Them!
Tags: cult, horror

Plot synopsis:
A young girl is found wandering in shock in the New Mexico desert near White Sands by two state troopers. When they investigate they find that the trailer that she was staying in with her parents and sibling had been destroyed. They also find that kindly old Gramps Johnson who ran the local store was also killed in a mysterious way. A lone print fround in front of the little girl's trailer is sent to the FBI in Washington for identification. Dr. Medford and his daughter Dr. Pat Medford come to New Mexico after identifying the print as belonging to a species of ant that had mutated after the first atomic bombing 9 years before in 1945. They find and destroy the New Mexico nest but not in time to prevent two young queen ants from escaping. One of the ants starts a nest on a military ship at sea. After the ants kill the entire crew the ship is sunk and the invading ants are killed. Another ant makes her way to the drain system of Los Angeles. A father and his two young boys accidently come upon one off the ants. The father is killed and then a hunt is on to see if they are in time to save the two young boys and also destroy the nest before any other ant can escape and destroy the world as we know it. Top notch entertainment!=================================================================In the desert of New Mexico, a young girl wandering along a road in shock is found by two state troopers. When she's brought to the police station, she's identified and the police officers decide to investigate the home where she lives with her parents and brother. One side of the house has been smashed down and the place is nearly destroyed. One of the troopers hears a bizarre ringing noise outside and walks around the back of the house to find the source. The man screams, fires a few shots and is silent, attacked and killed by an unseen enemy.At the police station the young girl meets a scientist who has her smell a pungent substance. She becomes instantly terrified, backing into a corner and screaming the word "THEM!!!"=================================================================Title (Note: the movie is black and white but the title is in color - red and blue) and credits run over a desert vista with a large desert tree in the foreground. We see a spotter aircraft fly over the desert. Johnny (an uncredited John Close) calls the car below to report something. A little girl is seen wandering in the desert. Johnny circles until the police car arrives. The girl (Sandy Descher) is dressed in a bathrobe and carrying a doll. Sgt. Ben Peterson (James Whitmore) exits the car to retrieve the child. She is in shock and unresponsive to commands. Trooper Ed Blackburn (Chris Drake) takes a call from the airplane pilot. Johnny has spotted a trailer about three miles down the road. Ben and Ed take the girl and drive down the road to investigate the trailer. They discover the trailer has sustained structural damage but there is no evidence of fire or an explosion. No money has been taken and blood stains are estimated to be less than twelve hours old. Ben finds a piece of cloth and plastic. Ed finds some sugar cubes. A mysterious print in the sand piques their curiosity. Ben matches the cloth from the little girl's bathrobe and the plastic piece fits the missing piece of her doll's head. An ambulance is called and a police team goes over the crime scene. The ambulance attendant (an uncredited William Schallert) assures Ben he'll take good care of the child. They hear a weird chirping noise like crickets, but do not notice the Ellinson girl respond to the sound. They attribute the sound to the wind. Ben asks Cliff (an uncredited Cliff Ferre), who is finishing the plaster moulage on the strange print, what he thinks it might be. The ambulance departs, so Ben and Ed decide to visit the local store run by Gramps Johnson (an uncredited Mathew McCue). They want to know if he knows anything.It is early evening when Ben and Ed arrive at the store. The wind is howling and the store is a shambles. They investigate and discover there is no sign of robbery, but a twisted shotgun indicates Gramps fought off his attackers. They find his dead body in a storage area below the store. Outside the two officers hear a noise. They notice the wall has been pulled away, just like at the trailer. A large barrel of sugar has been turned over. Ben exits the store and leaves Ed to remain until the investigation team arrives. Ed hears the weird chirping sound and goes outside to investigate. We only hear the confrontation -- six shots from Ed's service revolver and a scream.At police headquarters the clues from both scenes are spread out on the table in