"Them!" Giant Ant Movie (1954)

One of my favorite scifi movies!

A classic!

James and his brother Peter Graves hated each other.

When you want to blow up an elephant sized ant you naturally ignore trained infantry and give the bazooka to an Air Force pilot

Arness looks hot in R4's picture.

The ants were ridiculous looking, but overall, there was some good cinematography in the movie and some good performances, especially by Fess Parker in his small role as the pilot who saw the ants flying and who everyone thought was insane. Anybody else notice a very young Leonard Nimoy and DL fave Richard Deacon in cameo roles?

I also liked the fact that they had a strong female character - a doctor who got to be in the same room with the boys and who went down into the tunnels and sewers with the guys to kill the varmints. In the 50s, it was rare to seem women in movies who weren't housewives or floozies.

I also liked that she had the hots for James Arness, but that the movie never developed a stupid love story subplot while the ants ravaged Los Angeles.

Aaaaaah!

I didn't remember the dance break in the middle of the film.

What’s your source, R3?

Wasn't James Arness the monster in the original "The Thing"?

When it come to movies about big monsters, this was one of the better ones. The little girl screaming "THEM!" is a classic.

R10 Yes, he was.

R10, yep.

I mentioned this movie in my post in the Favorite Movies thread. James Arness look great. His hair is so shiny I thought it was blond until I rewatched it the other day.

R11 That little girl was really good in that role. She conveyed a real sense of shock and terror.

It was a good movie.

R13 Arness was hot as hell in this one. No wonder the lady doctor wanted to fuck him. But not until the ants were annihilated.

Did we really need to have the scene where the female scientist gets stuck on the ladder climbing down from the plane so the watching men can ogle her legs?

R17 They had to throw some sex in it. This was the best they could do.

It's compelling and ludicrous at the same time.

Directed by Gordon Douglas who started out by directing Our Gang comedies and reached the "heights" when he did HARLOW with Carroll Baker.....which was sort of the same thing.....

I like the Irish pilot.

I liked the way Fess Parker lifted his pajama top and gave us a brief flash of his lean, toned torso!

"Make me a sergeant in charge of the booze!"

R23 That guy was good! Lots of really performers in small roles in this movie. The little girl, Fess Parker, the crazy guy in the alcoholic ward...

Fess Parker in Them.

I'll fuck you later.

Guns not much good.

I don't know where this is from but it looks funny.

r26 I heard that for DECADES.

Is there anywhere on the net where you can watch it for free?

YT wants $$$ to view a 66 year old film.

It's not on DailyMotion either.

R30 Did you check Netflix or Amazon Prime Video? Prime has a lot of 50s movies for free.

One of my favorite Svengoolie movies.

I also love The Tingler with Vincent Price.

Movie gave me nightmares as a kid, but not as much as "The Planet of the Apes" franchise. Those movies scared the shit out of me!

"One of my favorite Svengoolie movies."

It's not a good idea to watch classic horror movies on Svengoolie, not that Svengoolie shows many classic horror movies, anyway. Most of the movies shown on that show are pure schlock. But when they do show a good or classic horror movie it's generally edited to make room for the lame, unfunny comedy bits. It's best to watch horror classics on TCM whenever they're shown.

Why did James and Peter hate each other, BH Manny?

R26 Edmund Gwenn had the role of Old Scientist, a similar role was played by Cecil Kellaway in Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.

R30 it's on the Internet Archive. These things get taken down sometimes so watch it when you find it. They have the date wrong, but maybe it was deliberate.

This thread is yet another reason I love Datalounge.

This has been a favorite of mine since I first saw it on TVO's Saturday Night At The Movies hosted by Elwy Yost back in the late 1980s.

Glad to see it get some love here.

R26, I think Arness was much hotter than his brother, even though Graves had at least one shirtless scene (in "Killers from Space" - see below), which is more than Arness ever did, AFAIK.

It's funny that Arness - better looking and at least as good an actor - never developed the career that Graves did. Graves' career was so diverse. while Arness is known for pretty much one thing ... although it was a big thing in its day. Is it because TV series filming schedules used to be so demanding that he never had a chance to branch out?

Anyway, I think James Arness has a stronger masculine presence and was more handsome and less pretty than his brother.

R34, I totally agree. That's why I came to hate MST3K. I wanted to watch the movie! Even though I certainly make a few sarcastic comments to myself when watching these old BW sci-fi thrillers and even thought the MST crew were literate and often very funny, it ended up annoying me that I couldn't just watch these wonderful old moves in peace.

