The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

Just perfect...

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Without a doubt in my mind, the original version of this story remains the greatest sci-fi themed movie about a visitor from another planet and the dangers that awaits the earth if we don't change our ways. 67 years later, this film still resonates in an even more dangerous time, with so many other powers threatening our survival as a planet and little, if no, lessons learned from the horrors of the past. This film wastes absolutely no time in introducing the visitor from outer space, a human being like creature from an unnamed planet who is shot and hospitilized simply for offering a gift which some paranoid army soldier believes to be a weapon. He shot first and never got to ask questions later, but for the visitor (the outstanding Michael Rennie), lots of questions are asked, and many lessons are learned, particularly by the sultry voiced widow Patricia Neal and her lovable son (Billy Gray) who takes a shine to the new boarder even though potential stepfather Hugh Marlowe is instantly suspicious of him.A genius of incomparable patience, charm and class, Rennie's visitor immediately impresses scientist Sam Jaffe over his ability to solve a difficult problem Jaffe had been working on in his efforts to use nuclear power for good. Jaffe, considered the wisest man on earth, looks on at Rennie in awe, seemingly immediately knowing what Rennie's mission is and determined to get the message spread for the good of all of the universe. Neal at first is conflicted. She likes her son having an older male companion, but something about Rennie to her (mostly thanks to Marlowe's paranoia) doesn't seem right. A visit to Rennie's spaceship (thanks to the most amazing encounter with the very dangerous robot Rennie reveals to be a police officer for universal safety) reveals everything to her, and Neal wakes up to her own blindness to the dangers earthlings pose to the future of the entire solar system. Most subtle in its depiction of Rennie's alien civilization as peace loving and unselfish in every way, it also presents a view of our earth society as violent, paranoid, self centered, and most importantly, unaware of the dangers we put on the solar system because of our obsessions with war and nuclear power. Blow yourself up if you so desire, Rennie tells his captive earth audience, but leave the rest of the universe alone, or face the consequences. This film never loses steam as it intensely drags the audience into its calm but intense world of a desire for the end of the violent nonsense, and shows the hypocrisies of our world which we obviously have let get too far out of control. I don't know if I could bear to see the remake of this film, because it pretty much says everything here and cannot be improved on. Perhaps this film 67 years later should be passed around to every new leader in our world as well as a reminder of past destructions that not only killed millions but brought the perpetrators down viciously as well.

Taken as what it is, a science fiction film with a message, of the early 1950s, 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' is a true classic. It isn't overly dramatic and its pace is fairly slow, but the way in which it portrays the frightened over-reaction of authority to any perceived external threat resonates throughout history and right up to the current day.Klaatu, a well-meaning humanoid alien, lands on earth with a message but is met with instant hostility before he can deliver it as the authorities assume a position of 'whatever you don't understand must be evil / dangerous'. As the story progresses, Klaatu befriends a young boy and his mother, and gets to see a famous scientist whom he finds more receptive than the fearful and unreasoning military. However, and somewhat inevitably, fear of the unknown prevails and Klaatu is shot and killed while attempting to make his way to a meeting that he has arranged with important scientific figures.His body recovered by his giant robot, Klaatu is brought back to life to deliver his warning to the people of earth, effectively a warning about being too quick to pick up arms and to become a danger to others. He departs leaving it to the people of earth to decide whether to continue on their current path and risk the devastating wrath of an alien alliance with far greater power, or to seek a new way.As Klaatu, Michael Rennie could hardly be less threatening, admittedly unlike his robot, Gort, played by the 7'4" Lock Martin; a bit clunky, yes, but unnerving all the same and pretty terrifying in 1951. Bobby Benson as the boy who sees nothing frightening about Klaatu, though he doesn't know his true identity, and Patricia Neal who displays calm reason even when she does, provide fine support as does Sam Jaffe as the Einstein-like genius whom Klaatu contacts in an effort to circumvent the highly suspicious authorities.This is a fine film, simple and well acted and with a powerful message for a world in which nuclear weapons were still new. To give it 10/10 is a no-brainer.

A space ship comes to earth and it's sole occupant has a warning.Stop the violence or the planet will be destroyed.An hour and a half later he leaves,telling the earthlings that they will be waiting for earth's answer to whether or not they will stop the violence. What?!?!?! Earth is supposed to contact you?How?At the beginning he had something that would have let the earthlings communicate with the rest of the universe but he pulled it out like it was a weapon and an army guy shot it.Was there a second one? Most of the movie is spent showing how little the alien knows about earth,while the rest is spent showing how much he does know about earth. He knows about the UN but doesn't know who Abraham Lincoln is, a lot of that type of stuff. The plot had great potential but falls flat by not having any substance or a real ending.

Directed by Robert Wise, with a screenplay by Edmund North that was based on a story by Harry Bates, this above average sci-fi thriller was added to the National Film Registry in 1995.The drama, which begins with a flying saucer landing in Washington D.C., involves an alien visitor named Klaatu (Michael Rennie) who, along with his bodyguard robot Gort (Lock Martin), has come to Earth shortly after our World had entered the nuclear age to advise us about peace and warn us about our own destructive aggression.Predictably, Klaatu is shot which, though it's somewhat accidental, causes Gort to exhibit his powerful ability (a heat ray) to annihilate our soldiers, their weapons and tanks. Klaatu is taken to a hospital where he recovers and then escapes, adopting the name Carpenter to walk anonymously among 'us' and learn more about Earth and its residents.Through widow Helen Benson (Patricia Neal), and her son Bobby (Billy Gray), Carpenter gets a sense of human nature which includes kindness, but events eventually lead to another confrontation and Helen's utterance of the classic line "Gort! Klaatu barada nikto!".Hugh Marlowe plays Helen's boyfriend Tom Stevens and Sam Jaffe plays Professor Jacob Barnhardt, the brilliant scientist who (naturally) seeks greater understanding. A young Stuart Whitman is recognizable (in his second movie role) as an uncredited Army sentry.#82 on AFI's 100 Most Heart-Pounding Movies list.