Today would have marked SCOTLAND'S first day as an Independent Country had the
Majority of Scots voted to leave the UK.
Sadly this was not the case as some were too afraid to do so.
Never mind we will get it soon.
Which brings me to the point of this topic.
What do you think of the film INDEPENDENCE DAY and do you have a print on any gauge ?

I had this on 8mm when it first came out from Derann, the quality of the print was superb and especially in scope, it was in stereo but I rerecorded mine from the VHS tape, the sound is always better when it is rerecorded at normal speed.

Overall it is highly recommended

Dave thanks. What do you think of it as a film regarding FX and the acting ?

typical American, America saves the day AGAIN !!!

Special effects were good, blowing up the white house etc but considering what the fx are like today I would say nothing out the ordinary

Poor aliens though. I ask you, they can travel billions of miles, and still use a USB port on the spaceships. And it wasn't even USB3.

I have the trailer, does that count

It's a film I'd like to find one day. I saw it for sale once since being back in the hobby and said I'd buy it, but it was sold to another instead, as happens bizarrely in this hobby.

It's not a favourite favourite film of mine, but it'd still make a great spectacle on the big screen.

Thank God for Windows, even the Aliens use it, what a load of unadulterated crap!! It showed how Classic sci-fi was cruelly
overlooked to showcase what amounts to, how can I put it, oh yes.........crap. Derann showed a lack of taste here, they had access to
the likes of "Planet of the Apes", I think it was a case of recent release, might be popular, should sell, probably not as well as they thought.

theres a 16 mm copy on ebay usa for £200 plus postage etc so be quite a bit to import to uk.
nice but not worth the eventual price.

For me its a narrative that could have been very well done in the right hands.
What did we get a load of American Gung-Ho ... ( as Hugh states ) ...CRAP !!!

Actually, even with postage, it might be cheaper than the Derann print was, I'm sure it was about £350.00, well spotted Gwyn,
although I think David and myself share the same view on this title, a full length "Longest Day" in 'scope would have surely been preferable, the Fox catalogue was there.

Hey David, this is another one of those stupid decisions i made in the recent past.
We went to Ealing and a copy was on sale on a private collectors table for, wait for it, £170, what did i do? I turned it down.
It would look good on the scope screen but the downside is that it does run for well over two and half hours so repeatability would be limited unless you had a couple of favourite reels.
This would have been a good candidate for a 3 x 400 footer, that would have been ample. As i understand it a copy recently went privately for 350.
On ebay it can fetch up to around 500-600.

I owned this for a brief minute. It does look good on the big screen but the film is just really not good. Bad acting, script, predictable..just bad. I saw it once, liked the dogfight aerial scenes actually fell asleep at one point..then sold it.

Tom and Alan I think you both made the right decisions when it comes to this film.
I would not touch even if it was offered to me for free.

oddly enough Alan your right on the mark with the script and acting, however, this movie was meant to be a tribute to the B movies of the 50s and 60s.
The marketing for this side of it was very poor so because people didn't realise this they, as you said, commented on the poor, scilly and embarrassing script. If the marketing from the studio at the time had been better dealt with the audience would then have understood, there is a lot in there paying contribution to the old sci-fis. The one that stands out is when Jeff Goldblum switches his laptop on and it says, "Good morning Dave" which is obviously the 2001 space odyssey tribute. Its hard to believe this film was at the time of its release, the highest grossing movie ever. (its now 56th).
The embarrassment is how Hollywood once again lets America save the world, and as usual makes the British look like total twats with the ridiculous upper class accent that no in this country ever uses.
Ever notice also how baddies in Hollywood films are always played by British Actors?
EG, Alan Rickman, Die Hard, Ian Holm the robot gone mad in Alien, Anthony Hopkins Silence of the Lambs, (played with perfection), Alfred Molina Dr Otto Octivas in Spider man 2, Jeremy Irons in one of the Die Hard Films as well as scar in the Lion King, Gary Oldman, many Hollywood baddies, Ralph Fiennes the loony Nazi in Shindlers List,
Are we not the best actors?
As for independents, great special effects, lousy and embarrassing script and corny acting from some of the biggest names. When this was released on 8 i was very surprised given the length, it was going to cost a small fortune back then.

Would have bought The Longest Day and Planet Of The Apes. Still I missed some that were released back then, although I did hire quite a few titles.

Agree that ID4 would have been better as 2x600ft.

Sadly for Scotland the English didn't get to vote, you would have been on your own now. Mind you theres something very fishy in the Scottish parliament. First Salmon, then replaced by Sturgeon. Very fishy.

Ah, but the English have other fish to fry David.

Just codding around.

Yes they "haddock" their chance, but the "chips" were down, we knew they were "skate" ing on thin ice, everything in "plaice"
now. Terrible puns I know.

As an American I can honestly say I felt the film was too over the top and simply not very good,gung-ho heroics aside.Even as a science fiction fan I never quite understood the appeal of this film and even if the makers were attempting a honest nod to 50's sci-fi fare,well they failed IMO. My ex-wife loved it for some reason which may also explain in part why she is an ex now.

Well, it had been done before, the TV series "V" covered the city size Alien ships, "Geo Pal's "War of the Worlds" did it better in
my opinion, granted the CGI effects were fantastic, but effects do not make a film, you need a good screenplay to hold it together.
I still weep at the missed opportunities that could have seen the release of far better films, my "Apes" being one, but too late now.
Some of the best visual sci-fi came from the USA in the '50s, "Forbidden Planet" springs to mind, I still have my print, but imagine that in
CinemaScope. There were plans to release it in Cinevision, but Dr Van Tetering unfortunately died, where was Derann?

I quite liked the original " V" mini-series though the series not so much. My two favorite science fiction films to this day (and both) are H.G.Wells novels and George Pal productions: "War of the Worlds" and "The Time Machine". Sadly none of the ship models from Worlds still exist.They were melted down back in the 1950's but at least the Time Machine prop survived.

I really thought the design of the "manta ray" war machines superb Doug, tragic how these pieces of sci-fi history are treat with disdain.
There are some nice models of them available, always admired "Seaview" & "Jupiter ii" from "Voyage" & "Lost in Space" TV shows, all
are out there in plastic kits. I have both as full features in S/8, classics indeed. the 3x400 of "Time Machine" was one of the best edits
of a feature I've seen ( apart from the 3x400 of "Gwangi" ) it was hard to think of what was missing, such a great job was done, complete
with "book" scene at the end with Alan Young's Filby & Mrs Watchit. Quite rare now, but worth keeping an eye out for. the 3x400 of
War of the Worlds" was well done too, which in Marketing's history was an achievement indeed.

A shop local to me Hugh, Mr Model, scratch built "robby " and the flying sub from voyage, brilliant they were too, but not for sale sadly. I had the invaders space ship for years
but not that detailed or big but nice to have, aurora did them, along with the glow in the dark universal monsters.