science fiction

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) Movie Review

Starring: Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter, Larry Gates
Enter a review
of your own!
"Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)"
Message Board

Click here for free online dating advice!

Review Summary
Dr. Miles Bennell, a general practitioner in the small California mountain town of Santa Mira, is called back to the town from a conference by a rash of appointments -- but then his patients cancel. He also encounters reports of people insisting members of their families are not who they really are -- though they eventually change their minds. Divorced himself, he meets his lovely former high school girlfriend Becky Driscoll (Wynter), also recently divorced, and together they unravel the mystery: seed pods from space have landed and created exact copies of the townspeople and gradually taken over their lives, bodies, and minds, then they distribute pods to take over neighboring towns in a similar way. Miles and Becky have to escape from Santa Mira and warn the rest of the country before they get taken over, too. This classic 1956 sci-fi thriller -- based on a Jack Finney novel and directed by Don Siegel, who later became famous for "Dirty Harry" and "The Shootist" -- remains sharp and tight, with generally better script and clearly better acting than most other '50s sf movies. Unfortunately, the nervous studio insisted Siegel slap on a framing epilogue and prologue instead of telling the stark tale that ends with Miles warning the viewer "they're coming!" but that's a minor spoiler. [Personal beef: early in the film, Miles and Becky misquote Oberon in "Midsummer Night's Dream" as speaking of "a bank where the wild thyme grows" -- it's "blows," in order to rhyme with Shakespeare's next line, in which "oxslips and the nodding violet grows."]
David Loftus, Resident Scholar


Detailed literary breakdown of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Our unique search engine breaks down books and movies into
dozens of literary elements, all of which are searchable.

New movie search (click here) New book search (click here)
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Movie
Actual chase scenes or violence - 30%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzle - 50%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20%




**Fantasy or Science Fiction?** - science fiction story
Horror film? Yes
Kind of Horror Story - chased by body snatchers/duplicates

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - doctor
Age: - 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
Hair color? - brunette (Brown)
Hair type - (man) short/medium straight
Body type - average (man)
Events of movie makes character more... - sad
Ethnicity/Nationality - White (American)
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor? - Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Secondary Main Character
Identity: - Female
Hair color - brunette (Brown)
Hair style - (woman) medium/shoulderlgn wavy
How much in movie? - 80%
Ethnicity/Nationality - White (American)

Main Adversary
Identity: - an entire race
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - 60%
How sensitive is this character? - hard edged

Setting
Earth setting: - 20th Century (1950-1970)
Takes place on Earth? Yes
Mountains? Yes
Small town? Yes

Style
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
Tone of movie - fearful
Check here if B&W Yes
Any profanity? - None
Kinds of F/X - Things that change shape/morph - exotic aliens
Is this movie based on a - book
Most similar reviews by Gordonator ranking
The Faculty starring Elijah Wood, Josh Hartnett, Salma Hayek
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) starring Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Veronica Cartwright, Jeff Goldblum, Leonard Nimoy
The Thing (1982) starring Kurt Russell
The Hidden 2 starring Raphael Sbarge, Kate Hodge, Jovin Montanaro, Christopher Murphy, Michael Weldon
Dreamcatcher starring Morgan Freeman, Thomas Jane, Jason Lee, Damian Lewis, Timothy Olyphant, Tom Sizemore, Donnie Wahlberg.
Think you can enter a better review
of this movie? Click here to try!




Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).
Try our new Star Wars & Star Trek puzzle pictures! Click here

Advertise with us
Feedback
Star Wars Revenge of the Sith plot spoilers
Hobbits
The politics game
The lawyer game

3 Book search options!
1) Simple lookup
(title or author)

or
2) Detailed book search
(click here)
or

3) One-click plot searches! Simply click on a plot below!

Animal Story

Clones

Coming of age

Cultural problems, alien culture

Explore/1st contact/ enviro story

Family relations

GIANT monster(s)

Horror story?

Inner Struggle

Lifeform altered?

Mental/magical powers focus

Parody

Political power play

Religious overtones?

Repressive society story

Robots, Computers, VR

Romance

Spying & Investigations

Tech./$$$/Info hunt

Time Travel story?

Training/Apprent.

War or Invasion


Games:
Trivia Masters!

Rescue your favorite
scifi characters from
slavery!


Talk to your favorite
scifi characters!


Eating New Yorkers
Computer Game


Pomeranians

Most recent TV & Movie discussions:

The Borrowers: The Borrowers 5/11/2008 10:53:57 PM

Xena: 37 reasons why Xena and Gabrielle are... you know.... 5/11/2008 7:02:04 PM

Star Trek Voyager: Did B'nana find her labor pains to be erotic? 5/11/2008 6:55:09 PM

A Boy and His Dog: A Boy and His Dog 5/8/2008 8:17:30 PM

Blade Runner: Blade Runner 5/6/2008 12:23:07 PM

The Space Explorers: The Space Explorers 5/6/2008 10:16:13 AM

2010: Exactly why was 2010 a lame movie? 5/4/2008 10:19:38 PM

Star Trek Classic: "Mark of Gideon"--A pitch for family planning 5/4/2008 10:15:47 PM

Star Trek Classic: Star Trek's dim view of earth-hugging hippies 5/4/2008 10:10:06 PM

Star Trek Classic: Nancy Crater a bisexual monster? 5/4/2008 10:02:29 PM


Newest slaves:
Aeon Flux (Charlize Theron) 3:46:16 AM
Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) 3:44:28 AM
Mavican 3:43:01 AM
Body Parts Boob Girl (Scarlett Tush Johansson) 3:38:41 AM
Raquel Welch 2:43:36 AM
Willow (Alyson Hannigan) 2:11:33 AM
Cameron Diaz 2:11:09 AM
Queen Amidala/Padme (Natalie Portman) 2:08:54 AM
Christopher Walken 2:06:47 AM
Kimono Guy 2:06:36 AM
All slaves
(click here)


Celebrity interviews:
President George W. Bush 6:32:00 PM
Jan-Michael Vincent 2:16:51 PM
Captain Kathryn Janeway 3:47:46 PM
Jack ONeill (Richard Dean Anderson) 1:39:22 PM
Jennifer Aniston (Friends) 5:01:07 PM
All celebrities
(click here)