Them! (Snapcase Packaging)

This movie was made in 1954. I was born in 1956 and grew up on 1950s sci-fi (science fiction) movies. There were many cheesy movies made in those days, I'm not recommending all of them. Even the best of them are certainly outdated as far as technology in moviemaking and technology in general goes. Still, for me, the blood-and-gore stuff gets old. I like the old movies where much is left to your imagination. Nine-year-old actress Sandy Descher steals the show in my opinion. The police find her wandering in the desert after they find her parents killed by some unknown predator. She is sitting in the police car when she hears the sound of what killed her parents. I was probably about the same age when I first saw the movie and that weird sound and the look of horror on her face has stayed with me ever since. What acting for such a young person! Your imagination runs away with you, the great fear of the unknown, the monster under the bed - that's what makes for a great sci-fi movie.

great movie!!!!! typical 50's sci fy movied. crude by todays standards but none of this is computer generated like todays crummy movies that lazy hollywood makes today. I love it and the black and white make it great. the giant ants are great and story is great. why stream when you can buy this. they do not make movies like this anymore.

Great classic movie

This movie is the ultimate giant monster vs. puny mankind epic. The best proving ground, for the quality of a movie of this type, is whether the effects stand the test of time. The effects in this movie are a marvel even today. The producers of "THEM," could have easily used forced-perspective on real ants, forcing actors to react to empty air and reducing realism. Instead, they built highly realistic giant ants which still look life-like even compared to more recent attempts in this genre, by movies with much higher budgets, like "Empire of the Ants." The pace of the movie is fast, so the watcher tends to ignore the fact that a backwoods sherrif quickly becomes a major player, even in a room with Army generals. Anyone who has ever stepped on a red anthill, knows how fierce ants can be, so how much more fierce is an ant 15 feet long. While not actually gory, this movie shows the ants carnage in vivid detail, with numerous victims and skeletons. For a movie of this type, the acting is excellent: the scene where the catatonic young girl sits up in the ambulance, upon hearing the ants in the distance, with a look of absolute horror on her face, then lays back before the adults see her reaction, is a masterpiece of acting and is so well staged. This film is a definite A+ among B movies, and I highly recommend it to any movie buff

Them! was the first giant insect movie, and its success spawned a raft of (sometimes superior) imitators, but you owe it to yourself (and your children, if you have any) to see this cheesy bit of cinematic history. I can remember watching this on Saturday afternoon, frozen to my chair but unable to walk away, being sobered and thrilled by Edmund Gwenn's last line on the unknown effects of our dropping the atomic bomb. The cast is surprisingly memorable: James Whitmore, James Arness, Edmund Gwenn, Fess Parker. Unfortunately the cast listing is short, so the many other familiar character actors who appeared are not recognized, and it's a shortcoming of the otherwise fun extras that they don't fill in this gap. Heck, Leonard Nimoy has a small part, though it's not referenced anywhere on the disc! Action is sporadic and the ants are a bit ... okay, a lot ... laughable. Extras also include "Bugged at the Movies", text pages about the many giant bug movies that followed; a 3-minute dose of film clips called "Behind the Scnes" but mainly just clips of clapboards; 25 stills, including posters. Better action, better effects (Harryhausen) and a less leaden leading lady can be found in The Black Scorpion, but this first venture into giant bugdom should hold a special place in any movie-lover's heart!

A New Mexico police car speeds down the narrow road of white sand. The two policemen intently scan the expanse of sand, sage brush, and yucca trees; there has been a report of a lost little girl somewhere in this hot desert. A spotter overhead in a helicopter sees her; the police car rushes to her rescue. The girl, perhaps only 5, is wearing a plaid, flannel robe and is clutching her security doll, its head broken. Her blank eyes stare past them; she's in shock. An ambulance arrives, but before it can take her to the hospital, an eerie high-pitched trill reaches their ears; the girl's eyes stretch wide in fear. The two policemen head off down the road to find the trailer spotted by the chopper. The trailer and station wagon look normal, but then they find the other side of the trailer looks like a plastic garbage bag that has been ripped open by a foraging raccoon. The inside: a mess. Bloody clothes and a gun speak violence. Outside, there is an odd footprint and sugar cubes are strewn about. Solving this mystery is going to be no picnic. On a special note: the actor Fess Parker, of Davy Crockett fame, has just passed away. He has a small part in this movie as a pilot who reports seeing flying saucers. Extras: 'Who's Who!' - a list of characters and actors; 'Bugged at the Movies' - brief paragraphs about a few other creature movies; 'Behind the Scenes' - a few brief clips; 'Photo Gallery'; 'Captured on Film' - the trailer. Minor annoyance: no selection of scenes; to restart movie partway through, remove disk and reinsert it. Picture (DVD): Excellent (4).

This film is, in my opinion, the best of the classic 50's sci-fi films. The other "big bug" films that came out during the same few years all pale in comparison with this one. I think this film has the best acting of any of the genre, and with James Whitmore (the Miracle Grow guy) and Edmund Gwenn (Miracle on 34th Street) in the cast, this shouldn't be surprising. If you look fast, you'll notice a young vulcan (Leonard Nimoy) running some equipment for the military. Also given a cameo is Fess Parker (Old Yeller and Back to the Future). The DVD features are about as good as you can expect for a film of this era. Most of the additional features are things like the TV trailers, which is pretty common. One thing I like about this particular DVD is the behind the scenes featurette. This is a very informative "documentary" that gives the viewer new insight into the making of the film, and the ants. Now for the bad news. The only drawback of this DVD edition, is that it is presented in full screen, not the original widescreen as produced in the 50's. I always hate full screen versions, because I want to see the film as the producer and director originally released it. This was my major complaint when I purchased "Creature from the Black Lagoon". Maybe they'll release these in widescreen someday, and I'll upgrade. Until then, I guess I'll have to get over it.

The movie's script was never a contender for an Oscar, although better than most sci-fi films of that era, and the special effect ants look kinda raggedy by today's computer image standards. But James Whitmore's tough police sergeant with a heart breathes life into this film. He impressed me when I first saw "Them!" as a kid, and years later as a reporter I took advantage of a backstage interview with Whitmore to say how much I enjoy that movie (as well as 2 other B-thrillers from that era in which he starred: "Face of Fire" and the uniquely imaginative "The Next Voice You Hear"). I recently bought the DVD after telling my 8-year-old grandson enough about the film to stimulate his interest. Like I said, the giant ants are big enough to indicate a pending threat (which is enhanced early in the film by action occuring within hearing but out of sight offscreen)but not nearly so lifelike as to trigger nightmares for young viewers. And a very young Fess Parker has a small but key bit years before becoming the coonskin-cap hero of kids around the world as Davy Crockett. James Arness is there in his pre-Matt Dillion personna in a much bigger--but not as fun--part than he had in "The Thing From Another World." Edmund Gwenn, always a delight to watch, is good as the bumbling scientist called in on the case. "Them!" may not be great art, but it's a fun, entertaining film that provides an interesting peek into the society and mind-set of the 1950s. And it may be prophetic--the afternoon after we first saw this movie as children, my brother, cousin, and I began noticing that the ants in my grandma's back yard seemed to be growing bigger!!!