Roswell all those years ago. MacLachlan gives an effective performance, particularly when he portrays Marcel as an older man trying to understand his past. Evocative location shooting in the American Southwest adds cinematic impact. ~ All Movie Guide
Parley Baer - Civilian Advisor; Layne Beamer - Soldier; Xander Berkeley - Sherman Carson; Michael Bofshever - Irving Newton; Gary Bullock - Eavesdropper; Brian Cousins - Medical Officer; J.D. Daniels - Jesse Marcel, Jr. - Young; Matthew Faison - General Ramey; Richard Fancy - Doctor; J.W. "Corkey" Fornof - Pilot; Bruce Gray - Admiral; Stanley Grover - Straw Hat Vet; Philip Baker Hall - Roswell General; Charles Hallahan - Pilot MacIntire - Older; Robert Harvey - Admiral; John Hostetter - Colonel DuBose; John M. Jackson - Colonel Blanchard; Matt Landers - Lt. Walter Haut; Peter MacNicol - Lewis Rickett; John Mahon - Red Hat Vet; Ray McKinnon - Deputy Joe Pritchard; F. William Parker - Older Stanton; Edward Penn - Civilian Advisor; Mark Phelan - Gate Guard; Eugene Roche - James Forrestal; Hansford Rowe - Chaplain; Mik Scriba - Air Mechanic; Nick Searcy - Mortician; Michael Strasser - Hospital MP; Lisa Waltz - Janet Foss; Doug Wert - Jesser Marcel, Jr. - Older; Lawrence Dobkin - General; Arthur Hiller - Scientist #1; Hoke Howell - Bar Vet; Charles Martin Smith - Sheriff Wilcox; Warren Munson - Yellow Hat Vet; David Selburg - Station Manager; Max Trumpower - Gate Guard; Bob Gunton - Frank Joyce; Doug McCurry - Arresting MP; George Pentecost - Business Advisor; Dave Adams - Provost Marshal; Don Fischer - Outdoor MP; Peter Radon - Melvin Brown; James MacDonald - Area 51 Officer
Credit
Jeremy Kagan - Director, David Holden - Editor, Paul Davids - Executive Producer, David R. Ginsburg - Executive Producer, Elliot Goldenthal - Composer (Music Score), Michael Z. Hanan - Production Designer, Steven Poster - Cinematographer, Jeremy Kagan - Producer, Ilene Kahn - Producer, Jeremy Kagan - Screen Story, Paul Davids - Screen Story, Arthur Kopit - Screen Story, Arthur Kopit - Screenwriter, Donald R. Schmitt - Book Author, Kevin D. Randle - Book Author
