94 Minutes, Black & White, USA, 1954
Written By: Ted Sherdeman, Russell S Hughes & George
Worthing Yates
Directed By: Gordon Douglas
Dramatis Personae:
James
Whitmore is Sergeant Ben Peterson, New Mexico State Trooper,
quintessential good cop with surprisingly good nerves in the face of nuclear
mutant horrorÉand surprising acumen with exotic weaponry.
James
Arness is Bob Graham, freakishly tall FBI Agent with a wry sense of
humor and awful taste in neckties.
Edmund
Gwenn is Doctor Harold Medford, your standard-issue
doddering old scientist who knows everything.
Joan Weldon is Doctor Pat
Medford, Harold MedfordÕs daughter, fellow scientist, and your standard-issue
cute-as-a-button 1950Õs professional woman.
Onslow Stevens is General
OÕBrien, National Guard commander in charge of this bug hunt.
Sean McClory is Major Kibby, General OÕBrienÕs
overworked subordinate.
Sandy Descher is The Elinson
Girl, traumatized survivor of the first giant ant attack.
Chris Drake is Ed Blackburn, PetersonÕs ill-fated partner.
Commentary:
Of all the creatures on Earth, insects hold a
particular place of dread in the human psyche. They more than anything else
make us aware of how precarious the position at the top of the food chain can
be. For all our intellect, for all our industry, itÕs shockingly easy for a few
choice bugs to bring us down. Bugs carry disease. Bugs destroy crops. They
breed in vast numbers and live out their life-cycles in ways so alien and
horrifying to our mammalian imaginations. Social insects like bees and ants can
even make us question the value of our intellect, as they are able to reach
complex levels of organization and engineering without the benefit of anything
we would recognize as intelligence. Really, the only thing that keeps insects
from taking over the world is the fact that humans are bigger and smarter.
Imagine, then, if something were to upset that status quo. If something
happened to make bugs bigger, or smarter, or both. If something happened to
turn them into a genuine threat to the human race.
This is why the bug has been a favorite monster
since the dawn of science fiction. There is just so much cosmic dread out there
to tap into. When itÕs done right, a Ņbig bugÓ movie can be a stunningly
effective piece of horror film. And this is why Them!, the first of the Ņbig
bugÓ movies, is still one of the best: itÕs done right.
Our movie starts out very low-key, with State
Troopers Ben Peterson and Ed Blackburn out on patrol. They find a little girl
wandering the desert, traumatized and unresponsive, with a broken doll clutched
in her hand. They trace her back to a wrecked and seemingly abandoned campsite,
and as they investigate, some strange details come to light: the destroyed wall
of the trailer seems to have been pulled out rather than caved in. A revolver
is found, all rounds fired, but no sign of any struggle. And most puzzling of
all, despite all appearances of a robbery, money and valuables are undisturbed.
The only thing stolen was sugar from the kitchen. Nevertheless, they call it
into headquarters, who dispatch a forensic team to dust for prints and to take
molds of some strange tracks they find in the sand outside the campsite.
Peterson helps the catatonic girl to an ambulance, and as he does so, a strange
chirping sound starts up from the desert. Distracted by this, neither Peterson
nor the ambulance driver see the girl suddenly sit up and stare off in abject
horror at the soundÉ
Later, as a sandstorm starts to kick up,
Peterson and Blackburn stop at JohnsonÕs General Store. As itÕs the only store
in the area, itÕs likely that whoever owned that trailer stopped in for
supplies, and Gramps Johnson might be able to tell them something about them.
But once they get there, they are faced with a similar disturbing sight: the
store is wrecked, just as the trailer was. A wall pulled out, barrels of sugar
ransacked, and the money in the cash register not even touched. They find
Gramps JohnsonÕs mangled rifleÉand a few moments later, the equally-mangled
corpse of Gramps Johnson himself. Realizing that something serious is going on,
Peterson leaves Blackburn in charge and heads back to the campsite to grab the
forensic guys. This proves to be a fatal error: shortly after Peterson leaves,
Blackburn hears that strange chirping sound again. He goes outside to
investigate, and the moment he walks off-camera, we hear gunshots, a scream,
and then silence.
