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An alien takes the form of a young widow's husband and asks her to drive him from Wisconsin to Arizona. The government tries to stop them.
[Starman is driving the car, and speeds across a recently turned red light, causing crashes for the other motorists] Starman: Okay? Jenny Hayden: Okay? Are you crazy? You almost got us killed! You said you watched me, you said you knew the rules! Starman: I do know the rules. Jenny Hayden: Oh, for your information pal, that was a *yellow* light back there! Starman: I watched you very carefully. Red light stop, green light go, yellow light go very fast.
Starman: Shit! Jenny Hayden: Don't mind him. He's just learning English. Roadhouse Waitress: Well, he's got a hell of a start on it!
Mark Shermin: Have people from your world been here before? Starman: Before yes. We are interested in your species. Mark Shermin: You mean you're some kind of anthropologist? Is that what you're doing here? Just checking us out? Starman: You are a strange species. Not like any other. And you'd be surprised how many there are. Intelligent but savage. Shall I tell you what I find beautiful about you? [Shermin nods] Starman: You are at your very best when things are worst.
Jenny Hayden: Love is, um, it's when you care more for someone else than you do yourself.
Jenny Hayden: [the Starman is about to depart Earth] Take me with you! Starman: I cannot. Jenny Hayden: Please! Starman: You would die there. Jenny Hayden: I don't care! Starman: [pause, then:] I care.
Cook: [to Starman] You're not from around here, are you?
Starman: Environment: hostile.
Starman: Define shit.
Starman: I gave you a baby tonight.
[the Starman has followed a trucker into the men's room. He stands and observes the trucker using the urinal and smiles at him] Trucker: [muttering] Every goddamn place you go! [Trucker zips up angrily and moves to leave. Starman tries the new phrase and gesture he'd just learned from observing the full-service pump attendant] Starman: [gives a thumbs up] Take it easy. Trucker: [gives the middle finger] Up yours! [the trucker leaves Starman to ponder this experience alone] Starman: [gestures thumbs-up with one hand, mouths] Take it easy. Starman: [gestures middle finger with other hand, mouths] Up yours. [Starman nods to himself, deciding that this must be the correct social pattern for human good-byes]
Cook: What's your line? Starman: [imitates Cook's gruff affect] Line? Cook: Work. Whaddya do when you're not hitchin' rides? Starman: Oh, I make maps. Cook: Make any money? Starman: [pauses] I make maps. Cook: Well, you don't get rich cookin' either!
Jenny Hayden: What's it like up there? Starman: It is beautiful. Not like this, but it is beautiful. There is only one language, one law, one people. There is no war, no hunger. The strong do not victimize the helpless. We are very civilized, but we have lost something, I think. You are all so much alive, all so different.
[Fox looks in diner to verify that Starman and Jenny Hayden have been set free] George Fox: Shermin, you are finished. I will have you eviscerated for this. Mark Shermin: 'ell, as much as I hate to stoop to symbolism. [Shermin takes a puff from cigar and blows smoke into Fox's face]
George Fox: Do you seriously expect me to tell the President that an alien has landed, assumed the identity of a dead housepainter from Madison, Wisconsin and is presently out tooling around the countryside in a hopped up orange and black 1977 Mustang?
[Starman and Jenny are looking at a dead deer strapped to the hood of a car] Deer Hunter: Cried when you saw Bambi? Starman: Define 'Bambi'? Deer Hunter: Huh? Jenny Hayden: He doesn't understand, he's not from around here. Deer Hunter: [laughs] You don't speaking English, huh? Heh-hey! [walks away snickering] Jenny Hayden: [to Starman] Steer clear of that bozo. Starman: Define 'bozo'? Jenny Hayden: Jerk.
Starman: [with mouth full] That Dutch apple pie! Jenny Hayden: It's good, huh? Starman: [Starman swallows, imitates the waitress's "OK" gesture and words] It's terrific! Jenny Hayden: [samples his pie, nods] For a primitive species we have our points.
George Fox: [referring to the word "greetings"] It's also what the cannibal said to the missionary just before he ate him. Mark Shermin: Well, I guess the question is who's the missionary, and who are the cannibals?
George Fox: Good. I'm glad you're here. Mark Shermin: What the hell is this about? George Fox: You're a man of some scientific attainment. You mean to tell me you don't recogonize an emergency autopsy room when you see one? Mark Shermin: With leather tie straps? George Fox: You behave yourself, Mark.
Starman: [after seeing the dead deer] Do deer eat people? Jenny Hayden: No. Starman: Do people eat people? Jenny Hayden: Of course not. What do you think we are? Starman: I think you are a very primitive species.
Starman: I send greetings. Brad Heinmuller: What the hell's going on here? Jenny Hayden: I'm being kidnapped! Starman: Greetings. Brad Heinmuller: You better let her go pal, I'll give you some greetings.
Mark Shermin: [after seeing the pathology table with straps, bitterly:] Welcome to Planet Earth.
Starman: What is kid-nap-ped? Jenny Hayden: You want to know what kidnapped is? It's being dragged out of your house in the middle of the night by some... whatever you are... being forced to drive all night with a gun pointed at your side and not knowing where you're going or what's going to happen to you when you get there. So if you're going to shoot me, go ahead! Because I'd rather be shot than go on being scared to death. Starman: [points the gun at Jenny's head] Jenny Hayden: Go ahead! Starman: [releases the clip from the gun] I mean you no harm, Jenny Hayden.
Starman: [speaks Chinese] [speaks Russian] Jenny Hayden: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven... Starman: As the Secretary General of the United Nations, an organization of 147 member states who represent almost all of the inhabitants of the Planet Earth [Jenny faints] Starman: I send greetings.
Starman: I thought guns make you a little bit jumpy. Jenny Hayden: You make me a little bit jumpy.
Jenny Hayden: [sees Starman looking like Scott] [drops gun] Jenny Hayden: Scott? Starman: [picks up gun] Jenny Hayden: You're not Scott! Starman: ...not... Scott...
Deer Hunter: [after almost getting run over by Jenny] Hey, take it easy! Starman: [gives him the middle finger through the car window] Up yours! Deer Hunter: I'm going to get that son of a bitch!