The Thing

childs is such a fascinating and singular character. definitely holding the place of the "#2" in the film and meant to be on par w/macready in strength and conviction and technically an ally in the "action film" sense but also spending much of the film diametrically opposed to macready and his theories. i recognize this stems from the crushing paranoia of the film but in probably most other hands childs would be macready's bff and would stand fast with him every step of the way, and also he'd probably die 2/3rds of the way in.

in most other movies childs would be the first guy killed why because he's black

Both black guys in this movie last until the final reel, which is kind of amazing. Not to mention that there are two black guys to begin with.

also two jittery dudes
two assholes
two paranoid scientists

which is kind of amazing

it's def anamolous for the time

John Carpenter was always pretty good about giving prominent roles to women and non-white actors.

did the 'stoned/ hippie-ish/ paranoid-conspiracy guy with messy hair invariably wearing denim and maybe headphones' stereotype begin with this film? seems that character is in loads of sci-fi films after; notably The Abyss, Minority Report, the Solaris remake etc. is there a word for this 'type'? there should be. they all have shades of Oddball from Kelly's Heroes i suppose.

hiya

http://parallax-view.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/BeattyParallax.jpg

Silent Running is from 1972

The Crying of Lot 49 and the Illuminatus! trilogy are the literary antecedents, but I think Patient Zero for this is post-JFK assassination Lenny Bruce

those aren't really film referents

there was a solid Thing reference in the crossword i did today

I want to see a re-edited version of this from the alien's perspective. It's only our anthrocentrism that prevents us from seeing it as the protagonist doing its best to survive in a hostile world.

Read Peter Watts's award-winning short story 'The Things', which is free online... It does that very thing

Sweet, thanks!

Peter Watts! I'm reading Blindsight rn!

Excellent book

I want to see a re-edited version of this from the alien's perspective. It's only our anthrocentrism that prevents us from seeing it as the protagonist doing its best to survive in a hostile world.

― What's Your Definition of a Dirty Baby? (Old Lunch), Friday, June 3, 2016 7:59 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i feel like the alien franchise occasionally gives you an opportunity to imagine this, even if it doesn't recenter (or re-focalize, to use some jargon) the movie around the alien's subjectivity.

the thing is different, though, in that it leaves open the possiblity that one might simultaneously be the thing and 100% oneself. it only becomes a threat when we treat it as one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAoONl2P8fw

^best remake imo

Yeah, the Thing just wanted to be left alone to rebuild its spaceship and go home, right? And then these stupid humans keep showing up with flamethrowers, trying to fuck its shit up. It's like ET, if ET occasionally morphed into a horrific toothy monster. "Just let me go home!"

The Things read by Kate Baker.

A yearly tradition at the South Pole is the winter-over crew watching "The Thing" right after the last flight for the summer leaves. Here is a picture of the yearly showing in the gym #southpole #winter #Xenophobia #science pic.twitter.com/bI3DJoKprJ

— South Pole Telescope (@SPTelescope) February 26, 2018

I'm surprised they're watching the original there

Decided to watch the Carpenter Thing tonight, and decided it's flawless

there's a new The Thing board game, pretty fun!

Wow

Wait, is this a reaction to your first viewing? Will reserve my jealousy pending confirmation.

yes

36 years later and it still gets this reaction. I love it!

Fantastic. Officially jealous now.

A little tidbit of trivia I never tire of:

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Release date: June 11, 1982)
The Thing (Release date: June 25, 1982)

'Four for the movie about the alien, please. You kids are gonna love this!'

i stand by my "12 Angry Men" vs an alien thought upthread.

i read something online recently trying to speculate when and how those who became "things" actually did. I guess the shadow we see when the dog enters that room near the beginning is intended to be Palmer, but the audience isn't supposed to realize that. idk either way.

all i know is the dog in that scene is an incredible actor. goes to one door, stops, looks towards another door, walks slowly to the other door, pauses, then enters.

I guess the shadow we see when the dog enters that room near the beginning is intended to be Palmer

I don't think anything in the film gives a clear indication of who gets infected first, which is v deliberate

i had read something online from a producer who had said it was supposed to be Palmer originally and in fact had planned on using David Clennon, but his shadow was too identifiable. So they used another crew member. And as a result it's left pretty vague and works a lot better, of course. It's funny though bc i always thought the shadow looked like Charles Hallahan.

Hallahan died of a heart attack back in the late '90s, I wonder if any medics showed up on the scene and were wary about using a defibrillator...

it was here:

http://theoriginalfan.blogspot.com/2011/09/shadow-on-wall.html

THE SHADOW ON THE WALL...

...was intended to be Palmer. At the time of filming David Clennon's silhouette was considered too distinct, a dead giveaway. Cinematographer Dean Cundey tried to soften the edges to diffuse the image, but in the end John used stunt coordinator Dick Warlock to throw everyone off the scent...

