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{{short description|1954 science fiction giant monster film by Gordon Douglas}}
{{other uses|Them (disambiguation)}}
{{Use American English|date = October 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date = October 2019}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Them!
| image = Them02.jpg
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| director = [[Gordon Douglas (director)|Gordon Douglas]]
| producer = [[David Weisbart]]
| screenplay = [[Ted Sherdeman]]<br>[[Russell S. Hughes|Russell Hughes]] (adaptation)
| story = [[George Worthing Yates]]
| starring = [[James Whitmore]]<br>[[Edmund Gwenn]]<br>[[Joan Weldon]]<br>[[James Arness]]
| music = [[Bronislau Kaper]]
| cinematography = [[Sidney Hickox]]
| editing = Thomas Reilly
| studio = [[Warner Bros.]]
| distributor = Warner Bros.
| released = {{Film date|1954|06|16|New York|ref1=<ref>{{cite web |url=http://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/51373#3 |title=Them! - Details |website=AFI Catalog of Feature Films |access-date=June 23, 2018}}</ref> |1954|06|18|United States}}
| runtime = 94 minutes
| country = United States
| language = English
| budget =
| gross = $2.2 million <small>(rentals)</small><ref name=Variety>"[https://archive.org/details/sim_variety_1955-01-05_197_5/page/59/mode/1up?view=theater 1954 Boxoffice Champs]". ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'', January 5, 1955, p. 59.</ref>
}}
'''''Them!''''' is a 1954 [[black-and-white]] [[science fiction film|science fiction]] [[giant monster film]] starring [[James Whitmore]], [[Edmund Gwenn]], [[Joan Weldon]], and [[James Arness]].<ref name="Them!">{{cite web|url= https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/16456/them#credits|access-date=October 27, 2022|publisher=[[Turner Classic Movies]]|title=Them!}}</ref> Produced by [[David Weisbart]], the film was directed by [[Gordon Douglas (director)|Gordon Douglas]], based on an original story by [[George Worthing Yates]] that was developed into a [[screenplay]] by [[Ted Sherdeman]], with adaptation by [[Russell S. Hughes|Russell Hughes]].
''Them!'' is one of the first of the 1950s "nuclear monster" movies, and the first with [[arthropods in film|big bugs]]
as the threat. A nest of [[Enlargement (in fiction)#Excessive growth|gigantic irradiated]] [[ant]]s is discovered in the [[New Mexico]] desert; they quickly become a national threat when it is discovered that two young queens and their consorts have escaped to establish new nests. The national search that follows culminates in a battle with the last surviving colony in the concrete [[spillways]] and storm drain system of [[Los Angeles]].
{{TOC limit|limit=2}}
==Plot==
In 1954, [[New Mexico State Police]] Sgt. Ben Peterson and his partner, Ed Blackburn, discover a little girl wandering the desert in a catatonic state near [[Alamogordo]]. Shortly after they discover a ravaged travel trailer with its owners missing. They summon an ambulance for the girl then search for clues indicating what may have happened.
Later that night at a rural general store the officers find it destroyed in the same way the trailer was and its mutilated owner dead, killed fending off some sort of vicious attack. In each case no money had been taken. Peterson leaves Blackburn behind to secure the crime scene. Upon hearing a strange, pulsating sound outside, Blackburn goes to investigate and disappears.
FBI Agent Robert Graham arrives to investigate. Shortly after [[Myrmecology|myrmecologist]] Phd’s Harold Medford and his daughter Pat are sent by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to lend assistance. On an educated hunch, Medford exposes the little girl to formic acid fumes, characteristic of ants. The odor releases her from her catatonia, leaving her shrieking in panic, "Them! Them!"
Peterson accompanies Graham and the Medfords to where the girl was first discovered. There Pat is accosted by a giant foraging ant. Following Medford's orders, Peterson and Graham shoot off the ant's antennae, to blind it, then kill it with a [[Thompson submachine gun]]. Medford theorizes that the giant ants mutated by radiation from [[Trinity (nuclear test)|the first atomic bomb test]] near Alamogordo, and have turned carnivorous from lack of a suitable food supply in the desert.
A helicopter search ensues, and a cave-sized ant nest is found. [[Cyanide]] gas bombs are tossed inside before Graham, Peterson, and Pat check for survivors. Inside, the trio are attacked by surviving guard ants, which they dispatch with [[flamethrower]] and [[Thompson submachine gun|Thompson]] before Pat finds evidence that two queens have hatched and escaped to establish new colonies.  With the possibility that each could grow to thousands of ants apiece and spawn thousands more nests, Dr. Medford announces that mankind may become extinct within a year if the new winged queens aren’t found and eradicated.
