Remembering ‘classic’ cinema aliens

Bill Knight column for July 6, 7 or 8, 2020       

           

This week 73 years ago, the Roswell Army Air Field in New Mexico issued a press release saying that its 509^th Operations Group had recovered a “flying disc” that had crashed nearby. Coming weeks after a pilot reported flying saucers near Mt. Rainier southeast of Tacoma, Wash., it fueled public interest – which Hollywood was happy to exploit.

Most know memorable movies about aliens, but many are relatively recent: “E.T.: The Extraterrestrial,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “Independence Day.” All spark feelings of exhilaration, fear or suspicion, emotions used by directors for decades, especially in the 1950s, when flying saucers and propaganda about Communist infiltration set the cultural tone as much as rock ‘n’ roll and Ike.

One extreme was the single-alien-tourist feature (“The Man Who Fell to Earth,” “Starman”), which showed more about Earthlings than extraterrestrials. The other extreme was the alien threat, from “Mars Attacks!” to “Killers from Space.” TV also had “UFO” (BBC), “The Invaders” (ABC), benign interstellar immigrants (“Alien Nation”) and ruthless visitors (“V”), plus comedies from “Mork & Mindy” to “Third Rock from The Sun.”

Some formula traits: Creatures come from a planet that’s dying; their technology is advanced; they can take over Earthling bodies; people come together against a common foe; and everything looks hopeless until some tactic emerges to help our planet prevail.

Humans discover not only that we’re not alone; we’re also puny-but-spunky.

Here’s a dozen overlooked alien “classics”:

“Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai” (1984). This cult favorite is sort of “Bruce Springsteen and The Temple of Doom,” as Peter Weller’s title character is a rock bandleader and adventurer, surgeon, test pilot and physicist who leads pals against invading nut-birds. The head nut is John Lithgow, who’s hilarious, with supporting roles from Christopher Lloyd and Jeff Goldblum.

“Alien” (1979). Ridley Scott’s film is part “monster movie.” After a space barge responds to a beacon, an ever-evolving intruder threatens their survival. It stars Sigourney Weaver, Yaphet Kotto, John Hurt and Ian Holm.

“The Day the Earth Stood Still” (1951). Better than the 2008 remake, this stars Michael Rennie as alien “messiah” Klaatu who (with mysterious robot Gort) offers his civilization’s wisdom about surviving technology. Only a kid, his mom and an oldster (Billy Gray, Patricia Neal and Sam Jaffe) pay attention.

“Earth Girls Are Easy” (1989). This comedy succeeds where “Space Invaders” and “Strange Intruders” failed. Three aliens (Jeff Goldbum, Jim Carrey and Damon Wayans) crash-land behind Valley Girl Geena Davis’ house and are introduced to modern LA.

“Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers” (1956). Special effects pioneer Ray Harryhausen enlivened this effort. Earthlings hear from space, misinterpret the message, resist cooperating, and follow military leaders eager for combat. Hugh Marlowe is a scientist who discovers the alien weakness: sound.

“Five Million Years to Earth” (1967). The best of four British “Quatermass” films, this has workers uncovering an ancient Martian spaceship and remains from insect-like occupants.

“Invaders from Mars” (1953 or 1986). Both versions of this stunner are suspenseful. A boy sees a flying saucer land outside town, his parents get nabbed, and no one believes him. Leif Erickson and Arthur Franz star in the original; Karen Black and Timothy Bottoms are in the remake.

“Invasion of The Body Snatchers” (1956, 1978, 1993 and 2007). Don Siegel’s ’56 version (with Kevin McCarthy) and Phil Kaufman’s next version (with Donald Sutherland) are terrific, as alien “pods” replace people with soulless flesh bags. It’s disturbing in explicit and implicit ways. “Invasion” (2007), starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, is derivative but worth seeing, but not Abel Ferrara’s 1993 attempt. (All are based on a short story by Knox College grad Jack Finney.)

“It Came from Outer Space” (1953). Ray Bradbury wrote the story for this chillier about aliens who crash in Arizona and inhabit Earthlings’ bodies/minds (so they can fix their ship undetected.) A scientist (Richard Carlson) realizes they pose no threat. Charles Drake and Barbara Rush co-star.

“They Live” (1988). From director John Carpenter, this offbeat thriller has an amusing subtext satirizing the status quo. Wrestler Roddy Piper is a drifter who stumbles across the presence of aliens disguised as leaders of government, industry and the media. A funny allegory for current times, it co-stars Meg Foster.

“This Island Earth” (1955). This thoughtful fantasy has scientist Jeff Morrow abducted under false pretenses to another world that needs his expertise to fight off a third, aggressive species.

“The War of The Worlds” (1953). Tom Cruise’s 2005 version is OK, but this George Pal production modernizing H.G. Wells’ story (like Orson Welles’ 1938 radio version) is excellent. Gene Barry’s a scientist who witnesses the crash of an object, then stays ahead of the invaders and their machines.