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Them!Rating:
Release Date: 06 August, 2002 Retail Price: $19.98 OUR Price: $9.97 You SAVE: $10.01! Cast: Complete Cast (10 total) |
Them! Reviews
Them
I highly recommend this move. Great Old black & white SciFi movie of the 50's Makes you feel like your at the drive inn again. This was no B rated film @ the time. The original quality is great and the tranfer to DVD is not lost. This movie was ahead of it's time being filmed in 3D but sorry folks you don't get the 3D effect from the disk. So if you like giant monsters attacking, then this is for you.
One of the Best
It's great to finally see this fifties classic on DVD. I'm not sure what some reviewers were talking about...this is, in my opinion, a very CRISP transfer, the best version of the film I've ever seen. Perhaps their sets need adjusting.
As some mention, the 'extras' aren't much. An interview or commentary with James Whitmore would be a welcome addition, but the movie is great on its own.
Why recount the plot? If you've seen it, you know it, if you haven't, just watch the movie!
Warners was looking for a follow-up to Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, their biggest money-maker of 1951. When Ted Sheridan's script was chosen, it was initially given the 'A picture' treatment. It was going to be in color, and 3-D, with an 'A' movie cast. As the time for filming apprached, Warners got cold feet, and the first two concepts were shelved, though the picture still has a color title card.
The lucky thing is that the solid cast remained...James Whitmore, James Arness, Academy Award winner Edmund Gwynne, Joan Weldon (in an inappropriate tweed suit and hat...which I loved, because what would a fifties woman coming to New Mexico from Washington, DC, wear? and she ditched it later on...smart girl.)
Throw in a great group of character players, including bit parts from Richard Deacon, Leonard Nimoy, William Schallart, and most famously, Fess Parker (legend is that this part led to his being cast as Davy Crockett), Onslow Stephens ("Drain 227 !!!"), Olin Howard ("Make me a sergeant and gimme the booze!")and one of my faves, Dub Taylor ("Is sugar a rare cargo? Is there a market for it? You ever hear of a fence for hot sugar?"), plus numerous other recognizable bit players (Mrs. Lodge, the LA beat cops, Kibbie.)
Helmed by B-director Gordon Douglas, the film has a realism and snappy feel missing from most 'monster pics.' This film was very much a reflection of the hard-nosed atmospheric film noir of the late 40s-early 50s on which Douglas had frequently worked. Note the whirring fans, the boiling coffee, the radio broadcasts, the ceilings on the room sets. Whitmore recounted that they set up the general store, and then he, Arness, and Douglas took hatchets to it to create the 'ant destruction chaos'. Can you imagine actors doing this today?
This movie is what RKO scare-master Val Lewton would have made if he made fifties sci-fi. (Of course, Robert Wise, one of Lewton's prodigies, did make 'The Day the Earth Stood Still', another understated classic...I've always considered Them! to be a 'sister piece', along with Howard Hawks' "The Thing from Another World', which has a similar feel to it (as well as also another 'spunky-but-gorgeous heroine' who is ahead of her time but admitted to the 'inner circle' by the menfolk, both of whom look great in slacks!)
The score by A-movie composer Bronislaw Kaper is one of the key elements to the film. Music is missing at some times of suspense, but greatly enhances others.
The photography is wonderful. The shots of "New Mexico" and the storm drains of LA are both well-done and unforgettable.
and what lines!
"Look at the walls, held together with saliva!"
"Right now, spit's about all that's holding me together, too!"
"Please, my nerves!"
"we may be witness to a Biblical prophesy come true..."
"There's no homicidal maniac in this case."
"Give it to us straight, Doc. Get to the verb."
"He's with the government, so watch your step."
"Stay loose, huh?"
"THEM ! THEM!"
(A special kudos to an amazing little girl. She set the tone right off, and the rest of the story took off from there.)
By the way, it is easy to tell that the film was originally intended for 3-D. Next time you watch, look at shots like the hovering helicopter, the trees and cactus in the desert, the ants coming straight towards the screen, etc. To my knowledge, though, it wasn't shot using the process...I've never known it to be shown that way, anyway.
A treat to watch again and again, this one is a Halloween fixture, along with "Day the Earth Stood Still", "The Thing", "War of the Worlds", "It! The Terror from Beyond Space", "I Married a Monster from Outer Space", "It Came from Outer Space" and any Ray Harryhausen film.
I've shown it to some kids who were mesmorized, some just won't watch it. You'll have to find out for yourself, but you can always watch it yourself!
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