I, pod: "Invasion of the Body Snatchers"

You may recall a throwaway line about "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" in an earlier post. Then, lo and behold, it aired on TCM. Call me Carnac, but regardless I had wanted to see what this movie was all about after hearing it was some kind of allegory for the Red Menace. (And I don't mean Carrot Top.)

Even if you haven't seen it, you know the premise of "Body Snatchers": unsuspecting folks find alien pods that hatch and produce perfect copies of the townspeople, with bland personalities to boot. It's pretty simple sci-fi, but it apparently resonated for a couple of reasons:
1. It's stupefyingly simple, with no real explanation for why this is happening. Call this beauty in simplicity.
2. For those who can't handle simple, it was interpreted as a cautionary tale about either Communism or the Joe McCarthy witch hunt for Communists in America. Funny how it could work both ways, but that's what happens when people have too much time on their hands.

I had seen bits and pieces of this, as well as the 1978 and 1993 remakes; there's another version in the works, as well. What ... remake an old movie yet again? No way! But I never caught the full story until a few days ago, and I gotta say ... it's pretty good considering the simple plot and nearly 50-year gap between its 1956 release and now.

What's so good, you ask? Let's start with Kevin McCarthy, who has always been a "kooky old guy" to me. I mentioned "Piranha" a while back, and you may recall him from supporting roles in "Twilight Zone: The Movie" and "Innerspace." (I also see he was in "Ghoulies III: Ghoulies Go to College," which just makes me cry.) Here, however, he's a slick thirtysomething doctor who moves from flirtatious to horrifed with ease. Everyone remembers his crazed yelling at the end -- "You're next! You're NEXT!!!" -- but before then he really carries this movie well.

As for the overall story, it's fun to follow along and see townsfolk drop off one by one, replaced by mindless pod people. I can't recall ever being bored -- or really scared, even -- and while it's somewhat preposterous to consider someone planting a pod in your trunk of closet, everyone on screen was game, and I did wonder where the assimilation would end. Ultimately, I see why this became an iconic movie, and hey ... it can't hurt to take one last peek under the bed before turning in for the night, right?