Ep. 05-13: Them! (1954)

While investigating a series of mysterious deaths, Sergeant Ben Peterson (James Whitmore) finds a young girl (Sandy Descher) who cannot speak. As Peterson joins forces with FBI agent Robert Graham (James Arness) and scientist Dr. Harold Medford (Edmund Gwenn), he discovers that all the incidents are because of giant ants that atomic radiation has mutated. Peterson and Graham, with the aid of the military, attempt to find the queen ants and destroy the nests before the danger spreads.

THEM!

It’s been a while since we covered a Big Bug movie, so why not start with the one that started them all? Them! (1954) is a picnic basket of wonderful cinematic nostalgia and we all know what crashes a pleasant picnic in the 1950s: giant ants! Join us as we discuss why this film is a gold standard genre classic, including the star-studded cast (both primary and secondary), the script, and the fantastic (for the time) special effects. Listen, and Johnny Has the Keys goes deep down in the tunnels of Los Angeles, fighting enormous lethal insectoids, searching for the queen’s nest before the eggs hatch, migrate, and wipe out humanity!

SHOW LINKS:

• Them! (1954)
• Original trailer
• James Whitmore
• James Arness
• Edmund Gwenn
• Beginning of the End (1957)
• Alien (1979)
• Aliens (1986)
• Godzilla (1954)
• Food of the Gods (1976)
• Day of the Animals (1977)
• Night of the Grizzly (1966)
• Phase IV (1974)
• The Deadly Mantis (1957)
• Tarantula (1955)
• Kingdom of the Spiders (1977)
• Prophecy (1979)
• The Black Scorpion (1957)
• Rodan (1956)
• Mothra (1961)
• Bug (1975)
• Frogs (1972)
• Squirm (1976)
• Willard (1971)
• Skeeter (1993)
• Ticks (1993)
• Eight-Legged Freaks (2002)
• The Swarm (1978)
• Arachnophobia (1990)
• The Hellstrom Chronicles (1971)
• The Naked Jungle (1954)
• Ant-Man (2015)
• Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)
• Ed Wood (1994)
• Fallout 3
• Night of the Lepus (1972)
• Starship Troopers (1997)
• The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

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