Them!

 
Them is a 1954 film staring James Whitmore, known to genre fans as the President of the Tribunal that tried Taylor in Planet of the Apes, but perhaps is most famous for his role as Books in The Shawshank Redemption.  Also present is James Arness who would eventually become sheriff Matt Dillon in the tv series Gunsmoke.

Our movie begins with the discovery of a small girl found wandering alone in the desert.  The police officers who find the girl investigate a trailer, thinking maybe she wandered away, only to discover it has been torn apart.  The cops visit a local grocery store and find it torn apart as well.  The mysterious culprit returns and kills one of the cops off screen.  The police and FBI are baffled.  Is there a maniac on the loose?  And why is sugar found at each crime scene?  Later, a Doctor from the Dept. of Agriculture shows up with his daughter.  The Dr. manages to jolt the little girl out of her catatonic state.  She simply screams, 'Them!' over and over.

Later the group returns to the trailer.  They find a mysterious print and while searching for more Dr. Daughter finds the source...a giant ant!  Arness and Whitmore blast it with bullets until it collapses.  The Dr. theorizes that radiation from the first atomic bomb test has mutated a nest of ants.  The Dr. is the usual kind of dysfunctional genius.  Brilliant in his deductions, but confused about simple things such as proper radio etiquette.

 
The Dr. devises a plan and they blast the nest with phosphorus to keep them (heh) inside due to the heat, and drop cyanide to kill the ants.  After a brief discussion about a womanz place Dr. Daughter accompanies the team and they descend into the nest.  After entering the queen's chamber they discover that two queens have managed to escape.  Now, they must discover and destroy the queen ants before they can set up a new colony.

Eventually they talk to a man in an asylum who claims to have seen flying saucer shaped ants.  This guy reminds me of Randy Quaid's character from Independence Day.  We hear the familiar Wilhelm scream several times in this film.  When the ants attack a ship one of the sailors screams out in pain and terror.  With one of the queens now dead, destroyed by the Navy off screen, Arness and Whitmore investigate the theft of 40 tons of sugar.

 
Later, a drunk tells about seeing ants and they eventually discover ants in the LA drainage system.  A press conference is held and LA is put under martial law and the whole ant ordeal is made public.  The army eventually enters the drains and begins searching for the queen.  Whitmore finds the nest and kills several ants but dies in the process.  The army swarms in and kills the ants.  They make their way to the queens chamber and destroy it.  Everyone watches the burning ants die and we have...The End.

Them! is perhaps the best of the giant insect films of the 50s.  With high production values and fine performances from its principal actors it never wanders into absurdity like so many other films that came before, or others who would seek to emulate it.  The sound of the ants is actually that of Hyla Avivoca, or the bird-voiced tree frog.  A little joke with one of my friends is that, while driving during the evening, the sound of these frogs often sounds very similar to that of Them!  Often we'll look at one other and say, as the little girl did, 'Them!'

Leonard Nimoy has a blink and you'll miss it role as a soldier handling reports about the ants.  The only negative thing I have to say about this film is that the romance between Arness and Dr. Daughter never quite materlizes.  He's obviously 'sweet' on her and is overprotective...but there are no fireworks.  It's very subtle though.  Sometimes we simply see them holding hands.  Put simply, if you're in the mood for a well made science fiction film from the atomic age then look no further.