Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956 film)
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| Invasion of the Body Snatchers | |
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| Directed by | Don Siegel |
| Produced by | Walter Wanger |
| Written by | Novel: Jack Finney Screenplay: Daniel Mainwaring Uncredited: Richard Collins |
| Starring | Kevin McCarthy Dana Wynter King Donovan Carolyn Jones Larry Gates |
| Distributed by | Allied Artists Pictures Corporation |
| Release date(s) | 1956 |
| Running time | 80 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $417,000 |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a 1956 science fiction film. It stars Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter, King Donovan and Carolyn Jones and is based on the novel The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney (originally serialized in Colliers Magazine in 1954). The film has been remade twice and has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
The screenplay was adapted from Finney's novel by Daniel Mainwaring (who also wrote the film noir classic Out of the Past), along with an uncredited Richard Collins. It was directed by Don Siegel, who went on to make The Killers and Dirty Harry.
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[edit] Plot
Set in the fictional town of Santa Mira, California (actually shot in Sierra Madre, a town east of Pasadena), the plot centers on Dr. Miles Bennell (played by Kevin McCarthy), a local doctor, who finds a rash of patients accusing their loved ones of being impostors. Another patient is an old flame, recent divorcee Becky Driscoll (Dana Wynter), who tells him that her cousin has this same strange fear.
Assured at first by the town psychiatrist (Dr. Dan Kaufman, played by Larry Gates) that the cases are nothing but "epidemic mass hysteria," Bennell soon discovers, with the help of his friend Jack Belicec (King Donovan), that the townspeople really are being replaced by simulations grown from plantlike pods, perfect physical duplicates who kill and dispose of their human victims. The Pod People are indistinguishable from normal people except for their utter lack of emotion. The pod people work together to secretly spread more pods—which grew from "seeds drifting through space for years"—in order to replace the entire human race.
The film climaxes with Bennell attempting to escape the pod people, flee the town with Driscoll and warn the rest of humanity. (The scenario of a hero trying to escape from an isolated town where he has learned that the inhabitants are not truly human is reminiscent of the plot of H. P. Lovecraft's "The Shadow Over Innsmouth.")
The film was originally intended to end with a crazy-seeming Bennell screaming desperately to unheeding motorists, "You're next!" The studio, wary of such a downbeat conclusion, insisted on adding a prologue and epilogue to the movie that suggested a more optimistic outcome to the story, with the FBI being notified and presumably saving the day. These scenes were deleted in a 1979 re-release after the first remake appeared, paring the movie down to 76 minutes.
[edit] Themes
The film has been read as both an allegory for the loss of personal autonomy under Communism and as a satire of McCarthyist paranoia about Communism during the early stages of the Cold War.
Despite these reported political connotations of the film, lead actor Kevin McCarthy said in an interview included on the 1998 DVD release that he felt no political allegory was intended. [1]
[edit] Parodies
- An episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show titled "It May Look Like a Walnut!" was a parody of the film. First aired February 6, 1963, the episode depicted Rob Petrie's nightmare about aliens who replace his friends and family with emotionless replicas--with walnuts taking the place of pods.
- The animated paranormal mystery show Martin Mystery had an episode called "Attack of the Slime People" that had a similar story.
- In "The Pie" episode of Seinfeld, George, seeing Elaine's look-alike mannequin, says: "It looks like some pod landed from another planet and took your body. Don't fall asleep, Elaine."
- In "The Apartment" episode of Seinfeld, Jerry is upset over Kramer's lack of social skills, and says "Let me explain something to you.. You see, you're not normal. You're a great guy, I love you, but you're a pod. I, on the other hand, am a human being. I sometimes feel awkward, uncomfortable, even inhibited in certain situations with the other human beings. You wouldn't understand".
- During the Reagan presidency, Saturday Night Live aired a parody in which people are taken over by GOP pods.
- A Looney Tunes episode starring Bugs Bunny parodied the film.
- In the Duck Tales episode Send in the Clones, part of the subplot revolved around the Nephews seeing a movie called Invasion of the Quacker Snatchers, an obvious reference to the film.
- The Colbert Report created an immigration related segment called "Invasion of the Country Snatchers".
- The Simpsons comics featured a Halloween comic called "The Immigration of the Body Snatchers", which follows the original film almost to the letter. The comic also featured references to the 1978 version, including a dog with Willie's head and a character voiced on The Simpsons by Donald Sutherland (star of the 1978 version) is seen in the background. At the end, it is revealed that several alien species and robots have long established strongholds on Earth. However, Sideshow Bob breaks the fourth wall and reveals that everything is just a comic strip.
- The spoof 1983 film Strange Invaders paid tribute to the film.
[edit] Trivia
- This film was #88 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments.
[edit] Related works
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978 remake)
- Body Snatchers (1993 remake)
- The Invasion (2007 remake)
- The 2005 television series Invasion and Threshold explore the same themes.
[edit] External links
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) at the Internet Movie Database
- IMDB: "Things That Happen in All Three Films"; a list of eight parallels
- The Greatest Films: Invasion of the Body Snatchers; includes a detailed synopsis
- "Invasion of the Body Snatchers: A Tale for Our Times," by John W. Whitehead, Gadfly Online, November 26, 2001; discusses the political themes of the original film
- McCarthyism and the Movies
The Verdict • Night Unto Night • The Big Steal • Duel at Silver Creek • Count the Hours • China Venture • Riot in Cell Block 11 • Private Hell 36 • The Blue and Gold • Invasion of the Body Snatchers • Crime in the Streets • Baby Face Nelson • Spanish Affair • The Gun Runners • The Lineup • Hound Dog Man • Edge of Eternity • Flaming Star • Hell Is for Heroes • The Killers • The Hanged Man • Stranger on the Run • Coogan's Bluff • Madigan • Two Mules for Sister Sara • The Beguiled • Dirty Harry • Charley Varrick • The Black Windmill • The Shootist • Telefon • Escape from Alcatraz • Rough Cut • Jinxed!
