Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Directed by	Don Siegel
Produced by	Walter Wanger
Written by	Novel: Jack Finney Screenplay: Daniel Mainwaring Uncredited: Richard Collins
Starring	Kevin McCarthy Dana Wynter King Donovan Carolyn Jones Larry Gates
Distributed by	Allied Artists Pictures Corporation
Release date(s)	1956
Running time	80 min.
Language	English
Budget	$417,000
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a 1956 science fiction film. It stars Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter, King Donovan and Carolyn Jones and is based on the novel The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney (originally serialized in Colliers Magazine in 1954). The film has been remade three times and has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. A somewhat similar plot appeared in the 1958 film, I Married A Monster From Outer Space. Image File history File links 1956 movie poster for Invasion of the Body Snatchers This is a copyrighted poster. ... Don Siegel (October 26, 1912 - April 20, 1991) was an influential American film director. ... Walter Wanger (July 11, 1894 - November 18, 1968) was an important American film producer. ... Jack Finney (October 2, 1911 - November 16, 1995) was an American author. ... Daniel Mainwaring (February 27, 1902 - 31 January 1977) was a successful novelist/screenwriter. ... Actor Kevin McCarthy in the remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers Kevin McCarthy (born February 15, 1914 in Seattle, Washington) is an American actor. ... Dana Wynter (born June 8, 1931 in Berlin, Germany) was a popular actress in the 1950s. ... Carolyn Jones (April 28, 1930 — August 3, 1983) was an American actress, she is best remembered for playing the role of Morticia Addams in the classic TV Series The Addams Family. ... Larry Gates (born September 24, 1915, in St. ... Allied Artists Pictures Corporation This subsidiary of Monogram Pictures was founded in 1946. ... Year 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... See also: 1955 in film 1956 1957 in film 1950s in film years in film film // Events November 15 - The film Love Me Tender starring Elvis Presley (his first film) opens. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Actor Kevin McCarthy in the remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers Kevin McCarthy (born February 15, 1914 in Seattle, Washington) is an American actor. ... Dana Wynter (born June 8, 1931 in Berlin, Germany) was a popular actress in the 1950s. ... Carolyn Jones (April 28, 1930 — August 3, 1983) was an American actress, she is best remembered for playing the role of Morticia Addams in the classic TV Series The Addams Family. ... The Body Snatchers is a 1955 science fiction novel by Jack Finney, originally serialized in Colliers Magazine in 1954, which describes Earth being invaded by seeds which have drifted to Earth from space. ... Jack Finney (October 2, 1911 - November 16, 1995) was an American author. ... Colliers Weekly was a United States magazine that was published between 1888 and 1957. ... The National Film Registry is the registry of films selected by the United States National Film Preservation Board for preservation in the Library of Congress. ... Year 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The screenplay was adapted from Finney's novel by Daniel Mainwaring (who also wrote the film noir classic Out of the Past), along with an uncredited Richard Collins. It was directed by Don Siegel, who went on to make The Killers and Dirty Harry. Sample from a screenplay, showing dialogue and action descriptions. ... Daniel Mainwaring (February 27, 1902 - 31 January 1977) was a successful novelist/screenwriter. ... This article is about the 1947 film; there was also a 1998 documentary of the same name. ... Don Siegel (October 26, 1912 - April 20, 1991) was an influential American film director. ... The Killers, sometimes called Ernest Hemingways The Killers, released by Universal Studios in 1964, was Hollywoods second adaptation of the Hemingway short story. ... Dirty Harry is a 1971 film directed by Don Siegel, the first of the Dirty Harry series. ...

Plot

Set in the fictional town of Santa Mira, California (actually shot in Sierra Madre, a town east of Pasadena), the plot centers on Dr. Miles Bennell (played by Kevin McCarthy), a local doctor, who finds a rash of patients accusing their loved ones of being impostors. Another patient is a former sweetheart of his; recent divorcee Becky Driscoll (Dana Wynter), who tells him that her cousin has this same strange fear. Sierra Madre is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. ... Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. ...