The next day, Peterson is back at headquarters
beating himself up over his partnerÕs disappearance and likely death. The chief
does his best to console him as they try and piece together just whatÕs going
on here. The most logical theory is that theyÕre dealing with some sort of
serial killer, but even that theory is full of holes, considering that all the
victims so far were armed and able to get off plenty of shots before dying. A
short while later, FBI Agent Bob Graham shows up on the scene: it turns out the
trailer belonged to a vacationing FBI Agent named Elinson, and the Bureau now
must investigate the possible murder of one of their own. Unfortunately, Graham
is just as stumped as the cops are by the facts in the case, although he does
offer to send the mold the forensics team made of the strange tracks along to
his Bureau office, to see if they can make more sense of them. To further add
to the overall bafflement, the medical examine presents the results of his
autopsy of Gramps Johnson. He cannot determine the exact cause of death due to
the massive trauma the victim suffered: not only was nearly every bone in his
body broken, but he was also pumped full of poison. Formic acid, to be exact;
the most puzzling detail of all so far.
Soon after, our heroes get a telegram to expect
two experts from the Department of Agriculture: Doctor Harold Medford, noted
insectologist, and his daughter Pat, his assistant and noted zoologist in her
own right. Not expecting this, Peterson and Graham are somewhat confused, and
more than a little perturbed when the elder Medford immediately starts taking
charge without bothering to tell them anything of significance. He and Pat
examine the castings of the tracks, and study maps of the local area – in
particular concentrating on the areas where atomic bomb tests were conducted in
the 1940Õs. Medford clearly has a theory about what is happening, but when
pressed he declines to give a straight answer; his theory is so controversial
that he wants to be absolutely sure heÕs right before voicing it.
To further strengthen his theories, Medford and
the team stop at the hospital where the young Elinson girl is being treated.
Her condition is unchanged, and the hospital psychiatrist theorizes that only a
cathartic shock would pull her out of her catatonic state. Medford believes he
has just the thing: he pours a glass of formic acid and waves it in front of
the girlÕs nose. The smell jolts her back to reality, and she cries
hysterically, repeating, ŅThem! Them!Ó over and over. His theory reinforced,
Medford then leads the team back to the site of the first incident. With
another sandstorm blowing in, they spread out to look for more evidenceÉand
that chirping sound starts up again.
This time, however, the source of the chirping
sound decides to make an appearance: a giant mutant ant!
The creature climbs out of the dunes and
menaces Pat, and itÕs only through the direction of Medford and PetersonÕs use
of his department-issued Thompson submachine gun (HUNH?!) that our heroes are
able to bring it down. Once itÕs safely dead, Medford makes an appraisal of the
creature. It appears to be a giant version of a carpenter ant, complete with a
nasty formic acid-injecting stinger. Medford theorizes that the radioactive
fallout from nuclear tests in the New Mexico desert has caused this mutation, a
new species of oversized, carnivorous insect. As the chirping sound starts up
again, Medford is moved to quote the Book of Revelations and wonder how many
other creatures are out there.
Coordinating with the National Guard, Medford
and his team beginning combing the desert, looking for a possible nest. ItÕs
not long before they find it: a massive mound in the middle of the desert, with
a pile of human bones beside it (nice detail, that). Medford then lays out a game
plan for exterminating the monsters. Midday will be the best time to strike; it
will be too hot for the ants to go out and forage, so most if not all of the
colony will be within the nest. The National Guard will surround the opening
with phosphorus charges, making it as hot as possible to keep the ants inside,
and then they will saturate the nest with poison gas. Once the gas has
dissipated, a team must be dispatched into the nest to confirm the
extermination. This last part of the plan is potentially the most dangerous,
but necessary to ensure that the menace is dealt with.
The first few steps of the plan go off without
a hitch. Once itÕs time to go down into the nest, Pat Medford insinuates
herself into the team. Her father is too old and infirm, she reasons, and
someone with scientific training has to come along and document whatÕs down
there. Graham and Peterson object, but they agree that the need a scientist
with them. So down they go.
The plan appears to be a resounding success: with
the exception of a few stragglers that Peterson torches with his flamethrower
(again with the State Trooper and his awesome firepower!), the nest is quite
thoroughly dead. However, when they find the egg chamber of the nest, something
Pat sees gives her pause. There are three empty egg sacs there, much larger
than the others. Disturbed, she photographs them and orders the entire chamber
burned.