R21, "the Irish pilot" was Sean McClory. He had a long and successful career as a supporting actor in Hollywood, almost entirely on television. I know him from his three Perry Mason episodes, but he was in most of the big TV series of the '60s and '70s.

It's funny and sort of charming that they never bothered to explain why a guy with an Irish accent was a pilot in the US Air Force.

R16, but you know that, after the end of the movie, and after a shower and good night's sleep, those two were fucking like rabbits in a no-tell motel somewhere in the Valley.

Thank you.

We just did a thread about the movie THEM! went on to inspire:

Thanks R37.

I really enjoyed the 66 year old black & white monster flick.

Peter and James suffered from severe sibling rivalry.

They also had a mother that pitted them against each other.

While James landed the iconic Gunsmoke, poor Peter will always be "Have you ever seen a grown man naked?".

And I got all this from a book I read a long time ago. It might have been about Amanda Blake but I really don't remember.

"While James landed the iconic Gunsmoke, poor Peter will always be "Have you ever seen a grown man naked?".

I think "Have you ever seen a grown man naked?" was a lot more memorable than Gunsmoke, which was a standard Western that went on for far too long.

Graves is remembered just as much for Mission:Impossible.

Nobody under 60 remembers Mission:Impossible.

I wanted James Arness in me, quite deeply. No matter how much that would hurt.

Nobody under 60 remembers Gunsmoke.

I'm under 60 and I remember it. You see, there are these things called reruns, syndication, YouTube, Netflix, and BluRay. Amazing what you'll find there.

"I'm under 60 and I remember it. You see, there are these things called reruns, syndication, YouTube, Netflix, and BluRay. Amazing what you'll find there."

Not everybody is into watching reruns, especially young people. Gunsmoke is an old people's show.

R52 ...says the idiot who comes on a thread about an old movie to bitch about people who watch old TV shows.

[quote] Nobody under 60 remembers Mission:Impossible.

A couple months ago METV began running it every Sunday night from the first episode onward. They aren't up to the Peter Graves seasons yet.

Followed by The Fugitive. I record both shows and watch the next day.

"...says the idiot who comes on a thread about an old movie to bitch about people who watch old TV shows."

I happen to be a fan of horror movies and have done a lot of research on them. You, on the other hand, sit around watching Gunsmoke. Whatever floats your boat, old timer.

Of course, it's too obvious but I will say it anyway, that Mission: Impossible is still a brand-name, albeit not the television show but certainly the concept.

That said, even if the mission impossible name is not unknown today, certainly the name Peter Graves is obscure.

[quote]I happen to be a fan of horror movies and have done a lot of research on them.

From my basement apartment where I fill up on Cheetos and Mountain Dew and pontificate on such things.

Back to the ants.

Does anybody the giant ant movie starring our girl Joan Collins?

It's also campy and craptastic.

The effects may be D- but the film overall is a master textbook on building interest and suspense. It rises above its genre.

R58 Empire of the Ants? Also good campy fun, but not nearly as well executed as Them!

R59 And aside from the ants, there was some great cinematography. The opening shot from beneath the desert cactus tree looking up at the plane flying by was masterful.

They were clever to hold back on showing the ants for a while. You just hear that creepy sound and have people, like the cop, killed off-screen.

F.Y.I., THEM! is not a good movie.

It's a boring, cheap-looking, lame B-movie. It's only "so bad it's good."

The most value it has is camp value and providing the basic elements for James Cameron to turn into a truly great movie, ALIENS.

You guys need to quit painting lipstick on a pig.

R63 Yeah! Those stupid 50s filmmakers not using James Cameron-style effects and technology to make their movies!

Such idiots!

Smaller ants can be mean too

R66 OMG! I saw this one on The Outer Limits! Murderous mutant ants with human faces!

Period special effects are not even the shoddiest aspects of THEM! r65.

A movie involves storytelling, script, direction and character cultivation that James Cameron does worlds better than THEM!

You would know this if you knew anything about the art of motion pictures rather than just being precious about the one you saw as a child.

Thanks, James at R68! BTW, Avatar and Titanic were pieces of shit.

I have $3 billion that says you're wrong.

Still waiting for TITANIC or ALIENS to catch up to the smash box office, awards and critical acclaim that THEM! did.

Oh, James, honey. Everyone knows box office doesn't always equal "good."

Even "Hot Tub Time Machine" did good box office.

I'm sorry posters like R68 can't enjoy the film but I love the first 30 minutes or so before the ants are revealed. I like the rest too. There is mystery with that howling desert wind and crickety ant sound and I don't have a problem with the period special effects. It is a B film with no stars but remarkable. The only thing I don't like is all the smoking, but that's a period thing too.