Assured at first by the town psychiatrist (Dr. Dan Kaufman, played by Larry Gates) that the cases are nothing but "epidemic mass hysteria," Bennell soon discovers, with the help of his friend Jack Belicec (King Donovan), that the townspeople are in fact being replaced by simulations grown from plantlike pods; perfect physical duplicates who kill and dispose of their human victims. The Pod People are indistinguishable from normal people, except for their utter lack of emotion. The pod people work together to secretly spread more pods—which grew from "seeds drifting through space for years"—in order to replace the entire human race. Pod people is a nickname given to an alien species featured in the 1955 novel The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney, the 1956 film Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the 1978 remake of the same name and the 1993 film Body Snatchers. ...

The film climaxes with Bennell and Driscoll attempting to escape the pod people, intending to warn the rest of humanity. They hide; Driscoll falls asleep and is subverted. The subsequent scene wherein Bennell kisses her and realizes the truth is startling. With the pod people close behind, a seemingly crazed Bennell runs onto the highway frantically screaming of the alien force which has overrun Santa Mira to the passing motorists and (in a moment that could almost be considered a breaking of the 4th wall) looks into the camera and yells, "They're here already! You're next!"

The film was originally intended to end with Bennell screaming hysterically as truckloads of pods pass him by but the studio, wary of such a pessimistic conclusion, insisted on adding a prologue and epilogue to the movie that suggested a more optimistic outcome to the story. In this version the movie begins with Bennell about to be sent to an insane asylum. He then tells the police his story in flashback. In the closing scene, pods are discovered at a highway accident, thus confirming his warning. The FBI is notified and presumably intervenes. These scenes were deleted in a 1979 re-release after the first remake appeared, paring the movie down to 76 minutes. A prologue (Greek πρόλογος, from προ~, pro~ - fore~, and lógos, word), or rarely prolog, is a prefatory piece of writing, usually composed to introduce a drama. ... An epilogue, or epilog, is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature or drama, usually used to bring closure to the work. ... A psychiatric hospital (also called a mental hospital or asylum) is a hospital specializing in the treatment of persons with mental illness. ... In literature, film, television and other media, a flashback (also called analepsis) is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. ... The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is a federal criminal investigative, intelligence agency, and the primary investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). ...

Themes

The film has been read as both an allegory for the loss of personal autonomy in the Soviet Union and as a satire of McCarthyist paranoia about Communism during the early stages of the Cold War. A 1947 comic book published by the Catechetical Guild Educational Society warning of the dangers of a Communist takeover. ... For other senses of this word, see paranoia (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Cold War (disambiguation). ...

Despite these reported political connotations of the film, lead actor Kevin McCarthy said in an interview included on the 1998 DVD release that he felt no political allegory was intended. [1]