the office of Capt. Fred Edwards (Don Shelton). They are stumped to make any sense from the clues, including the strange plaster print. They do get a match on fingerprints from the trailer. The Ellinson family was on an extended vacation and the father was an FBI agent. Robert Graham (James Arness), an FBI agent from the office in Alamogordo, joins the investigation. Bob Graham is also stumped. Bob suggests sending the print to Washington for identification. The coroner, Doc. Putnam (an uncredited Joseph Forte) arrives and provides five causes of death. He tells them, "Johnson could have died in one of five ways; His neck and back were broken, his chest was crushed, his skull was fractured...and here's one for Sherlock Holmes: There was enough formic acid in him to kill twenty men."Bob Graham receives a telegram from the Bureau telling him to meet Doctors Medford at the airport and extend all cooperation. The FBI was unable to identify the print and sent it to the Department of Agriculture. A military transport, an old North American B-25 Mitchell, arrives and the first out is Dr. Harold Medford (Edmund Gwenn). He is short, plump, and slightly distracted in his own thoughts. Next off the plane is Dr. Medford's daughter, Patricia (Joan Weldon). She is tall, brunette, and very attractive and prefers to be called Pat. Bob Graham immediately takes a shine to this scientist. The four return to police headquarters. The Medfords review the clues and read all the reports. Dr. Medford asks where exactly the first atomic bomb in 1945 was exploded. He is told in the same general area. Dr. Medford thinks out loud, "1945. That's nine years ago. Yes, genetically its certainly possible." Bob wants to know what they suspect, but Dr. Medford refuses to explain until he and his daughter are certain of their theory. Dr. Medford wants to stop at a drug store and visit the Ellinson girl at the hospital, then revisit the location where the print was found.At the hospital, Medford examines the girl and consults with the psychiatrist (an uncredited Ann Doran). A small glass filled with formic acid causes the girl to react. She runs and tries to hide while screaming, "Them! Them!" The four exit the hospital room and visit the trailer site. The wind is howling and the blowing sand and dust make it hard to see and hear each other. Pat remarks that, "Rather slim pickings for food, Dad. They'd turn carnivorous for lack of a habitual diet." Medford agrees, then walks away. Bob wants to know what they are talking about and gets rather insistent. Pat refuses to cooperate, but explains to Bob that her father is an expert myrmecologist, and will tell him when they are sure. Medford discovers a print, and measuring it determines the creature would be over eight feet long. Pat wanders off to find more prints. She discovers one, then she hears the weird chirping sound. It intensifies and the source reveals itself as a giant ant. She screams and backs away. Bob comes to her rescue firing his revolver at the creature, but with little effect. Medford yells they should aim for the antenne, as they are helpless without them. Ben retrieves a machine gun from the police car and fires enough bullets into the creature to kill it. They all approach to get a closer look at the insect. When asked what it is, Medford replies, "Species appears to be Camponotus Vicinus. One of the family Formicidae. An Ant." Medford speculates that radiation caused this mutation.General O'Brien (Onslow Stevens), Ben and Medford are aboard a helicopter searching the desert for the nest of the giant ants. Aboard a second helicopter is Bob, Pat, and Major Kibbee (Sean McClory). They are also searching for the nest in another sector. Pat admits she is worried about her father. Pat finds what she is looking for -- a cone shaped mound with a large opening on top. They circle the mound and see an ant remove a human rib cage and throw it into a pile. Human skulls, a police belt with bullets and other bones are littered at the base of the mound. Pat proclaims, "You've just found your missing persons."In an FBI office, General O'Brien confronts Dr. Medford about his inconsistency. Medford insists secrecy is paramount and that time is the most important thing. O'Brien is anxious to bomb the nest and be done with the affair. Medford explains that the ants won't be in the nest at night. He proposes to attack them during the day with poison gas, then examine the nest to verify all are dead. During the hottest part of the next day, O'Brien and Ben fire a bazooka with phosphorus shells onto the mound to keep the area hot and the ants below. Bob Graham and Maj. Kibbee also lace the mound with incendiary shells. The