MovieChat Forums > Them! (1954) Discussion > THEM! (James Cameron already re-made it)

THEM! (James Cameron already re-made it)

posted 19 years ago by [email protected]
56 replies | jump to latest

james Cameoron did a fine job lifting virtually every plot element from the movie THEM!. Don't believe me?

1. The little girl

2. The little girl's doll's head

3. The search for the queen laying the eggs.

4. Entering the nest (the hive)not to mention the eggs.

5. The military going in to the nest and machine gunning them "insects".

6. The flame thrower and destroying the eggs

7. The female scientist who leads James Arness and and James Whitmore into the nest and declares when seeing the eggs: BURN THEM! BURN EVERYTHING!

8. The military going under the streets of LA in earch of the ants which looks like planet Acheron's "heat exchange coolers" in Aliens.

9. Even the WEATHER which in THEM! is a sandstorm and is EXACTLY the same weather conditions on James Cameron's ALIENS. It's sets a great mood.

My point is that ALIENS for me (and I own both films) is a space-age version of THEM! and nothing more.

[–] jeffzarrella 19 years ago

I would love to see a remake of THEM, But you bring up a very good case,kinda like movie-robbery huh? take care jeff.z

[–] ThePunisher_ASM129 19 years ago

A remake of Them! would be the last thing I want to see. There's too many sequels, remakes and adaptations these days. Just leave Them! alone.

But as the the simularities between Them! and Aliens. Well spotted.

[–] RushTag 19 years ago

I could not agree more. I really just cannot believe the amount of remakes and sequels of old television shows and movies. Why did anybody go see "The Dukes of Hazzard" movie remake? This is a situation where your memory is better than the actual event. Have you seen a Dukes of Hazzard television episode lately? Could you stand to watch more than three minutes of it? This is a case of, there was just nothing else on Friday nights, in a pre-cable television world. My wish is that Hollywood would impose a moratorium on remakes for one year. Here's a thought; Come Up with Your Own Idea for a Movie!

[–] pcventures 16 years ago

no need for a creative "bull session" There are hundreds, if not thousands, of excellent unproduced scripts laying around.

[–] albertfoster 17 years ago

life is a sequel, remake and adaptation of the people who influence you.
All ideas are based on others previus ideas.
So what is wrong with improving on what has already been done before?
Take for example the movie "Last man on earth" based on the book I am legend.
It sponned "Omega man" and the recent "I Am Legend".
It was the forerunner to all Zombie movies I believe Like "Night of the living dead", "Dawn of the dead" & the more reccent "28 Days Later" and "28 Weeks Later".
We get all ideas from what we have learned from others.
To come up with something original would be original.

[–] qouth_the_raven 17 years ago

28 days later (I haven't seen 28 weeks later, but can't wait for 28 years later) was a lift from Day of the Triffids, almost scene for scene and character for character.

[–] shadowprey 16 years ago

I kind of found 28 Days Later to be more a rip off of Day Of The Dead - The Whole army thing , keeping a zombie chained up & having it escape to kill the solders.. As for a Remake of Them! i'd have no problems with it as long as they do it properly

[–] weejockxxx 10 years ago

I did not know that. I might watch it then. I love Day Of The Triffids but haven't seen a decent film version yet.

Oh gravity, thou art a heartless bitch!

[–] freesharon 18 years ago

I hadn't noticed this, but you're so right. And here's the way remakes SHOULD be done -- some change so significant that it isn't really a remake. Like High Society as the musical version of The Philadelphia Story. Them! and Aliens are both good scary movies I'm glad to have in my collection, and neither one of them seems like the weaker version of the other.

[–] whiterose1947 18 years ago

You are absolutely right. It would never occured to me.

[–] GoodbyePorkPieHat 18 years ago

Great comparison OP!

Hey! This food is getting cold! And I want some more gravy!

[–] finnbarius 18 years ago

Interesting. I hadn't considered that.

[–] JH_Kalashnikov 18 years ago

Eerie and an intriging find. Well done.

[–] pickerman123 18 years ago

I agree that both Aliens and Them! are neither weak but I'm still fascinated by the similarities. I've also found similarities in *other* films (which I won't get in to.