Topside again, the elder Medford examines the
photographs and explains PatÕs concern to the others: the larger egg sacs
contained either drones or queens – mostly likely some combination of
both – winged ants capable of leaving the nest and starting their own
colonies. The teamÕs investigation of the nest turned up no dead ants with
wings. This means they were too late; the new queens escaped the destruction of
the nest, and are now somewhere in the world starting new colonies. And since
these mutations are so new, Medford cannot say with any certainty how far they
can fly. They could be anywhere in North America – maybe even anywhere in
the world – by now. Which means the team still has a job to do.
ItÕs surprising just how well Them! has withstood the test
of time. The modern viewer going in expecting to see a typical 1950Õs
cheesefest will be disappointed and/or pleasantly surprised at how well-made a
movie it is. Counter-intuitively, this is probably because Them! is the first of the Ņbig
bugÓ movies. Monster movies were virgin territory in 1954, and there were few
immutable laws governing plot and characterization. As a consequence, none of
the expected monster-movie clichˇs are present; they hadnÕt been invented yet. Instead,
what we have here is a taut, serious thriller about humanity pulling together
to face a threat from beyond. The makers of Them! didnÕt know how to
make a cheesy monster movie, so they made a good one instead.
The most striking thing about Them! is the utter
seriousness with which it takes it premise. Sure, giant mutant ants rampaging
in the desert sounds kind of ridiculous, but ŅridiculousÓ is not something
easily said about this movie. One of its first shots is that of the traumatized
Elinson Girl wandering through the desert. ItÕs a simple and effective way to
open your movie, with a helpless child lost in the wilderness. It lets us know
from the very beginning that something very weird and very bad has just
happened, and it prepares us for the strange and terrible events to come. Any
movie would be glad to have such an opening shot, let alone a movie about giant
bugs. Young Sandy Descher gives a remarkable performance whenever sheÕs on
screen; thereÕs something creepily authentic about her trauma. SheÕs better at
the Thousand-Yard Stare than any ten-year-old should be. A counterpoint to her
is James WhitmoreÕs performance as Ben Peterson, the prototypical Ņgood cop,Ó
and the closest thing we have to an average Everyman character in this group of
scientists and soldiers. Characterized by simple competence and simple human
decency, Peterson is the most relatable person in the movie, and we as audience
follow him on his journey. We see him grow emotionally attached to the Elinson
Girl, as he was the first person to find her after the attack, and we see him
share her pain after Medford jolts her out of catatonia. Medford, too, is very
human, despite being the designated scientist. Again, monster movie clichˇs hold
no sway here: Medford is not some befuddled loony doing more harm than good. He
fully understands the gravity of the situation, and while he acknowledges how
remarkable the ants are from a scientific perspective, he knows that they must
be destroyed for the good of humanity. ThereÕs very little artificial conflict
between our characters: scientist, civilian, and soldier all pull together in
that peculiar 1950Õs way to make things better. As a consequence, not one of
the characters comes across as expendable meatÉwhich makes one sacrifice late
in the movie all the more poignant.
And then there are the ants themselves. Hoo
boy, what an achievement. Once again, itÕs amazing to see just how well the
monsters in Them! have aged. The giant puppets are astonishingly effective
things, and what technical limitations they may have are artfully concealed by director
Gordon DouglasÕs camera work. Our first reveal of the creatures, as one looms
slowly into view from behind a sand dune, is a genuinely creepy moment (it
helps that Douglas, like Steven Spielberg did twenty years later, does not
actually show us the monsters until about the midway point in the movie; by
then our imaginations have run wild as to what weÕre finally going to see). The
puppets are genuinely menacing, with their massive pinchers and the unsettling
ways their antennae twitch as they move. Rarely do they come across as simple
props. Watching Them!, you can finally understand why monster movie
fans are so upset by the prevalence of CGI in modern films. These ants have
weight and substance; they feel more real, and therefore more of a threat.