The scene as originally written ended with the shadow figure uttering a barely decipherable "Hello, Boy" and the door slamming shut from the inside. Additionally, this is the last piece of an originally much longer sequence that had the dog weaving its way through the radio room, storeroom, kitchen and hallway, methodically surveying the scene. Beautifully shot by John, as seen in one piece it had the effect of establishing the camp geography from a dogs eye point of view. Great stuff, but John felt it slowed the story up and cut it down, with only small pieces used ( The brush against Bennings underneath the rec room table, for instance )...

the whole blog is interesting on the behind-the-scenes.

the dog does do some crazy good acting, it's true

man i would love to see an alternate edit of this movie using unused stuff, ANY alternate edit, just to live in that world but with a different skew would be so cool

(which is kinda what i thought we'd be getting in the prequel but erm)

Iirc the dog was the same one in that Ethan Hawke film White Fang

it's true:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jed_(wolfdog)

wow he lived to a good old age

Watched this properly for the first time a couple of days ago.

good thread

The part that is fx is astonishing. Also the part that is acting is astonishing. The dog's acting is astonishing.

It's so grim.

The flying saucer was buried in the Antarctic for thousands of years.

I love how it just freestyles with body.

Not enough repping for the commentary track itt, which is one of the all-time best.

commentary is so enjoyable & great

next to Frankenheimer’s film-school-esque commentary for Ronin, the Thing commentary is an all time favorite

the casting wiki on this is fascinating:

Kurt Russell was involved in the production before being cast, helping Carpenter develop his ideas.[20] Russell was the last actor to be cast, in June 1981, by which point second unit filming was starting in Juneau, Alaska.[20][21] Carpenter had worked with Russell twice before, but wanted to keep his options open. Discussions with the studio involved using actors Christopher Walken, Jeff Bridges, or Nick Nolte, who were either unavailable or declined, and Sam Shepard, who showed interest but was never pursued. Tom Atkins and Jack Thompson were strong early and late contenders for the role of MacReady, but the decision was made to go with Russell.[21] In part, Carpenter cited the practicality of choosing someone he had found reliable before, and who would not balk at the difficult filming conditions.[22] It took Russell about a year to grow his hair and beard out for the role.[23] At various points, the producers met with Brian Dennehy, Kris Kristofferson, John Heard, Ed Harris, Tom Berenger, Jack Thompson, Scott Glenn, Fred Ward, Peter Coyote, Tom Atkins, and Tim McIntyre. Some passed on the idea of starring in a monster film, while Dennehy became the choice to play Copper.[21] Each actor was to be paid $50,000, but after the more-established Russell was cast, his salary increased to $400,000.[11]

Geoffrey Holder, Carl Weathers, and Bernie Casey were considered for the role of Childs, and Carpenter also looked at Isaac Hayes, having worked with him on Escape from New York. Ernie Hudson was the front-runner and was almost cast until they met with Keith David.[24] The Thing was David's first film, and coming from a theater background, he had to learn on set how to hold himself back and not show every emotion his character was feeling, with guidance from Richard Masur and Donald Moffat in particular. Masur and David discussed their characters in rehearsals and decided that they would not like each other.[25] For Blair, the team chose the then-unknown Wilford Brimley, as they wanted an everyman whose absence would not be questioned by the audience until the appropriate time. The intent with the character was to have him become infected early on off-screen, so that his status would be unknown to the audience, concealing his intentions. Carpenter wanted to cast Donald Pleasence, but it was decided that he was too recognizable to accommodate the role.[26] T. K. Carter was cast as Nauls, but comedian Franklyn Ajaye also came in to read for the role. Instead, he delivered a lengthy speech about the character being a stereotype, after which the meeting ended.[27]

Bottin lobbied hard to play Palmer, but it was deemed impossible for him to do so alongside his existing duties. As the character has some comedic moments, Universal brought in comedians Jay Leno, Garry Shandling, and Charles Fleischer, among others, but opted to go with actor David Clennon, who was better suited to play the dramatic elements.[28] Clennon had read for the Bennings character, but he preferred the option of playing Palmer's "blue-collar stoner" to a "white collar science man".[25] Powers Boothe,[2] Lee Van Cleef, Jerry Orbach, and Kevin Conway were considered for the role of Garry, and Richard Mulligan was also considered when the production experimented with the idea of making the character closer to MacReady in age.[29] Masur also read for Garry, but he asked to play Clark instead, as he liked the character's dialogue and was also a fan of dogs. Masur worked daily with the wolfdog Jed and his handler, Clint Rowe, during rehearsals, as Rowe was familiarizing Jed with the sounds and smells of people. This helped Masur's and Jed's performance on-screen, as the dog would stand next to him without looking for its handler. Masur described his character as one uninterested in people, but who loves working with dogs. He went to a survivalist store and bought a flip knife for his character, and used it in a confrontation with David's character.[25] Masur turned down a role in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial to play Clark.[30] William Daniels and Dennehy were both interested in playing Dr. Copper, and it was a last-second decision by Carpenter to go with Richard Dysart.[29]

Omg @ Shandling