A worldwide search is begun. One queen and its offspring are discovered aboard a freighter in mid-ocean out of Acapulco, which savagely attacked its crew. A handful of crewmen are rescued from the water and the freighter is sunk by U.S. naval gunfire.
Graham and Pat then travel to Brownsville, Texas, to interrogate a civilian pilot, committed to a mental hospital after claiming he was forced down by [[Unidentified flying object|UFOs]] shaped like giant ants. A later report sends the investigators west to a Los Angeles hospital, where a chronic alcoholic claims he has seen giant ants in the city’s storm drain system. The mutilated body of a man is shortly found nearby, but his two young sons remain missing.
Martial law is declared and a curfew imposed. With help from Graham, the Medfords, and the armed forces, Peterson searches inside the cavernous drain network for the two boys. He finds them trapped by the ants near their nest. He calls for reinforcements and lifts the boys to safety, just before being attacked and killed by a giant ant. Graham arrives with backup, and they find the remaining queen and her hatchlings. The Medfords confirm that no new queens have gotten away and sanction their destruction. The senior Dr. Medford muses on the possible consequences of the decade of atomic tests already carried out since the firing of the [[Trinity (nuclear test)|Trinity]] atomic bomb.
==Cast==
*[[James Whitmore]] as Sgt. Ben Peterson
*[[Edmund Gwenn]] as Dr. Harold Medford
*[[Joan Weldon]] as Dr. Pat Medford
*[[James Arness]] as FBI Agent Robert Graham
*[[Onslow Stevens]] as General O'Brien
*[[Sean McClory]] as Major Kibbee
*[[Chris Drake]] as Trooper Ed Blackburn
*[[Sandy Descher]] as Ellinson girl
*Mary Alan Hokanson as Mrs. Lodge (credited Mary Ann Hokanson)
*Don Shelton as Captain Fred Edwards
*[[Fess Parker]] as Alan Crotty
*[[Olin Howland]] as Jensen, the "alcoholic patient" (credited Olin Howlin)
===Cast notes===
*[[Leonard Nimoy]] has a small, uncredited part as a U.S. Army staff sergeant in the communications room.{{sfn|Warren|1982|pp=188–195}}
*Other actors who appear in small parts include [[John Beradino]], [[Willis Bouchey]], [[Booth Colman]], [[Richard Deacon (actor)|Richard Deacon]], [[Lawrence Dobkin]], [[Ann Doran]], [[William Schallert]], Douglas Spencer, [[Dub Taylor]], [[Dorothy Green (actress born 1920)|Dorothy Green]], [[Harry Wilson (actor)|Harry Wilson]], [[Jan Merlin]], and [[Walter Coy]].
*When casting his planned [[Davy Crockett (TV miniseries)|Davy Crockett]] episode of the ''[[Walt Disney anthology television series|Disneyland]]'' television series, [[Walt Disney]] viewed the film to see James Arness, who had been recommended for the role. Disney, however, was more impressed by a scene with Fess Parker as an inmate in the mental ward of the Texas hospital. Watching Parker's performance, Disney realized he had found his Davy Crockett.{{sfn|Smith|2012|p=167}} [[John Wayne]] saw the film and, impressed with Arness' performance, recommended him for the role of [[Matt Dillon (Gunsmoke)|Marshal Matt Dillon]] in the new ''[[Gunsmoke]]'' TV series, a role that Arness went on to play from 1955 to 1975.{{sfn|Warren|1982|pp=188–195}}
==Production==
[[File:Themtitle.jpg|thumb|right|Opening title card with the background in [[black and white]] and ''Them!'' in red and blue]]
When ''Them!'' began production in the fall of 1953, it was originally conceived to be in [[3D film|3D]] and Warner Color. During pre-production, test shots in color and 3D were made. A few color tests of the large-scale ant models were also made, but when it was time to shoot the 3D test, Warner Bros.' "All Media" 3D camera rig malfunctioned and no footage could be filmed. The next day a memo was sent out that the color and 3D aspects of the production were to be scrapped; widescreen black-and-white would now be the film's presentation format. Warner Bros. hoped to emulate the "effective shock treatment" effect of its previous science fiction thriller ''[[The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms]]''; ultimately, however, the film was never made in widescreen. Because of the preparation of certain scenes, many of the camera set-ups for 3D remain in the film, like the opening titles and the flamethrowers shots aimed directly at the camera.{{sfn|Herzberg|2007|p=176}}
