Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978 film)
| Invasion of the Body Snatchers | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster for Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) | |
| Directed by | Philip Kaufman |
| Written by | Novel: Jack Finney Screenplay: W. D. Richter |
| Starring | Donald Sutherland Brooke Adams Jeff Goldblum Veronica Cartwright Leonard Nimoy |
Release dates | December 20, 1978 |
| Language | English |
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 and performed very well at the box office; The New Yorker's Pauline Kael, who said "it may be the best film of its kind ever made," was a particular fan.[1]
Plot
The plot centers around Matthew Bennell (Donald Sutherland), a stoic health inspector living and working in San Francisco who discovers that the people of his home city 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. With an increasing sense of paranoia, Matthew and his friends are determined to save themselves and warn of impending doom. But the clock seems to be running out for the group as they quickly discover that not everyone can be trusted with the truth.
Homages
Director Kaufman weaved several tips of the hat to the original 1956 film into his remake which are fun to look for. The most obvious are the appearances of Kevin McCarthy and Don Siegel from the first film detailed in the "Cameos" section. But there are others. Among them:
- Both films are set in California.
- In the original, the underscoring features a very sharp and prominent brass section. In the remake, the opening theme music and some of the underscoring also features a prominent brass section.
- In the 1978 version, Elizabeth Driscoll is startled by the cookoo clock chiming in her apartment as she watches the pod duplicate of her boyfriend Geoffrey taking a trash can filled with the decayed remains of Geoffrey's original body out to the trash truck. In the 1956 original, Becky Driscoll is startled by the cookoo clock in the Bellicec's house as she watches her boyfriend Miles examining the developing pod duplicate of Jack Bellicec on Jack's pool table.
- Both films have the police department playing a prominent role in spreading the invasion and preventing humans from escaping.
- In the first film the leading man, Miles Bennell, is a small town doctor. In the second, Matthew Bennell is a big town health inspector. Both work in the health industry.
- In the 1956 film Jack Bellicec is a moderately successful writer who lives with his wife, Teddy, in a fashionable bungalow. The 1978 film depicts Bellicec as a frustrated, hapless writer who owns a mud bath emporium with his wife, Nancy.
- In both films the psychiatrist, himself a pod, attempts to trick the four human survivors into thinking their suspicions of a conspiracy are merely psychological delusions caused by stress. In the 1956 movie the psychiatrist's name is Danny Kaufman. In the remake it's David Kibner. Same initials.
- Both films depict Jack Bellicec being duplicated early on with the partially-formed duplicate being discovered by the Bellicecs. The line, "It has no details, no character ... it's unformed" delivered by Jack in the remake is similar to the line spoken by Dr. Miles Bennell in the original. In both movies it is pointed out that the developing pod replacement has no fingerprints.
- In the original, all four of the remaining human characters watch in horror as their four duplicates are developing from "hatching" pods in Mile's greenhouse. In the remake, Matthew sees Elizabeth's double taking shape in Geoffrey's greenhouse garden. The setting of the four duplicates developing simultaneously from hatching pods (more graphic in the 1978 version) is changed to Matthew's rooftop garden. In the first movie Miles destroys his duplicate with a pitchfork to the chest. In the second, Matthew does his in with a garden hoe to the head. Both characters, however, are too sentimental to destroy the Becky/Elizabeth double.
- The scene in which Matthew, Elizabeth, Jack, and Nancy are fleeing a mob of pod people down several flights of stairs is reminiscent of the scene in the first movie in which Miles and Becky are fleeing a similar mob up a long outdoor stairway.
- The 1956 movie has Miles and Becky taking refuge in Mile's doctor's office. The 1978 version has Matthew and Elizabeth taking refuge in the Health Department office where both work. In both films a night watchman enters the office shining a flashlight and leaves without discovering the couple. Both films also have the couple taking pills to keep them awake. Miles and Becky in the original, as well as Matthew and Elizabeth in the remake, share a kiss as they're hiding out. In both movies the couples look out the office window to discover a large crowd of duplicates carrying unhatched pods bound for surrounding towns and cities in order to spread the invasion. In the first and second films a duplicated Jack and the duplicated psychiatrist corner the couple in the office. The 1956 version has Dan Kaufman speaking the line, "It would have been so much easier if you'd gone to sleep last night." In the remake the line is given to Jack who says, "It would have been so much easier if we'd all gone to sleep last night." In the original Miles uses syringes filled with poison to kill the Jack and psychiatrist doubles. In 1978 hypodermics were also used in the office setting, only this time the syringes are filled with a mild sedative and administered to Matthew and Elizabeth by the psychiatrist. In this version, Jack's double is killed when Matthew jabs a dart into the base of his skull and Kibner is locked in the lab's freezer. In each film Jack and the psychiatrist are dispatched and the couple flees.
