Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

A team of Artic researchers discover a caveman (beautifully played with touching depth, grace, and humanity by John Lone) who has been frozen in a glacier for 40,000 years and manage to revive him. Anthropologist Stanley Shepherd (an excellent and engaging performance by Timothy Hutton) befriends the caveman so he can learn all about his past while Dr. Diane Brady (a superb portrayal by Lindsay Crouse) and her surgical group want to figure out precisely how the caveman managed to survive for so long frozen in the ice. Director Fred Schepisi and screenwriters Chip Poser and John Drimmer treat the fascinating premise with refreshing and commendable restraint, compassion, and intelligence: This film thankfully eschews cheap thrills and fancy special effects to instead place a welcome and provocative emphasis on heartfelt and thoughtful drama as it explores the caveman's impossible predicament and desire to finish a spiritual quest he started thousands of years ago. Moreover, the characters of the researchers are especially well drawn as smart and capable professionals saddled with a daunting and unusual situation that they have no formal training on how to properly handle. But it's Lone's exceptionally expressive and convincing work as Charlie the caveman that makes this picture so special and captivating; Lone effortlessly pulls off the amazing feat of portraying this primitive man as a deeply sympathetic figure and even gives the Neanderthal a winning sense of gentle humor, as evidenced in the marvelously warm scene in which Charlie grunts along to Shepherd's a capella rendition of Neil Young's "Heart of Gold." Most importantly, Charlie is presented as a pitiable human being rather than a savage brute, which in turn gives this movie extra poignancy and resonance. The across the board fine acting by the top-rate cast helps a whole lot, with especially stand-out supporting contributions from Josef Sommer, David Straithairn, Danny Glover, and James Tolkan. Kudos are also in order for Ian Baker's gorgeous widescreen cinematography, Bruce Seaton's haunting score, and Michael Westmore's subtle make-up. Great touching ending, too. Highly recommended.

A prehistoric man from 20 to 40 thousand years ago is found frozen in a block of arctic ice. A research team find him, manage to bring him back to life, and try to figure out how to interact with him.The performances feel genuine. The first dynamic is between the scientists who want to chop up his body and learn its biochemistry to better humankind vs those who want to study his habits and interact with him. The second dynamic is between the iceman and the ethnographer who gains his trust and friendship.All the time I was watching it, I was angry at the ham-fisted incompetence of the researchers. Sure, I know, this is a movie and so the scriptwriters put in bumbling incompetence to push the plot forward. But just imagine if it a prehistoric man really were brought to life. It would be such a marvellous opportunity for interaction and learning, and even a halfway competent research team would make something better of it.So, all the time, I was angry at the scriptwriters for cheating humanity and the iceman of this chance, and this didn't leave space to enjoy the film. 5/10.

The screenwriter really got off easy writing this one - all the Iceman does is moan "Ugh...ahh,...oooh..." and inexplicably "Peter..." throughout the movie.Some things to watch for (and watch it you should just for hilarity's sake...The security system they have to contain the iceman is hilarious, even by 1980s standards.And how exactly does Timothy Hutton figure out what the Iceman's major malfunction is after exchanging a few brief words with local Eskimos? If the helicopter annoys the Iceman so much, why do they keep flying it around him? Just use your snowmobiles, dudes.And it's most shocking the Iceman doesn't drop dead considering all the stress he's under. Wouldn't his recently dethawed heart just kinda pitter patter out? I do wonder if Timothy Hutton got to keep that fur coat. It would really dazzle on the red carpet.

I guess people either love or hate this movie. I liked it - no, it isn't perfect, no it doesn't manage to deal with the social issues they seem to want to hit, but it doesn't matter - its still enjoyable and touching. Now, what I wanted to talk about was the music. I'm sure some hated it, but I found it hauntingly beautiful and perfect for the subject. See the film. It wont change your life (unless you have none), it gets hokey at times, much of the science is quite weak (though much stronger than 95% of the trash that comes out of Hollywood), but it is seriously touching for all its faults. See it, you will not regret it.