Although Warner Bros. was dissatisfied with the color results, the film's titles were printed in vivid red and blue against a black-and-white background to give the film's opening a dramatic "punch". This effect was achieved by an [[Eastman Color]] section spliced into each release print.{{sfn|Warren|1982|pp=188–195}} The 1985 [[VHS]] tape release, the subsequent [[LaserDisc]] and later [[DVD]] release have retained this black-and-white-with-two-color title effect.{{citation needed|date=October 2017}}
The entrance to the ants' final nest was filmed along the concrete spillways of the [[Los Angeles River]], between the First and Seventh Street Bridges, east of downtown. The depiction of the [[Chihuahuan Desert]] of southern New Mexico is actually the [[Mojave Desert]] near [[Palmdale, California]]. Mercy Hospital was a real institution and is now Brownsville Medical Center.{{sfn|Warren|1982|pp=188–195}}
James Whitmore wore "lifts" in his shoes to compensate for the height difference between himself and James Arness. Whitmore also employed bits of "business" (hand gestures and motions) during scenes in which he appeared to draw more attention to his character when not speaking.{{sfn|Warren|1982|pp=188–195}}
The [[Wilhelm scream]], created three years earlier for the film ''[[Distant Drums]]'', is used during the action sequences: when a sailor aboard the freighter is grabbed by an ant, when James Whitmore's character is caught in an ant's [[mandible (insect mouthpart)|mandibles]], and when an overhead wooden beam falls on a soldier in the Los Angeles storm drain sequence.{{sfn|Warren|1982|pp=188–195}}
The giant ants, painted a purplish-green color, were constructed and operated by unseen technicians supervised by Ralph Ayers. During the climactic battle sequence in the Los Angeles sewers, there is a brief shot of one ant moving in the foreground with its side removed, revealing its mechanical interior.{{sfn|Warren|1982|pp=188–195}} This filming error was obscured on the DVD and Blu-ray releases of the film.{{citation needed|date=May 2019}}
The film poster shows a gigantic ant with menacing cat-like eyes rather than the normal [[compound eye]]s of an ant.
The [[stridulation]]s (the sounds the giant ants emit on the soundtrack) were the calls of [[bird-voiced tree frog]]s mixed together with the calls of a [[wood thrush]], [[hooded warbler]], and [[red-bellied woodpecker]]. These were recorded at Indian Island, Georgia, on April 11, 1947, by the [[Cornell Lab of Ornithology]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://sounds.bl.uk/environment/early-wildlife-recordings/022m-1cs0089948xx-0700v0 |title=Hyla avivoca: Bird-voiced Treefrog - Hylidae - Early wildlife recordings - Environment and nature &#124; British Library |publisher=Sounds |date=1947-04-11 |access-date=2018-05-06}}</ref>
==Reception==
===Box office===
[[File:Tri-City Drive-In Ad - 22 June 1954, Loma Linda, CA.jpg|thumb|[[Drive-in theater|Drive-in]] advertisement from 1954.]]
''Them!'' was released in June 1954,{{sfn|Warren|1982|pp=188–195}} and by the end of that year had accrued $2.2 million (US) in [[film distributor|distributors']] domestic (U.S. and Canada) rentals, making it the year's 51st biggest earner.<ref name=Variety /><ref name="Gebert">Gebert, Michael. ''The Encyclopedia of Movie Awards'' (listing of "Box Office (Domestic Rentals)" for 1954, taken from ''Variety'' magazine). New York: St. Martin's Paperbacks, 1996. {{ISBN|0-668-05308-9}}.</ref>{{#tag:ref|"Rentals" refers to the distributor/studio's share of the [[box office]] gross, which, according to Gebert, is roughly half of the money generated by ticket sales.<ref name="Gebert"/>|group=Note}}
===Reviews===
[[A. H. Weiler]]'s review in ''[[The New York Times]]'' noted "... 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".<ref name=NYTrvw>Weiler, A. H. (A.W.). [https://www.nytimes.com/1954/06/17/archives/warner-brothers-chiller-at-paramount.html "Them (1954); Warner Brothers chiller at Paramount."] ''The New York Times'', June 17, 1954. p. 36.</ref>
The reviewer in ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' stated it was a "top-notch science fiction shocker. It has a well-plotted story, expertly directed and acted in a matter-of-fact style to rate a chiller payoff and thoroughly satisfy the fans of hackle-raising melodrama".<ref name="Brog">"Brog". Review from ''Variety'' dated April 14, 1954, taken from ''Variety's Complete Science Fiction Reviews'', edited by Don Willis, Garland Publishing, Inc., 1985, {{ISBN|0-8240-6263-9}}.</ref><ref>[https://variety.com/1953/film/reviews/them-1200417583/ "Them! (1954)."] ''Variety'', December 31, 1953.</ref>