Medfords watch and wait. Bob and Ben approach the opening with cyanide gas grenades. A worker ant is seen trying to escape the nest and is held off with a machine gun. The two men bombard the nest with the gas grenades.Bob and Ben prepare to enter the nest. Pat approaches dressed for a subterranean exploration. She tells the men she will accompany them. Bob objects, but Pat explains, "Someone with scientific knowledge has to go. My father is physically unable to do it. That leaves me." Bob reluctantly agrees and the three descend into the nest. At first, all they find are dead ants. Further along and down, they are surprised when a wall begins to collapse and they are confronted by some live ants. They are quickly dispatched with Ben's flamethrower. In the queen's chamber, Pat is disappointed to discover they are too late. Without explaining, she takes a few photographs then orders the contents burned. Ben torches all the eggs and dead adult worker ants.Dr. Medford explains that the empty egg cases contained queen ants, which will set up new nests. The team goes to Washington, D.C. to brief a panel of military and government personnel. Medford shows them a film about ants to give them some idea of what they face in combating the insects. Medford punctuates his presentation with a warning if they cannot be stopped, "Man, as the dominant species of life on Earth will probably be extinct within a year." A collection center for information is established and all reports of strange phenomena are funneled through same. An Air Force Sergeant (an uncredited Leonard Nimoy) pulls a dispatch off a teletype machine and hands it to a woman to classify. The note refers to a pilot, Alan Crotty, crashing his airplane after witnessing UFOs shaped like ants. He confirms that everything in the building is top secret. Bob and Pat review the dispatch and fly to Brownsville, Texas with Maj. Kibbee to investigate the Crotty report.Alan Crotty (Fess Parker) reluctantly tells his story to what he perceives as an unbelieving audience. Bob, Pat and Kibbee listen and ask a few questions. The three exit Crotty's room and speak with the doctor. Bob tells the doctor to keep Crotty confined. Back in Washington, the Medfords and Bob Graham review what they know so far. Medford takes a call and rushes to the communications room. O'Brien is there and directs Medford to an incoming message. The U.S.S. Viking reports a nest of ants hatched aboard their ship at sea. Only two survivors are rescued by the Navy. The Viking was ordered sunk by Naval gunfire. The Medfords conclude a queen flew aboard and hatched a nest while the ship was anchored in Acapulco, Mexico for the three days and four nights it was there. An official at the meeting (an uncredited Willis Bouchey) is convinced the public should be notified of the danger, but the consensus is to keep things secret to avoid panic. Pat reports that Kibbee, Ben and Bob are in Los Angeles investigating a lead -- the theft of forty tons of sugar.It is Sunday morning and Ben and Bob talk to the rail yard detective (an uncredited Dick Wessel). He reports that the rail car was broken into on Friday night and the yard watchman is being held as a suspect. At police headquarters Bob questions the yard watchman (an uncredited Dub Taylor). Ben was questioning Mrs. Lodge (Mary Alan Hokanson) about the death of her husband. Bob and Ben go to the morgue to see the body and talk to the coroner (an uncredited Russell Gaige). The coroner explains, "I don't think this happened in a machine." The missing arm and laceration on the chest are curious. He attributes death to shock and loss of blood. Lodge was with his two children, but he was found alone in his car without any trace of the arm. Bob questions Mrs. Lodge but she tells him she has no clue where her husband took the children that morning. Ben interrupts the interrogation to question patrolmen Ryan (an uncredited John Beradino) and Sutton (an uncredited Robert Berger). They found Thomas Lodge. They show Bob and Ben on the map of the city where they found the body. Bob and Ben interview the four people cited by the officers three drunks and a speeding ticket. A blonde floozy (an uncredited Mary Lou Holloway) is questioned and released. Two of the three drunks are returned to the tank to sleep it off. Ryan explains that the third drunk is at the hospital in the alcoholic ward.The ward doctor (an uncredited Grandon Rhodes) escorts Kibbee, Bob and Ben to see Jensen (Olin Howlin). Jensen tells them that he saw a little airplane and large ants down in the open storm drain channel. Bob comments that the openings look like they may be worth investigating. Jensen's loud outburst disturbs the alcoholic