I've always been fascinated that everyone in this movie can grab military grade weapons, I'm glad you pointed it out. There was a time in the country where not only the characters in the movie, but the actors too simply knew how to unload a machine gun. It's a wild that it's true.
As for why the 'cop had a tommy gun in his car'....well, at least 5 people have been killed or 'disappeared', two of them being law enforcement officers, and particularly Blackburn, who was 'one of their own'. I imagine, tempers were running high, and the officers patrolling were probably equipped to deal with anything they crossed paths with. And at 2:20, not a commie but a 'pussy'.
Submachine guns were sold to American civilians in the first half of the 20th Century -- that's how they found their way into gangster's hands. They weren't restricted to military use. And remember that in 1954, many Americans were veterans of WW II. Ben Peterson, here, is shown in the movie to know how to fire a bazooka.
They understood how aggressive, ruthless, and unrelenting ants are on their normal scale, especially this species; and how that would translate to scaling them up to the size of a car.
I remember the Davy Crockett trivia, and it was kind of mind blowing to see him here after watching Davy Crockett so much, it was one of the tapes we did like once a week at least,
I recently watched this movie while waiting for some friends to visit. They walk in as the camper is being investigated. They watched without me giving me giving them context and when the ants are found in the general store sugar they yelled "the ants killed him" as a joke. Their reaction was priceless when the giant ants appeared in what they thought was police procedural.
What you mentioned about the ants being mutated, so we can't entirely rely on real world science, reminds me of how the Jurassic Park films use the DNA-gaps-filled-in-with-stuff-from-other-animals to explain stuff away (though, given how fragmentary and uncertain our knowledge of dinosaurs is beyond what their bones were shaped like, I'm not sure that was necessary).
"our knowledge of dinosaurs is beyond what their bones were shaped like" Wrong. We know a whole lot by now, except for their actual skin coloration. There are fossilized imprints of their skin, so we know its texture, and fossilized imprints of dino feathers which even allow us to make scientific guesses at the pigmentation, because more pigment means that part of the feather is harder. Many dinosaur species must've been warmblooded from the analysis of blood vessels in the fossilized bones (at least the two-legged ones were, while the giant quadruped herbivores had such body mass they wouldnt have lost much heat during the night), which also explains how some dino species survived in arctic areas, with body heat and feathers for thermal insulation. Feathers evolved from scales long before they were used for flight. Growth rings in their bones tells us the giant quadrupeds grew fast during their first years of life, then much slower. Their body weight was less than that of an elephant's would be if scaled up, because we found air sacks extending from theior lungs into hollow bones, the same anatomical feature as birds have. As for bone shape, anatomists can tell a lot from the shape of bones and their external structure and comparing them to extant species: They can tell where the muscles and sinews would have attached and their diameter (which allows us to crunch numbers how strong those muscles and sinews would've been, assuming a similar structure of muscle proteins as modern animals. The shape of the joints tells you how the legs were positioned, which tells you if the animal would've been able to run fast or run a long time, if it was made for jumping, sneaking up or running prey down. We know what plant species the herbivores most likely fed on, from 1. which fossilised plants existed in same region and time period, 2. the shape of the herbivores' teeth tells you a lot about how they fed, what they fed on (hard plant matter, soft aquatic plants, fruit, seeds, etc).
Even as I kid I liked that the female character wasn't the typical screaming, useless type we saw all too often. The characters felt 'real' , better written and acted than the vast majority of modern series and movies.
Joan Weldon signed on to the movie thinking that she was going to be a "love interest" for the FBI male lead, but soon learned that the director and script were not wasting time on that. She adapted well and turned in a strong, smart character who lays the situation out for Arness and Whitmore.
There were some surprisingly strong, smart women characters in Fifties sci-fi. Another outstanding example is Patricia Neal in The Day the Earth Stood Still.
@@midlandredux Pat Medford even stands up to Arness's Bob Graham over entering the ant nest, and pretty much takes charge of their exploration due to her expertise.
I've always thought that Edmund Gwen's Dr. Harold Medford, and Cecil Kellaway's Dr. Thurgood Elson from The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, would have gotten along splendidly.
The comedy relief in this movie was outstanding. "If I can still raise an arm by the time we get out of here, I'm going to show you just how saturated I can get."
I've always been fascinated that everyone in this movie can grab military grade weapons, I'm glad you pointed it out. There was a time in the country where not only the characters in the movie, but the actors too simply knew how to unload a machine gun. It's a wild that it's true.
As for why the 'cop had a tommy gun in his car'....well, at least 5 people have been killed or 'disappeared', two of them being law enforcement officers, and particularly Blackburn, who was 'one of their own'. I imagine, tempers were running high, and the officers patrolling were probably equipped to deal with anything they crossed paths with.
And at 2:20, not a commie but a 'pussy'.
Submachine guns were sold to American civilians in the first half of the 20th Century -- that's how they found their way into gangster's hands. They weren't restricted to military use. And remember that in 1954, many Americans were veterans of WW II. Ben Peterson, here, is shown in the movie to know how to fire a bazooka.
I always liked that the doctors didn’t care about ‘saving a unique creature’ but told people how to kill them faster.
