Survived the tropical depression Helene here in North Carolina this morning. This afternoon as the sun came out, I temporarily captured a large brown grasshopper. I let him/her go. Before the storm moved in last night, I saw a couple of fireflies ( here we call them lightening bugs). Lost a large poplar tree to the storm, but not near the house. Me and my cat are good+ and love these types of films (well,I do). Take care.
Yeah, there are a lot of other similarities - eggs pulsating with life in a creepy chamber lair and then getting torched thanks to a strong female lead's initiative, soldiers V monster battles, duct action, etc. Even the kid playing Newt bears a resemblance to the girl in the desert and plays it in a similarly traumatised fashion for exactly the same reason. Old Jim loves his tropes. 😉
@@borusa32 - not to defend Arness's acting (which makes Peter Graves's look like a Royal Academy graduate!), but he learned what acting he did from John Wayne...another actor who didn't give his co-stars much to play off of.
A very good friend of mine has been a stereo photographer all his life and it was because of this that I happened to notice in the scene in which Dr. Pat Medford is in an airplane photographing areas in the desert that she was using a David White Stereo Realist camera, the premier stereo camera of the era and in future scenes scientists are viewing photo slides through Stereo Realist viewers. When I pointed this out to my friend he was delighted and is how I discovered that the film had intended to be in 3D.
I first saw Them on the TV when I was nine and it made a great impression on me, so much that I have been a fan of "creature features" ever since. My wife scoffs at the hokey effects but as I point out it now 70 years when these were made and I don't care. I still love the opening to Them, as for me it ranks with some of the best for creating an air of mystery tinged with menace, especially when the little girl sits up. The Beginning of the End also has a strong start and works well until the "bugs" show up. Strangely the ants of Them almost appear more lifelike despite live insects being used. It is fun watching the real bugs crawling over the 2d image, if only because its so cheap and totally destroys any sense of realism - not that this matters. Love these regular juants into SciFi, thankyou
I first saw Them on TV as a kid in the 1960's. When James Whitmore's police officer character is killed saving the children and James Arness's FBI character has next to no reaction to the horrible death, I was taken aback, even as an unsophisticated 11-year-old. After all the increasing tension the culminating emotional moment fell flat. But I did not realize the full extent of harm it had done to the film until your excellent review all these years later. In the films and James Arness's defense it may have been deliberate realism. After serving in an emergency service for almost 30 years I can say that is how you react to tragedy in the moment. You can't be emotional, you don't have time, and it won't help the situation to resolve, quite the opposite. Now you can fall to pieces afterward, hours, days or even years afterward and many do. But you can't show that in a film concentrating on the immediate events. I still love the film and naturally have it in my SF- fantasy DVD collection.
I understand compartmentalisation IRL, but movies require something different. The emotional beats are part of the job. The death of Ben needed to be recognised.
Excellent video Terry. I've seen both these movies....also the MST3K version on The Beginning of the End. Them is a sci-fi classic. Grasshoppers in Beginning.... walking on postcards of Chicago is hilarious!
@@timeliebe That was also my view as well. I think after a while the flatness of the building (because its a card) becomes obvious. With more takes, they could have fooled us for longer.
So much to love about Them! Fun facts: The old man in the alcoholic ward (Olin Howland) is also the first victim of The ('58) Blob,. The B-25 Pat crawls out of in Then! was the same plane Yossarian crawls out of in Catch-22, and it has a Wilhelm scream. Best giant bug movie EVER!
You're right. We go to the movies for the emotions it brings up to the surface. What a missed opportunity for huge emotional resonance in the storytelling pipeline
Thank you, Terry, for helping me revisit two movies I loved as a kid. I must admit that as an adult, I find re-watching ‘Them’ a lot more enjoyable than Bert I. Gordon’s grasshopper massacre.
Them! is a great film. First and best of the giant bug movies. As you implied good story, production values, and effects. One that can be watched again and again. Beginning of the End is a hoot of a film. As are all of Bert I. Gordons' works. Great double bill to watch one night. Grab a big bowl of pop corn, a can of soda,. squish yourself into a nice big easy chair and enjoy.
The one thing that always bugged me about "Them!" was, when did Whitmore quit the local police force and join the army? 😁The old alky in the hospital (Olin Howland) also played the first victim of "The Blob".
My take is that Ben Peterson was seconded to the Giant Ant Project because he proved his value and they were trying to keep a lid on the existence of the ants, so small team.
Terry, I to appreciate THEM. It has been one of my favorite monster movies since I was a kid. I love the story the way it was shot, and the acting of James Whitmore. He was such a great actor, watch his work in Battleground or The Asphalt Jungle or many other movies. His death scene in Them was my "Bambi's mother gets shot" welcome to your favorite character in a movie getting killed.
I have a soft spot for "Beginning of the End." I had a tough finding the DVD, which looks nice, as it was out of print. It's fun; bad, yes, but entertaining and that's what's important to me. "Them!" has long, long been a favorite. My father introduced it to me; he saw it first run at age 11. It's one of those films that just doesn't age, and it has a fascinating ending to me: it's and ending but without resolution. Wonderful stuff.
Hey Terry! Great video, as usual. One of our local creature feature horror hosts used to give short video snippets of the next week's movie, and viewers were supposed to guess the film. For THEM! it was just the audio of the weird ant noise. Once you saw the movie, you never forget that sound! Cheers!
Them, I love that movie! The plot, cinematography, eerie soundtrack and of course James Whitmore. I totally agree with the fantastic job he did. An overall great 50s film with few flaws. You’re killing it on your reviews.
In a bit of personal trivia, in Beginning of the End they had used real pictures from Illinois as backgrounds and there is a brief glimpse of a sign pointing to my home town.
Them is the "Street Car Named Desire" of Giant Insect Movies: Fess Parker as the pilot who thinks he is going around the Bend; James Whitmore had the concession for playing decent, able, ordinary men (Battleground, Battle Cry, etc. the guy always reminds me of Spencer Tracy ); and Edmund Gwenn as the scientist. Given the timing, it made a lot of sense that the Whitmore and Arness's characters would know their way around WWII infantry weapons Arness as a WWII, Army 11 series Soldier and Whitmore was an 03 series Marine Officer. Arness had the crap shot out of him at Anzio and walked with a bad limp for the rest of his life. Doing that kind of thing, in real life might have made doing that kind of scene tough for him. Mitchum served in the Army, stateside as a Medic at a MEP station. He received an Army Commendation Medal ("ARCIM") for his service, which was fairly rare in WWII. My guess was he was probably good at keeping late-war draftees (many of whom were family men who had been deferred until we needed bodies in 1944-/45) from freaking out when they were getting medically screened before getting sent to Basic (or Boot Camp, they drafted Marines in WWII and Korea). Seemed like a wise@$$, avuncular type who would be good at that and that might have helped him play decent, gys who were also shooters.
Still, the job was to create a character. Yes, his war service was admirable but the gig is what it is. Whitmore knew that, Arness, who admittedly was a shy person, was probably in the wrong profession.
@@terrytalksmovies Good point. He could be very good in certain roles (either, the very hard core, slightly rigid Matt Dillion or the raffish, unconventional Zeb Macahan in How the West Was Won.) In that one, Ken Curtis and Arness essentially traded roles, Macahan is sort of Festus Hagen and Curtis played a stiff austere US Marshal). Most of being a good actor is knowing your range. John Wayne was a great film actor, but had a narrow range. He was not believable as someone born before 1750 or so and only made an accent work in Ford's The Long Voyage Home as a Norwegian in a supporting role.
Splendid video again Terry, as always. The BBC started screening 'Them' on weekend daytime in the 70s and as a pre-teen horror fiend i lapped it up. And that screechy clicky sound the ants made haunts me to this day. Although as a smartarse 10 year old i did consider myself 'witty' by telling my schoolmates, "of course this film should really be called 'Those!' " I would then give a smug grin. And they would thump me one. Happy days... Keep up the fantastic work!
Cheers for the video, Terry. Interesting observation about Arness's lack of emotional resource in that scene. Yes, fairly typical 50s stoic response, although maybe not entirely flat. There's some sadness but no anguish. Perhaps the director tapped him down on the day. We'll never know. To his credit, Arness does emit a high scream of startled terror later when suddenly confronted by an ant. An unusually authentic reaction really. It stands out. Tough hero characters in these films don't often dare to look that "weak", and wouldn't until Harrison Ford came along much later. Harrison was pretty good at that! 😄 Thanks again. 👍
just want to say a big thank you for introducing me to drive in delirium. watched one of your videos and managed to find the 6 blu ray set not so easy here in the uk. they are totally awesome. many thank.
The best review of Them! I read was that it was "logical", which I think helps it hold up. Get your head around the idea of giant ants and the world behaves as it should around them.
You got more emotional about the manly 1950s square-jawed stoicism than Arness did in the whole movie, I don't think I've ever seen you quite so animated before.
Terry: Nice job on your reviews of these 2 films. “Them!” is a SciFi film masquerading as a mystery whodunnit. Gritty would be more accurate with solid performances by the cast with a paper thin plot line as it gets into final act. James Whitmore is one underrated actor (think Shawshank Redemption in his later years). The scientists were straight from central casting. Yeah, the Arness brothers do have the same acting style. Too bad Warners pulled the plug on having it shot in color midway through production. You can tell the first act was in color and then desaturated. At least the title card was in color! Again nice job!!!
Good point about James Arness' non-reaction to his buddy's death in _Them._ So often the template for hero-guys in the 50s was just not showing emotion. Easy work for the actors (who could meet the height requirement), I guess. OTOH, I loved Joan Weldon's character. She may have done her fair share of screaming at the monster ants, but she also took total control when she and the guys were inside the ant hill: "I said burn it! Burn everything!" ❤❤
Them! remains a sci-fi classic for many of the reasons you mentioned. The scene where they descend into the nest and encounter some ants that survived the cyanide saturation is still very atmospheric many years later. Edmund Gwenn as the old scientist was well-cast, even though this was a big departure from his role as Kris Kringle in "Miracle on 34th Street". Thanks, Terry! 🖖
Attack of the Wooden Man, starring Peter Graves (not a real movie) I've seen Them a few times and love everything about it. The standout cast members for me are the haunted little girl (Sandy Descher) and James Whitmore's cop with a heart. I love any desert location with Joshua trees. I've got to say, Australia really missed the bus with giant bug movies in the 50s; we could have had 'Terror of the Trapdoor' (spider) 'Attack of the Giant Burrowing Cockroach', 'Invasion of the Inch Ants' - all filmed around Maralinga, South Australia. Lots of fun. Cheers Terry.
@@terrytalksmovies Yes indeed but those are real monsters. I've actually held a giant burrowing cockroach. It is a native animal. They're quite cute, totally harmless and actually quite intelligent.
Your complaint was never an issue for me. I was six when my Mom took me and my brother to see it. back in the Deluxe theater in the Bronx. She liked it, I saw it through the button hole in my jacket. my brother next to me was also traumatized. I loved it, and when it came on TV I watched it every time. It is now in my collection. The first and the best. Tarantula was soon to follow, No real hero moment there either, but Leo G Carroll. as a mad scientist. The movie, Cosmic Monster. had giant bugs as a side plot. horrifying face munching scene for a kid. Brutal giant Scorpions in The Black Scorpion. Giant. Gila monster was a dud. The Spider was a Burt Gordon effort. That kind of explains it, by the time, Empire of the Ants came around, the genera was running out of steam. Bright moments in Food of the G-d's Today we have fun with Eight Legged Freaks. and the like.
@@terrytalksmovies Lest we forget the surprise cameo appearance at the end of Denis Villeneuve's enigmatic film, Enemy. By the way, I did not expect much from Kingdom of the Spiders. It surprised the heck out of me. a companion movie would be Phase lV , with ants.
Them is among my top 10 favorite films. (No one has mentioned the uncredited Leonard Nimoy cameo). Arness’ best acting was the monster in “The Thing”; he does a good walking carrot!!
You might get a kick out of this. In the opening of the "Beginning Of The End" there is a road sign noting the miles to Ludlow then Rantoul, which would place the sign on US Route 45 just south of Paxton, the town where I went to High School. Yeah, they have replaced the sign.
Hi Terry! (If I may be so informal...) - I've been watching your channel for some time now and we seem to have very similar tastes in films. Like yourself, I've always been impressed by THEM, a very well made, adult film (as opposed to something produced for teenagers frequenting drive-ins, not that there's anything necessarily wrong with the later...) So far as I know, no one seems to have pointed out aspects of THEM that perhaps would have resonated with an audience in 1954 that is lost on viewers today. Having been released nine years after the conclusion of World War II, most of the adults in the audience watching this film in the U.S. would have been familiar with the use of flamethrowers during the war, the overwhelming majority through cinema newsreels, but a significant minority through firsthand experience as Marines or soldiers fighting in the Pacific Islands Campaigns. As in the movie, they were used primarily against Japanese troops defending underground bunkers or actual caves. Lastly, Allied propaganda often depicted the Japanese as actual insects in posters and such. Put that all together and it presents an interesting take on THEM.
I was so used to James Arness playing the stoic Marshall Dillon (very monotonous emotional range) that I never noticed his lack of reaction; to me, he was just Marshall Dillon in a different costume. As for his brother, his portrayal in "Airplane!" far outweighed anything he ever did in Mission:Implausible (but I never took either one seriously).