That is, of course, the rub. The bittersweet
feeling you get watching this movie, five decades removed, marveling at how
good it wasÉand wondering just why monster movies today arenÕt better than they
are. Nowadays we have the Immutable Laws of Crap Film, and nearly every monster
movie adheres to them religiously. Nowadays you see the same characters
repeated over and over again, the same situations, the same body count. TheyÕve
become predictable and codified, things to be ridiculed, not revered. Monster
movies have become less ambitious, less creative. More exercises in adhering to
convention and making money (oldest story in Art, I guess). Since these
conventions didnÕt exist when Them! was made, Them! was free to be
whatever it wanted to be. ItÕs humbling; as far as the art of moviemaking has
come, itÕs taken as many steps backward. Almost makes you want to demand more
of your crappy Ņbig bugÓ moviesÉ
Things To Look For:
- Given the time and
place where Them! was made, itÕs tempting to try and read some political significance
into the plot. Perhaps casting it as a Cold War allegory like Invasion of
the Body Snatchers. After all, what creature better typifies the ethos of
Communism better than the industrious, collective-minded ant? I really donÕt
see that happening, personally; itÕs too subtle an implication, too much of a
stretch. Although, there IS something politically significant going on here
that is a bit unnerving. Once our team begins their continental bug hunt, they immediately
implement a security blackout. They will not talk to the press, and they cover
up any possible giant ant sightings as soon as they can (even going so far as
to order the indefinite institutionalization of a shaken bush pilot). All these
measure are, they maintain, to stave off any panic that might happen if it
became publicly know that giant ants were poised to attack humanity. But itÕs
so sudden and so heavy-handed that it doesnÕt seem very well-intentioned. ItÕs
the dark flipside of that Ņcan-doÓ 1950Õs spirit our team embodies: Ņwe are
AmericaÕs best and brightest, and we are pulling together to save the country...so
we know whatÕs best for you.Ó Civilian authorities are expected to simply roll
over for the combined military and scientific effort. For the duration of the
emergency, of course. WeÕll give back the power once we donÕt need it any more.
Of course.
- Speaking of the team, I
do applaud the writers of Them! for avoiding yet another movie clichˇ:
the incompetent woman scientist. Pat Medford is one of the most confident and
competent scientists in the history of the monster movie, going toe to toe with
giant bugs and a giant FBI agent (seriously, James Arness is a frigging MUTANT!
Egad) and holding her own without so much as a chipped nail. She does lose her
head a little when the first giant ant attacks her, but hey, who wouldnÕt? And the
film also thankfully avoids putting her and Bob Graham into a romance. There is
some abortive flirting when they first meet, but once the crisis intensifies
they settle into working side by side as teammates and equals. Pat Medford
doesnÕt need some gigantic man to validate her career, no sir. She is strong,
she is invincibleÉet cetera.
- And oh, how I love Ben
Peterson, the most overqualified State Trooper in the history of law
enforcement. Besides being the emotional core of the film, it falls to him to
personally dispatch several of the giant bugs with surprising skill using a
variety of weapons. We see him gun down the first bug with a machine gun (is
that standard issue in New Mexico?). Then we see him manning one of the
bazookas that lays down the phosphorus at the first ant nest. Finally, heÕs stalking
the sewers of Los Angeles with a flamethrower on his back. The man is a one-man
army! IÕm almost tempted to write Peterson some backstory in my head – heÕs
certainly old enough to have been a veteran, either of World War 2 or Korea, so
itÕs possible heÕs got first-hand experience with many of the weapons he ends
up using. In my mind, Ben Peterson occupies a special place of reverence, like
some kind of superhero version of the Orkin Man.
- One of the few ways
that Them! seems dated isnÕt really its fault: the final denouement
takes place in the Los Angeles Basin, and the nearby storm drains where the
ants have set up shop. Certainly a visually striking location, but one that has
been used so often in the intervening years that itÕs hard to take seriously
any more. A modern viewer half-expects to see Danny Zucco come zipping around
the corner at any given moment. Like BronsonÕs Canyon, or the Griffith Park
Observatory, or that stretch of Sunset Boulevard where every single teen
hot-rodder has plummeted to a fiery death, the Basin was a victim of its own
success: unique enough to look good on film, but close enough to Hollywood to
make it cost-effective to shoot there. So nearly every movie was. Oh wellÉ
Written words (c) 2010 Tim o'Brien. Not to be used without
permission. Other content, including images, is intended as a Fair Use pursuant
to 17 U.S.C. sec. 107.
Date Posted: March 11th, 2010
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