Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) - a podcast by Chris, Sean, Jeremy | Force Fed Sci-Fi

This week, we’re taking a look at one of the most terrifying films ever made and one of the best films covered on Force Fed Sci-Fi so far, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978). Join us as we dive into the Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) cast, Invasion of the Body Snatchers Ending, give our own Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) review and rating. It's amazing how this movie for its time took multiple genre motifs, combined them, and turned this movie into a classic for both horror and science-fiction. Jump in with us and shriek your way through our discussion on this weekly edition of Force Fed Sci-Fi!
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) Cast and DirectorDonald Sutherland as Dr. Matthew Bennell

Sutherland was actually something of an established actor prior to taking on the role of Matthew while previously appearing in M*A*S*H, The Dirty Dozen, Kelly’s Heroes and Animal House which also came out in 1978. Obviously Sutherland would go on to have further success and continues to star in films to this day and this film is definitely a notch in his resume. (We also just covered Ad Astra which also stars Donald Sutherland, check it out!)Jeff Goldblum as Jack Bellicec

Another actor who would go on to have mega success in their career, Goldblum stars in this film as one of his early entries into Hollywood. We agreed that it was nice to see Goldblum simply act and not add any sort of pause or inflection as he tends to do nowadays. His character of Jack deals with quite a bit during this film as he constantly feels like he’s in competition with a colleague and discovers one of the"pod"extraterrestrials in his family business.

Leonard Nimoy as Dr. David KibnerNimoy’s casting was intentional on the part of Kaufman as the producers were hoping to break the typecasting Nimoy was dealing with following the conclusion of the Star Trek series. His character walks the line of being a hero and a villain as we don’t find out until later in the film that he’s in command of several of the"pod"aliens and is attempting to convert Matthew and Jack into the"pod"clone collective.

Veronica Cartwright as Nancy BellicecWe aren’t sure how Cartwright can pull off looking scared all the time, but she does it well. She also played Lambert in 1979’s Alien and she was just terrified the entire time. It’s not a critique of her acting style, but adding her to play the part of a terrified woman was a great choice for the film. She seemed to be the last human alive in San Francisco at the end. Did she survive her being discovered at the end? Probably not, but more on that later.

Brooke Adams as Elizabeth DriscollWhile Adams has limited credits to her name, we feel like she did a great job in her performance of Elizabeth. It seems like she is the target of the"pods"as it’s not until the third time that she’s converted into one herself. Throughout the film she joins and stays with Matthew and his friends to figure out a way to battle the invasion, but it seems like an impossible task that’s laid out before them.

Directed by Philip KaufmanWe were surprised to learn that Philip Kaufman is something of a legend in Hollywood. While some of his bigger credits come from The Outlaw Josey Wales and Raiders of the Lost Ark as a screenwriter, he also directed The Right Stuff, a look at the early days of the NASA space program. He brought many of his personal influences to Invasion of the Body Snatchers as San Francisco is his hometown and wanted to showcase the city.
Released at an Interesting Time in America's History
As we analyzed during the podcast episode, Invasion of the Body Snatchers came out at an interesting time in American history back in 1978. The country wasn’t that far removed from the end of the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal was still fresh in the minds of citizens, crime was at an all-time high and gas prices were on the rise (ok, not as close to what they are today, but still).

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