The X Files (1998)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Rob Bowman

Writers (WGA):

Chris Carter (story) and
Frank Spotnitz (story) ...

Release Date:

19 June 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Fight the Future

Plot:

Mulder and Scully must fight the government in a conspiracy and find the truth about an alien colonization of Earth.

Plot Keywords:

Agent | FBI | Texas | Bomb | Government

Awards:

3 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

David Duchovny	...	Special Agent Fox Mulder
Gillian Anderson	...	Special Agent Dana Scully
John Neville	...	The Well-Manicured Man
William B. Davis	...	Cigarette Smoking Man / CGB Spender
Martin Landau	...	Alvin Kurtzweil, MD
Mitch Pileggi	...	Assistant Director Walter Skinner
Jeffrey DeMunn	...	Ben Bronschweig, M.D. (as Jeffrey De Munn)
Blythe Danner	...	Jana Cassidy
Terry O'Quinn	...	Darius Michaud
Armin Mueller-Stahl	...	Conrad Strughold
Lucas Black	...	Stevie
Christopher Fennell	...	Boy #2 (as Chris Fennell)
Cody Newton	...	Boy #3
Blake Stokes	...	Boy #4
Dean Haglund	...	Richard 'Ringo' Langly

Also Known As:

Aux frontières du réel (Canada: French title)
Blackwood (USA) (working title)
Fight the Future (USA) (working title)
The X Files Movie (Australia)
The X Files: Fight the Future (USA) (working title)
The X-Files (USA) (closing credits title)
X-Files: Blackwood (USA) (working title)
X-Files: The Movie (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some intense violence and gore.

Runtime:

121 min

Country:

Canada | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:12 (original rating) | Iceland:16 (video rating) | South Korea:12 | New Zealand:M | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A (British Columbia) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Canada:PG (Alberta) | Chile:14 | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Germany:12 (w) | Hong Kong:IIA | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Poland:15 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | Spain:T | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Bakersfield, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

The scene in which Scully and Mulder are chased through a cornfield by helicopters is a reference to the famous "crop duster" scene in North by Northwest (1959). Martin Landau was in both movies.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the scene where Mulder and Scully enter the bee domes, Mulder opens the door and is blasted by the rush of air used to support the structure. The next shot of Mulder shows his tie blown back and up over his left shoulder; the next shot shows his tie in normal position and the next shot the tie is back up and over his shoulder.

Quotes:

Mulder: [after Scully tells him that she is planning on resigning from the FBI rather than being transferred] You wanna tell yourself that so you can quit with a clear conscience, you can, but you're wrong!
Scully: Why did they assign me to you in the first place, Mulder? To debunk your work, to rein you in, to shut you down...
Mulder: But you saved me! As difficult and as frustrating as it's been sometimes, your goddamned strict rationalism and science have saved me a thousand times over! You've kept me honest. You've made me a whole person. I owe you everything... Scully, and you owe me nothing. I don't know if I wanna do this alone. I don't even know if I can. And if I quit now, they win.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Spaced: Leaves (#2.7)" (2001)

Soundtrack:

Teotihuacan

Good Jump to the Big Screen.

Well-paced and well-crafted, "The X-Files" is a surprisingly good movie that does not try to get cute and go away from the things that made the series such a national phenomenon. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson seem out of place working with bomb squads and doing other mundane duties after their department is shut down by the government. However the two feel that something really major is up which involves alien colonization on Earth and a vast government cover-up that goes through the highest places in the U.S. political realm. A good screenplay and solid direction make "The X-Files" a first-rate film from a very good cinematic year. 4 stars out of 5.