The Brother from Another Planet (1984) on Netflix
A mute alien escapes slavery on another planet and crash-lands on Ellis Island. In Harlem he keeps his three-toed feet covered and is taken in by the regulars at Odell's bar.
- Netflix3.2/5
- IMDb6.8/107,129 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes89%
Trailer
Plot summary
He arrives on Earth a fugitive and cannot speak. Apart from his three-toed feet, which he keeps hidden, he resembles an ordinary young black man, and his torn clothing makes people take him for a poor man. He finds a place among the drinkers at Odell's bar, where Odell, Walter, Smokey and Fly become his friends, and he earns money by repairing machines that come to life under his touch. Sam, a social worker, gets him a room with Randy Sue Carter and her son Little Earl and a job fixing video games at an arcade. When he lays a hand on a wall, he hears the voices of everyone who once filled the building.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Brother from Another Planet (1984)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- As filming permits for the subway were difficult to attain, the card trick scene set in a moving subway car was filmed in an out-of-service car on display in a subway museum, and the scene in which The Brother looks out of a moving subway window was shot illicitly with a hidden camera.
- For a scene at the Baby Grand nightclub the filmmakers needed a smoky atmosphere but could not afford a smoke machine, so gaffers smoked cigarettes and blew the smoke behind the singer Malverne, played by Dee Dee Bridgewater.
- Sayles spent part of his MacArthur Fellows "genius" grant on the film, which cost $350,000 to produce, and invested his own money as well, taken from cable sales of Return of the Secaucus 7 and from writing fees for adapting The Clan of the Cave Bear and its sequel, The Valley of Horses.
- Due to an error in proper copyright protocols, The Brother from Another Planet became part of the public domain during its original release.
