Make me a Sergeant - and Give me the Booze!
New Mexico State Trooper James Whitmore and FBI agent James Arness track
down giant mutant atomic ants spawned at Alamagordo, NM, following the first atom bomb tests. Edmund Gwenn plays the scientist. Very above average horror flick and a must see! The film's climax takes place in the storm drains of Los Angeles, a familiar site for movie goers (we've all seen either the storm drains or dry river bed in dozens of films). The best line of the movie is the psycho drunk being interviewed by FBI man Arness. He has seen the ants near the storm drain, but no one believes him (except Arness, who, because of national security, doesn't want anyone else to believe him). The drunk sings "make me a sergeant and give me the booze!". 
One of the best of the 1950's science fiction golden age
This is the kind of stuff I grew up on as a kid, watching science
fiction and horror movies on TV which had been originally released in the 1940s and 50s. The 1950s was a golden age of science fiction movies, and THEM! was one of the very best. Good casting, dialog, and storyline, and commendable special effects for the time. Although the "atomic-radiation-causing-terrible-mutations" was a standard device in 50s sci fi (THE DEADLY MANTIS, IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA, and others), it was a workable one, and given that the ants were from the same area of desert where the first atomic blast occurred, it had just enough plausibility. I also like the little touches of humor and banter between characters. There was even a little bit of cheesecake when the young Dr. Medford (Joan Weldon) gets her skirt caught when descended from the plane, revealing a pair of shapely legs. This is one I keep going back to on rainy Saturday afternoons! A gem of its kind.. |
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