A Masterpiece!

The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Like a lot of other reviewers, here, I saw this a long time ago. It was telecast on old Channel 9, out of New Jersey. I tuned in a little bit late. But, I stopped channel-surfing when I recognized who the stars were.Lloyd Bridges, the veteran air-traffic controller from that hilarious disaster-spoof AIRPLANE; and Angie Dickinson, the sexy actress who played the first slasher-victim in Briam Depalma's DRESSED TO KILL!I think the real reason Channel 9 telecast that particular movie, however, was the presence of co-star Daniel J. Travanti (credited in the film as "Dan Travanty"). The latter was then-known as "Capt. Frank Furillo, NYPD," on the NBC crime-drama HILL STREET BLUES.If you've read the other reviews, you already know the basic plot. Two teams of aliens--three beings per team--fighting for possession of our unsuspecting planet. And, Ms. Dickinson's character as a poor innocent by-stander caught in the middle.For those who have grown up with series like X-FILES, THE VISITOR, and STARGATE: SG1, this premise will not seem new. But, back in the early/mid-Eighties, when Channel 9 first aired this, it was refreshingly innovative! To me, anyway.And, like the other reviewers, I sincerely wish it would be re-released on DVD. If only so I can see my parents' reaction to the twist ending (they're big fans of the movies' lead actors)!

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.

Perhaps the reason this TV movie is remembered now by older people who saw it in the 70's is because of it's shocking ending.Without revealing too much,it is not a happy one.it is also an unsatisfying one since we don't clearly understand the motivation behind it.The script writer seems to have tried to end the story with a twist ending but it's brought without excitement and turns out to be flat.This TV movie which lasts only about 70 minutes (without commercials) was clearly low budget and was probably shot in a very limited time.There is rear projection in many of the bus scenes and the ending seems to take place on an already constructed western set.The alien devices(apart from the glasses)are not very convincing and the search device sounds exactly like crickets noises!What holds the film together is the relationship between lloyd bridges and angie dickinson even though they don't create the chemistry that they should be creating.When those two aren't together on screen, most of the film turns to be dull and boring action scenes.Any episode of the one hour police woman series which later starred angie dickinson looks like a masterpiece beside this underdevelopped scripted film.The''you need glasses to see the aliens'' is a great idea(it was used later in THEY LIVE) and perhaps it's also one reason why the film is remembered today even though the disappearance of the dead alien bodies in flames was probably an idea borrowed from the TV series the invaders. (Domonic frontier who did the theme for the invaders also does the music for this movie) The film holds some good ideas and should probably get remade.it would be very easy to surpass this dated film.

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!