Nice video breakdown thanks. I love Them, I do wish it would get a post 3D release, it was clearly still filmed for it, I guess it was too late to rethink each scene blocking when the decision was made to drop it, but it can be converted nowadays, and well.
@@terrytalksmovies well it was originally intended and still shot for 3D, the sets and props were built for 3D, every set up and every decision was made with 3D in mind, and I have the Creature From The Black Lagoon, It Came From Outer Space and a few others in their originally intended 3D and it most certainly does lend a lot to those, making sense of certain choices that didn’t quite work right in 2D. It’s all about filming it with 3D in mind, like the differences in lighting a set for B&W or Technicolor, choices are made differently, and Them was clearly made for it. As for the entirely separate and quite frankly tired old argument of ‘does 3D tell the story any better’, if we wished only to convey a story we could’ve stuck to books and never bothered developing any audio visual media at all, that is irrelevant to this, my point is that this was intended to be seen in 3D but very late in production the technology failed them, I for one would like the option to see how it would have looked. If others do not, don’t.
Agree with you on Peter Graves' wooden acting with one exception, Airplane! (Aka Flying High) As the weird dead pan pilot, Captain Clarence Oveur. I was rolling with laughter. Of course, that was some stunt casting. Playing off his stoicism, he tried to project in his acting style. Them! It is definitely one of the best bug movies. It had some A-level cinematography. The Beginning Of The End has some goofy charm I like, too.
@terrytalksmovies Absolutely! But kudos for him to make fun of himself. John Wayne was offered a part in Blazing Saddles but refused when he read the script.
Nice reviews. I haven't seen Beginning of the End in a long time. Turner Classic Movies shows it every October, so I expect to see it on their schedule at the end of October due to Halloween. As for Arness in that scene, I don't remember it, but I wonder if there are any lines that he has to say in that scene to indicate it was a scene written for the move. It could be that it was constructed on the fly by the directory and the editor to cover the death scene. They could take spare film of Arness' character in another scene ("just look like your're watching") and added sound of Whitmore's character's death. Sam Raimi created a scene like that in Spiderman II. The scene when Peter watches Dr. Octavious carries away Mary Jane away is a scene where MaryJane and Peter see Dr. Octavious approach (earlier in the movie) with Tobey Maquires' head overlayed where the actors were. So, it looks like he is tanding in front of the hole in the wall of the coffee shop, but it was never filmed, just constructed after the fact. It could be. Admitted both brothers were pretty stolid. Both best known for playing a guy in charge in dangerous situations (Gunsmoke sheriff and Mission Impossible team leader).
Beginning Of The End is pretty blase' to me, but THEM! is excellent. From the special effects, to the acting, to the story(!), to the direction, THEM! stands tall on the cinema landscape. I've watched this movie hundreds of times. Make me a sergeant. and charge the booze!
Not the subtlest of digs at Peter Graves, Terry, but I feel the same way about Keanu Reeves, especially his early work up to and including his roll top desk portrayal of "Constantine".... On another note, I'll be very interested to see what the premise of Michael Giacchino's remake of "Them" offers when he gets that one outta the gate.
@@terrytalksmovies According to a fairly recent account, Giacchino has stated it is still in development, but his script is progressing slowly... Between now and 2026, he's composing scores for four films so there's that too. On the plus side, "Them" was one of the few in-development projects (WBD's precious DCU notwithstanding) that remained untouched by David Zaslav's budget slashing escapades over the last couple of years.
'Them!' was clearly an influence on James Cameron, watch 'Aliens' immediately after 'Them!' How about a double bill of 'Tarantula' and 'The Incredible Shrinking Man' - both have good spider effects utilising real spiders. 'Tarantula' has an early Clint Eastwood appearance in an un-credited blink and you'll miss him role.
Loved this review Terry. ‘THEM!’ is one of the very best 1950s science fiction movies. I love the way the suspense is allowed to build by NOT revealing the monster’s features in early scenes. And yes it is most definitely James Whitmore’s movie. Re: James Arness - I’ve never really picked up on his ‘ineffective’ acting performance here. You seem to dislike him. I don’t hate him as an actor, but I do have an aggressive ambivalence to him. One of my favourite actors was William Conrad. He’d played Matt Dillon in radio’s Gunsmoke - to great acclaim - for a decade, and wanted the part when it moved to TV. Of course Conrad didn’t get the gig - even he would probably admit to being 8 inches too short and 60 pounds too heavy - Arness getting the job instead. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a full episode of TV’s Gunsmoke, but often listen to the radio version which IMO, and in the opinion of many others, is the finest radio drama ever produced. … and William Conrad was a way way better actor than James Arness PS The other day you asked me what ‘RAID’ was … bug spray, commercially available in the UK, works well on big ants from the 1950s.
Thanks, Keith. The reason Arness and Graves et al piss me off is that when mediocre low-energy actors get a gig, it means another actor doesn't. They push out quality. 😀
@@terrytalksmoviesGood actors come in all shapes and sizes. Movie 'stars' - particularly of the B-movie variety, like Arness - often come out of the same 'pretty boy non-actor' mould
Go on, Terry! You only care about the hero moment because you want to see giant grasshoppers eat Peter Graves… Which they won't do because why would the grasshoppers have gone to Chicago if they wanted bland and flavorless? 😂 I like Peter Graves as an actor a bit more than you do, but he definitely fills a particular type-when 50s movies wanted a male lead, they went for a conventionally-handsome block of blonde wood. This was the decade that cast Gene Kelly as an Italian and Charlton Heston as a Mexican, and did their level best to Anglicize the shit out of Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. I think it was one of the more insidious side effects of the Cold War, myself....
Seen both, love Them. Using the giant puppets is so much better than shooting a real insect like in Beginning of the End. CG has improved but I still love practical FX. Seen plenty of Bert I. Gordon and George Worthing Yates films on Creature Feature as a kid and later on MST3K. I've said spiders scare me but insects don't for some reason. Most 50s sci-fi film leading men were stiff and unemotional, I guess due to that 50s conformity & sexual politics?
The contrast between Whitmore and Arness was the interesting part. In a real sense, the former was the leading man but the cliches of the genre prevented that completely.
Based on his acting ability, James Arness should have never risen higher than roles such as the alien monster in Howard Hawks' 1951, The Thing From Another World. I suspect James Whitmore's inner monologue during the filming of Them as regards his co-star would have been highly entertaining
Okay doesn't cut the mustard. He was never great in anything. They put him in two Mission Impossible series and he was the most boring character on the screen in both of them.
