I read that the actor, Kevin McCarthy, died the other day. If you ask me about him, I will tell you that he was the bad guy in the hilarious movie, Innerspace, which starred Martin Short and Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid.
I did not realize that he was the star of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. I can't remember much of that movie, which I saw when I was in the 5th or 6th grade on Saturday afternoon on the black-and-white Philco TV in the front room.
My family didn't have a "living room" or a "dining room." There was the front room with the front door; and then there was the kitchen with the table and chairs, at which we at supper every single night. There was a bathroom between two bedrooms through a doorway without a door to the right walking from the front room to the kitchen. And to the left, directly across from the doorway without the door, was a stairway up to the attic, where my sisters slept. And the side door was through the kitchen, and down a couple steps to the right. The milk chute was next to the side door. Turning to the left after going down the two steps was the stairway to the basement.
The black-and-white Philco television set in the front room sat just to the left of the big front window and was covered with a faux wood-grained Con-tact paper. And it looked like faux wood only if you imagined it so. And why was the black-and-white Philco covered with mid-20th Century trendy Con-tact paper? It was, after all, the "invaluable decorating and arts & crafts tool" of the time, which was put to that use after my father smashed his fist through the front right corner of the top of the black-and-white Philco television set. Bad reception. That was the reason he smashed his fist down on the television set.
So, on a rainy Saturday afternoon -- I know that because if it was not raining, I was out of doors playing baseball; and if it was snowing, I was out of doors -- I sat in the front room on the room-sized braided rug and watched the scariest movie I had ever seen in my life, Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
The truck loaded with pods headed out of town -- and that was the end of humanity.
And from that point on, I was on the look-out. Still am, for that matter.
Posted by Bill at September 13, 2010 09:33 PMI think I remember it, but it was the film with the robot that got me hiding behind the sofa.
I am recovered: I fell asleep during a Terminater film the other night and woke up to see a naked Arnold Schwarzennegger. Now I'm terrified of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Posted by: Anji at September 17, 2010 11:19 AMIf the pod people from outer space ever did show up and start replicating, they'd need a cover. Something indistinct and non-threatening, almost friendly. Something like ... A f--king Tea Party.
Posted by: Kyle at September 21, 2010 01:58 AM