Parodies

• An episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show titled "It May Look Like a Walnut!" was a parody of the film. First aired February 6, 1963, the episode depicted Rob Petrie's nightmare about aliens who replace his friends and family with emotionless replicas, with walnuts taking the place of pods.
• The animated paranormal mystery show Martin Mystery had an episode called "Attack of the Slime People" that had a similar story.
• In "The Pie" episode of Seinfeld, George, seeing Elaine's look-alike mannequin, says: "It looks like some pod landed from another planet and took your body. Don't fall asleep, Elaine."
• In "The Apartment" episode of Seinfeld, Jerry is upset over Kramer's lack of social skills, and says "Let me explain something to you.. You see, you're not normal. You're a great guy, I love you, but you're a pod. I, on the other hand, am a human being. I sometimes feel awkward, uncomfortable, even inhibited in certain situations with the other human beings. You wouldn't understand".
• During the Reagan presidency, Saturday Night Live aired a parody in which people are taken over by GOP pods.
• A Looney Tunes cartoon starring Bugs Bunny parodied the film.
• In the Duck Tales episode Send in the Clones, part of the subplot revolved around the Nephews seeing a movie called Invasion of the Quacker Snatchers, an obvious reference to the film.
• A Bugs Bunny cartoon episode, "Invasion of the Rabbit Snatchers", depicted Bugs Bunny as fulfilling a regular schedule of comical fights with Daffy Duck, Yosemite Sam, and Elmer Fudd. On one occasion of such a schedule, Bugs discovers "pale stereotypes" – parodial figures who poorly imitate his rivals – who at the close of each encounter advertise "strange-looking carrots" to him. He eventually brings one of these carrots home; while he sleeps, it creates a "pale stereotype" of himself, which attempts to kill him. Bugs thwarts this attempt, then proceeds to capture the other impostors, discovering on each a trademark signature implying their manufacture on another planet. Later, the characters of whom these "pale stereotypes" are imitations return.
• The Colbert Report created an immigration-related segment called "Invasion of the Country Snatchers".
• The Simpsons Halloween Comic featured a story called "The Immigration of the Body Snatchers", which follows the original film almost to the letter. The comic also featured references to the 1978 version, including a dog with Willie's head and a character voiced on The Simpsons by Donald Sutherland (star of the 1978 version) is seen in the background. At the end, it is revealed that several alien species and robots have long established strongholds on Earth. However, Sideshow Bob breaks the fourth wall and reveals that everything is just a comic strip.
• The spoof 1983 film Strange Invaders paid tribute to the film.
• In "Not Particularly Desperate Housewives" episode of American Dad, there is a scene where Francine is followed by the Ladybugs in the same manner as the 1978 version of the movie.
• In Shaun of the Dead, Shaun and his companions walk and groan like zombies to avoid being noticed by the zombies in a similar way to the way the people who haven't been copied walk among the pod people to avoid detection
• In the Futurama episode "Fear of a Bot Planet" Fry and Leela act as robots to avoid detection on a bot planet. A robot identifies them by pointing while emitting the trademark shriek of the 1978 remake of the film.
• In The Simpsons episode: "The Old Man and the Lisa", after Lisa finds out that Mr. Burns is using recycled materials to turn sea life into "Lil Lisa Slurry", she runs out into the street and screams for everyone to stop recycling, upon which they tell her various recycling information in synchronized monotone. She then sees a truck go by her and climbs onto the back, seeing steel barrels full of Slurry arranged in the back in the same manner as the pods were in the original film.
• On a Halloween episode of the Perfect Strangers tv series, Larry Appleton refuses to call it a night after watching a marathon of scary movies with his cousin Balki Bartokomous, and girlfriends, Jennifer and Mary Ann. Larry ends up going at it alone as the TV announces its upcoming flick, Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The next morning, Balki ignites a pan by shooting a green lazer from his finger, then a giant pod falls out of the hallway closet as Balki walks out of a still closed door and later, he laughs maniacally as he floats at the office and outside the apartment window, as he reveals that the world's population is being transformed into Mypiots where "everyone are all cousins".

