In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

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.

Like a lot of other reviewers, here, I saw this a long time ago. It was telecast on old Channel 9, out of New Jersey. I tuned in a little bit late. But, I stopped channel-surfing when I recognized who the stars were.Lloyd Bridges, the veteran air-traffic controller from that hilarious disaster-spoof AIRPLANE; and Angie Dickinson, the sexy actress who played the first slasher-victim in Briam Depalma's DRESSED TO KILL!I think the real reason Channel 9 telecast that particular movie, however, was the presence of co-star Daniel J. Travanti (credited in the film as "Dan Travanty"). The latter was then-known as "Capt. Frank Furillo, NYPD," on the NBC crime-drama HILL STREET BLUES.If you've read the other reviews, you already know the basic plot. Two teams of aliens--three beings per team--fighting for possession of our unsuspecting planet. And, Ms. Dickinson's character as a poor innocent by-stander caught in the middle.For those who have grown up with series like X-FILES, THE VISITOR, and STARGATE: SG1, this premise will not seem new. But, back in the early/mid-Eighties, when Channel 9 first aired this, it was refreshingly innovative! To me, anyway.And, like the other reviewers, I sincerely wish it would be re-released on DVD. If only so I can see my parents' reaction to the twist ending (they're big fans of the movies' lead actors)!

Thanks to you all for your comments. It is nice to see there are other 'The Love War' people out there. Several of you mention you were ten when you say it for the first time, I was about the same age. Like Duel (which has been commented on several times) and several episodes of Hawaii 5-0 (I lived in Hawaii as a child), I've remembered this film ever since seeing it the first time. I was living in Hawaii at the time and even remember what I was doing while watching. It is amazing that these 'movies of the week' could have such an impact. Was it because they were so good, or because we were so impressionable? I too would like to see it again. But, even more, I think it is ripe for a remake. If Battlestar Gallactica can be remade from a shlocky, 80's boondogle into a serious, exciting, suspenseful quality series, why couldn't 'The Love War' be remade for SCIFI channel?

I saw 'The Love War' more than 30 years ago on Australian television, while I was working double shifts in a Sydneyside slaughter-yard. I found this low-budget TV-movie deeply enjoyable, for two reasons: firstly, it was science fiction at a time when I was starved for even half-decent SF. Secondly, I've always maintained that science fiction is about *ideas*, not hardware and special effects. 'The Love War' has no ray guns, no spaceships: if you watched this movie with the sound off, you'd barely realise it's science fiction.The film begins in an airport jetty. We see Lloyd Bridges come hirpling along, with an extreme limp. We never do learn the precise explanation for how he got the limp ... but we learn very shortly that he's an extraterrestrial, or at least that he claims to be one. This raises a lot of questions that never do get answered: if the aliens are able to equip themselves with human bodies, then why has Bridges got a body with a gimpy left ankle?Anyroad, it soon turns out that there are two different alien species on Earth. Two planets are at war with each other, and their best soldiers have decided to duke it out on Earth rather than on their homeworlds. Sucks to any humans who get hurt. Apparently, the two rival sets of aliens are able to disguise themselves so perfectly as humans that the only way they can rumble each other is through sunglasses with special lenses. (Why don't they get contact lenses?)Bridges is on the run from the aliens, although it's not immediately clear whether he's on the run from the aliens on the *other* planet -- his enemies -- or whether he's on the run from his own people, because he wants to defect to Earth and live as a human. This raises still more questions that never do get answered: if Bridges successfully goes to earth on Earth and lives out his days as a human, what will happen to this body he's wearing -- presumably not a genuine human body -- when he eventually dies? Will he just self-combust, like the dead aliens in 'The Invaders'?Well, Bridges crosses paths with gorgeous blonde Earthwoman Angie Dickinson, who falls in love with him surprisingly quickly. There is a 'surprise' ending which I saw coming from about twelve parsecs away, but I enjoyed the trip it took to get there. The actors give such earnest performances that I accepted them as extraterrestrials, despite very little evidence. At the very end of the movie, we get a glimpse of two of the aliens through a pair of sunglasses. Still, this movie might have been more interesting if the actors and director had played it for more ambiguity, making Bridges's haggard protagonist more like the enigmatic character played by Kevin Spacey in 'K-PAX': is he a genuine alien, or is he a deluded human who has convinced himself he's an alien, as a defence mechanism against insanity?Part of the problem with 'The Love War' (besides its irrelevant and generic title) is that this story didn't really have to be science fiction: it would have worked much more credibly if the two rival sets of aliens had been human all along: two rival mafia clans, for instance, or modern incarnations of the Hatfields and McCoys. Or the Jets and the Sharks. Worse luck, this TV movie bears a strong resemblance to a science-fiction story by Kris Neville that was published about twenty years earlier: anyone who's read that story will have no trouble guessing the end of this movie.I enjoyed 'The Love War', but would like to have seen the same premise without the science-fiction garnishes. I'll rate this TV movie 7 out of 10. It doesn't insult the viewer's intelligence, and that's a rare achievement indeed.