Movie Mindset 04 - Body Snatchers and Spaces feat. Dan Boeckner
Added 2023-05-17 11:00:05 +0000 UTC
We’re joined by eldritch expert and Movie Mindset musical composer Dan Boeckner to discuss the three canonical Hollywood Body Snatchers films: 1956’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers directed by Don Siegel, 1978’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers directed by Philip Kaufman and 1993’s Body Snatchers directed by Abel Ferrara. We discuss the social, political and sexual themes of all three movies, from Cold War paranoia, to 70’s psyco-babble narcissism, to post-Gulf War end of history nihilism.
Credit for all theme/transition music in this series to Dan and Tim Kingsbury (@sampatchmusic)!
Find more of Dan’s music over at the Operators patreon: https://www.patreon.com/operators
NEXT WEEK: Two from Robert Altman, McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) & Nashville (1975).
I always thought these were silly goofy movies and I guess sometimes they are but I went and saw the 1978 one in theaters and came out of it totally transfixed I'm SO glad I went
Lizard
2025-01-10 10:23:56 +0000 UTC
i just watched the Abel Ferrara body snatchers and i have to offer a different interpretation of his take on the story. it's not really about US militarism or politics at all: it's about being an italian guy surrounded by WASPs
Karl Childers
2024-11-05 05:42:33 +0000 UTC
I know im late and someone may have already talked about it but I always wondered how Nimoy's experiences with Synanon affected his performance as "evil quisling shrink"
Franklin Shepard Inc.
2023-08-10 03:13:52 +0000 UTC
Nimoy as evil spock in this is amazing
Maouriceltic
2023-06-16 13:55:36 +0000 UTC
This gimmick sucks
Kevin Mark Bradshaw
2023-06-05 23:26:05 +0000 UTC
Take double indemnity. Great story, strong story. Not merely a premise. Not merely "will they get away with it "
Thomas Carroll
2023-06-04 04:47:48 +0000 UTC
Nope it's not all the same. It's just that movies today lack a story or plot. Just a premise. Because you can market a movie with a good premise and people will go see it. Movies have been bad for so long that people don't care anymore. They just accept the slop. Horror is expected to be campy and lack a good story. Doesn't mean the movies are bad. Just lack a story
Thomas Carroll
2023-06-04 04:17:10 +0000 UTC
The broad strokes of a plot ("avoid bad thing") are usually the least important element of any story, and most movies could be boiled down to something that sounds stupid if you want to be reductive about it. "Criminal rises, criminal falls, derp The Godfather and Goodfellas and Scarface really drag in the middle for me. Good cinematography though derp"
J.P. McD.
2023-06-04 01:45:50 +0000 UTC
Idk why people love the horror genre so much. Every plot is the same: there's a scary bad thing. We must avoid the scary bad thing. The end. Wow, what a plot. Watched 1978 version, great acting, great cast, wonderfully shot, don't get me wrong. WELL MADE FILM. Really dragged in the middle for me. Why? Because you don't have to pay attention because you know the middle is just them avoiding the bad thing! 7/10.
Thomas Carroll
2023-05-24 17:42:34 +0000 UTC
So so so so stoked for the Altman ep
George Lochinski
2023-05-23 21:06:24 +0000 UTC
Well fuck me, the bugs are delicious now.
Gumbo Pie
2023-05-22 21:35:51 +0000 UTC
Invasion of the body snatchers is to call of Cthulhu classic as puppet masters is to pulp cthulu
Clifton Whittaker
2023-05-22 14:06:24 +0000 UTC
Please try Flesh and Bone (1993) bonkers
Don Tickles
2023-05-22 01:50:28 +0000 UTC
I love Hesse! More Hesse!
Cognitive Behavioral Torture
2023-05-21 18:40:22 +0000 UTC
Lately for sure- definitely rating these eps 9-10 with most others still good just not outstanding....so many tangent comments that i'd be happy to listen to a full episode hearing them explore. Host Chemistry,+ Production Value way higher too... on board except CTH without Will wouldn't work
Degrassi Knoll
2023-05-21 12:24:34 +0000 UTC
In the 1978 version Don Siegel is the taxi driver to the airport.
Ben Walsh
2023-05-21 10:38:35 +0000 UTC
Cannot _wait_ for the Nashville ep. One of my fave __fave__ movies.
George Mitri
2023-05-21 07:29:48 +0000 UTC
PLEASE leave Chapo and do movie mindset forever. PLEEAAAASE I like it better than the main show and I love the main show
Thomas Carroll
2023-05-20 13:59:17 +0000 UTC
Dan is fantastic. The whole crew riffing on these movies is really great. Thanks for making this.
Thomas Mullane
2023-05-20 13:39:40 +0000 UTC
Have you all seen the 2019 version called Assimilate? It’s set in a small Missouri town and is partially a found footage type as follows a trio of teens filming a webcam series and capturing pod people doing their thing on camera. The reaction of the pod people when the teens show them the footage is that they’ll straight up say it’s fake news and didn’t happen lol.
