Enemy Mine (1985)

Release Date: December 20, 1985
Runtime: 108 min.
Language: English
Country: USA
Director: Wolfgang Petersen
Screenwriters: Barry Longyear, Edward Khmara
Producers: Steven J. Friedman, Stanley O'Toole
Cast: Dennis Quaid, Louis Gossett Jr., Brion James, Carolyn McCormick, Richard Marcus, Lance Kerwin
Genre: action, adventure, drama, sci-fi
Online: IMDb, Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes, Sci-Fi Movie description
Description: This 1985 cult classic, directed by Wolfgang Petersen, stands out as a top-tier genre piece—a moving drama about the necessity of dialogue and trying to understand "the other," wrapped in an unpredictable action story about rescuing a comrade from hostile territory. Petersen weaves these threads together into a seamless, compelling whole that hasn't lost an ounce of its freshness or conviction over the years...
In the distant future, humans and Draks are locked in a brutal, seemingly endless war. During one intense skirmish, an American soldier named Willis Davidge (Dennis Quaid) crashes onto an unknown planet. While searching for any survivors, he finds only a member of the opposing army, whom he calls Jerry (Louis Gossett Jr.). Though they start out purely hostile toward one another, they quickly realize that the only way to survive this harsh world is to join forces. As time passes, they learn deep truths about each other's cultures, and their mutual respect evolves into a genuine friendship. However, their own comrades won't be quite so understanding of such a bond...
(Source: mytv.us)

Trailer:

Man, I remember this movie, but my memory is pretty hazy... it’s been ages since I saw it—back when I was just a kid in the 90s. I’m definitely going to have to give it another watch; thanks for the reminder. All I can really recall is some scene where an alien and a human are basically forced to work together—something like that—but they don't trust each other at first. It’s all a bit fuzzy in my mind. 😁

This is such a solid movie, based on the absolute classic Hell in the Pacific starring Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune. You also can't overlook how even Enemy (TNG), where Geordi and a Romulan end up stranded on a hostile planet in the Neutral Zone, and Dawn (ENT), featuring Trip and an alien stuck on a similarly brutal world, were basically homages to the film.

It’s a genuinely great, deeply human film—one that really pushes for tolerance, peace, and just plain old understanding.
I’ve always felt the title was actually meant to be "My Enemy"—you know, more of a poetic take on it. That kind of title makes way more sense to me, since the whole subplot about the mine is really just a secondary thing anyway.

nimblemarlin6 said:It’s a genuinely great, deeply human film—one that really pushes for tolerance, peace, and just plain old understanding.
I’ve always felt the title was actually meant to be "My Enemy"—you know, more of a poetic take on it. That kind of title makes way more sense to me, since the whole subplot about the mine is really just a secondary thing anyway.

Yeah, back in the day, that movie was actually mislabeled as "My Enemy" where I grew up. 🙂
I mean, at the end of the day, it's just a mine. 😁
It’s a solid movie, regardless of how you look at it. 👍
Talk about a nostalgia trip... immediately brings back memories of someone I miss dearly. The Last Starfighter. A total relic of an era that doesn't exist anymore. I remember watching this on VHS back in the day and thinking it was the peak of sci-fi. It’s got that specific kind of charm you just don't see in modern blockbusters.-a

feralorca82 said:Yeah, back in the day, that movie was actually mislabeled as "My Enemy" where I grew up. 🙂
I mean, at the end of the day, it's just a mine. 😁
It’s a solid movie, regardless of how you look at it. 👍
Talk about a nostalgia trip... immediately brings back memories of someone I miss dearly. The Last Starfighter. A total relic of an era that doesn't exist anymore. I remember watching this on VHS back in the day and thinking it was the peak of sci-fi. It’s got that specific kind of charm you just don't see in modern blockbusters.-a

Isn't that backwards? Back in the '80s, you'd find it in video stores under the title Enemy Mine—it wasn't until the '90s when it started hitting TV that they renamed it My Enemy.

