Hello Posse!
It is the Halloween season and I am getting ready to enjoy a full month of spooky movie goodness. Halloween is my favorite holiday. I love everything about it, the costumes and decorations, the scary movies, the trick-or-treaters, and of course the candy!
I want to start out this month of Halloween movies with one of my all-time classic favorite monster movies, The Thing from Another World. This classic sc-fi, horror film will be an easy start to tie into westerns as it stars well-known western actor James Arness (Marshal Dillon, Gunsmoke) as "The Thing".
This movie is often just referred to as The Thing but should not be confused with the 1982 remake, The Thing. In our house, it was always a joke when talking about the movie The Thing, we would clarify if we meant "the old The Thing" or "the new The Thing".
I, personally, am not a fan of "the new The Thing" and I am obviously not alone in that. The 1982 version was released to extremely bad reviews and was even called "a wretched excess" and "instant junk". Since its release, it has found favor as a cult classic, though I have never really found it to my liking . . . and I like some weird movies. Yet another The Thing remake was announced this year, but I serious doubt they will ever improve on the original.
"The old The Thing" is fantastic! It has great suspense mixed with humor and even a wonderful love story. They use lighting so well in this movie to help create suspense and fear. Always, keeping "The Thing" in the shadows adds to the mystery and anticipation. The love interests in the movie banter with each other in a fashion that makes me think of William Powell and Myrna Loy in the Thin Man movies. If you haven't seen those movies . . . you must! It is a moral imperative!
The original film was release in 1951 as a black-and-white science fiction, horror film. It was directed by Christian Nyby and produced by Edward Lasker for Howard Hawks' Winchester Pictures Corporation. The Thing was released by RKO Pictures and stars Margaret Sheridan, Kenneth Tobey, Robert Cornthwaite, and Douglas Spencer with James Arness as "The Thing".
This movie is based on a 1938 novella titled, Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell who was writing as Don A. Stuart at the time. The story follows a crew of U.S. Air Force airman, a team of scientists, and one very impatient reporter at a remote research outpost in the Arctic. A crew is sent out to check out some strange readings and find a downed UFO embedded in the ice. The men try to extract it, however, the materials they use to melt the ice, also destroy the ship.
Not far from the saucer, the men find a humanoid body also frozen in the ice. They take great care to cut a block of ice with the body in it and take the entire block and body back to the research station to examine.
As the airmen take turns watching over "The Thing" in the ice, many of them become unease as they swear it is still alive and watching them too. One airman makes the mistake of covering the block with an electric blanket, melting the ice enough for "The Thing" to escape. Now, the the humans at the research station must band together and battle The Thing from Another World to stay alive and save the future of humanity.
Since the creature is found to have the characteristics of a plant, why not make a plant based movie snack? You can munch on tasty, The Thing Fingers as you watch this film. Check out King Arthur Baking's website for a great recipe for Baked Zucchini Sticks and Sweet Onion Dip (<--- click here for recipe). This crunchy, healthy snack will be a perfect companion to this classic monster movie!
So Posse, it's time to get your snacks and settle in, it's time for another great movie!
Enjoy,