Tyler Wise
2023-05-20 07:36:05 +0000 UTC
loser
Treppy
2023-05-20 00:56:41 +0000 UTC
There was already a loose remake in 2007 called The Invasion with Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig.
Greg Forsyth
2023-05-19 19:14:31 +0000 UTC
Surely a de facto 2010s remake would be the Edgar Wright/Simon Pegg film 'The World's End'.
Savannakhet
2023-05-19 17:33:38 +0000 UTC
The lost boys….pod adjacent? Santa Clara = Santa Mira
Sam Hectic
2023-05-19 14:55:48 +0000 UTC
Staring klye rottenhouse and desantis.
Sam Hectic
2023-05-19 14:47:40 +0000 UTC
Not what I’m subbed for. Thought this was a leftist pod, not some slop about Hollywood.
Matthew Trimble
2023-05-19 14:41:14 +0000 UTC
Meg Tilly does such a good creepy mum performance in Body Snatchers! fun flick
Tom Halliday
2023-05-19 05:17:11 +0000 UTC
So lovely! I was surprised they didn't mention Days of Heaven, which was the same damn year as IOTBS... Or maybe they did and I'm a weedtard?
Shauna Seroquel
2023-05-19 03:44:29 +0000 UTC
Owen
2023-05-19 03:05:52 +0000 UTC
I read that in Zizek’s voice so thank you for that.
Dan
2023-05-19 02:57:15 +0000 UTC
PodPatrol
skrrt vonnegut
2023-05-19 02:40:06 +0000 UTC
This was a great episode!
Matt
2023-05-19 00:41:11 +0000 UTC
Zizek would be for a more ethical society of pods where decency and the public use of reason prevails. No Carnivale or bachinnale. More purposeful alienation! No silly committee meetings to discuss trivialities! Leave me alone to read and write and make films for fuck sake. There here? Great!
David Cox
2023-05-18 21:21:00 +0000 UTC
I just figure he has Syndrome syndrome of some sort…must’ve called in with an epic question that was never answered on one of those eps :(
Ovine Escorts LLC
2023-05-18 16:57:25 +0000 UTC
my take was that yeah it's one malicious alien entity but it's trying to use the illusion of a functional society as a lure
Thom
2023-05-18 16:46:08 +0000 UTC
Fight Club is like when you love your pod person and you try to convince them you each can be your own person but they are too commmitted
Jack Hume
2023-05-18 14:47:37 +0000 UTC
I always found the mechanics of how the takeover works confusing. Like, if the doppelgängers are just murdering the originals, then why do they describe it like the Borg assimilating people? If everyone is going to be killed, what does it matter how much better society is?
Scott Grabel
2023-05-18 14:18:55 +0000 UTC
You can only get tobacco pods in my state
Nolan
2023-05-18 14:18:32 +0000 UTC
"Sleep is the path for the undisciplined." - Jocko Willink, probably.
Yarblockos
2023-05-18 06:24:49 +0000 UTC
Regarding the woking in the '78: That was 100% how it was in many middle class west coast families. WOK NIGHT.
The BUSKER was not actually portrayed physically on film by Garcia; rather, Jerry provided the banjo playing + vocals for Harry. The hybrid mandog haunted young me.
J.W.
2023-05-18 04:46:00 +0000 UTC
we love dan. we love hesse!
Winston
2023-05-18 04:37:46 +0000 UTC
This guy is bringing back that classic vibe of the banned poster returning to a forum under a new name
Chris Ryan
2023-05-18 04:21:46 +0000 UTC
What next? Guest mic Devendra Banhart for their podcast exploring the Smithsonian Folkways archive? I love hearing based takes from washed up indie artists.
Psych-O-Sonic 99
2023-05-18 03:49:47 +0000 UTC
There are so many movie podcasts. Why???
Psych-O-Sonic 99
2023-05-18 03:44:36 +0000 UTC
I love how stupid podcasters are. Don Siegel is a right winger who directed one of the few prison movies to depict prisoner protests and organizing in a positive light —Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954). And one of the few non-reactionary JD films with Crime in the Streets (1956). Siegel’s Madigan (1968) might be the first anti-police brutality film made by a major Hollywood studio (script written by the blacklisted Abraham Polonsky).
Psych-O-Sonic 99
2023-05-18 03:29:52 +0000 UTC
I'd do an awful lot for a Rita Hayworth autograph. Just sayin'...
Jason Edmiston
2023-05-18 01:49:05 +0000 UTC
Definitely not too nerdy! The town in Halloween III is even called Santa Mira.
Jim Veil
2023-05-18 01:08:53 +0000 UTC
For a second I was thinking that maybe the pods are movies. But then I was like "nah".