[[John McCarten]] of ''[[The New Yorker]]'' wrote, "If you're willing to let your imagination off its leash, you may have a fairly good time at 'Them!'"<ref>{{cite magazine |last=McCarten |first=John |date=June 26, 1954 |title=The Current Screen |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |page=61 }}</ref>
The contemporary ''[[Monthly Film Bulletin]]'' stated that despite the science fiction film genre being new it had developed several sub-divisions including "the other-worldly, the primeval-monstrous, the neo-monstrous, the planetary-visitant, etc." and that "''Them!'' is a "well-built example of the neo-monstrous", "less absurdly sensational than most"<ref name="mfb">{{cite magazine|title=Them! U.S.A., 1954|volume=21|issue=240|page=131|year=1954|publisher=[[British Film Institute]]|magazine=[[Monthly Film Bulletin]]}}</ref> Discussing the ant monsters in the film, the review referred to them as "reasonably horrible--they do not entirely avoid the impression of mock-up that is almost inevitable when over-lifesize creatures have to be constructed and moved" while noting that they were "considerably more conceivable than those prehistoric remnants that have recently been emerging from bog and iceberg".<ref name="mfb" /> The review commented on the cast as "like most science-fiction, [the film] is on the whole serviceably rather than excitingly cast" and the crew was noted, stating the direction was "smoothly machined" and the film has "decent writing" though "more short cuts might have been [taken]", finding that the start of the film was too slow.<ref name="mfb" />
Since its original release, ''Them!'' has become generally regarded as one of the best science fiction films of the 1950s. [[Bill Warren (film historian and critic)|Bill Warren]] described it as " ... tight, fast-paced and credible ... [T]he picture is suspenseful".{{sfn|Warren|1982|pp=188–195}} [[Phil Hardy (journalist)|Phil Hardy]]'s ''[[The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Science Fiction]]'' noted, "Directed by [Gordon] Douglas in semi-documentary fashion, ''Them!'' is one of the best American science fiction films of the fifties".<ref name="Hardy">Hardy, Phil, ed. ''The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Science Fiction''. London: Aurum Press, 1984. Reprinted as ''The Overlook Film Encyclopedia: Science Fiction''. London: Overlook Press, 1995. {{ISBN|0-87951-626-7}}.</ref> [[Danny Peary]] believed the film "Ranks with ''[[The Thing from Another World|The Thing]]'' and ''[[Invasion of the Body Snatchers]]'' as the best of the countless '50s science fiction films".<ref name="Peary">Peary, Danny. ''Guide for the Film Fanatic''. London: Fireside, 1986. {{ISBN|0-671-61081-3}}.</ref> In the ''[[Time Out (magazine)|Time Out Film Guide]]'', [[David Pirie]] wrote, "By far the best of the 50s cycle of 'creature features'&nbsp;...&nbsp;retains a good part of its power today".<ref name="Pirie">Pirie, David, ed. "Them!" ''The Time Out Film Guide'', 2nd Edition. London: Penguin Books, 1991. {{ISBN|0-14-014592-3}}.</ref> The [[review aggregator]] website [[Rotten Tomatoes]] reported a 93% approval rating as of September 2021, with an average rating of 7.6/10, based on 57 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "One of the best creature features of the early atomic age, ''Them!'' features effectively menacing special effects and avoids the self-parody that would taint later monster movies".<ref name=RottenTom>[https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1021186-them "Them! (1954)."] ''Rotten Tomatoes''. Retrieved: September 28, 2021.</ref>
''Them!'' was nominated for an [[Academy Award|Oscar]] for its special effects<ref name=oscars>[https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1955 "The 27th Academy Awards, 1955"]. Oscars.org. Retrieved January 9, 2015.</ref> (but the award went to ''[[20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954 film)|20,000 Leagues Under the Sea]]'') and won a [[Golden Reel Award (Motion Picture Sound Editors)|Golden Reel Award]] for best sound editing.
