Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978 film)
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Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a 1978 science fiction film based on the novel The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney. It was previously filmed in 1956.
This remake starred Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum, Veronica Cartwright, Leonard Nimoy and Jerry Walter. It was adapted by W. D. Richter and directed by Philip Kaufman. Unlike many remakes, it met a generally favorable critical response; The New Yorker's Pauline Kael, who said "it may be the best film of its kind ever made," was a particular fan.
Plot summary
The plot centers around a doctor who discovers that the people of his town 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.1978 changes
Kaufman moved the setting from small-town California to San Francisco, evoking a style of paranoia reflective of the mistrust and malaise pervasive in post-Vietnam, post-Watergate American films. In one scene, Sutherland's character--named Matthew Bennell--calls Washington for help, only to find his calls are being intercepted and his name is known to the person on the other line before he gives it. This scene summons up the sort of anti-government fears that were also manifested in conspiracy theories; there are distinct similarities between the 1978 film and the tone of the "mythology" episodes of the popular 1990s television series The X-Files.The film is also seen as a satire on the "Me Decade," with the psychiatrist Dr. David Kibner (played by Nimoy) now a self-help guru who first dismisses and then endorses the pod invasion.
As Siegel originally intended with the first film, Kaufman's version lacks a happy ending. Sutherland's character appears to be successful in destroying the invasion's pod-growing facility, but this optimistic development is called into question by a twist ending in the film's final seconds.
There are a number of interesting cameo appearances in the film; the star of the original, Kevin McCarthy, appears briefly as a man on the street frantically screaming about aliens ("They're here!"), in a shot reminiscent of one of the final shots of the original. The original's director, Don Siegel, appears as a devious cab driver. Robert Duvall is also seen briefly, and Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia plays banjo on the soundtrack.
External links
- [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
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