Tag Archives: james whitmore

THEM – (1954) – Regular Ants Are Bad Enough!

A real creepy premise in this flick:  giant, mutated ants are on the loose and stalking victims in isolated areas of the God forsaken desert!

I bring you this cinematic, sci-fi gem because of a recent summer time invasion of the small variety of ants in our house in pursuit of the cat’s food.  These little beasts are annoying enough in their present miniature state as they scamper in all directions as you try to eradicate their presence inside your home.  In addition to the trouble of getting them picked up and removed, you get the sinister feeling that the insects are crawling all over you!  Imagine how you’d feel if the ants in question were 10 or more feet in length?

This is a classic science fiction film from the 1950’s that postulates that exposure to radiation could mutate a small ant into a formidable, potentially man destroying monster.  And what if there were a nest of these giants?

You get the idea.  Arm your self with a flame thrower and an automatic weapon and you may stand a chance of survival against these denizens from some unnamed Hell!  Give it a look and drink up the lovely desert studio set ups!  Some definitely scary set pieces crop up in this engaging science fiction thriller.

CHATO’S LAND – 1972

“Chato’s Land” was a late entry in the Western film genre that had proliferated at the movie theaters for 50 years but started to fall out of favor by the 1970’s.  To draw in viewers who might be lured away by other fare, some of these latter day “oaters” resorted to adding more violence and depravity.   That sensibility shows up in this film, a blood soaked tale of a hastily drawn together posse of cruds who go off in pursuit of a wrongly accused Indian who kills a lawman in their town.

As the misbegotten mob gets drawn deeper into his “Land”, a forbidding desert Hell, they become easy prey for the fugitive Chato.  He manages to outwit the posse and pick them off one by one, in sometimes gruesome fashion.  Charles Bronson is in the title role but his recited dialogue is nearly non existent and composed of one note.

This movie is particularly interesting for the interplay of the cast playing the posse.  Jack Palance, Richard Basehart, James Whitmore, Simon Oakland and Ralph Waite are all fine performers and they work well off of each other.

Nicely shot on location by Michael Winner.  A memorable music score accompanies too.