in the next bed (an uncredited Harry Wilson) who pleads, "Please, my nerves!" Ryan drives Bob, Ben and Kibbee down onto the river bed. They search the area and find a model airplane. Kibbee finds an ant print, which confirms the drunk's story.A news conference is called on Sunday evening. General O'Brien makes the announcement, "By direction of the President of the United States, in full agreement with the Governor of the State of California, and the Mayor of Los Angeles. The city of Los Angeles is, in the interest of public safety, hereby proclaimed to be under martial law. Curfew is at 1800 hours. Any persons on the street or outside their quarters after 6:00 p.m. tonight will be subject to arrest by the military police." O'Brien explains what prompted such drastic action. He explains that giant ants were discovered in New Mexico and a nest has been established in the storm drains under the city of Los Angeles. The military begins to stage for the attack. A field headquarters is established outside the storm drain opening where the model airplane and print was discovered. Search units in Jeeps proceed into the storm drains. About a mile in, Ben hears something and requests all engines be stopped. He investigates a pipe that leads to a section still under construction. He finds Mike Lodge (an uncredited Richard Bellis) and his brother Jerry Lodge (an uncredited Robert Scott Correll) trapped and about to be attacked by the ants. Ben kills the ants with his flamethrower. He rescues the boys and sends them down a pipe back to the safety of his waiting driver, Smitty (an uncredited Joel Smith). Unfortunately his own escape is thwarted. An ant grabs Ben with its mandibles and crushes him to death. All units are sent to Drain 267 to engage the enemy. O'Brien and Dr. Medford drive to the location. Bob, and a unit of soldiers fight their way to the nest area, killing many ants with gunfire. O'Brien and Medford arrive and order a cease fire. A section of tunnel collapses trapping Bob inside with the ants. Soldiers dig away the rubble and reach Bob before he is killed by the ants guarding the nest of newly hatched queens. All the worker ants protecting the nest are killed. Medford is called and examines the nest. He says, "This is the egg chamber. I'm certain no new queens have escaped from this nest. The job will be done when these are destroyed." O'Brien orders, "Okay, burn them out." Flamethrowers destroy the winged queen and consort ants. Dr. Medford waxes philosophical, "When man entered the atomic age, he opened a door into a new world. What we'll eventually find in that new world, nobody can predict." We close with a slow zoom in shot of the ants on fire, some still moving.

Review: It was about giant ants and started a horde of pathetic clones that followed it, but none have even come close to matching this movie's effectiveness.Atomic testing in New Mexico that went on in 1945 creates a horde of giant ants.
There is even a monologue at the end of the movie which explains that things have changed now that we have entered the Atomic age.James Whitmore, James Arness, Joan Weldon, and Edmund Gwenn give good performances as the heroes who are out to save mankind, along with the U.S. military police.
The pacing was rather good as well, slowing down when things need to be explained, and then picking up when the giant ants are on screen.Though the special effects seem cheesy by todays standards, I thought they were rather effective in this movie and memorable for 1954.
The marauding ants in "Naked Jungle," advancing across a desert, are matched by the monsters in "Them!" coming out through mists of the white sands of New Mexico after an atomic blast has increased them to giantsSlowly people start to go missing and the news filters though to the nearest towns that the arid plateau can present a real threat as strange creepy whistles are coming out from that deep desertRather than an atomic movie, the film is about the struggle between humans and species revolt which invade their cities and show their remarkable energy, tenacity and vulnerabilityJust as the Gill Man can only be driven back when he has isolated far from his natural element, the monster ants are all powerful in their own territory and none too easy to destroy outside it"Them!" is well acted, frightening, and engaging from start to finish The cast is pretty damn good, especially James Whitmore as the pretty intelligent cop who found a five year old girl, aimlessly walking through the terrain of the desert miles from her family's wrecked travel trailerunresponsive by some catastrophe..."Them!" is a well-made monster movie, an instant classic nominated for an Oscar for its effects.