The Dick Van Dyke Show was an American television situation comedy which aired on CBS from October 3, 1961 to September 7, 1966. ... The current usage of the term nightmare refers to a dream which causes the sleeper a strong unpleasant emotional response. ... “Walnut Tree” redirects here. ... Martin Mystery (2003) is an animated television series. ... The Pie is the seventy-nineth episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. ... Seinfeld is an Emmy Award-winning American sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, running a total of 9 seasons. ... The Apartment is the tenth episode of the hit sitcom Seinfeld. ... Seinfeld is an Emmy Award-winning American sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, running a total of 9 seasons. ... Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 - June 5, 2004) was the 40th President of the United States (1981–1989) and the 33rd Governor of California (1967–1975). ... Saturday Night Live (SNL) is a weekly late night 90 minute American comedy-variety show based in New York City that has been broadcast live by NBC on Saturday nights since October 11, 1975. ... This article is about the modern United States Republican Party. ... Looney Tunes opening title Looney Tunes is a Warner Brothers animated cartoon series which ran in many movie theatres from 1930 to 1969. ... Bugs Bunny is an Academy Award-winning fictional animated rabbit who appears in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animated films produced by Warner Bros. ... DuckTales is an animated series produced by The Walt Disney Company starring characters from the Scrooge McDuck universe as largely created by Carl Barks. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Bugs Bunny is an Academy Award-winning fictional animated rabbit who appears in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animated films produced by Warner Bros. ... Daffy, as Duck Dodgers, faces off against Marvin the Martian in the 1953 short Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century, a parody of Buck Rogers. ... For the shortwave radio station, see Yosemite Sam (shortwave). ... Elmer J. Fudd is a fictional cartoon character and one of the most famous Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies characters. ... For the 1996 Blur single, see Stereotypes (song). ... Binomial name L. Percentages are relative to US recommendations for adults. ... The eight planets and three dwarf planets of the Solar System. ... The Colbert Report (IPA: ) is an American satirical television program on Comedy Central that stars comedian Stephen Colbert, previously a correspondent for The Daily Show. ... Bart Simpsons Treehouse of Horror is the annual Bongo Comics horror comic. ... Year 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1978 Gregorian calendar). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Robert Underdunk Terwilliger, better known by his stage name Sideshow Bob, is a fictional character on The Simpsons. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Year 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar). ... Strange Invaders was a spoof science-fiction film made in 1983, as a tribute to the 1950s films, but notably The Invasion of the Body Snatchers. ... Not Particularly Desperate Housewife is the 14th episode of the animated series American Dad!. This episode aired on December 18, 2005. ... The Smiths, from left to right: Roger, Francine, Stan, Klaus, Hayley, and Steve. ... Shaun of the Dead is a zombie-themed romantic comedy (or rom zom com as it dubs itself) or zombie comedy released in 2004. ... Futurama is an Emmy Award-winning animated American sitcom created by creator of The Simpsons Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox network. ... Fear of a Bot Planet is the fifth episode in season one of Futurama. ... Simpsons redirects here. ... The Old Man and the Lisa is the twenty-first episode in the eighth season of The Simpsons. ... Perfect Strangers was an American sitcom which ran for eight seasons from 1986 through 1993 on ABC. The show was moved around in the prime time lineup and eventually landed on Fridays as part of TGIF. It is about Larry Appleton (Mark Linn-Baker), a high-strung Chicago resident, sharing... Larry Appleton, with his girlfriend (later wife) Jennifer Lyons, in the episode The Selling of Mypos. ... Balki in the beginning credits of the show. ...

Trivia

• This film was #88 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments.
• Charlie, the meter reader in Dr. Miles Benell's basement, is played by director Sam Peckinpah. Peckinpah, who contributed to the film's script, served as a dialogue director for director Don Siegel since Siegel's Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954). He built up quite a reputation as a writer and director of television westerns before he directed his first feature in 1961, five years after his appearance in this one.
• Eisley's first single off Combinations, Invasion, was inspired by Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

This article is about the U.S. cable network. ... David Samuel Sam Peckinpah (February 21, 1925 – December 28, 1984) was an American film director who achieved iconic status following the release of his 1969 Western epic The Wild Bunch. ... Don Siegel (October 26, 1912 - April 20, 1991) was an influential American film director. ... Riot in Cell Block 11 is a 1954 movie filmed on location in San Quentin State Prison and starring Neville Brand and Leo Gordon. ... Eisley is an American indie rock band from Tyler, Texas, consisting of four siblings (Chauntelle, Sherri, Stacy, and Weston DuPree) and their cousin (Garron DuPree). ... Combinations is the second full length album by the band Eisley. ... Invasion is the first single from the band Eisleys new album, Combinations. ...

Related works

• Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978 remake)
• Body Snatchers (1993 remake)
• The Invasion (2007 film originally intended as a remake)
• The 2005 television series Invasion and Threshold explore the same themes.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a 1978 science fiction film based on the novel The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney. ... Body Snatchers is a 1993 science fiction film, a remake of the 1956 film Invasion of the Body Snatchers. ... The Invasion is a 2007 science fiction film based on a screenplay by Dave Kajganich, originally meant to be based on the 1956 film Invasion of the Body Snatchers. ... Invasion is an American science fiction television series that aired on ABC for only one season beginning in September 2005 before it was cancelled. ... Threshold is a science fiction drama television series that first aired on CBS in September 2005. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

• Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) at the Internet Movie Database
• IMDB: "Things That Happen in All Three Films"; a list of eight parallels
• The Greatest Films: Invasion of the Body Snatchers; includes a detailed synopsis
• "Invasion of the Body Snatchers: A Tale for Our Times," by John W. Whitehead, Gadfly Online, November 26, 2001; discusses the political themes of the original film
• McCarthyism and the Movies