"My Enemy" would have been a much better title—it actually captures what the movie is about, rather than just focusing on some random mine.

Daniel Palmer22 said:Isn't that backwards? Back in the '80s, you'd find it in video stores under the title Enemy Mine—it wasn't until the '90s when it started hitting TV that they renamed it My Enemy.

I think it was actually the exact opposite. Before it hit the original VHS—VCI, if I recall correctly—it was called My Enemy. It was only after that "original" release that it was rebranded as Enemy Mine, which is how I think they translated it for TV.
I'll have to dig through my old collection to see if I still have that VHS somewhere.

Enemy Mine. 😁
Is it because of that "mine" in the title?

I’ve been meaning to check it out. Honestly, I could probably watch it right now.

Frank Moore4 said:This is such a solid movie, based on the absolute classic Hell in the Pacific starring Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune. You also can't overlook how even Enemy (TNG), where Geordi and a Romulan end up stranded on a hostile planet in the Neutral Zone, and Dawn (ENT), featuring Trip and an alien stuck on a similarly brutal world, were basically homages to the film.

Honestly, this whole thing jumped straight to my mind the second I read the plot summary. 😁

Frank Moore4 said:This is such a solid movie, based on the absolute classic Hell in the Pacific starring Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune. You also can't overlook how even Enemy (TNG), where Geordi and a Romulan end up stranded on a hostile planet in the Neutral Zone, and Dawn (ENT), featuring Trip and an alien stuck on a similarly brutal world, were basically homages to the film.

Did you seriously forget about the "Enemy Mine" episode from season 7 of SG-1...? Seriously?

Man, if only O'Neill could hear you... 😁

Frank Moore4 said:This is such a solid movie, based on the absolute classic Hell in the Pacific starring Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune. You also can't overlook how even Enemy (TNG), where Geordi and a Romulan end up stranded on a hostile planet in the Neutral Zone, and Dawn (ENT), featuring Trip and an alien stuck on a similarly brutal world, were basically homages to the film.

Spot on! And while it would probably make the most sense to suggest watching Hell in the Pacific instead, my heart just leans much more toward Sci-Fi, so that’s definitely where my loyalties lie! 🙂

Andrew Roberts3 said:Did you seriously forget about the "Enemy Mine" episode from season 7 of SG-1...? Seriously?

Man, if only O'Neill could hear you... 😁

Indeed.

nimblemarlin6 said:"My Enemy" would have been a much better title—it actually captures what the movie is about, rather than just focusing on some random mine.

Honestly, that might actually be a superior title🙂, though I just transcribed what I saw on a major US streaming site where they translated it that way. Looking back, I can finally appreciate the intelligence behind the original titling, because it’s designed to be ambiguous:
Enemy Mine
My Enemy
Both interpretations carry weight...

I sat down and watched this, and I'd give it a 8/10. It’s a solid piece of filmmaking, very much in the vein of a classic Disney production. There are a few minor script holes here and there, but nothing that ruins the experience. At its core, the film delivers a really strong message about how we can learn to embrace tolerance, regardless of how different we might seem from one another...

Look, I’ll be honest—you can take the plot of this movie and toss it out the window, because if we're talking about pure cinematic impact, *Hell in the Pacific* still reigns supreme in my book. But man, what stays with me even after all these years is just how fantastic the sci-fi elements are! It really hits that sweet spot for me. I’ve been thinking quite a bit lately about how much our surroundings shape our entire perspective on life, isn't that just fascinating? It’s like when you move from a quiet little suburb out in the Midwest to the bustling, high-energy streets of New York City—everything about how you process information and interact with others shifts instantly! I remember once during a summer road trip through the Rockies, I felt this incredible sense of clarity just by being surrounded by those massive, silent peaks, whereas living in a cramped apartment in Chicago can sometimes make you feel like you're constantly rushing against a clock that doesn't exist. It really makes you wonder how much of our internal "setting" is actually just a reflection of the physical world we inhabit every single day. And honestly, those special effects have such a charming, nostalgic quality to them! Even if they don't quite hold up when you hold them against today's high-tech CGI standards, they still possess this incredible sense of soul and a certain kind of magic that stays with you long after the credits roll. 🙂