This movie has pretty much everything going for it: a literate, atmospheric, extremely well-written script for what is essentially a B picture (although Warner Brothers put a substantial amount of cash into it)l outstanding acting jobs by everyone from the leads on down to the extras; razor-sharp direction by an old pro, Gordon Douglas (by far his best film; nothing he did before or since was anywhere near as good); a combination of visual and sound effects guaranteed to creep you out (the scene where James Whitmore's partner goes outside the wrecked store to investigate the strange noises he hears is among the scariest things you'll ever see).
Everyone remembers the wonderful Olin Howlin, the guy in the drunk tank who sings "Make me a sergeant in charge of the booze!", but there are several other segements that are equally as lighthearted; the great Dub Taylor playing a railroad detective suspected of stealing a load of sugar from a railroad car that the ants have actually done ("You think I stole that sugar?
You ever heard of a market for hot sugar?") and another scene in the drunk ward where a patient looks at the army major accompanying Arness and Whitmore and says, "I wanna get out of here, general, but I ain't gonna join the army to do it!" The special effects are first-rate but do not overwhelm the story, as is all too common in many of today's action films (that is, when there actually IS a story).
Casts of the strange footprints found at the crime scene are sent to a lab where they catch the attention of father/daughter doctors Medford (Edmund Gwenn and Joan Weldon) who come to New Mexico along with FBI agent Robert Graham (James Arness) to investigate.
Weird deaths are occurring in the New Mexico desert, it is revealed to be the work of giant mutated ants born out of the A Bomb tests that took place there.
Trouble escalates to the big city of Los Angeles when one of the giant queen ants escapes to L.A. and starts laying eggs that could lead to the end of mankind as we know it.This is a cautionary tale about scientific tampering fused with a Cold War theme of destroying a threat to the country.
The ants were mutated by atomic testing, and are responsible for the local deaths.Like the 'Beast From 20,000 Fathoms' and 'Gojira', 'Them!' played on Cold War fears of the consequences of using nuclear weapons.
Not this one: this one earns all the praise.Why does this film in the midst of so many bad efforts of the genre and time period get rated so highly?1 - A good cast: James Whitmore, Edmund Gwenn and James Arness are all pretty famous actors who do a fine job here,; 2 - Good special effects, meaning they still look pretty real over 50 years later; 3 - A pretty intelligent script, certainly far better than its competitors; 4 - None of the standard stupid love interest to take away from the storyline; 5 - Just the right amount of action, and finally, 6 - It keeps your interest all the way through.
Great example of early sci-fi and can be enjoyed by young and old alike.The cast includes James Whitmore, Edmund Gwenn, James Arness, Joan Weldon and a smaller part for Fess Parker..
Possibly the most impressive thing about the movie is that the characters are written and acted so well they don't descend into archetypes as often happens in sci-fi and horror films, then and now.
In this case, mutations in the form of giant ants are linked to those first atomic experiments.Although the public probably wasn't afraid of actual giant insects in the 1950's, as a result of the cold war and nuclear technology, the atomic age certainly made the stars of past horror films - vampires and werewolves - look tame in comparison by opening up a whole new horizon of horrific possibilities.
Later that same year the US proceeded to use this new age weaponry to end World War II by atomising both Japans Hiroshima and Nagasaki.Adding fact's aftermath of nuclear fallout in the New Mexico desert and fictions theories of the possibilities of its consequence, this George Worthing Yates (1901 - 1975) story, who too penned It Came from Beneath the Sea, and the directional skills of Gordon Douglas (1907 - 1993) has given a sizable account of a vision of man's need to advance and conquer.
They are the newcomers in the world of analogical radiation defects and indifferent, ignorant human altered beasts that would soon burst onto the big screen, such as Ishirô Honda's 1954 analogical antiwar masterpiece Godzilla to the 2006 South Korean creature feature Gwoemul.The town's folk of Los Angeles are warned of the threat and a curfew is announced, in reflection, would the baying public have ever known of this predicament if the queen had not escaped in this marvellous film of post-war technological advancement and the reality of Government repression in the form of keeping witnesses "contained"?
Whenever one thinks about the many horror movies of the 50s, it's nearly impossible to not think about the multitude of creature features that had in common a basis on science-fiction that reflected the newly discovered fears of uncontrolled science and the cold war paranoia; and when one thinks about this 50s creature features, the ideas of cheesy story lines and laughably awful special effects quickly come to mind as those were two elements typical in many low-budget productions.