Well, it helps keep your priorities straight when the first evidence of the unique creature is that it attacked and ate a family.
They understood how aggressive, ruthless, and unrelenting ants are on their normal scale, especially this species; and how that would translate to scaling them up to the size of a car.
5:57 What a fine Adepta Sororitas she will make in 39k years or so.
I remember the Davy Crockett trivia, and it was kind of mind blowing to see him here after watching Davy Crockett so much, it was one of the tapes we did like once a week at least,
I recently watched this movie while waiting for some friends to visit. They walk in as the camper is being investigated. They watched without me giving me giving them context and when the ants are found in the general store sugar they yelled "the ants killed him" as a joke. Their reaction was priceless when the giant ants appeared in what they thought was police procedural.
Un film formidable et qui fait parti de mes films préférés.
just make a giant anteater! problem solved!
An anteater big enough to devour these ants, would be equivalent to Godzilla. I'd say your solution may be worse than the original problem.
@@danieldickson8591 nah we get a thing that eats anteaters that is giant...
First Marshal Dillon, now Mr. Spock. This movie is a small treasure of bigger name stars.
ARNESS WAS ALSO THE THING IN THE 1951 SCI-FI MOVIE!!
Marshall Dillon, Mr. Spock, Davy Crockett, and Santa
What you mentioned about the ants being mutated, so we can't entirely rely on real world science, reminds me of how the Jurassic Park films use the DNA-gaps-filled-in-with-stuff-from-other-animals to explain stuff away (though, given how fragmentary and uncertain our knowledge of dinosaurs is beyond what their bones were shaped like, I'm not sure that was necessary).
"our knowledge of dinosaurs is beyond what their bones were shaped like"
Wrong. We know a whole lot by now, except for their actual skin coloration. There are fossilized imprints of their skin, so we know its texture, and fossilized imprints of dino feathers which even allow us to make scientific guesses at the pigmentation, because more pigment means that part of the feather is harder. Many dinosaur species must've been warmblooded from the analysis of blood vessels in the fossilized bones (at least the two-legged ones were, while the giant quadruped herbivores had such body mass they wouldnt have lost much heat during the night), which also explains how some dino species survived in arctic areas, with body heat and feathers for thermal insulation. Feathers evolved from scales long before they were used for flight.
Growth rings in their bones tells us the giant quadrupeds grew fast during their first years of life, then much slower. Their body weight was less than that of an elephant's would be if scaled up, because we found air sacks extending from theior lungs into hollow bones, the same anatomical feature as birds have.
As for bone shape, anatomists can tell a lot from the shape of bones and their external structure and comparing them to extant species: They can tell where the muscles and sinews would have attached and their diameter (which allows us to crunch numbers how strong those muscles and sinews would've been, assuming a similar structure of muscle proteins as modern animals. The shape of the joints tells you how the legs were positioned, which tells you if the animal would've been able to run fast or run a long time, if it was made for jumping, sneaking up or running prey down.
We know what plant species the herbivores most likely fed on, from 1. which fossilised plants existed in same region and time period, 2. the shape of the herbivores' teeth tells you a lot about how they fed, what they fed on (hard plant matter, soft aquatic plants, fruit, seeds, etc).
Hi Nimoy, I hope the afterlife is treating you well...
John Wayne was also first pick for "The thing from another world" but had previous commitments so he recommended Arness for the role ot the creature!
Even as I kid I liked that the female character wasn't the typical screaming, useless type we saw all too often. The characters felt 'real' , better written and acted than the vast majority of modern series and movies.
Joan Weldon signed on to the movie thinking that she was going to be a "love interest" for the FBI male lead, but soon learned that the director and script were not wasting time on that. She adapted well and turned in a strong, smart character who lays the situation out for Arness and Whitmore.
@@midlandredux I had heard that. I'm glad she wasn't the typical shrieking useless love interest.
There were some surprisingly strong, smart women characters in Fifties sci-fi. Another outstanding example is Patricia Neal in The Day the Earth Stood Still.
@@midlandredux Pat Medford even stands up to Arness's Bob Graham over entering the ant nest, and pretty much takes charge of their exploration due to her expertise.
I've always thought that Edmund Gwen's Dr. Harold Medford, and Cecil Kellaway's Dr. Thurgood Elson from The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, would have gotten along splendidly.
They were distantly related.
I think the ants are great. Sure the movements are a bit slow and dangly but still great.
"Make me a Sargent, bring me the booze!"😂😅
The comedy relief in this movie was outstanding.
"If I can still raise an arm by the time we get out of here, I'm going to show you just how saturated I can get."
How about the two drunken bums who were debating about "formal" or "informal"? Then Graham complained, "All right, Beau Brummell, knock it off!"
hearing nimoy with that normal-ass voice is so freakin weird
This movie is pretty darn good.
Someone call Dr. Pym!
I Love Them
It's okay, Chuck - I'll be going to hell too 😊
TERROR! HORROR! EXCITEMENT! MYSTERY! !!
Wait... is that... Leonard Nimoy???
They killed Antony
monster ants... fine... film of actual ants... have to turn my phone away and put it down...
Don't worry, we're all going to hell together.
I'm going to Heaven.
kill it with fire!!