Maybe James Arness was acting as a WW II traumatized vet would act upon seeing yet another good man die. I grew up with a bunch of these kind of guys in my family. My father, uncles and older cousins would not show emotion when they dealt with someone's death. A clenched fist was the most some would show.
The point is that acting requires conveying emotions to an audience. Real life reactions to death and trauma are very different to the requirements of a science fiction film.
@@terrytalksmovies That's true. These brothers weren't such great actors. I was into these movies as a kid for the big bugs squashing people, the flame throwers, the bazookas and guns. " Them" is still one of my favorite 50's SF movies. When the little girl is found at the beginning of the movie, my brother and I got scared, and knew we were in for a good time.! They should have replaced the big galoot with a better actor!
That would have worked if we'd known that was what he was doing, @johnbaca8692. It wouldn't take a long emotional speech (though I'll bet Arness would've wanted one!)-Tom Hanks did it in SAVING PRIVATE RYAN by trying to close the lid on a pocket watch (I think), and his hand was shaking so much he had to use his other hand to close it. Of course, Tom Hanks ALSO has two Academy Awards for acting....
One of the things I have always liked about Bert I. Gordon movies is they tend to have strong female characters, at least for the time. No, they are not Linda Hamilton Terminator strong characters, but they are not the screaming run and twist your ankle, help me, type either. Audrey Aimes was such a character. She was on the front lines throughout the movie even though the focus did change. You can only buck "The system" so far. I totally agree with you that "Begining of the End" is a fun, but mediocre, big bug movie. Rainy Saturday afternoon fair. THEM! is not only a good big bug movie but a good movie all around. It has great characters that have great interaction. Nobody is a cookie-cutter character, they are all well developed no matter how small the parts. And again, for the times, a strong real female character. She is not just there to scream on the sidelines and have to be rescued. She is part of the team. I will have to disagree (Only slightly) with your take on James Arne's reaction to the death scene. Nowhere in this movie has he shown any emotional relations. He is the stoic G-man we expected in this era. A time when Hollywood still had men being men. Like any war movie (and this is sort of a war movie) the characters accepted that people were going to die. It would only be a little later that "men were allowed to cry." A good movie by any definition, even with this minor flaw. And a great review, as usual. Thank you and keep it up.
I still think Arness slacked off. Were the roles reversed, Whitmore would have delivered. I give credit to good acting on the channel but low-energy lazy acting increasingly cheeses me off.
@@terrytalksmovies I see your point and agree, I am just looking at it from the era the movie was made. It is like when Joan Weldon descends from the B-27. A noted entomologist on a field expedition but she has to wear a skirt on a military plane? It is like the Hays Code restricted how practical she could be and how emotional a government agent (Arness) could be. 😃
The thing, that makes "Beginning Of The End" okish for me, is the, for the times, strong female lead. Everything else was made much better in "Them" or "Tarantula". Even the child in "Them" was a better actor then Peter Graves.
I've always thought of Arness's part as bland and is the only negative in an otherwise brilliant film. It was the first I ever bought in VHS and the first when again (I'd been through this before with Betamax) I had to "upgrade" to DVD.
About the death scene: Some actors refuse to appear vulnerable because of they feel that will poison there image for certain kind of roles. Even to the point of there agents raising a fuss when seeing some like that in the script. There are also tons of movies were the character was Slated to die. And the agent raised a stink. And another character ends up agreeing to die Instead. That’s the reason Jim Kelly gets killed in enter the dragon. That is the biggest flaw of that movie.
A good death scene is a great thing for stretching an actor's skill. Agents often did things that ultimately worked against an actor's career longevity.
Them is one of those movies from the 50s with the in your face misogyny. Even to the point where they have to choose between that and letting here do her job.
Survived the tropical depression Helene here in North Carolina this morning. This afternoon as the sun came out, I temporarily captured a large brown grasshopper. I let him/her go. Before the storm moved in last night, I saw a couple of fireflies ( here we call them lightening bugs). Lost a large poplar tree to the storm, but not near the house. Me and my cat are good+ and love these types of films (well,I do). Take care.
Glad you and yours are okay, Steve. Stay safe, mate.
One of the key ingredients in "Them," is the creepy, chirpy sound the ants make. It becomes like a leitmotif for the monsters!
Sound design is so important to any giant monster movie
The kids in the sewer hiding from the ants is a bit like Newt hiding from the xenomorphs in Aliens?
Cameron was never really original.
Yeah, there are a lot of other similarities - eggs pulsating with life in a creepy chamber lair and then getting torched thanks to a strong female lead's initiative, soldiers V monster battles, duct action, etc. Even the kid playing Newt bears a resemblance to the girl in the desert and plays it in a similarly traumatised fashion for exactly the same reason. Old Jim loves his tropes. 😉
Aaaafirmative.
It had not occurred to me before but yes , very much so. Thanks Terry-agree re the daedpan reaction to Whitmore's death by Marshall Dillon.
@@borusa32 - not to defend Arness's acting (which makes Peter Graves's look like a Royal Academy graduate!), but he learned what acting he did from John Wayne...another actor who didn't give his co-stars much to play off of.
"...the wooden statue known as Peter Graves." LOL.
Indeed.
He was shockingly bad in everything except Stalag 17.
Great post. You capture THEM marvelously!
Thanks! It was fun to rewatch.
Them is the masterclass on how to build tension in a film. The revealing of the clues is perfect.
The pacing and rate of reveal are perfect.
I love these 50's to 60's B films. Designed for drive in theaters. Nothing better than making a batch of popcorn and putting on a film festival.
They still sit well and they're, in general, rewatchable.
The scary chirping sound of the giant ants in this movie reminded me of the demon creature in night of the Demon featuring Dana Andrews
Sound design really caps the wonderfulness of movies like this.
The iconic eerie THEM ant chirping noise adds a lot to the movie. James Whitmore was also a standout in The Asphalt Jungle.🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜
Whitmore was never a waste of time. A great character actor.
A very good friend of mine has been a stereo photographer all his life and it was because of this that I happened to notice in the scene in which Dr. Pat Medford is in an airplane photographing areas in the desert that she was using a David White Stereo Realist camera, the premier stereo camera of the era and in future scenes scientists are viewing photo slides through Stereo Realist viewers. When I pointed this out to my friend he was delighted and is how I discovered that the film had intended to be in 3D.
I noticed the camera Pat was using and thought it might have been a stereoscopic one.
@@terrytalksmovies Had I not been familiar with my friend’s cameras I’d have never known.
I first saw Them on the TV when I was nine and it made a great impression on me, so much that I have been a fan of "creature features" ever since. My wife scoffs at the hokey effects but as I point out it now 70 years when these were made and I don't care. I still love the opening to Them, as for me it ranks with some of the best for creating an air of mystery tinged with menace, especially when the little girl sits up.
