Them! (1954 film)

Them!
Them! DVD Cover
Directed by	Gordon Douglas
Produced by	David Weisbart
Written by	Ted Sherdeman Russell Hughes George Worthing Yates (story)
Starring	James Whitmore Edmund Gwenn Joan Weldon James Arness
Music by	Bronislau Kaper
Cinematography	Sid Hickox
Editing by	Thomas Reilly
Distributed by	Warner Brothers
Release date(s)	1954
Running time	94 min.
Language	English
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Them! is a 1954 science fiction film about humanity's battle with a nest of giant mutant ants.

One of the first of the "nuclear monster" movies, Them! was the biggest moneymaker for Warner Bros. pictures in the year of its release. Originally conceived to be in 3-D and color. Tests were to be shot in color and 3-D. Color tests were shot, but the 3-D rig malfunctioned. The next day, a memo was sent out that 3-D was scrapped. WB was unsatisfied with the color results and slated it as flat and black and white. The film still featured higher production values than most of the genre-mates which followed it.

Cast

Plot

The film begins with Peterson (Whitmore) investigating a string of mysterious attacks and killings in the New Mexico desert. The death of a vacationing FBI agent and most of his family (except for a hysterical little girl) brings in Graham (Arness), and the discovery of a strange set of tracks attracts the attention of the Medfords (Gwenn and Weldon), a father/daughter team of entomologists from Washington D.C., who theorize and then prove that the culprits are a nest of giant ants, mutated by nearby atomic testing. The authorities attack the nest with poison and kill the inhabitants, but not before two young queens hatch out and fly away to establish new nests. One ends up onboard an ocean-going freighter, which is overrun by the ants, then sunk by the military. The other sets up her nest in the Los Angeles sewer system, forcing the US Army to declare martial law and launch a major assault. Peterson rescues two young boys from the nest, at the cost of his own life. The nest's queen and egg chamber are destroyed with flamethrowers, but the senior Dr. Medford issues a grim warning that the atomic genie has been let out of the bottle, and further horrors may await mankind.

Quotes

• Dr. Harold Medford: "We may be witnessing a Biblical prophecy come true—and there shall come destruction and darkness upon creation and the beasts will reign over the earth."
• Dr. Harold Medford: "When man entered the atomic age he opened a door to a new world. What we'll eventually find in that new world nobody can predict."
• Agent Robert Graham: "Communicate? You mean these things send messages?"

Production

Opening Color title from Them!

The film was originally planned as a color production. Two days before shooting was to begin Warner Brothers was dissatisfied with the color test results and the film was made in black and white. The opening titles, however, were printed in color to give the opening of the films a "punch." This effect was achieved by an Eastman Color section spliced into each print. Both the VHS release in 1985 and the current DVD release retain the original color opening.In the planning stages, the movie was to be in 3-D, but when the camera malfunctioned on the day tests were to be shot, the idea was scrapped. The film was subsequently shot flat, although aspects of the 3-D preperation still remain, such as the opening titles and flame-throwers that are shot at the camera.

A young Leonard Nimoy has a small, uncredited role as an Army sergeant, while future Davy Crockett portrayer Fess Parker has a cameo as a witness to one of the queen ants' flight.

Trivia

• It later inspired a classic computer game called It Came From the Desert.
• Joe Dante's 1993 movie Matinee, starring John Goodman parodies both "Them!" and the lifestyle of horror movie director William Castle. Elaborate and deliberately hokey special effects are shown.
• In Sweden, the movie title was translated to "Spindlarna", which means The Spiders in Swedish.
• Them! was the inspiration for 'We are THEM!' (2005), by visual artist Mark Hatter. The project used miniature stage sets and stimuli creating a satire of an ant-sized world, claiming to "Educate and Improve" the common black garden ant.
• The Command & Conquer: Red Alert expansion pack Counterstrike features a hidden set of missions where the player has to defend against and eventually exterminate giant ants.

External links

• Them! (IMDb)
• How To Steal A Scene, by James Whitmore
• The Thunder Child Them! Sourcebook
• Suite of the film score re-recorded on "Monstrous Movie Music" label

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