September 6, 2006

Time in a Sci-Fi Bottle.

Filed under: Uncategorized — Jim @ 9:17 pm

Day Earth Stood Still.jpgLast night I was channel surfing, and I came across The Day the Earth Stood Still, a classic science-fiction movie that was made in 1951. I had seen it before, but that was a couple years after it was made, and I saw it as one-half of a Double Feature, Saturday Matinee (with a couple cartoons thrown in) in the local theater.

I couldn’t bring myself to change the channel.

The plot is simple. A humanoid alien (who is urbane and frankly charming), accompanied only by a large robot identified as “Gort”, lands his flying saucer in Washington D.C. His mission is to explain to the people of Earth that he comes in peace, but the prospects of Earthlings’ using recently acquired nuclear technology to make war among themselves will disrupt the peace among other planets, which will necessarily lead to the annihilation of Earth by those planets. Predictably, our Earth peeps immediately react with fear and aggression, causing the alien, Klaatu, to assume the identity of an Earthling as he seeks a means of getting his message out.

The movie provides a fascinating look at the American psyche in 1951, which was only four years after unidentified flying objects were spotted and called “flying saucers” and at a time when Americans lived with air-raid drills and dug fallout shelters, all as a result of fear of a nuclear attack by the Soviet Union. Some have suggested that the glut of flying saucer sightings and Man-From-Space movies during the early fifties was some sort of psychological manifestation of fear of attacks from Russia. I don’t know about that, as I was only a boy at the time. Back then, I suppose I thought that The Day the Earth Stood Still and its message were pretty heavy duty, (not to mention Gort’s laser-beam eye(s) that would appear from under the visor-like thing and, while theremin music played, disintegrate things).

What kept my attention now was how different everyday things were then, or, at least how they were depicted..

Strange Stuff, Some Accurate, Some Not

Smoking: In one scene, three doctors were standing and talking in the hospital, and all were smoking cigarettes (unfiltered, of course). Lots of other people in the movie smoked, including one guy who smoked with a cigarette holder. That’s the way it was.

Men’s clothing: Men seemed to be always wearing suits, even when hanging around inside, and most often with a snap-brim hat when outside. All cab drivers wore the same kind of cap. Cops rode motorcycles without helmets. Back then, while working people didn’t wear suits during the week, one would always get dressed up when going out. Hell, one put on a jacket and tie even for things like a trip to Yankee Stadium. I also definitely remember cops riding motorcycles sans helmets.

Women’s clothing: In every scene, the female lead (Patricia Neal) always wore a dress. No skirts and blouses, and, heaven forbid, no slacks – a dress. And, when outdoors, she wore white gloves. This is pure Donna Reed stuff.

Kissing: Men and women kissed with their mouths closed. Looks sorta funny. But, remember, this movie was made before the censors forbade the writers on the “I Love Lucy” show to use the word “pregnant”.

Paperboys: In one scene, paperboys rush into a crowd yelling “Extra! Extra!” and immediately sell out their papers. I only saw one paperboy, one time, yelling “Extra!”, and that was the day that President Kennedy was assassinated.

Cars: It was great to see ’49 Fords as police cars. One character drove a ’49 Ford convertible. Sweet.

Silly Stuff

The flying saucer remained in the same spot in Washington D.C. for at least a day or so, with Gort the laser-eyed, giant robot standing stock still in front of it. No fence was built around it to keep away what would expected to be millions of people wanting to see an alien spacecraft. In fact, at night, the site was devoid of people except for two soldiers guarding the damned thing.

The Army did, however, encase Gort in something that resembled a giant plexiglass cube, which he made short work of when he learned that Klaatu (the urbane alien, lest you have already forgotten) might have been harmed.

