Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) Invasion of the Body Snatchers
A science-fiction horror film directed by Philip Kaufman from a screenplay by W. D. Richter, adapted from Jack Finney's 1955 novel The Body Snatchers. Cinematography by Michael Chapman, score by jazz pianist Denny Zeitlin. Starring Donald Sutherland as San Francisco public-health inspector Matthew Bennell, Brooke Adams as his co-worker Elizabeth Driscoll, Jeff Goldblum and Veronica Cartwright as the Bellicecs, and Leonard Nimoy as celebrity pop-psychologist Dr. David Kibner. See The 1956 Original for the Don Siegel (in Body Snatchers, as director) version Kaufman was in conversation with, and Kevin McCarthy and Don Siegel Cameos for how he acknowledged it on screen.
"The American movie of the year — a new classic." — Pauline Kael, The New Yorker (1978)
Quick Facts
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Director | Philip Kaufman |
| Screenplay | W. D. Richter |
| Based on | The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney (1955) |
| Stars | Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum, Veronica Cartwright, Leonard Nimoy |
| Composer | Denny Zeitlin |
| Cinematographer | Michael Chapman |
| Editor | Douglas Stewart |
| Production Designer | Charles Rosen |
| Sound Design | Ben Burtt |
| Production Company | Solofilm |
| Distributor | United Artists |
| Budget | ~$3.5 million |
| Box Office | ~$24.9 million (domestic) |
| Release Date | December 22, 1978 |
| Running Time | 115 minutes |
| MPAA Rating | PG |
| Filmed In | San Francisco, California |
Key Pages
- Plot Summary (Invasion of the Body Snatchers)
- Cast and Characters (Invasion of the Body Snatchers)
- Philip Kaufman
- W. D. Richter
- Production History (Invasion of the Body Snatchers)
- Jack Finney
- The 1956 Original
- Kevin McCarthy and Don Siegel Cameos
- Post-Watergate Paranoia
- San Francisco as Setting
- The Pod Scream
- The Ending (Invasion of the Body Snatchers)
- Themes and Analysis (Invasion of the Body Snatchers)
- Critical Reception and Legacy (Invasion of the Body Snatchers)
- Donald Sutherland
- Brooke Adams
- Jeff Goldblum
- Veronica Cartwright
- Leonard Nimoy
- Michael Chapman
- Open Frames and the Background Invasion
- The Scream Shot
- Denny Zeitlin
- Physical Media Releases (Invasion of the Body Snatchers)
- Scream Factory Blu-ray (Invasion of the Body Snatchers)
- Kino Lorber 4K UHD (Invasion of the Body Snatchers)
- Remakes That Surpass Their Originals
Genre Context
The film arrived at the tail end of the 1970s paranoid-thriller cycle and crossed it into horror. The Parallax View (1974), The Conversation (1974), Three Days of the Condor (1975), and All the President's Men (1976) treated paranoia as political. Kaufman treated it as biological. The question shifted from "who is lying to me?" to "who here is still a person?" It was the highest-grossing remake Hollywood had produced to that point, and it remains one of a very small number that are now held above their source — see Remakes That Surpass Their Originals. See Post-Watergate Paranoia and Critical Reception and Legacy (Invasion of the Body Snatchers).
"Before you go to sleep tonight, you'd better think this over: there may never have been a better movie of this kind." — Pauline Kael, The New Yorker (1978)