- The first film has Becky alerting the pods to hers and Mile's humanity when she screams in reaction to a dog almost being hit by a truck. In the second, Elizabeth similarly alerts the pod people when she screams in reaction to seeing a pod duplicate with a dog's body and a human's face.
- In the original, Miles leaves Becky behind in an abandoned mine to investigate the source of music coming from over the hills. Both hope the music emanates from genuine humans. To his dismay, Miles discovers a huge greenhouse complex growing thousands of pods. The music had come from a radio. He returns to find Becky transformed into a pod duplicate. In the 1978 film, Matthew and Elizabeth discover a huge pod-growing facility together. After fleeing the factory, Matthew leaves Elizabeth behind in a field to investigate a seaship piping out the song "Amazing Grace" on its loudspeaker. He hopes to find a human crew who will help them escape. To his dismay, Matthew discovers that pallets of pods are being loaded into the ship's hold. The music had come from a radio. He returns to find Elizabeth transformed into a pod duplicate.
1978 Changes
Kaufman moved the setting from small-town California to the city of San Francisco, evoking a style of paranoia reflective of the mistrust and malaise pervasive in post-Vietnam, post-Watergate American films[citation needed]. In one scene, 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[citation needed].
The film is also seen as a satire on the "Me Decade," with the psychiatrist Dr. David Kibner (Leonard Nimoy), a character who is a popular self-help guru who first dismisses the other characters' fears and then endorses the pod invasion[citation needed].
The 1978 remake also corrects an error in the original film. Although the premise of the film is that the bodies of the pods' victims are destroyed upon the awakening of their alien duplicates, the original film depicts the replacement of Becky Driscoll, Bennell's love interest, as though she falls asleep human, but awakes as an alien. In the 1978 remake, Elizabeth Driscoll's body crumbles in Bennell's arms as her duplicate becomes conscious and arises behind him.
In the original, the aliens are never seen in their pre-duplicate form. We only see the emotionless human doubles. In the opening scene of the remake we see the aliens in their pre-invasion form struggling to survive on their dying home planet. They appear to be intelligent, gelatinous creatures who can escape the gravity of their doomed homeworld at will to drift along to a more habitable environment.
The first film never shows us what happens to the original human bodies after duplication. In the second, there are several scenes in which we see greyish debris dangling from the back ends of trash trucks which kicks up grey dust when its compacted.
The 1978 remake not only reflects the zeitgeist of the 70's with its moody paranoia, but also contrasts itself with its 50's counterpart by its more graphic portrayal of Jack Bellicec's partly developed double, as well as its portrayal of the hatching pods in Matthew's rooftop garden. Feminist sensibilities are also in evidence in the second film. In the original, Becky Driscoll did not appear to have a job or career. In the remake, Elizabeth Driscoll is a nine-to-five lab worker at the Department of Health. In a similar vein, Jack's wife Teddy in the first film was a housewife. In the second, Jack's wife Nancy is a co-owner of their mud bath emporium and works with the clients.
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.
Cameos
There are a number of cameo appearances in the film; the star of the original film, 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.
The film benefited from the late-1970s sci-fi boom following the release of Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind in 1977 and Battlestar Galactica earlier in 1978.
Cast
- Donald Sutherland - Matthew Bennell
- Brooke Adams - Elizabeth Driscoll
- Jeff Goldblum - Jack Bellicec
- Veronica Cartwright - Nancy Bellicec
- Leonard Nimoy - Dr. David Kibner
- Art Hindle - Dr. Geoffrey Howell
- Lelia Goldoni - Katherine Hendley
- Kevin McCarthy - Running man
- Don Siegel - Taxi driver
- Tom Luddy - Ted Hendley
- Stan Ritchie - Stan
- David Fisher - Mr. Gianni
- Tom Dahlgren - Detective
- Garry Goodrow - Dr. Alan Boccardo
- Jerry Walter - Restaurant owner
- Maurice Argent - Chef
- Sam Conti - Street barker
- Wood Moy - Mr. Tong
- R. Wong - Mrs. Tong
- Rose Kaufman - Outraged woman
- Joe Bellan - Harry the Beggar
- Sam Hiona - Police Officer #1
- Lee McVeigh - Police Officer #2
- Al Nalbandian - Rodent man (as Albert Nalbandian)
- Lee Mines - Schoolteacher
- Chris & Jason Begley - Twins on the class field trip (uncredited)
- Misty - Begger's Boxer Dog
- Robert Duvall - Priest on swing (uncredited)
- Philip Kaufman - City official (voice, uncredited)
- Al Perez - PG&E Man (uncredited)
- Jeff Scheftel
- David Shelton - Friend of the Begley twins
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