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Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
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johnnybear
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 18, 2018 1:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Another fantastic movie from our childhoods! The pods were very scary and pretty weird to look at too!

The only gripe I have is the near ending with Miles Bennell and his girlfriend which others have already mentioned! The remake was pretty good but I'm in the original camp!

Although the film Body Snatchers from 93 had a voluptuous naked woman succumbing to the replication process of the seedpods there is no challenge to this classic!
JB
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 20, 2018 8:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

johnnybear wrote:
Although the film Body Snatchers from 93 had a voluptuous naked woman succumbing to the replication process of the seedpods there is no challenge to this classic!

All Sci-Fi does NOT have a thread for Body Snatches (1993)! Shocked

Shame on us!

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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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Bogmeister
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 2:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

__________________

___ Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1956) trailer


__________




This alien invasion is quiet. It's subtle. It happens in a small California town.

The aliens — which are some form of plant life from another world — replace people with emotionless duplicates. This is an attack on the notion of individuality. In this proposed new world, each 'person' is the same as the next one, except in outward appearance.

From the p.o.v. of the aliens, there are much less problems without pesky emotion. But for humans, this is like the ultimate nightmare — you lose your personal identity, all that you are as a unique being.

The main character is the local doctor (Kevin McCarthy) who gradually learns of this hideous incursion, first by the mere rumor and paranoia that people are not behaving as they used to. He slowly loses all his friends and acquaintances to the new order.

At one point, the doctor makes the observation of how most humans steadily and voluntarily discard their emotions during their lifetimes — "We harden our hearts". So, this invasion may merely be an escalation of what we all normally do.

But as the only 'survivor' of his community, will his warnings to the rest of the world be heeded?



The tone of the first half of the film is that of a strange mystery. McCarthy as the doctor begins to kindle a romance with local beauty and former sweetheart, Dana Wynter.

He receives a phone call from a friend who's found an odd, featureless body on his property. The friend (King Donovan) and his wife (Carolyn Jones) are understandably nervous, but they don't know what to make of this.

The mystery deepens, because the body eventually disappears, and there's no proof that it ever happened. The crucial scene in the film (see pic above) and the abrupt shocking turn of events occurs, around the midpoint.

Things seem to return to normal the next day and the two couples resume routine activities during a backyard barbecue. But the doctor suddenly sees new pod bodies being born in the greenhouse!

With this sudden shift which occurs in the best sci-fi/horror stories, everything changes in a matter of seconds. Now the two couples are on the run, and things close in on them rapidly. The full horror of the situation is impressed on the audience near the end, when the blossoming romance between McCarthy and Wynter ends suddenly.

The 1st remake, shifting to San Francisco, was in 1978.

BoG's Score: 8 out of 10



Trivia of the Body Snatchers: Based on Jack Finney's 1954 novel, The Body Snatchers.

~ Besides the 1978 follow-up, other remakes were in 1993 & 2007 (The Invasion).

~ Watch for a small role for future director Sam Peckinpah as the gas meter man.

~ McCarthy would pop up in cameo in the 1978 remake, perhaps as the same character.

~ There's at least one colorized version released on VHS.



BoG
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 12, 2019 5:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

alltare wrote:
There's a 6-1/2 hour audiobook of IotBS on youtube at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3BxhbolIZw

Sound quality is very good.

I've downloaded it with Savefrom.net and added it to my file of Sci-Fi Radio program and Audio Books.

Thanks, Steve!
Cool
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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 Dec 14, 2019 8:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Is it in episode form, Bud? Six hours long is a bit of a push and I don't really know what the off button is for!!!
JB
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 14, 2019 9:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

johnnybear wrote:
Is it in episode form, Bud? Six hours long is a bit of a push and I don't really know what the off button is for!!!
JB

It's Jack Finney's novel, being read aloud by the author. Just listen to a few chapters, then make note of the time index of the place where you stopped so you can come right back to that point. Very Happy
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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 Wed Jan 20, 2021 9:38 am; edited 1 time in total
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Eadie
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PostPosted: Fri May 08, 2020 1:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bud Brewster wrote:
All Sci-Fi does NOT have a thread for Body Snatches (1993)! Shocked
Shame on us!

If one is interested it can be seen at https://www.erotic4u.com/Gabrielle_Anwar-nude-in-Body-Snatchers-2007.htm
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 18, 2020 2:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

orzel-w wrote:
Bud Brewster wrote:
And as for Keven McCarthy, I'm not too impressed with the detail or realism of his Pod replica!

Those were supposed to be incompletely developed replicas. In the movie the characters even commented on the progress of the developing details.

That's true! I don't know why I made that statement in the 2015 post above. It seems silly now. Embarassed

Here's a MUCH better idea!
________________________________

Thinking Outside the "Plot"!
________________________________

~ A Question for the Members: Imagine what the world would be like after the pod people were defeated and all the pods were destroyed . . . supposedly.

Wouldn't the government secretly keep some of them in a special facility to study them?

~ My Theory: The research lab would be designed to prevent the pods from "bonding" with human victims and producing duplicates.

To determine the best way to do this, the scientist would need a supply of the pods they could used for experiments. They would place several pods in a sealed room and then have test subjects in a separate room, some distance away.

If the pods bonded with the test subjects, the replicas would be destroyed before they matured.






The experiment would then be repeated with the test subjects located further away from the pods.

Eventually the scientist would determine the "range" of the pods so they would know the "safe distance" needed between the pods and the people. This would insure that the pods would not bond with anyone and pop open.

During this part of the experiment, the scientists would do several things the pubic would by horrified by if they learned what was going on. (This would explain why the hidden facility is “top secret”.) One example of these questionable procedures would be the performance of autopsies on the partially formed replicas of the test subjects.

Furthermore, in some cases they would actually enlist the aid of terminally ill patients who would agree to allow a replica of that person to reach maturity! This would permit the scientists to determine exactly how the “pod people” disposed of their human originals — and whether or not the replicas possessed the same terminal condition which killed the human subject! Shocked

If the replica did NOT have the terminal condition, that would suggest some intriguing . . . and disturbing . . . possibilities. Shocked

For example, if a brilliant scientist or a famous surgeon was about to die, could that person’s invaluable knowledge be preserved by creating a pod replica?

The important question here is this; just how complete are the knowledge and the skills of the original human when a pod-generated replica is created! Confused

On a more personal level, what if a man whose wife if dying of cancer is secretly replicated by the grieving husband so he can create a perfect duplicate and not have to suffer the loss of his beloved spouse! Shocked
________________________________

Gentlemen . . . please . . . share your thoughts about this interesting concept and help me make All Sci-Fi a better message board than all those websites which have faltered and died in the last few years because they never challenged their members the way we do here! Cool

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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 Wed Jan 20, 2021 9:40 am; edited 1 time in total
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ralfy
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 19, 2021 7:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here's one interesting point from the trivia page in the IMDB entry:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049366/trivia?ref_=tt_trv_trv


Quote:
Kevin McCarthy didn't particularly like the script because he felt that, in streamlining the novel for the screen, depth of character was lost. He thought it was a mistake that these fairly sophisticated, educated characters had such bland dialogue and manner of relating to one another, "lacking the curves and nuances that you often hear in the conversation of ordinary, mature men and women."
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