THE THING from ANOTHER WORLD (1951)
When I was about five years old I saw this movie. For the next 4 years it was all I could talk about. I didn't know the name of the movie, but I would ask Mom "Do you know the movie about the Vegetable Man?".
Of course she didn't and I would try to tell her about it.
"There was a monster from Outer Space that landed at the North pole, and he got frozen in the ice , but the Army chipped him out of the ice and when the ice thawed out, he was the the Vegetableman; he was big, and he ate the sled dogs, and Army didn't know how to kill him cuz bullets didn't work until they figured out that he was like a carrot so then they decided to cook him"
I'm sure that I was wild eyed with my arms flailing as I described this movie, and then Mom would call me to supper and I would think about that movie as I moved my vegetables from one side of the plate to the other.
It wasn't until about 1982, when John Carpenter remade the movie that I finally found out that the Vegetableman was actually just called "The Thing". So much for the imagination of Hollywood in the 1950's. They really could have used a kid like me.
So after a 20 year wait, I got to see it again. It was funnier than I remember.
For example:
Hendry: "An intellectual carrot. The mind boggles."
Dr. Chapman: Find anything, Captain?
Hendry: Not a sign. We poked into every snowbank within miles.
Bob, Crew Chief: Barnes flushed a polar bear.
Cpl. Barnes: Sure did.
Dr. Chapman: Scare you?
Cpl. Barnes: Not after I saw it was only a bear.
Or how bout this...
Dr. Arthur Carrington: No pleasure, no pain... no emotion, no heart. Our superior in every way.
In a scene where a Scientist steps from the plane, climbing down through the fuselage, you first see his legs, then his torso and its an old man. He is greeted by two young guys in the Air Force, Hendry and Barnes, and he tells them that his assistant Dr. Nikki, is next. They turn and face the plane.
Two legs appear coming down the hatch. They are female legs with hosiery and high heels. Hendry and Barnes look at each other, raising their eyebrows the way men do.
The legs soon become an entire woman, a Doctor, played by the lovely Margaret Sheridan.
Barnes looks at Hendry and says:
"Some Doctor!"
Hendry looks back at Barnes and says
"Yeah, I think I got a pain!"
Hold it...wrong movie!
That's in 'Them", about the giant Ants.
So there you have it. Great lines from two movies!
14 comments:
I never saw that one, but am intrigued.
The one that haunted me was "Never Be Afraid Of The Dark.' or "Don't Be Afraid..."
"Sally, Sally, we want you Sally"
Sheesh, never had my bedroom light off between 1972 to 1999.
Jannie
I never understood how they took "Who Goes There?" and came up with vegetable people invaders. Except for finding the spaceship under the ice they pretty much scapped the whole idea, and they didn't even use the name.
The idea of "Who Goes There?" became very popular in the fifties. Probably the most famous being Jack Finney's Body Snatchers, which (officially) has now been made into four films. But the earliest of this plot idea of aliens coming and either coping us or taking over our bodies that I can think of this story originally published in 1938.
I don't think that giant carrots are scary. It just makes me think of the talking carrot on Lost In Space.
Pod People--scary. Triffids--scary. Giant carrots--food for giant pet bunnies?
jan- I had to look it up but it had Kim Darby in it! Always had a crush on her.
So she let demons loose in her own home huh? that'll scare ya alright!
The first movie my daughter was fascinated with was "The Blob". The movie was 30 years old, she was 5 years old and she sat watching Steve mcQueen and his buddies run around ton in their jalopies.
Thanks for the visit!
laughing- You know your stuff, I'd forgotten that I promised myself to read the book 25 years ago.
"Who Goes There " is such a great title if you ask me. I guess in 1951 they thought they needed more explanation in the title.
The Vegetable man didn't scare me as much as it fascinated me. In fact the only vegetable that I find scary is Brussels Sprouts. The terrorize me.
There was a Medusa here yesterday, but it seems to be gone now.
I used to have a vegetable man of my own!
Hi there, Martijn here, hopped over from UF blog. This is another great blog, I want to say. Hope you don't mind my clumsy English and ditto comments...
I have a world of B-movies to catch up to, it now seems. "No pleasure, no pain... no emotion, no heart. Our superior in every way" is a stunning thing to say.
I remembered something from my own childhood after reading your story. It was somewhere in those dark ages, the eighties, when I was a young careless boy. It was dinnertime so I left the TV and arrived at the family table confronting my P&M and my older brother equally wild-eyed with what to me was Breaking News. I exclaimed: "Did you know Vicky really wás the daughter of the Captain!!!" Baffled silence...
I trust that you, unlike my family, all know what it is I was talking about.
Martijn
It's like sushi, you either hate it or you love it! Love it! Those good/bad B films in the 50's
were the craaa-zi-est! Remember a very young Steve McQueen in the Blob. That movie was a riot! How about The Attack of the 50 Foot Woman? Are you salivating? ;)
Yeah, laughing, Medusa got up there out of order...back up today!
Minxy! if you ever want another, well, I'm about as vegetable as they come.
Martjin, man, its good to see you!
You come from another continent, yes?
Your Engish, she seems oK, and I dig the crazy way you spell your name.
The Thing is a pretty good one. Great Theremin riffs and everything!
Your story reminds me of the crush I had on Vicki, before she got all strung out.it waqs all those fabulous Ports o'Call.
And of the time I went running downstairs during 'The Day the Earth Stood Still" to inform Mom that the power would come back in 30 Minutes.
Pie- you snuck in on me-
Yeah, and how bout 'The Creature from the Black Lagoon"!
50 foot woman? The kind you dont take home to mother, unless you lease a flatbed 18 Wheeler.
That would be some date.
Hey again, what a warm welcome! Thanks. I have something of an intruder complex you see. But I really like your blog. Yep, I come all the way from Holland, Europe. Netherlands, The Dutch, The Lowlands... that's all us. Martijn, my name is one of the more common ones amongst second generation hippies (not that I'm a hippy, but you get it), but I'm flattered, and so is my extra J.
A crush on Vicky? She was a little too oh-gosh-jolly for my taste, but that older purser woman could Mrs. Robinson me any time. What was her name again? Julie, that's it! Hmmm.
I wanted to violate Vicki.
Everytime I see your name, Martjin, I am reminded of the character in Candide.
Do you remember The Crawling Eye?
When the "thing" was standing on the other side of the door as it opened and he took a swipe at the men was the scariest scene I ever saw 'til the shower scene in Psycho. Check out "The Beast with Five Fingers"for some early horror.
Hey Yoodood! Thanks for stopping by.
The Vegetable man didn't scare me as much as it intrigued me....the onwe that really scred me was the Twilight Zone with Shatner Nightmare at 20,000 feet.
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