TOTALL RECALL (1990)

Science Fiction Week Day 7

Total Recall (1990)

Remembrance of Viewing Past: I’m frankly a little surprised that this Arnold Schwarzenegger film is on the list, but it's definitely worth another look.

After viewing: I always thought the story for this one was pretty involving and knowing the story twists didn't really detract too much from the second viewing. I did lose track of the number of people that Arnold kills, but this type of excess seems much more palatable to me in a Sci-Fi movie than in a contemporarily set one.

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THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH (1976)

Science Fiction Week Day 6

The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)

Remembrance of Viewings Past: I saw this at the Rhodes repertory theater during the 1980’s. I believe it was on a double-bill with Zardoz. I have a positive but fading recollection of The Man Who Fell To Earth,and am curious how I will relate it now.

Seeing it now, I think David Bowie was perfectly cast as a very understated alien who comes from a dying planet. And Candy Clark as the leading lady is terrific. It’s a hard movie to explain and don’t know if a sci-fi movie like this could be made today. I don’t think The Man Who Fell to Earth action figures would sell too well. I’m also wondering if it is close enough to Christmas to listen to the David Bowie/Bing Crosby Little Drummer Boy duet. But I digress.

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PLANET OF THE APES (1968)

Science Fiction Week Day 5

Planet of the Apes (1968)

Remembrance of Viewings Past: I heartily admit to a sentimental attachment to the original Planet of the Apes. I first saw it when I was very young and have probably seen in at least in part a dozen times since.

The movie starts with three American astronauts landing hundreds of years in the future on a remote planet. The cynical Taylor (Charlton Heston) leads this band in the search for water or other life forms. They slowly find clues of life and hints of a civilization during the first thirty minutes of the movie. The reason I bring this up is because it is an important part of the building of suspense and introduction of Taylor’s character. The audience knows that they are about to run into a civilization where apes rule. Even if you are seeing it for the first time, we know what the title is! We know what is going on, but the astronauts don’t. It’s a slow trek, but it’s necessary for the plot. I also love Jerry Goldsmith’s score, which is used to full effect during the early scenes.

Anyway, here are a few other thoughts on Planet of the Apes.

1. The desert setting in the early scenes: Why do I like the early scenes so much? We don’t know where the story is going (even if we do know, you understand?) It’s called building suspense.
2. Little touches; The distibution of power, the see know evil, hear no evil, speak no evil pose that the orangutan’s have while Taylor is giving them unwanted truths. The character of Lucius, who is basically an ape hippie without being over the top, the sacred scrolls, the Forbidden Zone and let’s not forget Heston’s concubine Nova.
3. Memorable lines “Get your stinkin’ paws off me, you damn, dirty ape!” Come on, is there a better line as well timed in any movie than that one?
4. The makeup. If the viewer didn’t buy the makeup, the party was pretty much over. Luckily, we bought it.
5. The Turkish cave architecture of the ape village gives the story the otherworldly appeal it needs.
6. Changes from the original book-The Eiffel Tower from Boulle's novel? I don’t think so.
7. The performances-Maurice Evans as the politician Dr. Zaius, Kim Hunter and Roddy McDowell as the sympathetic chimpanzees, but don’t forget Charlton Heston as the cynical astronaut.
8. The ending-One of the greatest endings of all-time.
9. The sequels? Well, the four sequels are a mixed lot. The best of the bunch is probably the third installment where Cornelius and Zira escape on Taylor’s old ship and return to 1973 earth! It was about the only way they could keep the series going since a hydrogen bomb goes off at the end of the second movie. The last two installments in the series have their moments, epecially Conquest of the Planet of the Apes where we see the beginning of the ape uprising beginning to take place. After the movies played out, we had a short-lived television show Planet of the Apes, which was pretty so-so, but I watched every episode (All 13!)

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INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956)

Science Fiction Week Day 4

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

Remembrance of Viewings Past: First saw on television sometime in the 70’s. Have seen a couple of times since.

After viewing: I’m still a fan of the story, the major flaw in the '1956 version being the unnecessary prologue and epilogue that the studio added to the story. But this was more than a movie of pod people taking over. The author and filmmaker clearly wanted use this story of as metaphor against Communism, McCarthyism and other Totalitarian regimes.

In fact, on the CD I’m listening too there is a quote from the son of Invasion of the Body Snatchers director Don Siegel. I will transcribe it now:

“They were looking at this movie with Fresh eyes. They were bringing all this other stuff to it. Like it was a statement against McCarthyism and other people would say it’s a statement against Communism. But Siegel said that ‘none of that was in my head. That’s all in their imaginations. All I was trying to do was make and interesting scary, movie.’”

As I was saying, Invasion of the Body Snatchers is…an interesting and scary movie that people may at times read a little too much into.

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FORBIDDEN PLANET (1956)

Science Fiction Week Day 3

Forbidden Planet (1956)

Remembrance of Viewings Past: One of the most fondly remembered of all 50’s sci-fi films. Hopefully, after watching it again I can better define why.

After viewing: Here are the top ten reasons Forbidden Planet is one of the most fondly remembered films all 50’s sci-fi films.

Number 10 Anne Francis’s uber-short mini-skirt!

Number 9 Despite the quality of the production, it can still be a bit cheesy at times.: Examples include the flying saucer shots which aren’t really that much better than the ones from Fire Maidens From Outer Space and the supposedly nude Alatara clearly wearing a body suit.