As a demonstration of awesome coercive power that could be wielded by the alien (but a demonstration that was calculate to “hurt no one”), the alien disabled all forms of electricity, even electricity powered by generators, as cars and trains all over the world stopped (hence, the earth “stood still”). I wondered why the planes didn’t fall from the sky and why didn’t people on respirators (called “iron lungs” back then) die. When all those automobile motors stopped running at the same time, there were no traffic accidents? I probably wondered about that when I was 8 years old, proving that some things never change. I’m jus’ SAY-in’.

The Famous Line
C’mon. You know the line. I know you know it. Remember? It was the line that Patricia Neal was supposed to speak to Gort if something were to happen to Klaatu. Speaking this line would stop Gort from destroying the farookin’ planet.

Remember it now?

It was “Klaatu barada nikto.”

Two funny things about the line.

1. As Klaatu and Patricia Neal are fleeing the Army guys who want to kill Klaatu, he worries aloud to Patricia Neal about what terrible destruction Gort might visit on the planet if anything happens to him (Klaatu). He explains that Patricia Neal must say exactly the following words to Gort, should anything happen to him (Klaatu): “Klaatu barada niktu”. Yes, he pronounced it “Klaatu barada nik-too.

He said, “repeat those words”.

She immediately responded “Klaatu barada niktow.

I was thinking, ”That should have been an outtake. He told her the Goddamned survival of the Earth depended on her repeating exactly what he said, and she said it WRONG.”

Turns out, Klaatu must have screwed up, because, as noted below, her pronunciation ultimately carried the day with the seriously pissed off Gort.

2. When Klaatu is apparently mortally wounded, Patricia Neal goes to where the flying saucer is parked and sees that Gort somehow already knows what has happened and is pissed. He has melted his way out of the plexiglass cube and has disintegrated the two GI’s on guard duty. Gort, the giant robot, corners Patricia Neal. The robot’s giant shadow looms over her. The shield on his head opens, exposing the laser-zapper eye(s). You think, ”Jesus Christ! Say it! Say it, dammit!” Say ‘Klaatu barada nikto’. Just freakin’ SAY it!”

Of course, she doesn’t say it, but rather screams. (Ack!) and falls down. (double Ack!)

Just as she is about to be roasted, she says, “Klaatu barada nikto” and everything is cool.

Conclusion
Watching too much television leads to long and rather pointless blogs.

16 Comments »

  1. Well…just fuck me to tears!!

    I’m fifty two years old and “The Day The Earth Stood Still” WAS one of my top five favorite movie of all time.

    Excuse me for not being even CLOSE to as smart as you Jim but, I’ve gotta tell you…I’m PISSED.

    I NEVER caught the glitch at the end of the movie and I’ve seen the friggin’ thing fifty times!!

    Don’t get me wrong, I replayed it on DVD a minute ago and..yes, you are correct. HOWEVER, I will hate you for all eternity for pointing out this gaffe to me.

    There….I’ve said it.

    “Repeat these words exactly “my achin’ ass!”

    That dumb broad could have brought about the end of civilization as we know it!!!

    Now I HATE the freakin’ movie!!

    I hope you’re fucking happy!

    Comment by Rantin' Ron — September 7, 2006 @ 2:05 am

  2. Jimbo,

    Niktoo, Niktow… Gort must have known she was raised in East Tennessee 🙂

    BTW, the only “extra” I’ve ever experienced happened yesterday (Sept. 6th) here in Tokyo. It was nuts. A baby boy was born to the royal family and “saved” Japan from the fate of a female emperor! From the looks of things on the ground, it was more of an excuse for everyone to get drunk (not that they need any excuses).

    Cheers,

    Dan

    Comment by Dan — September 7, 2006 @ 3:09 am

  3. I *love* that movie … the one and only time I ever got to see it (I had just turned 21, about ten years ago) was sitting next to my father in a darkened bus returning home from Atlantic City …

    For the record, I have never once, in my life, ever heard a paperboy yell ‘extra, extra’ … Seems like such a Dead End Kids-era thing to do …

    Comment by erica — September 7, 2006 @ 7:30 am

  4. I’ve thought exactly the same things, especially about her mispronunciation. Then I realized it bugged me so much because I’ve used voice recognition software. It’s hard enough to get it to recognize correctly pronounced words.

