This Ol' Man People often dismiss this as a movie for children, but it is simply not the case. It's about the hard cold facts of reality as they pertain to two very different people, as well as the equally hard lessons they must both learn in order to deal with it. The story that it tells says so much about love and on so many different levels. There is a powerful healing that the man and boy imparted to one another despite their age difference. A healing for a loss that cannot be recaptured once forcibly taken or repurchased once casually cast aside as valueless. It is a testament to the real possibility of personal change that lies deeply dormant within us all. A change so profound, it is often referred to as a miracle. Not to be missed by the hard-of-heart or the ageless.

daltonml-1 I saw this movie on cable when I was a kid, and I hated it. Before he starred in "Silver Spoons", Ricky Schroeder was in two worthless movies, "The Champ" (1979) and "The Earthling" (1980). And I always say now, that before he hit big on TV, he had it rough! I mean, these two movies involved the boy's parents getting killed in a gruesome way. It's a wonder he should've considered becoming a priest instead of staying in Hollywood. Anyway, this film was passed by Oscar and for good reasons. William Holden was a grumpy old loser and Ricky Schroeder was a whiny little orphan twerp in this piece of crap. The movie is slow and boring all the way through, not to mention the plot was putrid. I don't recall the music, that's a relief. If for some reason you want adventure Australlian-style, do yourself a favor and rent a "Crocodile Dundee" movie, any of the three, instead of "The Earthling". You'll not regret it at all, mate.

edgarhurtado great movie, great message, when you see this movie just try to see what lies inside a very moving film. Holden's perform is really good this is almost his last film before he die in a tragic house accident, and the performance of the boy (Shoedrer) is good too. The story its tragic but its a life lesson, so i think this is one of my favorites films cause is gentle and humanism with a great sense of what the life is and how the life sometimes is hard but this film teaches you to respect your world and teaches you that we need to be strong to survey cause the weak confuse standing people the wind can blow them away like the tree sheets. I like to see this movie when I'm spiritually lost and then i just remember one of the teaches of the old man Foley "Remember Go to the north boy"

fortionat1 This was on ShowTime or HBO a number of times in the early 80s when I saw it and whenever it was on I would stop down to watch it. Little Ricky Schroder is excellent at a young age and counters William Holden's maturity for an interesting balance of young and old. I'm not sure why the rating shows a 5.6 since over 60% of the votes for this film were over a 7 and the majority voted a 10. It is definitely worth a watch if you're a Holden fan like I am. While the premise seems unrealistic at first as we go through the movie we find there is much more to this than expected. I liked this movie for the outdoor scenery and the beautiful backwoods areas of Australia. If you get a chance to see this film, please do.