The Beginning of the End also has a strong start and works well until the "bugs" show up. Strangely the ants of Them almost appear more lifelike despite live insects being used. It is fun watching the real bugs crawling over the 2d image, if only because its so cheap and totally destroys any sense of realism - not that this matters.
Love these regular juants into SciFi, thankyou
Glad you like them, Will. Them! is an honest dealer with science fiction. It respected the genre.
"Deep Dish Pizza" and Chicago is damn good for someone from Australia.
I know my cultural references, mate. 😉
@@terrytalksmovies Aye, I have to agree.
I loved Them
It's got a high rewatchability, too.
Totally love Them! Probably my favorite movie as a kid.
You have to love giant ants as a kid. They're impressive. 😀
@@terrytalksmovies Ant then some. Hm, the pun works best if you're german.
I first saw Them on TV as a kid in the 1960's. When James Whitmore's police officer character is killed saving the children and James Arness's FBI character has next to no reaction to the horrible death, I was taken aback, even as an unsophisticated 11-year-old. After all the increasing tension the culminating emotional moment fell flat. But I did not realize the full extent of harm it had done to the film until your excellent review all these years later. In the films and James Arness's defense it may have been deliberate realism. After serving in an emergency service for almost 30 years I can say that is how you react to tragedy in the moment. You can't be emotional, you don't have time, and it won't help the situation to resolve, quite the opposite. Now you can fall to pieces afterward, hours, days or even years afterward and many do. But you can't show that in a film concentrating on the immediate events. I still love the film and naturally have it in my SF- fantasy DVD collection.
I understand compartmentalisation IRL, but movies require something different. The emotional beats are part of the job. The death of Ben needed to be recognised.
Excellent video Terry. I've seen both these movies....also the MST3K version on The Beginning of the End. Them is a sci-fi classic. Grasshoppers in Beginning.... walking on postcards of Chicago is hilarious!
Yeah, it has a cheeky charm about it with the special effects.
I'd love to see outtakes of the hoppers walking off the buildings onto the "sky". 😁
The effect ALMOST works, too...until you see a grasshopper climb to the top of a skyscraper...and keep climbing up into the sky!
@@timeliebe That was also my view as well. I think after a while the flatness of the building (because its a card) becomes obvious. With more takes, they could have fooled us for longer.
So much to love about Them! Fun facts: The old man in the alcoholic ward (Olin Howland) is also the first victim of The ('58) Blob,. The B-25 Pat crawls out of in Then! was the same plane Yossarian crawls out of in Catch-22, and it has a Wilhelm scream. Best giant bug movie EVER!
It has at least 3 Wilhelm screams. 🙂
@@terrytalksmovies Now you've me an excuse to watch it yet once again. Thanks!
Thanks for pointing out where we've all seen Olin Howland before. "Make me a sergeant, gimmee the booze!"
You're right. We go to the movies for the emotions it brings up to the surface. What a missed opportunity for huge emotional resonance in the storytelling pipeline
Yep. Those emotional beats matter.
Thank you, Terry, for helping me revisit two movies I loved as a kid. I must admit that as an adult, I find re-watching ‘Them’ a lot more enjoyable than Bert I. Gordon’s grasshopper massacre.
I agree totally.
My favorite giant bug movies are "Them", "The Giant Spider Invasion", and "Tarantula."
Dr. Langer (Barbara Hale) when she and another character fall backwards to get away from the tarantula: you fell on me!
Them! is a great film. First and best of the giant bug movies. As you implied good story, production values, and effects. One that can be watched again and again. Beginning of the End is a hoot of a film. As are all of Bert I. Gordons' works. Great double bill to watch one night. Grab a big bowl of pop corn, a can of soda,. squish yourself into a nice big easy chair and enjoy.
Yep they mesh together as films and BOTE in particular is good to dissect to see where it might've been better with some tweaks.
The one thing that always bugged me about "Them!" was, when did Whitmore quit the local police force and join the army? 😁The old alky in the hospital (Olin Howland) also played the first victim of "The Blob".
My take is that Ben Peterson was seconded to the Giant Ant Project because he proved his value and they were trying to keep a lid on the existence of the ants, so small team.
Terry, I to appreciate THEM. It has been one of my favorite monster movies since I was a kid. I love the story the way it was shot, and the acting of James Whitmore. He was such a great actor, watch his work in Battleground or The Asphalt Jungle or many other movies. His death scene in Them was my "Bambi's mother gets shot" welcome to your favorite character in a movie getting killed.
Whitmore did so much with that role. It's a delight to see him adding character actor talent to a monster movie.
I have a soft spot for "Beginning of the End." I had a tough finding the DVD, which looks nice, as it was out of print. It's fun; bad, yes, but entertaining and that's what's important to me. "Them!" has long, long been a favorite. My father introduced it to me; he saw it first run at age 11. It's one of those films that just doesn't age, and it has a fascinating ending to me: it's and ending but without resolution. Wonderful stuff.
Yep. The atomic genie is out of the bottle and who knows what will come out of the desert around Alamagordo?
Hey Terry! Great video, as usual. One of our local creature feature horror hosts used to give short video snippets of the next week's movie, and viewers were supposed to guess the film. For THEM! it was just the audio of the weird ant noise. Once you saw the movie, you never forget that sound! Cheers!
Thanks, Dave. Them! was a terrific rewatch for me.
Them, I love that movie! The plot, cinematography, eerie soundtrack and of course James Whitmore. I totally agree with the fantastic job he did. An overall great 50s film with few flaws. You’re killing it on your reviews.
Thanks! I try.
In The Thing James Arness was excellent as a plant based life form.
He had the range to play a malevolent carrot.
@@terrytalksmovies 🤣...Marshall Matt Dillon, malevolent carrot. And now I know he was related to a wooden statue. So, perfect role for him.
In a bit of personal trivia, in Beginning of the End they had used real pictures from Illinois as backgrounds and there is a brief glimpse of a sign pointing to my home town.
Cool! Nothing ever points to the place where I was born. 😉😀
THEM is an old favorite for me, I need to catch up with Beginning of the End. Arness is pretty wooden, gets out-played by the ant puppets
Arness was a shocker.
Now I want a deep dish pizza
Always a good idea!
Some great similes in this one 😂 Good job sir.
My pleasure! 😀
Them is the "Street Car Named Desire" of Giant Insect Movies: Fess Parker as the pilot who thinks he is going around the Bend; James Whitmore had the concession for playing decent, able, ordinary men (Battleground, Battle Cry, etc. the guy always reminds me of Spencer Tracy ); and Edmund Gwenn as the scientist.
