Movie Review: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

Invasion of The Body Snatchers was based on the novel of the same name written by Jack Finney, and it first arrived in Cinemas in 1956 Starring Kevin McCarthy, and directed by the great Don Siegel. Now for how great that first incarnation of the movie was, it was remade several times throughout the years, once in 1978, again in 1994, and even last summer with Invasion starring Nicole Kidman.

Now that the history lesson is out of the way I'm going to review my favorite of all the adaptations, and that one is the 1978 version directed by Philip Kaufman. As the credits roll we see an otherworldly life form moving throughout the universe, and then we see that it's headed for earth. The movie then picks up in the city of San Francisco, and we see a bunch of children playing in a park picking flowers that are growing on the shrubs. We're then introduced to our main characters, Elizabeth (Brooke Adams), and Matthew (Donald Sutherland) who work at the department of health for the city.

When we're first introduced to Matthew, and Elizabeth we can't help but feel that there's a deep attraction between the two of them even though Elizabeth has a boyfriend. It's an underlying theme that never goes anywhere, but platonic, but it's there at all times. As the movie movies along Elizabeth starts to get this feeling that her boyfriend isn't the same man anymore, and she's convinced that it's not really him anymore. Matthew becomes reasonable concerned for her well being, and suggests that she talks to a doctor friend of his played by Leonard Nimoy.

The movie picks up steam when the pieces begin to come together that people are being duplicated by these pods that take them over in their sleep, and when their done the body disappears into a pile of dust, and what comes out of the pod is an exact replicant, but the replicant doesn't have any emotions. Our hero's, along with another couple try to run, but they soon discover that the aliens have taken over most of the city, and they soon find out that they can't trust anyone.