Posted on 10/31/2020 5:44:10 PM PDT by Twotone
In the days immediately following September 11, as the story of Flight 93 fitfully emerged, I couldn't help thinking — being me and all — "Wow, what a great movie that will make some day."
When that movie did come out in 2006, I bought the DVD out of duty, but it's still wrapped in cellophane. That same year, I tried watching A&E's dramatization of the mutiny on that doomed aircraft, but began hyperventilating a few minutes in and had to bail. And now, almost 20 years after that awful day, images of 9/11 still anger and depress me, making each anniversary a challenge to get through.
But at least once a year, I re-watch a film made almost sixty years earlier, about an alien attack on a motley band of Americans trapped in a confined, relentlessly isolated space, bereft of outside assistance — except for the clueless instructions and protocols they receive from far-off authorities — who must improvise a counterattack with whatever tools they can scrounge, and all the moxie they can muster.
The Thing from Another World (1951) is set at the North Pole, where a circular aircraft, clearly not of this earth, has crashed. An Air Force crew led by Captain Hendry is dispatched to investigate, with a civilian reporter in tow, then meet up with a scientific expedition already stationed in the area.
(Excerpt) Read more at steynonline.com ...
The remake with Kurt Russell Is much better
LOL! We’re watching this on DVD right now...
I think I recall a story where James Arness supposedly tooled around in his car off set with the make up on, I think it was bright green.
Freegards
Yep. Scared me silly back in the day.
Greetings, my friend. We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future.
Criswell rocks.
Yes, but you can’t beat the tempo and the humor of the dialogue in the original.
Great piece on the movie from a few years ago...
The original, with Jim Arness (who faired much better in “Gunsmoke”).
Well it is referenced in the piece but this is Kathy Shaidle not Mark.
Can we please stop talking about Joe and Kamaltoe? /s
The story the movie was based on, Who Goes There?, is considered by many to be the best sci-fi story of all time.
For my money, the best sci fi movie ever made was Forbidden Planet.
Not “The Thing from Another World”.
It’s “The Thing”!
It’s improper to retroactively change the name of a 31 year old movie, John Carpenter! Think of a new title or live with the confusion. You could have used the original 1938 title, “Who Goes There” from the John W Campbell (writing under the pen name Don A. Stewart) which was an engrossing, very claustrophobic, quietly terrifying story.
But metaphorically change every copy of the August 1938 edition of Astounding Science Fiction, and the 1951 movie, every celluloid copy, every VHS cassette, every DVD and Blu-ray?
No. Don’t. Just Don’t.
The 1951 version better captured the essence of the original John Campbell story.
They are both good movies.
The remake follows the original novella Who Goes There by John Campbell in 1938. This flick took a similar setting and set of characters and fashioned a different story. Having seen both, I rarely miss Hawks’movie when it’s on. The Kurt Russell version I watch occasionally
James Arness of Gunsmoke fame was “The Thing.”
One of my all-time faves.
I prefer the 2011 version starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Ulrich Thomsen, it ends where the Kurt Russell version starts.
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