Given the timing, it made a lot of sense that the Whitmore and Arness's characters would know their way around WWII infantry weapons Arness as a WWII, Army 11 series Soldier and Whitmore was an 03 series Marine Officer.
Arness had the crap shot out of him at Anzio and walked with a bad limp for the rest of his life. Doing that kind of thing, in real life might have made doing that kind of scene tough for him.
Mitchum served in the Army, stateside as a Medic at a MEP station. He received an Army Commendation Medal ("ARCIM") for his service, which was fairly rare in WWII.
My guess was he was probably good at keeping late-war draftees (many of whom were family men who had been deferred until we needed bodies in 1944-/45) from freaking out when they were getting medically screened before getting sent to Basic (or Boot Camp, they drafted Marines in WWII and Korea).
Seemed like a wise@$$, avuncular type who would be good at that and that might have helped him play decent, gys who were also shooters.
Still, the job was to create a character. Yes, his war service was admirable but the gig is what it is. Whitmore knew that, Arness, who admittedly was a shy person, was probably in the wrong profession.
@@terrytalksmovies Good point. He could be very good in certain roles (either, the very hard core, slightly rigid Matt Dillion or the raffish, unconventional Zeb Macahan in How the West Was Won.) In that one, Ken Curtis and Arness essentially traded roles, Macahan is sort of Festus Hagen and Curtis played a stiff austere US Marshal).
Most of being a good actor is knowing your range. John Wayne was a great film actor, but had a narrow range. He was not believable as someone born before 1750 or so and only made an accent work in Ford's The Long Voyage Home as a Norwegian in a supporting role.
Splendid video again Terry, as always.
The BBC started screening 'Them' on weekend daytime in the 70s and as a pre-teen horror fiend i lapped it up.
And that screechy clicky sound the ants made haunts me to this day.
Although as a smartarse 10 year old i did consider myself 'witty' by telling my schoolmates, "of course this film should really be called 'Those!' "
I would then give a smug grin.
And they would thump me one.
Happy days...
Keep up the fantastic work!
It should have been called Fuck Nuclear Weapons They Totally Screwed The Ecology Of The Arizona Desert And Did You See That Lizard Take Out Tokyo?😀
Cheers for the video, Terry. Interesting observation about Arness's lack of emotional resource in that scene. Yes, fairly typical 50s stoic response, although maybe not entirely flat. There's some sadness but no anguish. Perhaps the director tapped him down on the day. We'll never know. To his credit, Arness does emit a high scream of startled terror later when suddenly confronted by an ant. An unusually authentic reaction really. It stands out. Tough hero characters in these films don't often dare to look that "weak", and wouldn't until Harrison Ford came along much later. Harrison was pretty good at that! 😄 Thanks again. 👍
Weakness and compassion were often mistaken for one another in some 50s movies, more's the pity.
just want to say a big thank you for introducing me to drive in delirium. watched one of your videos and managed to find the 6 blu ray set not so easy here in the uk. they are totally awesome. many thank.
I'm glad you like them, Warren. They're almost like reference books to encourage us to buy movies.
The best review of Them! I read was that it was "logical", which I think helps it hold up. Get your head around the idea of giant ants and the world behaves as it should around them.
Yep. Pacing and plot are crucial.
You got more emotional about the manly 1950s square-jawed stoicism than Arness did in the whole movie, I don't think I've ever seen you quite so animated before.
I'm sure I have been on the channel before. 😉😉😯
@@terrytalksmovies you promised!!😉
THEM is one of my most favorite movies.
Cheers, subbed and hit the bell.
Thanks so much @leniere309 😀
Terry: Nice job on your reviews of these 2 films.
“Them!” is a SciFi film masquerading as a mystery whodunnit.
Gritty would be more accurate with solid performances by the cast with a paper thin plot line as it gets into final act.
James Whitmore is one underrated actor (think Shawshank Redemption in his later years). The scientists were straight from central casting.
Yeah, the Arness brothers do have the same acting style.
Too bad Warners pulled the plug on having it shot in color midway through production. You can tell the first act was in color and then desaturated.
At least the title card was in color!
Again nice job!!!
Thanks, mate. Whitmore was a great character actor but the Arness brothers made more money. Hollywood sucked at paying talent.
Good point about James Arness' non-reaction to his buddy's death in _Them._ So often the template for hero-guys in the 50s was just not showing emotion. Easy work for the actors (who could meet the height requirement), I guess. OTOH, I loved Joan Weldon's character. She may have done her fair share of screaming at the monster ants, but she also took total control when she and the guys were inside the ant hill: "I said burn it! Burn everything!" ❤❤
Yes, there are moments of agency for Pat in Them! There should've been more of it.
Them! remains a sci-fi classic for many of the reasons you mentioned. The scene where they descend into the nest and encounter some ants that survived the cyanide saturation is still very atmospheric many years later. Edmund Gwenn as the old scientist was well-cast, even though this was a big departure from his role as Kris Kringle in "Miracle on 34th Street". Thanks, Terry! 🖖
Also the depth of the nest is creepy. Up to 300 feet down is bloody scary.
Attack of the Wooden Man, starring Peter Graves (not a real movie) I've seen Them a few times and love everything about it. The standout cast members for me are the haunted little girl (Sandy Descher) and James Whitmore's cop with a heart. I love any desert location with Joshua trees. I've got to say, Australia really missed the bus with giant bug movies in the 50s; we could have had 'Terror of the Trapdoor' (spider) 'Attack of the Giant Burrowing Cockroach', 'Invasion of the Inch Ants' - all filmed around Maralinga, South Australia. Lots of fun. Cheers Terry.
We did get Attack of the Rock Spiders... but unfortunately that was only priests and schoolteachers.
@@terrytalksmovies Yes indeed but those are real monsters. I've actually held a giant burrowing cockroach. It is a native animal. They're quite cute, totally harmless and actually quite intelligent.
Your complaint was never an issue for me. I was six when my Mom took me and my brother to see it. back in the Deluxe theater in the Bronx. She liked it, I saw it through the button hole in my jacket. my brother next to me was also traumatized. I loved it, and when it came on TV I watched it every time. It is now in my collection. The first and the best. Tarantula was soon to follow, No real hero moment there either, but Leo G Carroll. as a mad scientist. The movie, Cosmic Monster. had giant bugs as a side plot. horrifying face munching scene for a kid. Brutal giant Scorpions in The Black Scorpion. Giant. Gila monster was a dud. The Spider was a Burt Gordon effort. That kind of explains it, by the time, Empire of the Ants came around, the genera was running out of steam. Bright moments in Food of the G-d's Today we have fun with Eight Legged Freaks. and the like.
There's also a fun one called Big-Ass Spider, which is worth checking out.