The visual effects actually hold up incredibly well, even by today's standards, with the one glaring exception being those creatures. The Draks are just masterfully designed. Honestly, if we're talking about the absolute peak of practical makeup and creature effects, you really can't top Jurassic Park from 1994; everything after that seems to have taken a bit of a nose dive once computer-generated imagery started taking over the industry...

silentcanyon58 said:Look, I’ll be honest—you can take the plot of this movie and toss it out the window, because if we're talking about pure cinematic impact, *Hell in the Pacific* still reigns supreme in my book. But man, what stays with me even after all these years is just how fantastic the sci-fi elements are! It really hits that sweet spot for me. I’ve been thinking quite a bit lately about how much our surroundings shape our entire perspective on life, isn't that just fascinating? It’s like when you move from a quiet little suburb out in the Midwest to the bustling, high-energy streets of New York City—everything about how you process information and interact with others shifts instantly! I remember once during a summer road trip through the Rockies, I felt this incredible sense of clarity just by being surrounded by those massive, silent peaks, whereas living in a cramped apartment in Chicago can sometimes make you feel like you're constantly rushing against a clock that doesn't exist. It really makes you wonder how much of our internal "setting" is actually just a reflection of the physical world we inhabit every single day. And honestly, those special effects have such a charming, nostalgic quality to them! Even if they don't quite hold up when you hold them against today's high-tech CGI standards, they still possess this incredible sense of soul and a certain kind of magic that stays with you long after the credits roll. 🙂

The special effects might be dated and modest, but they are absolutely excellent. Just look at that opening scene with the wreckage of the spacecraft. You get this genuine sense that those are actual pieces of twisted, scorched metal floating in space. To me, that shot carries way more weight than any of the seizure-inducing lens flare spectacles found in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek. 🤷

Dennis Hayes39 said:The special effects might be dated and modest, but they are absolutely excellent. Just look at that opening scene with the wreckage of the spacecraft. You get this genuine sense that those are actual pieces of twisted, scorched metal floating in space. To me, that shot carries way more weight than any of the seizure-inducing lens flare spectacles found in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek. 🤷

Honestly, everything about this hits home for me! Being born in the late seventies, I practically grew up mesmerized by those kinds of practical special effects... it was just part of the landscape back then. I can't help but draw a massive parallel between what we had and what we see today; if you showed some of those old-school techniques to the younger generation, they’d probably find them a little silly or dated, but man, there was a certain soul to it that you just don't see anymore! 🙂

Personally, I’ve always been much more of a fan when it comes to practical effects—you know, those incredible physical models, intricate masks, and lifelike animatronics. There is just something so tactile and real about them! Of course, if you can blend that tangible craftsmanship with some clever CGI that actually serves the story rather than just being eye candy, then you’ve absolutely hit the jackpot in my book. 🙂

It was a solid film; I remember catching it in a theater back in the early 90s. I also recall the heated debates we used to have regarding the title—specifically whether it was referring to an actual mine or if it was being used as some kind of metaphorical substitute for ownership.

nimblemarlin6 said:It’s a genuinely great, deeply human film—one that really pushes for tolerance, peace, and just plain old understanding.
I’ve always felt the title was actually meant to be "My Enemy"—you know, more of a poetic take on it. That kind of title makes way more sense to me, since the whole subplot about the mine is really just a secondary thing anyway.

That is exactly what I thought too. I always assumed the movie was titled "My Enemy." It never even occurred to me that the word "mine" referred to an actual mine. The action in the mine only happens in the final few minutes. The entire plot is actually about two enemies building a connection so they can survive together on a hostile planet.

By the way, I don't think anyone else has realized that the movie is based on the book of the same name by Barry B. Longyear. That work won the Nebula in 1979, and followed that up with a Hugo in 1980.