Them!

The ants go marching one by one, and--by golly--they're big (over eight feet long!), thanks to those nasty A-bomb tests in the New Mexico desert. Gordon Douglas's 1954 Them!, one of the better creature features to emerge from the '50s, stars James Whitmore, Edmund Gwenn, Joan Weldon and James Arness as a loose cadre of scientist, FBI and local law enforcement personnel investigating a series of mysterious murders around Alamogordo, NM. Although the middle of the flick features a rather cool excerpt from a documentary on ants (the only species besides humans to make war), the emphasis here is more on the action ("look Bob, there's no time to give you a crack course in insect pathology, so let's stop all the talk and get on with it, " says Weldon), as the team chases the swiftly breeding ants all the way to Los Angeles for a flame-throwing barbecue showdown. To quote Rambo, "do we get to win this time?" Well, we're told, "we haven't seen the end of them; we've only had a close view of the beginning of what may be the end of us." Dan Quayle couldn't have said it better. While today's viewers will find Them! rather primitive--sfx-wise--B.E.M. buffs (that's bug-eyed monsters) will surely enjoy this (atomic) blast from the past. Presented with a spiffy-looking b&w transfer and solid Dolby Digital mono sound, the disc also includes a clever tabloid-cover-like menu that leads viewers to a text guide to bug movies, and a three-minute "behind the scenes" clip. Recommended. (R. Pitman)