Donald Sutherland, Kevin McCarthy and The Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Book, movie or remake?
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- Опубліковано 28 сер 2024
- Is the book better than the movie? How about the remake? This could be one of the exceptions to the rule. The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney 1955.
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This was brilliant, Richard. Thank you. I just read Who Goes There? for the first time, and I'm trying to get this Masterworks edition of Finney's The Body Snatchers right now. Michael K. Vaughan also just did a video on Body Snatchers. Thank you for including the movie clips too. Really well done.
Thanks Pat. Saw MKV's video yesterday and was wondering if I should delay posting this one. I decided to go ahead because of my focus on Donald Sutherland and Kevin McCarthy.
@@vintagesf Absolutely! They make good companion pieces! That’s what got me looking for an SF Masterworks edition. I really liked Donald Sutherland…
I read this one a while ago, it was one of my early videos. Some other interesting things; Finney revised the novel when the 1978 film came out, bringing the date up to the present time, he also had the characters go to the theater to watch "Time and Again", a book/movie that hadn't been written when the original 1955 book was written. My copy also had a foreword by Dean Koontz, Koontz kind of goes on a bit of a rant and says a lot of interesting things about technology. Overall I thought this one was great for a 1950's SF/Horror novel, I haven't seen any of the movies though.
@@sfwordsofwonder … and of course ‘Time and Again’ is Finney’s time travel novel. Might do a video someday about authors revising their novels. No wonder film director’s do it.
I too remember that great movie, nice one Richard.
Watched the first movie as a kid and loved it watched the remake again recently and still enjoyed this one Sad to hear Donald Sutherland he’s died always thought he was a great actor . I’ve never read the book but I have always liked b movie science fiction type stories . Great stuff again Richard.
Thank you.
@themojocorpse1290 Sutherland was a fixture in my generation's films. I first recall seeing him in "The Bedford Incident," more or less "Fail - Safe."
I think my favorite Sutherland is Squint Eastwood's "Kelly's Heroes," where he plays an "Oddball" American WWII tank Commander.
Hey Richard, very good presentation and commentary, as always.
I think the original film preserves Finney's allegory and analogy more efficiently than the remake. The remake was definitely slicker and had great production standards.
As far as what the book and the first film is really about, that is a long term debate in SF and SF filmdom. I think it is apparent, but I was around in the 1950s!
Didn't really talk about the allegory. I know I also think of it along the lines of the context of the 1950s. Coincidence that the lead actor's last name is McCarthy?
@vintagesf I always thought that was intentional! He reprised that role somewhat in "Mirage," a very interesting Gregory Peck film from 1964?, as I recall.
👍 Donald Sutherland 👌
Shame you didn't cover the other two film versions, Richard. Abel Ferrara's 'The Body Snatchers' is well worth seeing, while 'The Invasion' is pretty dire. The first two versions are both excellent, been favourites of mine for years. And of course with a different ending to all of them, the novel remains a must read for all serious SF fans. Interestingly, 'The Body Snatchers', Heinlein's 'The Puppet Masters' and Nigel Kneale's 'Quatermass 2' TV series all appeared in very quick succession, leading credence to the 'reds under the bed' theory of commentary on McCarthyism in 1950s paranoid SF. The film of 'The Puppet Masters' also features Sutherland, who we are all missing. RIP.
Casting a lead actor with the last name McCarthy in the 1956 film, coincidence? Even if it is intentional I think it is a wonderful performance.
@@vintagesf Yes, I've often wondered about that too! Yes, he's brilliant in it- great effects for the time too. And you have to love the Sam Francisco setting - and Brooke Adams- in the remake!
I read the book when I was a teenager. The only thing I remember about it was that I thought it was a competently done story. I saw the movie with Donald Sutherland first. My young bride and I caught it in the theater when it came out. I didn't catch the one with Kevin McCarthy until years later when it was on TV. Over all, I think the one with McCarthy is a better film, but I'll always remember the ending of the Sutherland movie because my wife would wake up screaming with nightmares about it for the next three months. Oh, and I always look closely at capers in the food when I'm eating.
@@paulcooper3611 That childish argument gets me every time. I wonder if any other film has made a health inspector the protagonist.
@@vintagesf I do not know. I do know that I would love to see his reaction when inspecting the kitchen in 'Ratatouille'.
I recall listening to the novel on audio and getting about a quarter of the way in before stopping and never returning. I don’t really know what it was-I guess I just didn’t find it that interesting or suspenseful.
The two adaptations though I’d say are two of the best SF films of their respective decades.
The scene in the 1956 film where the entire town square stops what they’re doing to briefly become a hub for transporting pods, before immediately returning to “normality” is brilliantly done and gets scarier when looking back on it. One now thinks of modern societies striving to collectively cover up or ignore mass torture or genocide, like with German citizens after WW2 or Russia in Ukraine now. In a totalitarian regime, if no one is free who truly remains “innocent”? A man who wants to free sinks under the mire.
@@niriop Well said.
I've read the book, and watched all the movies more than once. The book I read a really long time ago so don't remember specifics but retained the impression it was a good well written novel (though at the time I saw the original movie my memory of the book would have been clearer, and I remember them being pretty similar).
The original movie is to me the best, the 1978 remake good and the 1993 remake also good.
The 2007 movie is probably okay but not very memorable, and strays more from original novel, so not really a remake.
Invasion with Nicole Kidman and Daniel craig was OK. But was less recognisable compared to the book. Sombre comes to mind but suspenseful.
No mention of Heinlein's 'The Puppet Masters'? No disrespect, this was a very nice production and I love IOTBS, but it's long been argued that Finney was very 'inspired' to put it politely, by the Puppet Masters. I enjoyed the Sutherland version, but the stupid open mouthed squealing, which seemed completely unrelated to the material.
I sometimes wish I could add a video postscript to a video adding wisdom from the comments. This is a case in point. A missed opportunity. I'll rectify it someday when I get to 'The Puppet Masters'.