The story idea behind "The Love War" is really neat. Too bad it's undone by a huge and obvious plot problem.The film is set on Earth in the present day. Two teams of aliens are having a private war among us and they look just like us. But, if the aliens use special glasses, they can see their enemies and kill them. On one side is Kyle (Lloyd Bridges) and he spends most of the film running about avoiding the other aliens and killing them when he gets the chance. Along the way, he meets an apparent human woman, Sandy (Angie Dickenson) and she sees him make one of his kills disappear! Instead of killing her or erasing her memory somehow, he brings her along with him...something that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. What makes even more sense is that he automatically assumes she's a human and NEVER uses his special glasses to see if she's the enemy. And at the end, guess what...she's an alien baddie...just like EVERYONE watching the film guessed long ago!Predictability is a serious problem and so is how quickly the pair seem to fall in love...it just makes no sense. I wish they'd just worked out the plot problems better before they filmed this one...because it had real promise.

Aaron Spelling-produced TV-movie has attractive, penniless hitchhiker Angie Dickinson latching onto enigmatic bus traveler Lloyd Bridges outside Fresno. After checking into a roadside motel, he tells her what's really going on: he's an alien from the planet Argon, an assassin vying with hit-men from another planet over who will control Earth and its population. Only Aaron Spelling would put the fate of the world in Lloyd Bridges' hands! Film is very low in budget (making extensive use out of back-projection with scenes on the road and backlot sets for the entire final reel), but this scenario turns out to be restricted in regards to locations, so a bigger budget wasn't really necessary (it just looks tacky). There's a plot twist late in the game that is a surprise (though, in hindsight, doesn't make a lot of sense) and the cast does well with the teleplay, which is neither dumbed-down nor overly complex.

Like most of the other comments I also saw this as a kid...I don't even think I knew it was a sci-fi movie at the beginning...but as they chased each other and fired their guns...I got very involved.So I was excited to see it available for download on the internet! I don't want to start a discussion about downloads! I would have paid to obtain this movie thru normal channels (will if someone tells me where..seriously I feel that strongly about it...Tori Spelling maybe?) I didn't even think it was possible since I don't think VHS was even around back then. Any ways I set it to download...since its so rare it took 6 1/2 months (not kidding...I think only one other person was making it available) and this morning 5:47 est, to my surprise it had finished.Like Indiana Jones holding a diamond....I pressed the "PLAY" button.Yes I enjoyed it! The whole war issue it brings up is a great a conversation piece now as it was back then. It has lost nothing...But the most important part for me! After 37 1/2 years later I get a second look thru those glasses! I can finally cross it off my list of things to do...seriously...I never thought I would see it again..but really wanted to...and now I have.Just a trip to the moon and my list is complete and I can die a happy man......I really thought the trip to moon would be crossed off before I saw this movie again! (wink)

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!