Plot Summary

A doctor returns to his small-town practice but finds many of the townspeople convinced that their friends and family are imposters.

Review

Invasion of the Body Snatchers begins with an hysterical man telling the authorities and a doctor an incredible story.  The man is Dr. Miles Bennell.  Bennell is a small-town doctor who has been away at a conference.  He returns home to find the people of his town acting strange.  A young boy insists his mother is not his mother.  A woman insists her uncle is not her uncle.  They look the same and have the same memories but there is something not quite right.  The emotions are not there.  The town psychiatrist believes there is a form of mass hysteria taking hold of the town.

That night, Jack Belicec calls Miles and says he has a mystery for him.  Jack has found a body in his house.  The body seems incomplete.  Jack describes it as a coin that has not been stamped but it bears an eerie resemblance to Jack.  Later, as Jack begins to fall asleep, the body transforms into an exact replica of him right down to the cut on his hand he received that night.  Miles, his girlfriend Becky, Jack and his wife Theo try to convince others that something is going on, but it is too late.  Everyone else has been taken over by replicas which grow from large seed pods.  Can they escape the town and bring back help before they are replicated? 

By the 1950s, Hollywood had moved on from monsters made famous by literature and folklore.  Vampires, mummies and werewolves would make a comeback later but the 1950s were ruled by monsters based on the dangers of science.  The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), The Blob (1958), The Magnetic Monster (1953) and the robot Gort in The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) were monsters created by us or brought about by our actions.  Other monsters reflected the potential risks of new technologies like nuclear power and the space race.  In Invasion of the Body Snatchers, we are the monsters, after being corrupted by a strange alien presence.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers was not just about a new kind of monster, it was also about everything else that scared Americans in the 1950s.  International Communism was an external threat and along with McCarthyism made us fearful and suspicious of our own neighbors.  In this film, something is not quite right with our neighbors and our families.  It turns out they are being taken over by aliens.  Space was a new and unknown frontier.  What terrors are waiting for us out there and could those terrors already be amount us?  Small towns in America were changing.  The highway just over the horizon was making it a smaller and smaller world as automobiles zoom past much faster than anything in the sleepy little town.  The highways also offer easy connections to spread the invasion.  With all these things to terrify us, Invasion of the Body Snatchers does not need a single gunshot, gory scene or gruesome killing.  It is frightening because it plays on our fears and paranoia.  We are never quite sure who is an alien, and we know it could happen to us while we are asleep and defenseless. 

While Invasion of the Body Snatchers was a product of its time, it is also timeless.  The fear that we as individuals can lose our identities is always there.  Only the threats to our individuality change.  Perhaps that is why the film has been remade three times and influenced so many others.  The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) remake starring Donald Sutherland is often cited as one of the best remakes ever done. 

Invasion of the Body Snatchers was very popular at the box office.  Made at an estimated cost of $350,000.00 the $2,500,000.00 it earned in the United States made Allied Artists a nice profit.  The film did not gain a lot of attention from the critics nor earn any academy awards or nominations.  However, its significance and lasting impact was honored in 1994 when it was included on the National Registry for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”  In 2008, it was also ranked 9th on the list of best Science Fiction films of all time by the American Film Institute.  More than six decades after its first release the film maintains a 98% rating among critics and 85% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Why You Should Watch It 

Invasion of the Body Snatchers is still relevant many years after its release.  While science fiction plots and special effects may have become more sophisticated, the film still resonates.  The film is also important for the lasting impact it has had on the science fiction genre.

Things to Watch For

About halfway through the film, Charlie, a gas company employee, is reading the meter.   Charlie is played by Sam Peckinpah.  Peckinpah was a dialog coach on this and several other Siegel films in the 1950s and went on to direct many films including The Wild Bunch and Major Dundee. 

Did You Know? 

The theatrical release version – and the version most of us have seen – includes opening and closing scenes where Miles Bennell is in custody and trying to warn others of the invasion.  This was not in the original script.  It was included by the studio to offer an ending with at least some hope that the invasion can be stopped.  Director Don Siegel reluctantly shot the scenes.

Kevin McCarthy stayed awake all night to look sufficiently bedraggled and nearly incoherent for the scene where he runs out on the highway and tries to stop any car that might believe his story.  The film was intended to end with him hysterically screaming “You’re next!” until the studio required the opening and closing sequences.

Rating (16) 

Overall (5) Deservingly placed among the best science fiction and horror films of all time. 

Star Power (2) You won’t find many Hollywood legends in this film.  In fact, most of the cast is most famous for their roles in this film. 

Movie History (5) A film made to reflect its time that has become timeless.

Innovation (4) This film was one of the first to demonstrate the storytelling and messaging possible in the science fiction genre.