I just wish they'd make ALIEN 5 already instead of a sequel to Aliens VS. Predator!

How about ALIEN 5: Electric Boogaloo?

:-)
Rich

[–] Reef-Shark 18 years ago

They are very simalar

When in doubt kill it.

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] gargnob 18 years ago

Quote: if we sued people for plagerism every time they refashioned an old idea, Shakespeare would be the richest corpse in the planet.

I doubt it. I'm sure that Shakespeare used/stole stuff from other plays as well. (in my view, Hamlet shares quite a few similarities with Oedipus)

Nice list, well done OP.

[–] matthewpaulwood 17 years ago

There's a large amount of academics with theories that Shakespeare stole most of his later (and often more successful plays) from his mate Thomas Marlow after he died rather abruptly.

[–] starrbeat 17 years ago

So this Marlowe guy wrote Them

Starrbeat presents what's happening.

[–] willaworksnow 17 years ago

Well, you know, Alien was basically a lift of IT! The Terror from Outer Space.

[–] kooljerk666 12 years ago

Don't forget "Planet of The Vampires". The scenes on the planet & crashed ship & more were the beginnings of Alien, then switched into "IT The CREATURE......" mode.

Planet of The Vampires was a pretty good one if you have not seen it & like classic sci fi, it is a good fit.

[–] nickm2 12 years ago

A VERY long time ago, 'Starlog' Magazine once had an editorial about 'Alien' called: "IT-the Terror from Beyond the Planet of the Vampires".

[–] Can_a_bitch_get_a_donut 17 years ago

I just saw Them! for the first time, and couldn't help but notice the many differences between it and Aliens, although I dare say you noticed many more than I did. Mostly it was the flamethrowers burning the eggs that reminded me. From there, I can see how you'd begin spotting more and more.

If you are Jesus Christ and are 100% proud of it, copy this and make it your signature!

[–] spica123 17 years ago

Nice going! That's a great comparison!

[–] KeyboardCritic 17 years ago

Brilliant post!!! I love Cameron to death,but it looks like he's guilty of robbery on this one.Still,because the setting is different,the story feels new...which makes you think about what really is plagurism or just a new twist on an old story.
I still think that they could do a great remake of this,only if JOHN CARPENTER directs.He really knows how to update a 50's classic.

[–] nitratestock35 17 years ago

Great post and great comparisons.
Yes, Camneron lifted many elements from THEM, but 'Aliens' has many more elements to it. First of all: the overall tone is Viet Nam in space. Then there is Ripley, survivor of the first Alien movie, which holds everything together and has her own story thread. There is also the wonderful andriod theme.
The THEM-style bug hunting and surviving girl are definitely a lot of meterial lifted directly from one single movie, but Cameron really made it into something much more complex and definitely into a way better movie, especially the longer version (more on Ripley's background, more on the "terraformer space colony" etc.) as seen on tv airings and on DVD editions. Cameron is anything but lazy or sloppy.

[–] midwestmike9 17 years ago

I just want to say to the OP...

-GREAT
-BRILLIANT
-WELL DONE

...since nobody else has had the sack to do so yet.

"I'm just a big, hairy American winning machine."

[–] nitratestock35 17 years ago

Please fill me in: are you referring to THEM or Cameron's 'Aliens'?

[–] ecarle 17 years ago

I used to feel that "Jaws" borrowed a bit as well:

Three characters combine to fight the menace (Gwenn, Whitmore, Arness/Dreyfuss,Shaw,Scheider.) Oh, a woman is more prominently on the team in "Them"(Gwenn's daughter),but we've got Scheider's wife as a counter in "Jaws".

And then a main character ends up killed in the jaws of the monster (Whitmore, Shaw.)

---

As for a remake, Warners announced a remake of this a few years ago, but nothing has happened. I think they wanted to remake it in 3-D...the original was first contemplated as a 3-D movie, too.

[–] telegonus 17 years ago

As was the case with King Kong, and for similar reasons, there are problems in remaking Them!. Just as KK was a product of the Depression, references it, one might even say comments on it, some would argue is about it; Them! is set in the decade after World War II, the dawn of the nuclear age; the atomic testing in New Mexico plays a huge part in it, as does, subtextually, the Cold War, and it has, overall, a very 50's feel to it, just as KK has an early 30's one. How to remake it? In "period" (that was already done!) or brought up to date (absurd, pointless)? They should leave it alone. It's perfect just as it is, can't be improved on aside from the f/x.

