Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a 1956 science fiction film that tells the story of ordinary small town people whose bodies are taken over by aliens. It stars Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter, Larry Gates, King Donovan and Carolyn Jones. The film has been remade a number of times: in 1978, 1993 and another due for release in 2006. The original version has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

History and remakes

The screenplay was adapted by Daniel Mainwaring and Richard Collins (uncredited) from the novel The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney. It was directed by Don Siegel.

Related Topics:
Screenplay - Daniel Mainwaring - Richard Collins - Jack Finney - Don Siegel

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The original version included scenes added to the beginning and end (performed by McCarthy, Whit Bissell, and Richard Deacon) at the behest of the studio that attempted to suggest an optimistic outcome to the story, everything in between being a flashback. These scenes were deleted in a 1979 rerelease, after the first remake appeared.

Related Topics:
Whit Bissell - Richard Deacon - Flashback - 1979

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The first of two remakes appeared in 1978, starring Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum, Veronica Cartwright, Leonard Nimoy and Jerry Walter. There are a number of interesting cameo appearances in the film, among them the star and director of the original; Kevin McCarthy appears briefly as a man on the street frantically screaming about aliens (in a shot reminiscent of the final shot of the original) and Don Siegel appears as a cab driver. Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia also appears briefly, as does Robert Duvall. As with the first film, it does not have a "happy ending". The remake ends with Sutherland's character destroying the "pod people's" facility where they grow the pods, but he is found and turned into a pod person, which is revealed in the last second of the film.

Related Topics:
Remake - 1978 - Donald Sutherland - Brooke Adams - Jeff Goldblum - Veronica Cartwright - Leonard Nimoy - Jerry Walter - Cameo appearance - Grateful Dead - Jerry Garcia - Robert Duvall

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The 1978 version was adapted by W.D. Richter and directed by Philip Kaufman, and, unlike many remakes, met with generally favorable critical response. Lacking the Cold War subtext of the original, Kaufman concentrated on a style of paranoia that was more reflective of the mistrust and malaise pervasive in post-Vietnam, post-Watergate America. Kaufman's film is set not in a small town but in San Francisco; in one scene, Sutherland's character 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. The script could thus be thought to reflect growing anti-government fears that would later manifest themselves among conspiracy theorists. There are distinct similarities between the 1978 film and the tone of the "mythology" episodes of the popular 1990s television series The X-Files.

Related Topics:
W.D. Richter - Philip Kaufman - Vietnam - Watergate - San Francisco - Washington - Conspiracy theorists - 1990s - Television series - The X-Files

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A 1993 version, called Body Snatchers, stars Terry Kinney, Meg Tilly and Gabrielle Anwar. It was adapted by Raymond Cistheri, Larry Cohen, Stuart Gordon, Dennis Paoli and Nicholas St. John, and was directed by Abel Ferrara. This time the story was set on a military base, and did not attempt to follow the plot of either the original or the 1978 version. In its structure it plays like a straightforward alien invasion thriller, and does not attempt to create the overriding paranoiac mood of the earlier films. It did not receive wide theatrical distribution and was for the most part critically panned.

Related Topics:
1993 - Terry Kinney - Meg Tilly - Gabrielle Anwar - Raymond Cistheri - Larry Cohen - Stuart Gordon - Dennis Paoli - Nicholas St. John - Abel Ferrara - Alien invasion

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Another remake is currently in production, due for release in 2006. This remake will be named Invasion directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel. Daniel Craig has been added to the cast to play the male lead opposite Nicole Kidman. Produced by Joel Silver (the "Matrix" trilogy) and directed by Hirschbiegel, Invasion tells the story of a mysterious epidemic that alters the behavior of human beings. When a Washington D.C. psychiatrist (Nicole Kidman) discovers the epidemic's origins are extraterrestrial, she must fight to protect her son, who may hold the key to stopping an imminent invasion. Source http://comingsoon.net/

Related Topics:
2006 - Daniel Craig - Nicole Kidman - Matrix - Washington D.C.

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