==In popular culture==
*''Them!'' heavily inspired the 1956 Japanese ''[[kaiju]]'' film ''[[Rodan (film)|Rodan]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010-05-20 |title=ギャラリー1： 怪獣映画、過去から現代まで：写真ギャラリー |url=https://wired.jp/2010/05/20/怪獣映画、過去から現代まで：写真ギャラリー-gallery-1/ |access-date=2023-07-10 |website=WIRED.jp |language=ja-JP}}</ref>
*[[Van Morrison]]'s band [[Them (band)|Them]] was named after this film<ref>{{cite book |last=Mills |first=Peter |title=Hymns to the Silence: Inside the Words and Music of Van Morrison |location=London |publisher=[[A&C Black]] |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-8264-2976-6 |page=205 |title-link=Hymns to the Silence: Inside the Words and Music of Van Morrison}}</ref> though the band member that came up with the name was not Van Morrison but [[Eric Wrixon]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.hotpress.com/Eric-Wrixon/news/RIP-Eric-Wrixon/14591410.html | title=RIP Eric Wrixon }}</ref>
*The video game series ''[[It Came from the Desert]]'' was inspired by ''Them!''<ref name=CGW>{{cite magazine |last=Greenberg |first=Allen |url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/issues/cgw_70.pdf |title=It Came from Out of the Disk Drive. |magazine=[[Computer Gaming World]] |issue=70 |date=April 1990 |access-date=16 February 2019}}</ref>
*''[[Fallout 3]]'', which takes place in a post-apocalyptic irradiated wasteland, has a side-quest involving giant mutated fire ants titled "Those!" in homage to the film.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Silence of Fallout: Nuclear Criticism in a Post-Cold War World |date=September 26, 2014 |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |isbn=9781443868037 |page=135}}</ref>
*The scene where Pat is attacked by the foraging ant appears as a replay in the 2018 [[List of Marvel Cinematic Universe films|Marvel film]] ''[[Ant-Man and the Wasp]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://denofgeek.com/us/movies/ant-man-and-the-wasp/274710/ant-man-and-the-wasp-easter-eggs-reference-guide |work=[[Den of Geek!]] |title=Ant-Man and the Wasp: Complete Marvel Universe Easter Eggs and Reference Guide |access-date=July 12, 2018 |first=Gavin |last=Jasper |date=4 August 2018}}</ref>
==See also==
* [[It Came From the Desert (film)|''It Came From the Desert'' (film)]] - a film of the Amiga game
==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=Note}}
==References==
{{reflist}}
===Bibliography===
{{Refbegin}}
*{{cite book|last=Herzberg|first=Bob|title=The FBI and the Movies|location=Jefferson, North Carolina|publisher=McFarland & Company|year=2007|isbn=978-0-78642-755-0}}
*{{cite book|last1=Parish|first1=James Robert|last2=Pitts|first2=Michael R.|title=The Great Science Fiction Pictures|location=Jefferson, North Carolina|publisher=McFarland & Company|year=1977|isbn=978-0-81081-029-7}}
*{{cite book|last=Smith|first=Dave|title=Disney Trivia from the Vault: Secrets Revealed and Questions Answered|location=New York|publisher=Disney Press|year=2012|isbn=978-1-4231-7857-6}}
*{{cite book|last=Strick|first=Philip|title=Science Fiction Movies|location=London|publisher=Octopus Books Limited|year=1976|isbn=0-7064-0470-X}}
*{{cite book|last=Warren|first=Bill|author-link=Bill Warren (film historian and critic)|title=Keep Watching the Skies! American Science Fiction Movies of the Fifties, Vol. 1: 1950-1957|location=Jefferson, North Carolina|publisher=McFarland & Company|year=1982|isbn=0-89950-032-3}}
{{Refend}}
==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{commons category|Them! (1954 film)}}
*{{IMDb title|0047573}}
*{{TCMDb title|16456}}
*{{AllMovie title|49362}}
*{{AFI film|51373}}
*[https://www.mmmrecordings.com/Monstrous/monstrous.html Rerecording of ''Them!'' soundtrack]
{{Gordon Douglas|state=collapsed}}
[[Category:1954 films]]
[[Category:1954 horror films]]
[[Category:1950s monster movies]]
[[Category:1950s science fiction horror films]]
[[Category:American black-and-white films]]
[[Category:American science fiction horror films]]
[[Category:American monster movies]]
[[Category:American natural horror films]]
[[Category:1950s English-language films]]
[[Category:Fictional ants]]
[[Category:Fictional entomologists]]
[[Category:Films about ants]]
[[Category:Films about technological impact]]
[[Category:Films directed by Gordon Douglas]]
[[Category:Films scored by Bronisław Kaper]]
[[Category:Films set in deserts]]
[[Category:Films set in Los Angeles]]
[[Category:Films set in New Mexico]]
[[Category:Films shot in New Mexico]]
[[Category:Warner Bros. films]]
[[Category:Films about size change]]
[[Category:Giant monster films]]
[[Category:1950s American films]]
[[Category:English-language science fiction horror films]]