You have to admire old 80's sci-fi and horror movies. Big hair, low budgets, cheesy FX and some really good movies (this one included). An interesting movie that manages to make us question our own beliefs about other races of people and manages to show us just how silly discrimination and racism can be

But this is a great movie none-the-less. The key actors Denis Quaid and Louse Gosset Jr. made it believable and it is more about the human experience than a sci-fi. Some one said the sets looked like Lost in Space but I couldn't disagree more. The background is beautiful and not at all cheesy or cheap as in the very static 1960's Lost in Space. The backdrops of the sky and land are beleivable of being on a strange world or even of Earth if the sun were closer. This was, after all, 1985 and in 1985 thier were no CGI effects to speak of. This was the best their ever was. The story centers around two arch enemy starfighters who crashed on a desolate planet and hate each other(because of difference in species) until they get to know one another. Of course bigotism was the theme and it seems more prominent now than in the eighties oddly enough. After a time these two separate and Quaid's character returns to find that his Alien friend is pregnant(asexual reproduction as in most invertibrate animals). The second half of the story centers around Quaid and the Alien's child and is about the child accepting himself as he/she/it ??? has no point of referrence. This is a masterful story who could not like it.

It's seems as if, everyone who reviewed this movie missed the whole point
of the movie and it's hidden agenda.though staged in the distant future.it represents the problems that plague us today and mostly what existed in the past. and that is racism!. But when both species from different sides of tracks are thrown into a survival situation where team work is required,Color, religious beliefs, and politics play no roll when trying to stay alive.

Well into filming of "Enemy Mine",the director was sacked and replace by Wolfgang Peterson whom had the previous director's footage destroyed as to avoid comparisons. A pity as that footage would have made an interesting extra as that film was said to have some good footage.
This unwarranted sacking has resulted in a disjointed film which has had major parts ommitted. There is also an attempt at humour that doesn't work such as a creature burping and a Mickey Mouse joke. Such stuff does not work in a serious science fiction film which this attempts to be .When I saw this in the movie theatre,there was sniggers as Dennis Quaid's character goes from regarding his opponent as his mortal enemy to talking as if they were old friends.
Despite this,the production values and set design are outstanding and it ends up being a warm-hearted story reminiscent of "Robinson Crusoe On Mars". A disjointed and uneven story,but still entertaining.
The "extras" on this DVD consist of a paltry 3 photos and a scratchy 4X3 trailer. Not much there.
Fortunately,the film is in widescreen.

I haven't seen this in a long time, but isn't this basically the same idea as the 1968 Lee Marvin/Toshiro Mifune war drama "Hell in the Pacific?"