Renz
An Army of One
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Cast: Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter, Larry Gates, King Donovan, Carolyn Jones.
Synopsis: A small town doctor (McCarthy) begins to suspect that the people in town, people he has known his entire life, might not be what they seem. The discovery of a "blank" body, devoid of facial features and fingerprints, sets the doctor on a terrifying quest for the truth about his neighbors and who they may actually be.
I was debating whether or not to do this film, but I decided to when I saw that Hollywood was planning on doing a third remake of this story. Why? This movie is, in my opinion, far and away the best. When this movie came out in the 1950's it scared the daylights out of people and I can see why.
It is scary! Not in a Michael Myers sort of way, but scary because the characters never know who the enemy is or who they can trust. A person could be a loved one today and a mortal enemy the next. Those are the stories that really creep me out.
This movie is one of the best sci-fi/horror films of the 50's. It is well written and well acted and the score is great at setting up the sense of paranoia and impending doom. The scene where the townspeople gather in the city center to receive more pods is nothing short of chilling.
It can be debated that the film is a metaphor for communism and there is a rather large plot hole towards the end, but if you look past that then I think you'll agree that Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a sci-fi classic.
Rent this film, or watch it some night on Turner Classic Movies. You won't be disappointed.
Trivia: This film was selected to the National Film Registry, Library of Congress, in 1994.
Throughout the years, Sam Peckinpah (who appears briefly in the film as the meter reader) claimed that he had done work on the script ranging from modifications to major overhauls. Those who worked on the film claimed that if Peckinpah had made any changes to the script, it was limited to a few lines of dialogue. Peckinpah's claims became so inflated that the real writer, Daniel Mainwaring, threatened to file an official complaint with the WGA. Peckinpah backed down. When Peckinpah died in 1984, many of his obituaries still carried the claim that he had rewritten the script for this film.
The "Tunnel" scene where the hero hides briefly from townspeople was filmed at Bronson Cave in Griffith Park; famous with locals as the "Bat Cave".
Since its release, the film has been believed by many to be a cautionary allegory, with the pods representing either communists or McCarthyists. Director Don Siegel always denied both interpretations, saying he never meant to make anything more than an alien invasion story.
The film originally ended with the hero, Miles Bennell (Kevin McCarthy) on the highway shouting to the people driving by "You're next, you're next!" But the studio wanted a "happier ending" that would assure the audience that the hero's efforts were not in vain, so scenes were added to the opening to show Miles in a mental institution recounting his story to two other doctors and the scene at the end with the man from the FBI.
