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Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

 
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 11, 2017 6:34 pm    Post subject: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) Reply with quote



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Okay, so we don't get Keven McCarthy and Dana Winter in this sincere remake of a beloved classic. Instead we get Hawkeye Pierce and Brooke Adams (the later of which looks and sounds French, even though she's of English and German decent).

Actually we do see Kevin briefly near the beginning of the film for a few seconds, sprawled across the hood of Hawkeye's car, screaming his famous line from the climax of the original. But modern audiences have no idea who he is, and older movie goers just sort of shake their heads and pity poor Kevin for having to milk his famous role with this brief cameo.

However, the flaws in the classic original are intelligently addressed in this remake — like the infamous debate about whether the humans are replace-and-destroyed, or are their bodies inhabited by the aliens?

This version of the story makes it plain that the people are copied-and-destroyed. The clip below shows the process by which a victim's DNA is copied and their memories are downloaded.

This movie is not popular with fans of the original, but it does have it's merits.
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_________ Invasion of the Body Snatchers - clip


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Sun Nov 29, 2020 11:18 am; edited 4 times in total
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Pow
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 11, 2017 7:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I enjoy both versions, same with The Thing.
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Krel
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 11, 2017 10:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm going to talk about the original story, including the ending. So, you've been warned.

The story takes place in a small town, like in the first movie, which follows the story pretty closely. Until the ending.

The pods are shaped like large pumpkins, and only need to be in close proximity to duplicate the victim. I don't remember if the story tells what happens to the original. The duplicates aren't perfect, they can not create. The duplicates only live for four years*, so the pods go from planet to planet, as they use them up.

In the story, after the escape from his office, the two go on the attack. They start destroying the pods which suddenly start rising into the sky, leaving the Earth. They realize that they weren't alone, and the pods left in the face of growing opposition.

The end of the story is that they don't do any thing to the duplicated people, they can't harm anyone, they can only act the way the original would. After four years all the duplicates start dying. People, animals, trees, they all die.

David.


* A slight mistake on my part. Bud has pointed out to me that in the story, the pod duplicates lived five years not four. In my defense, it has been a long time since I have read the story. Thanks for the correction, Bud.
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Bogmeister
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 24, 2019 11:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

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One of the rare remakes that work almost as well as the original.

Maybe one reason is that it also works as a follow-up to the 1956 version, upgrading from a small town setting to the big city of San Francisco. Maybe another reason is that I was still living in that city when I saw this in the theater. The familiar locale lent an extra layer of eeriness for me and it all seemed like it was really happening (or was about to happen).

This begins (unlike the original) with a scene on the home planet of the alien plants, showing their departure through space. Then we're in San Francisco, in the early morning; a priest (Robert Duvall in cameo) riding on a kid's swing, his p.o.v. suggesting that things have shifted.

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This goes a little slowly in the first act, and I admit that I found the film a bit slow when I first watched it. But it's the kind of story that creeps up on you, and I appreciated it a lot more as I got older. The suggestions, the hint of paranoia, and all the small bits of disturbing flotsam reach a pay off around the midpoint, as things get quite creepy and grotesque.

Donald Sutherland stars as a city health inspector. His main problem until the invasion has been dealing with hostile restaurateurs. He works with Brooke Adams, with whom he has a very friendly relationship, but she's married to dentist Art Hindle.

However, Hindle is one of the first citizens to suddenly start behaving unlike his old self one fine morning. He becomes cold, sort of sterile. Adams notices almost immediately. However, celebrity psychologist Leonard Nimoy convinces her that it's all in her head and she's rationalizing.

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Things take a turn for the grotesque at the mudbath place run by Jeff Goldblum (a failed poet and friend of Sutherland') and Veronica Cartwright. They discover a half-formed body and it soon becomes evident that it's a duplicate of Goldblum. When he sleeps, the body becomes better formed.

Sutherland saves Adams from also being duplicated, and then they are on the run —

Oh, wait, no, not yet! The evidence disappears, and at first there's no where to run. By this point, the audience gets the feeling that things have already tilted too far and it's too late — even though the movie is only halfway done.

The main characters appear to be stuck in the middle of a city that is over half taken over and it's a despairing situation. Soon, they will all be replaced and join the collective.

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The final act is indeed a chase and hide scenario, mostly during the night. The pursuing pod people, though they look human, emit a strange, alien wailing noise (the one other big distinction from the first film version). They begin to resemble the zombies of the George Romero films, though they move as swiftly as normal humans.

The more interesting scenes, however, involve trying to blend in with the pod people. This features a momentary full-on sci-fi/horror gasp when we see a 'flawed' result of the duplication process, a combo man/dog hybrid.

Good performances all around, especially from Goldblum and Cartwright, whose character reads a lot of science fiction and can deduce a few things better than average.

Don Siegel, director of the original, is in a bit part as a cab driver.

BoG's Score: 8 out of 10

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Snatched Trivia: Kevin McCarthy also appears in a bit part, presumably playing the same character from the first film, just 22 years older and still running around yelling warnings. The next remake was in 1994, titled Body Snatchers, from Abel Ferrara; then the 2007 version, The Invasion.