@@terrytalksmovies Lest we forget the surprise cameo appearance at the end of Denis Villeneuve's enigmatic film, Enemy. By the way, I did not expect much from Kingdom of the Spiders. It surprised the heck out of me. a companion movie would be Phase lV , with ants.
Them is among my top 10 favorite films. (No one has mentioned the uncredited
Leonard Nimoy cameo). Arness’ best acting was the monster in “The Thing”; he does a good walking carrot!!
I mentioned Nimoy! 😀
Sorry, I guess that was my “senior moment” for today…. Hope it’s the only one! (Doubtful).
You might get a kick out of this. In the opening of the "Beginning Of The End" there is a road sign noting the miles to Ludlow then Rantoul, which would place the sign on US Route 45 just south of Paxton, the town where I went to High School. Yeah, they have replaced the sign.
You should steal it anyway. 😉
@@terrytalksmovies LOL
Hi Terry! (If I may be so informal...) - I've been watching your channel for some time now and we seem to have very similar tastes in films. Like yourself, I've always been impressed by THEM, a very well made, adult film (as opposed to something produced for teenagers frequenting drive-ins, not that there's anything necessarily wrong with the later...) So far as I know, no one seems to have pointed out aspects of THEM that perhaps would have resonated with an audience in 1954 that is lost on viewers today. Having been released nine years after the conclusion of World War II, most of the adults in the audience watching this film in the U.S. would have been familiar with the use of flamethrowers during the war, the overwhelming majority through cinema newsreels, but a significant minority through firsthand experience as Marines or soldiers fighting in the Pacific Islands Campaigns. As in the movie, they were used primarily against Japanese troops defending underground bunkers or actual caves. Lastly, Allied propaganda often depicted the Japanese as actual insects in posters and such. Put that all together and it presents an interesting take on THEM.
The WW2 aspect is all over Them! Ben Peterson is clearly an ex-GI.
I was so used to James Arness playing the stoic Marshall Dillon (very monotonous emotional range) that I never noticed his lack of reaction; to me, he was just Marshall Dillon in a different costume. As for his brother, his portrayal in "Airplane!" far outweighed anything he ever did in Mission:Implausible (but I never took either one seriously).
Graves worked in Airplane because he had the emotional range of a grandfather clock.
@@terrytalksmovies 🤣Nice!
Nice video breakdown thanks. I love Them, I do wish it would get a post 3D release, it was clearly still filmed for it, I guess it was too late to rethink each scene blocking when the decision was made to drop it, but it can be converted nowadays, and well.
I'm not convinced 3D would've added much to the movie. It's a gimmicky addition that is a stunt, not a better way of telling a story.
@@terrytalksmovies well it was originally intended and still shot for 3D, the sets and props were built for 3D, every set up and every decision was made with 3D in mind, and I have the Creature From The Black Lagoon, It Came From Outer Space and a few others in their originally intended 3D and it most certainly does lend a lot to those, making sense of certain choices that didn’t quite work right in 2D.
It’s all about filming it with 3D in mind, like the differences in lighting a set for B&W or Technicolor, choices are made differently, and Them was clearly made for it.
As for the entirely separate and quite frankly tired old argument of ‘does 3D tell the story any better’, if we wished only to convey a story we could’ve stuck to books and never bothered developing any audio visual media at all, that is irrelevant to this, my point is that this was intended to be seen in 3D but very late in production the technology failed them, I for one would like the option to see how it would have looked.
If others do not, don’t.
Agree with you on Peter Graves' wooden acting with one exception, Airplane! (Aka Flying High) As the weird dead pan pilot, Captain Clarence Oveur. I was rolling with laughter. Of course, that was some stunt casting. Playing off his stoicism, he tried to project in his acting style. Them! It is definitely one of the best bug movies. It had some A-level cinematography. The Beginning Of The End has some goofy charm I like, too.
Airplane worked because Graves was stiffer than an I beam. 😀
@terrytalksmovies Absolutely! But kudos for him to make fun of himself. John Wayne was offered a part in Blazing Saddles but refused when he read the script.
Nice reviews. I haven't seen Beginning of the End in a long time. Turner Classic Movies shows it every October, so I expect to see it on their schedule at the end of October due to Halloween.
As for Arness in that scene, I don't remember it, but I wonder if there are any lines that he has to say in that scene to indicate it was a scene written for the move. It could be that it was constructed on the fly by the directory and the editor to cover the death scene. They could take spare film of Arness' character in another scene ("just look like your're watching") and added sound of Whitmore's character's death.
Sam Raimi created a scene like that in Spiderman II. The scene when Peter watches Dr. Octavious carries away Mary Jane away is a scene where MaryJane and Peter see Dr. Octavious approach (earlier in the movie) with Tobey Maquires' head overlayed where the actors were. So, it looks like he is tanding in front of the hole in the wall of the coffee shop, but it was never filmed, just constructed after the fact.
It could be. Admitted both brothers were pretty stolid. Both best known for playing a guy in charge in dangerous situations (Gunsmoke sheriff and Mission Impossible team leader).
The movie really needed that plot beat from Arness to make the sacrifice work.
Beginning Of The End is pretty blase' to me, but THEM! is excellent. From the special effects, to the acting, to the story(!), to the direction, THEM! stands tall on the cinema landscape. I've watched this movie hundreds of times. Make me a sergeant. and charge the booze!
Them! is in the top three atomic monsters in the desert movie.
Not the subtlest of digs at Peter Graves, Terry, but I feel the same way about Keanu Reeves, especially his early work up to and including his roll top desk portrayal of "Constantine".... On another note, I'll be very interested to see what the premise of Michael Giacchino's remake of "Them" offers when he gets that one outta the gate.
Might not happen but I'd give it a go.
@@terrytalksmovies According to a fairly recent account, Giacchino has stated it is still in development, but his script is progressing slowly... Between now and 2026, he's composing scores for four films so there's that too. On the plus side, "Them" was one of the few in-development projects (WBD's precious DCU notwithstanding) that remained untouched by David Zaslav's budget slashing escapades over the last couple of years.
'Them!' was clearly an influence on James Cameron, watch 'Aliens' immediately after 'Them!' How about a double bill of 'Tarantula' and 'The Incredible Shrinking Man' - both have good spider effects utilising real spiders. 'Tarantula' has an early Clint Eastwood appearance in an un-credited blink and you'll miss him role.
Yep Clint napalmed the spider.
Loved this review Terry.
‘THEM!’ is one of the very best 1950s science fiction movies. I love the way the suspense is allowed to build by NOT revealing the monster’s features in early scenes. And yes it is most definitely James Whitmore’s movie.
