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Bookmark this pageInvasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
Director: Philip Kaufman
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Though it lacks the awesome allegorical ambiguousness of the 1956 classic of sci-fi/political paranoia (here paid homage in cameo appearances by Kevin McCarthy and Don Siegel), Kaufman and screenwriter WD Richter's update and San Francisco transposition of Jack Finney's novel is a far from redundant remake. The extraterrestrial pod people now erupt into a world where seemingly everyone is already 'into' changing their lives or lifestyles, and into a cinematic landscape already criss-crossed by an endless series of conspiracies, while the movie has as much fun toying with modern thought systems (psychology, ecology) as with elaborate variations on its predecessor. Kaufman here turns in his most Movie Brattish film, but soft-pedals on both his special effects and knowing in-jokiness in a way that puts De Palma to shame; even extra bit appearances by Robert Duvall (Kaufman's Jesse James in The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid) and Hollywood archivist Tom Luddy are given a nicely take-it-or-leave-it dimension.Author: PT
Cast & crew
Director: Philip Kaufman
Producer: Robert H Solo
Cast: Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Leonard Nimoy, Veronica Cartwright, Jeff Goldblum, Art Hindle, Lelia Goldoni, Kevin McCarthy, Don Siegel, Tom Luddy, Robert Duvall full cast
Genre(s): Science Fiction
Duration: 115 mins
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