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BoG
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 24, 2019 1:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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The very brief scene of the man-dog in this movie is actually a good special effect. That's why it seems odd that director Philip Kaufman was so reluctant to give us a slightly longer look.

Obviously it was done by placing a rubber mask on a dog's head and having the dog show it's long, wide tongue for a moment.

The brevity of the shot makes it seem like the filmmakers didn't want us to notice any flaws. If the man-dog had looked unconvincing, I could understand the need to make the shot go by quickly.

But the effect works very well, and if we'd gotten a better look at it we'd be even more convinced by this perfect portrayal of the hideous abomination!




_______ Invasion of the Body Snatchers Dog-Man


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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johnnybear
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 28, 2019 8:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The Body Snatchers film of 1993 is set on an army base and is famous for the beautiful scene of the naked lady before or as she is being taken over the pods up in the air ducts!
JB
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 11, 2023 1:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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IMDB has several interesting trivia items for this production. Very Happy
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~ Donald Sutherland was hit by a Volkswagen beetle while filming a shot of Matthew and Elizabeth running. He fell onto the windshield and was able to see the driver saying "Oh, my God! Not you!"

Note from me: Sutherland should have shouted back at the driver, "They're Here! You're next!!"

~ (At around one hour and twenty-four minutes) During the taxi ride, Donald Sutherland and Brooke Adams' nervousness is genuine. Don Siegel had lost much of his vision, and was driving through the dark streets of San Francisco without his glasses.

Note from me: "Donald, Brook — in this scene you'll very nervous during the taxi ride. I'll be driving the cab myself. Now, let's see . . . where'd I put my glasses?"

~ Producer Robert H. Solo mentioned in the book "They're Here..." that Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum, and Leonard Nimoy were each paid $25,000 for their roles. Donald Sutherland was paid something between $200,000 and $300,000.

Note from me: Obviously not all theatrical agents are created equal . . . Rolling Eyes

~ According to the commentary on the DVD, director Philip Kaufman said they paid Robert Duvall by giving him an Eddie Bauer jacket.

Note from me: Robert had the worst agent of the bunch! Laughing

~ Among the sounds Ben Burtt used for the pod growing scene, the heartbeat came from an ultrasound recorded on his pregnant wife. The pod screams were recorded pig squeals. Additionally, the natural diegetic sounds (crickets, birds chirping) fade as the film progresses, until only mechanical sounds (sirens, the garbage trucks) are heard.

Note from me: A subtle way of suggesting that life on Earth was being replaced. Clever.

~ While rehearsing Kevin McCarthy's cameo, a naked homeless man recognized him and said "The first one was better."

Note from me: Funny . . . if it's true.

~ The night after the movie's release, someone put pods, like those in the movie, all over the streets of Los Angeles. Some people got so freaked out, that they thought they were real, and called the police.

Note from me: Also funny . . . again, if it's true.

~ Brooke Adams challenged Donald Sutherland to a foot race during one of the film's many chase scenes. After Philip Kaufman yelled "Cut!", they just kept going. Adams won, in a dress and high heels no less.

Note from me: I've yet to figure out how women even walk iin high heels, much less run! Shocked

~ At the beginning of the film, as the alien spores rain down on Earth, you see them presumably landing on the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco, the headquarters of what was then the parent company of "United Artists," which produced this movie.

Note from me: That would explain why movie producers often seem so heartless! Very Happy

~ Silence is heard as the end credits roll as there was no end title music composed or recorded for the film.

Note from me: My God! Even the composer was taken over by the soulless pod people.

~ Veronica Cartwright might be the Queen of space and sci-fi themed movies. She starred in this, Alien, The Invasion, the Flight of the Navigator, the Right Stuff, The X Files, the Twilight Zone and Last Man on Planet Earth.

Note from me: Hey, that's cool! She's the "John Agar" of the 1970s! Laughing

~ Siskel and Ebert both liked this movie and gave it two thumbs up on "At The Movies" in 1978; but they both wondered aloud as to why Phillip Kauffman remade the 1956 Don Seigel classic. The critical consensus since then is that the 1978 remake is actually better than the original: the best of the bunch in terms of the 4 iterations of this story.

Note from me: Hmmm . . . I disagree.

~ The 1978 version nicely corrects a plot hole in the 1956 version. In the climax of Don Seigel's film Miles sees Becky sleeping. He gets her to wake up, tells her he loves her, and then kisses her. Becky starts talking like a pod person and coldly tells Miles to calm down and join them. Although the scene is powerful, logically it doesn't make any sense.

The new version presents the same scene but corrects the mistake. Matthew hugs Elizabeth and tells her he loves her. She falls asleep and then shrivels up into ashes, and then we see the pod person Elizabeth coming up from behind him. It also shows what happens to the original human bodies when the pod people replace them, something the original never does.


Note from me: This scene alone does give the remake something the original lacked.


Invasion of the Body Snatchers - clone replaces original


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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