However, it would be a big mistake to think that every 50s horror movie was a bad display of special effects, as the classic Warner Brothers film titled "Them!", one of the first of those nuclear monster films, proves clearly.
Made a year after the success of "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms", this movie followed similar themes, but gave them a more horror oriented spin and single-handed became the source of countless imitators.Sgt. Ben Peterson (James Whitmore) investigates a strange series of disappearances and murders happening in New Mexico's desert, and since one of the missing persons was an FBI agent, agent Robert Graham (James Arness) is sent to collaborate with Peterson in the investigation, however, the only clue they have is the strange prints found at the crime scenes.
What truly makes "Them!" to stand out among the rest of the movies of its time, it's the way it takes its plot (as silly as it may sound to today's audiences) with a respect that few works of science fiction (not only films) do.
While basically stereotypes (scientist, cop, government agent, etc...), every one is given enough depth to stand out and become really multi dimensional characters.Experienced b-movie director Gordon Douglas brings the story to life in a sober yet very effective style that at times echoes his work in Westerns and Film Noirs.
Combined with the serious take on the plot, this really makes the whole movie be more believable and adds an powerful feeling of impending doom that makes it haunting and truly terrifying.The four actors that give life to the key roles in the film really make the most of the characters they play, starting with James Whitmore, as the county cop whose simple and quiet life gets changed after his discovery in the desert.
As written above, Joan Weldon's role was also ahead of its time, and certainly, Edmund Gwenn's role represented the fears of a society afraid of the results of Nuclear testings.I was not expecting a lot of "Them!", I mean, the overall concept is really simple, yet the way the movie is crafted makes it one of the most haunting movies of its type ever done.
This is a movie that proves that the 50s creature features could really be worthy pieces of horror and science fiction that were more than a bunch of cheap special effects and Cold War paranoia.
Originally intended as a "3D color sensation" from Warner Brothers, this last-minute slashed budget sci-fi film about giant ants proves to be ahead of its time with an excellent script and inspired acting.
Fueled by an excellent cast and very interesting plot line THEM is one of those rare sci-fi,s of the 50,s that is not only entertaining, but is also shocking in its portrayal of what could happen due to mans abuse of nuclear energy...I,ve viewed this movie countless times and it has never failed to leave me without the message "What If" The film moves at a steady pace with the police searching the desert for a missing child that had been spotted..shortly after finding her the searchers encounter a mobile home that has been torn apart, but strangely from "the inside out".
Scared the life out of me at an early age - my Dad could do a great impersonation of the noise those ants made :) Since then the movie, for me anyway, has come to represent 1950s paranoia over the effects of atomic radiation.
is the best giant bug movie of the 1950's and one of the best, if not the best monster movie of the decade.The acting is excellent with good performances from James Whitmore (The Relic) and James Arness (The Thing From Another World).
The movie includes haunting desert settings and the giant ants look great.
New Mexico State Trooper James Whitmore and FBI agent James Arness track down giant mutant atomic ants spawned at Alamagordo, NM, following the first atom bomb tests.
was the movie that started a bunch of imitators in the giant bug sci-fi films.It was the best of the lot.
The writing introduces plenty of mystery and suspense, the acting is plenty good (although, admitted, it could be better), and the sound effects are great.If you haven't seen this movie, you must.
ranks alongside George Pal's War of the Worlds and The Day the Earth Stood Still as the best of the '50's classics.The acting from top to bottom was first rate,and every character was well cast-Edmund Gwynn as the crotchety old professor,didn't let a bad case of arthritis stop him.
It is one of the funny things about movie making that one can spend millions of dollars bringing a screenplay to the screen that is supposed to be a "blockbuster" and it is a total flop, but one can also have a restricted, low-budget film with a cast of good character actors, and it will turn out to be memorable movie making and a permanent favorite.
Soon the expert from Washington (Edmund Gwenn) is lecturing the local state police (James Arness, James Whitmore) on how organized and deadly ants are - we even see a film of a three day battle between rival ant armies.
