When it comes to UFO events, few are more famous than the alleged events that took place outside the New Mexico town of Roswell in the summer of 1947. Yet that wasn't always the case though as for decades the case lingered in obscurity. While it had begun to come back to the fore, it was with this 1994 Showtime film that the case began to make an impact. Looking at the film, it isn't hard to see why as it may well rank among the best films made on the topic.That is in part because of the cast. Kyle MacLachlan was a perfect choice for the role of Jesse Marcel, the Army Air Force Intelligence officer who finds himself unwittingly at the center of the whole affair who finds himself returning to the case three decades later. MacLachlan has a silent strength to him throughout whether he is the young officer who seems to be catching the break of a lifetime or the old man trying to make sense of the past confronting it head on. It is the sort of performance that lifts up the entire production.The rest of the cast is solid as well. Martin Sheen effectively has an extended cameo despite being billed second as the mysterious figure Townsend but Sheen does well with the part and gives a strong performance with the little screen time that he has. Dwight Yoakam does well as Mac Brazel, the rancher who starts off the whole business by finding some strange debris on the ranch he's working. The cast is also full of character actors who bring the story to life admirably including John M. Jackson, Xander Berkeley, Bob Gunton, Nick Searcy, and Phillip Baker Hall among others. Kudos as well to Kim Greist as Marcel's wife. It's a solid cast that helps ground what is an incredible story in some much needed human reality.Beyond the cast, Roswell is a well produced piece of work. From the cinematography of Steven Poster to the production design of Michael Z. Hanan, the costumes from May Routh, and the score by Elliot Goldenthal, the film exudes a competence and firm grasp of the inherent dramatic nature of the events it portrays without overplaying it. Hats off as well to the film's make-up department in aging up several members of the cast for the scenes set in the 1970s. All are brought together under the direction of Jeremy Kagan whose direction shows the occasional flourish but only when the production calls for it. The result is a well made and highly watchable ninety minutes or so. Yet nothing perhaps does more to ground Roswell firmly to Earth than the script by Arthur Kopit (from a story by Kopit, producer Paul Davids, and director Kagan). One can imagine all too easily from other UFO films that this could have been wildly speculative and more science fiction than anything else. Instead, Roswell sticks with the UFO based accounts of the case and presents them without much fictionalization and without frills to make a compelling and believable case. It's true that the film's 1970 sections are fiction with Marcel effectively standing in for a number of investigators who have examined the case but much of what the film presents in its 1947 sections has eyewitness testimony to back it up (whatever stock you wish to place in it). The film admits when it gets into wild speculation (especially in the last twenty minutes or so) and acknowledges conflicting accounts, all to its credit. The script then is an example of how to take compelling but controversial material and present it on the screen.In the end, it is no surprise that Roswell was nominated for a Golden Globe as that year's Best Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television. It is a well acted and well made piece of work which brings potentially one of the most fascinating stories of the 20th century vividly to life without becoming sensational along the way. As a result of both its seriousness and how well it stands up even after two decades, it stands out among the pack of UFO related film works as a definite highlight.

On the surface Roswell may looked like a science fiction TV movie but it is actually based on actual events from eyewitness accounts of what went on in Roswell in 1947. This TV movie intercuts between the present day of the late 1970s and the immediate aftermath of that certain event in 1947.Kyle MacLachlan played the real-life Jesse Marcel, a retired major who was there in Roswell in 1947 who is trying to piece together of what went on in Roswell back then and he plays very well with extreme sincerity. The flashbacks of the eyewitness accounts were very fascinating and made for thrilling viewing especially the account of what happened to Defence Secretary James V Forrestral. This account of what really account in Roswell was very fascinating and a gripping movie to watch.

It's not bad enough to be an example of how *not* to make a movie, but it's not good either. It really succeeds at mediocrity, which some consider the greatest sin of all. It tried to find a satisfying reason for ending, but just ended -- or rather, trailed off. My biggest question at the end of the movie was: "How did Martin Sheen get 2nd billing for a couple of shots of him lurking in the background, and basically one speech?" Not "for shame," as another reviewer says -- more like "Nice work if you can get it." Definitely a movie with an agenda. I feel as though its money wasn't well spent. They should have cut down on the vignettes and extras and sprung for a really good writer and a decent director who could have turned this into a truly suspenseful story with a cliffhanger ending, instead of the sappy try at "We're a family again."There are worse ways to spend 90 minutes, and the movie was intriguing enough to get me to Google Jesse Marcel. Almost 4,000 hits. Check it out.

At an army reunion, Jesse Marcel still finds he is treated with derision by his colleagues for claims he made years ago when serving in Roswell, New Mexico. Marcel finds the reunion provides him with more information and a fresh perspective on what happened. In flashbacks he remembers his original discovery of a suspected crash site with unearthly metals, his report and the following coverup. However as more witnesses confide in him how much can he believe is true, a problem that becomes even more pronounced with the input of the mysterious Townsend.This tv movie is actually quite good. The story is told in flashback and allows us to hear witnesses put in their accounts rather than just see events unfold as fact. This allows the story to be less of a story about what happening at Roswell, but instead to be an account of what may have happened - pieced together over the film. The end result is that the picture painted is quite reasonable and is a bit more believable because we get it bit by bit, accounts adding to other accounts making the whole thing more believable. The only downside of this is that the film doesn't manage to come down on either side of the arguement and doesn't take a stance on what it thinks happens (although this may be a good thing).The story moves along slowly, trying to remain credible despite the nature of the material,, but eventually it ruins this slow building in one key scene. The final scene between Marcel and Townsend is really enjoyable and moves really fast. Like Marcel we're not sure if Townsend is telling the truth or if he's misleading Marcel and us - in this respect it's still good. However this scene takes away a lot of the credibility that it has built up - Townsend begins to reveal all sorts of stories including tales of aliens messing with human DNA to shape evolution etc, and it really makes you doubt the whole thing. However, despite this it's still a very interesting story.MacLachlan is good here as the man who knows what he saw but can't explain it, but his makeup for his "old-age" character is quite poor. Sheen may only have a small role but he does manage to have a great screen presence. The rest of the cast is really well filled out by well known faces such as Gunton, Xander Berkeley, Peter MacNicol and Charles Martin Smith.Overall this is an interesting film that almost manages to move gradually enough to keep cynics on board while still satisfying the X-files crowd. The ending is a little sudden and requires a great leap of faith to accept Sheen's suggestions - but then maybe that's the point. Good.