Number 8 Special appeal for Trekies. This film was clearly a clearly a blueprint for much of the original Star Trek universe: Dashing commander who goes to an unknown planet and makes out with the only girl there! Dashing commander hangs out with the ships doctor, who really is closer to Spock than Mccoy. Blasters-which are called phasers in Star Trek, and more space jargon (you know, like the explanations from Star Trek why a worm hole will be closing up because of an exploding Super Nova in the next galaxy that is really hard to understand, but you just have to except it as a given plot point)is used here than you can shake a blaster at.

Number 7 High brow appeal in that Forbidden Planet is often compared to Shakespeare’s The Tempest

Number 6 Special appeal for Freudians as the Id plays such an important part in this story

Number 5 The fine supporting cast including the guy who later was on Police Woman, the guy who was later on Maverick and the guy who was later on The Six Million Dollar Man.

Number 4 Walter Pidgeon as Morbius is indeed a tragic character out of Shakespeare, though it might take a minute to realize that the pre-Airplane! Leslie Nielsen actually says his lines straight!

Number 3 The fact that the creatures are more of the mind than anything avoids the film from having any bad monster makeup.

Number 2 The look of the film, the color, and the fact that it is in Cinemascope makes this production great to look at. Dr. Morbius’s lab is also pretty impressive.

But the Number 1 reason that Forbidden Planet is one of the most fondly remembered films all 50’s sci-fi films is: Robby the Robot!

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THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (1951)

Science Fiction Week Day 2

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

Remembrance of Viewings Past: I was probably about five. I was watching this on television during the days when they actually showed black and white movies on television! I remember the robot policeman Gort coming after Patricia Neal and have never been so scared while watching a movie since.

A one sentence synopsis of the movie might be: Space alien Klaatu comes to Earth and tells the citizens of the planet that if they continue to expand their atomic experiments into outer space, they will have to be eliminated.

As Klaatu said:
Your choice is simple.
Join us and live in peace
Or pursue your present course and face obliteration.
We shall be waiting for your answer.
The decision rests with you.

As Klaatu also said:
Those are great words.

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CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977)

Science Fiction Week Day 1

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

Remembrance of Viewings Past: If memory serves correctly, I’ve seen Close Encounters of the Third Kind four times before. It's unusual in that I seem to like it more on odd numbered viewings. When it first opened, it made a big splash. Made a big impression on me. One of my favorite movies at that time. A couple of years later, Spielberg re-released a special edition version of the movie and I remember leaving the theater saying, “Was it really worth the extras he added? I was a bit disappointed. The next time I saw it was on television during the 80’s. Once again, I got caught up in the story and liked it a great deal. Then I saw it a few years later and found it to be rather slow moving. Well, it’s been over twenty years now since my last viewing, and this is likely the last time I’ll ever watch it. So I’ll give the film a definitive yes or no here.

In the meantime, I have the pleasure of recounting the reminiscences of one of the STARS of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Ms. Wilma Jo Spanyer, who played…I’ll just let her tell you.

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My grandfather and grandmother got jobs as extras when they came to Mobile to film Close Encounters of the Third Kind. There was a casting call and they went to it (being retired and all) and soon they were working on it at Brookley Field. My grandfather, who never met a stranger, soon had my dad, and my sister and myself working on the movie, too. Papa made friends with some of the Hollywood folks and the whole family was in on it. I don't know why my mom did not get in on it. She was with us on the set, just not in the movie. It was the coolest experience of my life. We were lowly extras, but getting big checks for kids back in that day and time. My grandfather was one of the people involved in the Mayflower project on the dark side of the moon part of the film, and my dad was one of the guys in jumpsuits there, too. In some of the earlier versions of the film, you can she the little aliens touching him when they came out of the ship. My sister, Boo, and myself were the two little kids in the back of the farmer's truck near the beginning of the movie.

We got to meet everyone - Steven Spielburg, Francois Truffaut, Terri Garr, Roberts Blossom (he played our dad the farmer), Richard Dreyfuss, Melinda Dillon, the camera people, everybody. I would say we met Carey Guffey but he was so little I doubt he would remember it! It was so much fun to be involved in this. It's funny now thinking back, how some of the extras that had like, one line, thought they were so important. Then when you see the finished movie, half of the stuff you did has been cut out, chopped up and it's all rearranged. The most important people there were some of the most humble acting. Francois Truffaut, Richard Dreyfuss, and Roberts Blossom were some of the nicest people you would ever want to meet. They just act like anyone else.
It was exciting to see how movies are made, but it's nothing like you think it will be. Nothing is filmed in order and they waste so much time. One whole entire night they shot close ups of my sister and I with the fans on us, blowing our hair, and none of that is in there. I guess when they are editing it they need a lot of extra stuff for continuity. It really seems like they waste a lot of time and money, though.

All in all, it was a great experience. We had a wonderful summer, made great money, ate some delightful food (they had wonderful caterers) and had an experience that lots of folks will never get. Then when the movie finally came out, my whole class went and cheered when we appeared on the screen. They even put something about us in our school yearbook. It was my fifteen minutes, I guess, and it was a lot of fun. Gave me some good memories. Recently, there has been a documentary about the making of the movie in Mobile in the works, and I hope we will all get to see that one day soon. I would love to see the interviews with all the Mobile people in it.
-Wilma Jo Spanyer
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After viewing: The fifth times the charm. I did get caught up in it this time out and will now retire from watching the film while I still have a favorable impression of it.

And I want to give a special thanks to Ms. Spanyer for her recollections.

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