    Whaddya mean it’s my accent? I don’t have an accent, y’all do.

    Comment by rita — September 7, 2006 @ 7:31 am

  5. One of my all-time favorites, despite the fact that the “scientific” elements of the movie are ridiculous. It’s based on a short story entitled “Farewell To The Master” by Harry Bates (Master’s brother?). The short story ends on a slightly more ominous note when it’s revealed that the Master is not Klaatu (the urbane alien), but rather Gort.

    The muscal score, complete with theremin, was written by the incomparable Bernard Herrmann, who also wrote the music for Citizen Kane, North by Northwest, Psycho, Vertigo, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Obsession, and Taxi Driver, among many others.

    Comment by Elisson — September 7, 2006 @ 10:13 am

  6. I love mistakes in movies. I often go to IMDB.com and look at the goofs on the sidebar. So I did for this movie and they did not catch the mispronunciation.

    Also, one of the reasons I love Katharine Hepburn is because she broke the mold of the woman in the dress. She wore pantsuits instead. So progressive.

    Comment by Morrigan — September 7, 2006 @ 11:16 am

  7. A classic, with a whopping 93% at RottenTomatoesDOTcom. I’d pair this with Zsa Zsa Gabor (“I HATE zat qveen!) in “Queen Of Outer Space,” (astoundingly, only 33% on the TomatoMeter — cough), get a big tub o’ corn and a soda, and have myself a fine afternoon of sci-fi cinema.

    Comment by dogette — September 7, 2006 @ 1:05 pm

  8. Jim,

    Maybe you saw this, maybe not. It is a prank someone played with construction signs involving this movie.

    Check it out. I wish funny people did funny things where I live…

    Comment by Auskunft — September 7, 2006 @ 2:16 pm

  9. Jim,
    I’ve got the family home movies of our trip to Disneyland the first year it was open. ALL of the adult males are wearing suits, or at a minimum a sportcoat. ALL of the women in dresses and heels.

    Comment by Mark Reardon — September 7, 2006 @ 4:31 pm

  10. This movie came out the year I was born!…ackkk.
    This was a great review of a favorite movie.

    Comment by Jean — September 7, 2006 @ 7:19 pm

  11. “Michael Renni was there the day the Earth stood still, and he told us where we stand.

    And Flash Gordon was there in silver underwear,

    And Claude Raines was the invisible man…”

    Name that movie

    Comment by MoMinuteMan — September 7, 2006 @ 7:39 pm

  12. Elisson,

    Harry Bates got $500.00 for his work. I’ll bet he’s kicked himself in the ass a few times over the years.

    Jimbo

    Comment by Jim — September 7, 2006 @ 8:38 pm

  13. Wow. I have never seen the film but I’ll have to check it out. Now to just find the time to watch TV….

    Comment by Richmond — September 7, 2006 @ 9:18 pm

  14. … hey, Dan?… reference your East Tennessee comment… Bite me…

    Comment by Eric — September 8, 2006 @ 8:41 am

  15. “Michael Renni was there the day the Earth stood still, and he told us where we stand.

    And Flash Gordon was there in silver underwear,

    And Claude Raines was the invisible man…”

    Name that movie

    Rocky Horror Picture Show. AND, I’m 59! We used to go to see Rocky every Saturday night in the late 70’s.

    Comment by Jerry K — September 8, 2006 @ 7:22 pm

  16. In “Army of Darkness” they paid tribute to the movie by making the magic words “Klaatu barada nikto”. As long as Ash said those words while retrieving the Book of the Dead, everything would be ok.

    When they tried to remind him of the words, his famous reply was, “yeah, yeah, I know your damn words.”

    Of course, he forgot them, botched it badly when grabbing the book, and an army of undead came out of the ground and crashed his party.

    Good movie, in a completely different way.

    Comment by Ted — September 11, 2006 @ 7:35 pm

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