The only thing missing (because the film is in black and white) is that the dead mutant ants are not shown to be colored red or wearing Russian words on their sides.[*Interestingly enough, in THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN, such radiation leads to a human being shrinking - what gives here?].The film is quite good and even convincing of the real danger from the over-sized creatures.
I thought I was in for a cheesy horror flick, but this was some fine film material!Following the detonation of the atomic bomb in the deserts of New Mexico, gigantic ants are on the prowl after being mutated by leftover radiation.
A goodguy cop, an FBI agent, and two scientists now must track down these ants and stop them from colonizing the earth.This movie had very good acting, pretty decent special effects for a 50's movie, and brings up a lot of interesting debates and ethics regarding scientific research.
If you ever wanna just sit back and watch a classic horror film and have a good time, I definitely reccomend this.
Through the aid of an FBI man played by James Arness and an elderly professor(Edmund Gwenn), Whitmore and company uncovers a huge ant colony located in the desert.
Okay the science involved is absolute rubbish but it is a very enjoyable film with some really good moments like the lone cop investigating the eldritch sound of the ants , the attack on the ship , and the final battle underneath the city .
The last line says it all: 'unnatural things alive or dead.' And after Gwenn shows his little film (about real ants) within the film to the DC bigwigs, he speculates mankind has about a year left at the top of the food chain.It's moments like these, copied in many later movies, that define this era of atomic age fear and dread.
This movie was one of the best of that era,black and white and as a 14yr old I thought the Ants were looked pretty good.
"Them!" was a terrific example of how sci-fi movies should always be made: a tight, engrossing, suspenseful script and great acting, with the special effects there to support the story and actors, not to be the whole movie.
We seem to get fewer and fewer such sci-fi movies anymore."Them!" overcame the limitations of 1950's special effects with a script so vivid that while you get to see the ants on screen only occasionally, you imagine so much in your mind's eye, almost like an old-time radio play.
Soon a FBI agent (James Arness), a scientist (Edmund Gwenn) and his daughter (Joan Weldon) are investigating and they discover that the atomic bomb that was dropped nine years earlier has caused the ants to grow to a giant size.THEM!
Whenever you want to recommend a monster movie done right then this here certainly ranks up there with the greatest.I think the greatest thing the film has going for it is the screenplay, which treats the material extremely serious but doesn't waste time preaching.
When the little girl finally gets her smelling salts and delivers the classic, campy "THEM!" line over and over, it's hard not to smile and laugh a little.When the doctor is on the helicopter having to communicate with his daughter (a very good Joan Weldon) on another copter, he just can't seem to get the concept of saying "Over" after every sentence he gives, and it's a clever little bit of comedy amid the tension of this scene (the characters even point out it's just one of those things movie characters have to do, without saying it explicitly).
It's taken a decade for them to be discovered, the desert being a solitary place, but when these big guys come out of their holes, it's with a feeding frenzy vengeance.First on the scene is deputy sheriff James Whitmore, who first brings in FBI man James Arness and then a father and daughter team of scientists, Edmund Gwenn and Joan Weldon.
Though the human cast does give a good account of themselves, it's the special effects creating those giant ants that is the real star of the film.
There are giant ants in the New Mexico desert, all because of the effects of nuclear testing out there a couple of years ago.Excellent performances and a decent script is what really gives this film a lot of credit.
It was a very entertaining film with good special effects considering the state-of-the-art at that time..
James Whitmore ('The Shawshank Redemption'), James Arness (the monster in 'The Thing From Another World'!), and Edmund Gwenn ('The Trouble With Harry') are all excellent, and Joan Weldon (unknown to me) is also very good.
James Whitmore, ever reliable and still holding up almost 50 years on, in such films as THE RELIC (does this guy love monster movies or what???) and currently THE MAJESTIC.
The film's debt to "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms," which had been released by Warner Brothers the year before, is a huge one, but "Them!" was the first of the "giant bug" movies of the '50s, and surely the best of the bunch.