Them!A classic that stands the test of time

Them! is on my short list for top billing among the 50's classic sci-fi movies.Even after more than half a century I think you will find the story is still engaging and the characters memorable, thanks to a well written screenplay and strong performances from some first rate actors.

The film opens as a kind of `who done it' mystery revolving around the exact nature of the title characters, and evolves into a well developed "man against nature gone wild" piece. I won't say more than that because, on the off chance you have never seen this film, you should NOT read the spoilers contained in most of these reviews, because the mysterious way in which the title characters are introduced is part of the charm of the film.

Yes, the film is shot in black and white, and yes some of the special effects are a bit dated by today's standards, but the cinematography, art direction, sound design etc. are all first rate as befitting a release from a major studio. To be perfectly honest I thought some of the effects looked a bit cheesy even 40 odd years ago when I first saw the film, but it didn't detract one bit from my enjoyment of the movie then and still doesn't today. In fact, as some others have noted, they are part of the charm of the film. The "Fan-belt coming loose" sounds that someone here so aptly described is an example of how a simple element was used very effectively. To this day, that sound sets my teeth on edge and sends a shiver up my spine. As noted above, the cinematography, staging, lighting etc, are exceptionally well done, and I consider the opening shot of the search airplane panning down to the little girl walking in the desert in the opening sequence to be one of the all time classic images in the genre.

Contrary to some comments here, I did not find the plot to be thin or simplistic at all. Plot wise (and production value wise), Them! Looks like Doctor Zhivago, compared to some of the other '90 minute wonders' filmed in the fifties. I think the producers felt that with giant radioactive bugs to keep the action going, the film did not need any of the lame artifices used to `punch up' plots in some of today's movies. So you won't find shallow self-involved characters sniping at each other in nauseating interpersonal conflicts. You won't find a ridiculously over the top arch-villain who is so evil that he makes milkshakes out of pureed body parts. You won't find a pimply light-saber wielding gen-X'er whining because folks just don't understand him. Nor will you find bad Soap-Opera thinly disguised as an SF storyline [ala all this "Who's having who's alien baby?" crapola we see these days on the sci-fi channel].

What you WILL FIND is a CLASSIC 50's style sci-fi yarn, which is one of the finest examples of an SF film of that era.

Dated, but Fun

"Them!" is another of the sci-fi/horror movies of the 1950's. Premiering on June 16th of 1954 in New York City, "Them!" is one of the earliest creature features. I wonder what younger viewers think when they watch these old films. Do they hold the same fascination that they did for those of us who were growing up in an era before CGI? The special effects in this movie are laughable today, but at the time this was released they earned an Oscar nomination.

The story here is very simple. The first test of the atomic bomb has resulted in the mutation of ants in the desert so that they now are from 9 to 12 meters in length and are killing people in the South-west United States. The science part of this science-fiction story is pretty weak, but on the other hand they at least try to stay true to the nature of ants. James Whitmore plays State Police Sgt. Ben Peterson and James Arness plays FBI agent Robert Graham. These characters chase the ants from the desert of New Mexico to the storm sewers of Los Angeles. Edmund Gwenn and Joan Weldon play father and daughter scientists Harold and Patricia Medford, who help them track down and destroy the mutated ants.

The DVD does not hold much in the way of extras. There is some archival footage of the giant ants, and a trailer, but that is all. Overall, this movie rates somewhere between 3 and 4 stars, but I am going to give it the higher rating because when all is said and done it is an entertaining movie. I would think this would be a good candidate for a Hollywood remake, using modern special effects, but for some reason it has not been done yet.

Essential science-fiction cinema

THEM! is an eminently watchable flick in its own right and one of the essential science-fiction movies of the 1950s -- along with THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD, THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, FORBIDDEN PLANET, and INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS. There are others we love (I myself have a great and abiding fondness for I MARRIED A MONSTER FROM OUTER SPACE, and some folks swear by WAR OF THE WORLDS), but these five, though they did not exhaust the genre (as Hollywood understood the genre), certainly defined it during their decade and well into the 1960s, until 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY.