Them!

Release Date: June 19, 1954
Story: George worthing Yates
Screenplay: Ted Sherdeman, Russell Hughes
Producers: David Weisbart, Gordon Douglas
Director: Gordn Douglas
Starring: James Whitmore as Sergeant Ben Peterson
Edmund Gwynn as Dr. Harold Medford
Joan Weldon as Dr. Pat Medford
James Arness as FBI Agent Robert Graham
Fess Parker as Alan Crotty
Music: Bronislau Kaper
Cinematography: Sidney Hickox
Editing: Thomas Reilly
Time: BW 94 minutes
Distributed by: Warner Brothers









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Interesting Tidbits

Them! was a well-produced science fiction movie which was nominated for its special effects. It showcased several Hollywood luminaries who would become better known.

Fess Parker would star in Walt Disney's Davy Crockett. John Wayne recommended James Arness for the role of Sheriff Matt Dillion in Gunsmoke, a television series which would run for 20 years (1955 - 1975.) Wayne had turned down the part. Leonard Nimoy had an uncredited bit part. He of course was to gain fame as Mr. Spock in Star Trek.

James Arness appeared in an earlier sci-fi thriller The Thing From Another World (1951.) He played the creature from outer space.

Production of Them! started in the Fall of 1953. The entrance to the giant ants' last nest was located along the concrete spillways of the Los Angeles River between the First and Seventh Street Bridges, east of downtown.

Them! was 1954's 51st biggest earner.

The film received good reviews. The New York Times review read, in part, "... from the moment James Whitmore, playing a New Mexico State trooper, discovers a six-year old moppet wandering around the desert in a state of shock, to the time when the cause of that mental trauma is traced and destroyed, Them! is taut science-fiction."

The Plot

The film begins with New Mexico State Police Sergeant Ben Peterson (James Whitmore) and his patrol partner Ed Blackburn (Chris Drake) discovering a little girl wandering the desert near Alamogordo, New Mexico, mute and in a state of shock. They track her back to a trailer owned by an FBI agent named Ellinson, who was on vacation in the area with his wife and two children. The side of the trailer is found to have been ripped open from the outside, a sugar bowl is spilled inside, and the parents are missing and presumed dead. The girl briefly responds when strange sounds echo out of the desert wind, but the troopers miss this moment.

More mysterious deaths and disappearances occur in the area. A general store owner named Gramps Johnson is found dead in his store, his store literally torn apart. All the money is left in the register, but all of the store's sacks of sugar are missing. Gramps' empty rifle has been bent in half. Peterson leaves to check on the status of the little girl, leaving Blackburn to guard Gramps' store where soon after he is killed by an unknown assailant.

The police think there is a maniac killer on the loose. But, as Peterson's boss points out, Gramps' 30-30 "got off 4 shots" and "Ed Blackburn was a crack shot. He could hit anything he could see. So unless your killer is armored like a battleship, there's no maniac in this case." It's up to the coroner to deliver the verdict that "Gramps Johnson could have died in any 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."

The FBI sends in local agent Robert Graham (James Arness) to assist. A single strange track as big as a mountain lion's is found in the desert near the trailer and a plaster cast of it is made and sent to Washington, D.C. When the FBI is unable to identify the footprint, it attracts the attention of Doctors Harold (Edmund Gwenn) and Pat Medford (Joan Weldon), a father/daughter team of entomologists from the Department of Agriculture.

The FBI sends in local agent Robert Graham (James Arness) to assist. A single strange track as big as a mountain lion's is found in the desert near the trailer and a plaster cast of it is made and sent to Washington, D.C. When the FBI is unable to identify the footprint, it attracts the attention of Doctors Harold (Edmund Gwenn) and Pat Medford (Joan Weldon), a father/daughter team of entomologists from the Department of Agriculture.

The FBI sends in local agent Robert Graham (James Arness) to assist. A single strange track as big as a mountain lion's is found in the desert near the trailer and a plaster cast of it is made and sent to Washington, D.C. When the FBI is unable to identify the footprint, it attracts the attention of Doctors Harold (Edmund Gwenn) and Pat Medford (Joan Weldon), a father/daughter team of entomologists from the Department of Agriculture.

A U.S. Air Force unit is brought in, led by General O'Brien (Stevens), which locates the ants' nest and exterminates the inhabitants with poison gas. The younger Dr. Medford, who accompanies Peterson and Graham into the nest, finds evidence that two young queens have hatched and flown away to establish new colonies. Trying to avoid a general panic, the government covertly monitors and investigates any reports of unusual activities as sightings of "flying saucers". One of the queens ends up in the hold of an ocean-going freighter loaded with sugar, which is then overrun by the ants and subsequently sunk by a U.S. Navy cruiser. From the rantings of an alcoholic, and an investigation into the death of a father protecting his two young, now missing, sons from an apparent ant attack, the other queen is finally tracked to the Los Angeles storm drain system, forcing the U.S. Army to openly declare martial law and launch a major assault.

During the assault, Peterson finds the two missing boys, named Mike and Jerry, alive, trapped near the entrance to the nest. Peterson calls in for backup, but instead of waiting for it, he bravely goes in alone. He heroically rescues the two boys and kills several threatening ants with his flamethrower. Peterson then leads the two boys back to the pipe through which he came, intending that they all crawl back through it to safety. After hoisting up the first boy, Jerry, however, another ant appears from behind. Peterson saves the second boy, Mike, lifting him into the pipe. However, Peterson is left without time to save himself, and as he tries to climb up at the last minute, the ant grabs Peterson in its mandibles, and crushes his abdomen.

During the assault, Peterson finds the two missing boys, named Mike and Jerry, alive, trapped near the entrance to the nest. Peterson calls in for backup, but instead of waiting for it, he bravely goes in alone. He heroically rescues the two boys and kills several threatening ants with his flamethrower. Peterson then leads the two boys back to the pipe through which he came, intending that they all crawl back through it to safety. After hoisting up the first boy, Jerry, however, another ant appears from behind. Peterson saves the second boy, Mike, lifting him into the pipe. However, Peterson is left without time to save himself, and as he tries to climb up at the last minute, the ant grabs Peterson in its mandibles, and crushes his abdomen."
Source: Wikipedia.com.