Re: James Arness - I’ve never really picked up on his ‘ineffective’ acting performance here. You seem to dislike him. I don’t hate him as an actor, but I do have an aggressive ambivalence to him. One of my favourite actors was William Conrad. He’d played Matt Dillon in radio’s Gunsmoke - to great acclaim - for a decade, and wanted the part when it moved to TV. Of course Conrad didn’t get the gig - even he would probably admit to being 8 inches too short and 60 pounds too heavy - Arness getting the job instead. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a full episode of TV’s Gunsmoke, but often listen to the radio version which IMO, and in the opinion of many others, is the finest radio drama ever produced.
… and William Conrad was a way way better actor than James Arness
PS The other day you asked me what ‘RAID’ was … bug spray, commercially available in the UK, works well on big ants from the 1950s.
Thanks, Keith. The reason Arness and Graves et al piss me off is that when mediocre low-energy actors get a gig, it means another actor doesn't. They push out quality. 😀
@@terrytalksmoviesGood actors come in all shapes and sizes. Movie 'stars' - particularly of the B-movie variety, like Arness - often come out of the same 'pretty boy non-actor' mould
Go on, Terry! You only care about the hero moment because you want to see giant grasshoppers eat Peter Graves…
Which they won't do because why would the grasshoppers have gone to Chicago if they wanted bland and flavorless? 😂
I like Peter Graves as an actor a bit more than you do, but he definitely fills a particular type-when 50s movies wanted a male lead, they went for a conventionally-handsome block of blonde wood. This was the decade that cast Gene Kelly as an Italian and Charlton Heston as a Mexican, and did their level best to Anglicize the shit out of Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.
I think it was one of the more insidious side effects of the Cold War, myself....
Grasshoppers can't handle garlic or chilis, dude.
Seen both, love Them. Using the giant puppets is so much better than shooting a real insect like in Beginning of the End. CG has improved but I still love practical FX. Seen plenty of Bert I. Gordon and George Worthing Yates films on Creature Feature as a kid and later on MST3K. I've said spiders scare me but insects don't for some reason. Most 50s sci-fi film leading men were stiff and unemotional, I guess due to that 50s conformity & sexual politics?
The contrast between Whitmore and Arness was the interesting part. In a real sense, the former was the leading man but the cliches of the genre prevented that completely.
7:40 🎶GLO-OOOOO-RIA !!🎶
...sorry !
LOL
Based on his acting ability, James Arness should have never risen higher than roles such as the alien monster in Howard Hawks' 1951, The Thing From Another World. I suspect James Whitmore's inner monologue during the filming of Them as regards his co-star would have been highly entertaining
Whitmore may not have been judgemental. He did his job regardless of whether Arness did.
Peter Graves was okay in Mission Impossible tv show
Okay doesn't cut the mustard. He was never great in anything. They put him in two Mission Impossible series and he was the most boring character on the screen in both of them.
Maybe James Arness was acting as a WW II traumatized vet would act upon seeing yet another good man die. I grew up with a bunch of these kind of guys in my family. My father, uncles and older cousins would not show emotion when they dealt with someone's death. A clenched fist was the most some would show.
The point is that acting requires conveying emotions to an audience. Real life reactions to death and trauma are very different to the requirements of a science fiction film.
@@terrytalksmovies That's true. These brothers weren't such great actors. I was into these movies as a kid for the big bugs squashing people, the flame throwers, the bazookas and guns. " Them" is still one of my favorite 50's SF movies. When the little girl is found at the beginning of the movie, my brother and I got scared, and knew we were in for a good time.! They should have replaced the big galoot with a better actor!
That would have worked if we'd known that was what he was doing, @johnbaca8692.
It wouldn't take a long emotional speech (though I'll bet Arness would've wanted one!)-Tom Hanks did it in SAVING PRIVATE RYAN by trying to close the lid on a pocket watch (I think), and his hand was shaking so much he had to use his other hand to close it.
Of course, Tom Hanks ALSO has two Academy Awards for acting....
One of the things I have always liked about Bert I. Gordon movies is they tend to have strong female characters, at least for the time. No, they are not Linda Hamilton Terminator strong characters, but they are not the screaming run and twist your ankle, help me, type either. Audrey Aimes was such a character. She was on the front lines throughout the movie even though the focus did change. You can only buck "The system" so far. I totally agree with you that "Begining of the End" is a fun, but mediocre, big bug movie. Rainy Saturday afternoon fair.
THEM! is not only a good big bug movie but a good movie all around. It has great characters that have great interaction. Nobody is a cookie-cutter character, they are all well developed no matter how small the parts. And again, for the times, a strong real female character. She is not just there to scream on the sidelines and have to be rescued. She is part of the team.
I will have to disagree (Only slightly) with your take on James Arne's reaction to the death scene. Nowhere in this movie has he shown any emotional relations. He is the stoic G-man we expected in this era. A time when Hollywood still had men being men. Like any war movie (and this is sort of a war movie) the characters accepted that people were going to die. It would only be a little later that "men were allowed to cry." A good movie by any definition, even with this minor flaw.
And a great review, as usual. Thank you and keep it up.
I still think Arness slacked off. Were the roles reversed, Whitmore would have delivered. I give credit to good acting on the channel but low-energy lazy acting increasingly cheeses me off.
@@terrytalksmovies I see your point and agree, I am just looking at it from the era the movie was made. It is like when Joan Weldon descends from the B-27. A noted entomologist on a field expedition but she has to wear a skirt on a military plane? It is like the Hays Code restricted how practical she could be and how emotional a government agent (Arness) could be. 😃
The thing, that makes "Beginning Of The End" okish for me, is the, for the times, strong female lead. Everything else was made much better in "Them" or "Tarantula".
Even the child in "Them" was a better actor then Peter Graves.
Graves and Arness and John Agar may be my least favourite actors.
I've always thought of Arness's part as bland and is the only negative in an otherwise brilliant film. It was the first I ever bought in VHS and the first when again (I'd been through this before with Betamax) I had to "upgrade" to DVD.
He really lowers the energy levels in the movie.
I was always pried of the fact the beginning of the end took place in My city since New York always got that sort of honor
All those drowned grasshoppers washing up on the shoreline would've been a mess to clean up.
About the death scene:
Some actors refuse to appear vulnerable because of they feel that will poison there image for certain kind of roles. Even to the point of there agents raising a fuss when seeing some like that in the script. There are also tons of movies were the character was Slated to die. And the agent raised a stink. And another character ends up agreeing to die Instead. That’s the reason Jim Kelly gets killed in enter the dragon. That is the biggest flaw of that movie.
A good death scene is a great thing for stretching an actor's skill. Agents often did things that ultimately worked against an actor's career longevity.
Them is one of those movies from the 50s with the in your face misogyny. Even to the point where they have to choose between that and letting here do her job.
Less than Beginning Of The End.