Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1978)
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1978)
Jack Finney's amazing science-fiction horror novel about an alien lifeform from outer space coming to clone humans and change them into emotionless hive minds, which was also a social commentary about conformity was the basis for the amazing 1956 film. That 1956 film directed by Don Siegel would go on to be the inspiration for a 1978 remake, that has been hailed as one of the best remakes ever made. Invasion Of The Body Snatchers from 1978 is a remake done right, that actually take steps to improve upon the original, and update it to the modern world. The setting of the film was moved to San Francisco, moving it from a quaint small town to a major city, which creates a larger impact, and an increased sense and scope of the terror created in the story. The ending of the film is more inline with what Siegel wanted to do in his film, but wasn't able to because of the studio execs forcing him to change it to a more optimistic ending. This film is great in almost every way and is one of the greatest science-fiction horror films of all-time. 
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers was directed by Phillip Kaufman, with a screenplay by W.D. Richter. The film was based on the 1956 film of the same name directed by Don Siegel, which was in turn based on the 1954 novel by Jack Finney. The film was distributed by United Artists in 1978. Like its predecessor Invasion Of The Body Snatchers was a huge box office success grossing $24.9 million against a budget of $3.5 million. The film was met with mixed to mostly positive reception by the critics, and in retrospect has become more critically acclaimed, and ranks high on most top science-fiction/horror film lists, as well as ranking very high on online film review sites.
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers features a talented cast, starring Donald Sutherland as Matthew Bennell (who is a city health inspector, rather than the doctor he was in the book and the original film), Brooke Adams plays Elizabeth Driscoll, Jeff Goldblum plays Jack Bellicec, Veronica Cartwright plays his wife Nancy Bellicec, Leonard Nimoy plays psychiatrist Dr. David Kibner. The film also features several cameos including Kevin McCarthy as "Running Man" (he was the star of the original film), Don Siegel plays a Taxi Driver (he directed the original film), Robert Duvall is the Priest on the swing in the opening scene, director Philip Kaufman is the man who bothers Matthew Bennell in the phone booth as well as being the voice of one of the officials that Bennell speaks with on the phone, and Rose Kaufman the wife of the directer plays the woman who argues with Jack Bellicec at the book party. Jerry Garcia from the Grateful Dead plays the banjo part that the busker with the dog is playing. This film has a great young cast, with Brooke Adams who was also in Stephen King's The Dead Zone, and Jeff Goldblum was a young rising star in Hollywood, Leonard Nimoy was popular at the time for his role as Spock on Star Trek, and Donald Sutherland was an established star that had been in films since the 1960s including several Hammer Horror films. All of the actors were absolutely perfect for their roles, and did an amazing job at bringing their characters to life. It is said that director Philip Kaufman, allowed the actors a lot of freedom to adlib lines and actions to make the film more realistic, for example the weird thing that Adams does with her eyes to prove that she is still herself and not one of "them".
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers was a superbly done film, that would become highly influential on the genre, and has been hailed as one of the best remakes ever made. If you have not seen this classic, I highly recommend checking it out. I personally prefer the original film, and the Jack Finney novel, however I will not minimize this film as anything less than amazing. The only real issue I had with this film, is that it seems to kind of go on a bit too long towards the end, it feels like the film gets just ready to climax, and then it just seems to keep going, which to me makes the film become a bit redundant and long running. I think that it helps to establish the true scope and hopelessness of the situation, but I feel like that was already established by this point, and I do feel that the original film was better at keeping the climactic chase scene to an appropriate length. That aside this film is absolutely fantastic in almost every other way. I think to many viewers this version of Invasion Of The Body Snatchers is the definitive version of the story, and it is often referenced and parodied. If you have not yet seen this film I highly recommend checking it out, it is definitely a must-see film, and no film collection would be complete without a copy of this film in it. So if you find a copy of the 1978 version of Invasion Of The Body Snatchers don't pass it up. On a personal note, I have fond memories of watching this film with my mom as a kid, is was one I can remember watching together every time it was on cable.
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers features a talented cast, starring Donald Sutherland as Matthew Bennell (who is a city health inspector, rather than the doctor he was in the book and the original film), Brooke Adams plays Elizabeth Driscoll, Jeff Goldblum plays Jack Bellicec, Veronica Cartwright plays his wife Nancy Bellicec, Leonard Nimoy plays psychiatrist Dr. David Kibner. The film also features several cameos including Kevin McCarthy as "Running Man" (he was the star of the original film), Don Siegel plays a Taxi Driver (he directed the original film), Robert Duvall is the Priest on the swing in the opening scene, director Philip Kaufman is the man who bothers Matthew Bennell in the phone booth as well as being the voice of one of the officials that Bennell speaks with on the phone, and Rose Kaufman the wife of the directer plays the woman who argues with Jack Bellicec at the book party. Jerry Garcia from the Grateful Dead plays the banjo part that the busker with the dog is playing. This film has a great young cast, with Brooke Adams who was also in Stephen King's The Dead Zone, and Jeff Goldblum was a young rising star in Hollywood, Leonard Nimoy was popular at the time for his role as Spock on Star Trek, and Donald Sutherland was an established star that had been in films since the 1960s including several Hammer Horror films. All of the actors were absolutely perfect for their roles, and did an amazing job at bringing their characters to life. It is said that director Philip Kaufman, allowed the actors a lot of freedom to adlib lines and actions to make the film more realistic, for example the weird thing that Adams does with her eyes to prove that she is still herself and not one of "them".
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers was a superbly done film, that would become highly influential on the genre, and has been hailed as one of the best remakes ever made. If you have not seen this classic, I highly recommend checking it out. I personally prefer the original film, and the Jack Finney novel, however I will not minimize this film as anything less than amazing. The only real issue I had with this film, is that it seems to kind of go on a bit too long towards the end, it feels like the film gets just ready to climax, and then it just seems to keep going, which to me makes the film become a bit redundant and long running. I think that it helps to establish the true scope and hopelessness of the situation, but I feel like that was already established by this point, and I do feel that the original film was better at keeping the climactic chase scene to an appropriate length. That aside this film is absolutely fantastic in almost every other way. I think to many viewers this version of Invasion Of The Body Snatchers is the definitive version of the story, and it is often referenced and parodied. If you have not yet seen this film I highly recommend checking it out, it is definitely a must-see film, and no film collection would be complete without a copy of this film in it. So if you find a copy of the 1978 version of Invasion Of The Body Snatchers don't pass it up. On a personal note, I have fond memories of watching this film with my mom as a kid, is was one I can remember watching together every time it was on cable.
Comments
Post a Comment