Gulb
2023-05-18 01:04:02 +0000 UTC
Philip Kaufmans Wanderers is a great movie
polarkeef
2023-05-17 23:21:17 +0000 UTC
Divine Fits is a very solid album.
Chris T
2023-05-17 21:57:41 +0000 UTC
Surreal to see this title when I just started a book called bodysnatchers by juan carlos onetti this evening
Kurt Brendel
2023-05-17 21:46:31 +0000 UTC
It's subtle but in the opening scenes of the 1978 movie, right behind Duvall and the swing sets, there are truck loading pods/bodies. It just lets you know that, just like in the first movie, this is already underway.
James Proulx
2023-05-17 20:35:43 +0000 UTC
I couldnt help but notice the similarities of the ending between the 78 version of body snatchers and Dont Look Now.
Anna
2023-05-17 20:34:19 +0000 UTC
You guys missed out by not doing the spiritual successor/remake, THE FACULTY the moral of which is that teens should do drugs in order to defeat aliens. Sequel episode plz!
William Evans
2023-05-17 20:22:10 +0000 UTC
This aint it chief
Flesh Colored Subaru
2023-05-17 20:09:12 +0000 UTC
Also amphetamines were over the counter. My grandfather told me he used to buy dexadrine from the pharmacy without a prescription
NYCM&AHole
2023-05-17 19:03:56 +0000 UTC
I’m pro amphetamines too
NYCM&AHole
2023-05-17 18:49:33 +0000 UTC
Shit, I have combined her career with her sister's. But all of these things are pretty much true for both of them.
John Williams
2023-05-17 18:12:19 +0000 UTC
An essay around the time it came out was in esquire or gq, so this is not an original thought.
Steve D
2023-05-17 17:48:26 +0000 UTC
So, I hope this isn't too nerdy, but Halloween III was originally intended to be more Body Snatcher-like, and Carpenter hired Quatermass screenwriter Nigel Kneale to make it such. All that remains in the finished version, really, are the robot guards.
Kenny Hedges
2023-05-17 17:47:54 +0000 UTC
An interesting end of history pod people reversal is 1998’s Pleasantville.
Steve D
2023-05-17 17:47:39 +0000 UTC
The Nicole Kidman/Daniel Craig 00s version THE INVASION is underrated if only cause it’s by the same director as DOWNFALL and fairly nakedly about how easily Americans would go in for fascism
John Leavitt
2023-05-17 17:12:38 +0000 UTC
Nolan
2023-05-17 17:10:41 +0000 UTC
Invasion of the booty snatchers, and it's an increasing number of overly effeminate gay men on roller skates sexually assaulting everyone.
Poppy Chulo
2023-05-17 17:06:03 +0000 UTC
Meg Tilly is such an underrated 10/10 smokeshow and she should get an academy award for outstanding performance in getting naked and double crossing.
John Williams
2023-05-17 17:04:54 +0000 UTC
"Santa Mira" is Spanish for "divine vision" or "holy image," hence (I imagine) the movie continuity
Michael S. Judge
2023-05-17 17:03:11 +0000 UTC
Still in awe of Will's Unfrozen Caveman Movie Critic look for the art.
veni
2023-05-17 16:38:29 +0000 UTC
i bag bitches up in john jay and hit a matinee
calvin kilby
2023-05-17 15:34:59 +0000 UTC
Loving this series
HarshMalarkey
2023-05-17 15:00:45 +0000 UTC
Shouts out to rich boy Winston and his zigzagoon
John Grater
2023-05-17 13:58:46 +0000 UTC
Dog faced pod https://youtu.be/I5hc5E5DYig
NYCM&AHole
2023-05-17 13:58:08 +0000 UTC
I wake and bake and caffeinate. Then I don’t realize I’m working until like 11:30, and by then I have most of a day of work done.
EaZy E
2023-05-17 13:43:35 +0000 UTC
The most truly dirtbag left thing that could happen is that politics is dropped completely and this becomes a full on movie reviewing pod. Be bold chapo.
Ben Zaretsky
2023-05-17 13:32:34 +0000 UTC
bottlemen retvrn
big mood
2023-05-17 13:20:21 +0000 UTC
Might be the ssris speaking but this was just a fantastic ep, really fun and engaging way to get through weds morning. Cheers all, excited to see where this pod goes.
Blank
2023-05-17 12:46:21 +0000 UTC
Grabbed myself a treat (redbull and two xannies, the lowest form of speedball) time to throw this on and "work" for two hours
Claire Casey
2023-05-17 12:10:15 +0000 UTC
So now I know exactly who to blame for that song being stuck in my head all the damn time
Claire Casey
2023-05-17 11:49:24 +0000 UTC
I never sleep, sleep is the cousin of death
David James
2023-05-17 11:26:42 +0000 UTC
Yee
William
2023-05-17 11:11:24 +0000 UTC