[–] ecarle 17 years ago

I hear your sentiments, telegonus, but when in recent years has any logical reason NOT to remake a movie stopped current studio automations from trying to do so?

I'll say this:

Warner Brothers in the last five years or so announced remakes of three movies that are near and dear to a lot of fans:

Them
The Wild Bunch
Strangers on a Train

A remake of The Wild Bunch in particular drew justifable fury. What Peckinpah accomplished with that movie was such a once-in-a-lifetime fusion of art and action and of-its-time nihilism that you could NEVER bring the feeling of that movie back (in fact, we're told that a modern "Wild Bunch" would be a modern-day tale of drug gangs. Yeah right.)

But the thing of it is: to this date, NONE of those three have moved forward to any serious production.

I swear, I think sometimes that Warners just put those announcements out to pull the chain of film buffs...

[–] telegonus 17 years ago

Maybe so, thus soon we'll be seeing remakes of Now, Voyager, Treasure Of the Sierra Madre and Rebel Without a Cause.

In the old days they used to say that Warners (in the Jack L. days, that is) would remake a film every three to five (or maybe five to seven years). I have noticed that, though usually the remakes were "unofficial", using the same or similar characters and situations.

They did this on television, too. There were episodes of 77 Sunset Strip that were "potted" versions of such major Warners (and Hitchcock) films as Strangers On a Train and Dial M For Murder.

[–] ecarle 17 years ago

Rebel Without a Cause '09. I can just SEE that one coming.

btw, its not JUST Warners making with the bad remake announcements.

Paramount announced a new "To Catch A Thief" ...to be set in modern-day Miami. This was announced about 6 years ago. No word since. Good.

Universal has been trying to get a new version of the old Shirley MacLaine/Michael Caine caper movie "Gambit" going for years. Funny thing: they always had a name attached for the MacLaine part: Jennifer Aniston. A real contract? Or wishful thinking? And does the male lead have to be a Brit like Caine? Hugh Grant, maybe?

---

I knew that about the Warners "TV remakes," but I didn't realize that Warners did so many unofficial movie remakes, too.

Of course, that is still done today. Dozens of "Die Hard" clones followed in that movie's wake, none officially remakes.

---

I always feel helpless in the face of remakes. They are literally unstoppable. They cost little to develop as scripts, and some make money ("The Longest Yard" comes to mind.)

The remake that I'm hating right now is "Taking of Pelham 123" with Denzel Washington and John Travolta stepping into the offbeat hero and villain roles played by Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw in the 70's version, set in a perfectly 70's New York City of grit and grime and foul-mouthed irritability. That movie also featured a verbal showdown between two of my favorite actors: Matthau and Martin Balsam.

I'm sure the makers of the modern "Pelham" care not one bit for the integrity of the original casting and its imimitable sense of 1974 NYC.

[–] KMR 16 years ago

"As was the case with King Kong, and for similar reasons, there are problems in remaking Them!. Just as KK was a product of the Depression, references it, one might even say comments on it, some would argue is about it; Them! is set in the decade after World War II, the dawn of the nuclear age; the atomic testing in New Mexico plays a huge part in it, as does, subtextually, the Cold War, and it has, overall, a very 50's feel to it, just as KK has an early 30's one. How to remake it? In "period" (that was already done!) or brought up to date (absurd, pointless)? They should leave it alone. It's perfect just as it is, can't be improved on aside from the f/x."

That is exactly right, Telegonus, I couldn't agree more. The theme and storyline of THEM would have no relevance to modern audiences. It is a perfect relic of its time that would just not work in an update or remake - leave it as it is!

[–] coolaree 16 years ago

I generally don't mind remakes...Sure they're not necessasary I guess but it's not hurting anyone
and sometimes its different enough to be interesting and good on its own
(I actually like 'The Manchurian Candidate' remake that had Denzel in it/IOceans Eleven/ A Fistful of Dollars and of course The Departed great remakes)

most of the time they;re not...

I mean the originals will always be there to enjoy,