Video Flagged Dead

1951 Sci-fi Classic: The Day the Earth Stood Still (1:28:24)

"The Day The Earth Stood Still" depicts the arrival of an alien dignitary Klaatu (Michael Rennie) who has come to earth with his robot guardian Gort to deliver a special message from his people...
Deanosays...

There is a hilarious review of this film somewhere on IMDB that totally rips this film to shreds. This made me alot more sceptical about the film's message having once been a fan.

I wish I could find it again, if I do I shall post it.

Deanosays...

Oh paydirt!

out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Arrogant alien invades earth. **** Off., 21 December 2000
Author: Gary

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

*Some spoilers*

Don't you just hate people who come to your house un-invited, criticise the decor, break something without offering to pay and then push of without so much as a by-your-leave? Well, the arrogance and pomposity of this ET is beyond belief. Despite the flaunting of superior technology he lacks even basic common sense. He leaves his spaceship surrounded by people pointing guns at him, says nothing, then reaches into his jacket and takes out something that makes a sudden movement resulting in his wounding. What does he expect? But no, of course it's all our fault and he sulks. we were too stupid to realise it was a gift, he laments. Well, excuse ME, Mr Alien entity, but we don't have space ships landing every five minutes and scaring the hell out of us, did you take that into consideration? And that huge robot of yours should respect our customs and wear his underpants INSIDE his trousers, this is a public place. But no, Klaatu is here to tell us our business and arrogantly expects us to organise a conference just the way he wants rather than taking a more diplomatic approach or doing a television broadcast which would be more practical. Finally, he decides to do just that, after much huffing and puffing.

Fortunately for Klaatu, the military are none too bright either when he decides to go walkies around Washington. No one thought to take his picture or show a sketch or photo-fit of him over the TV or newspapers thus allowing him to move into a boarding house where he meets Helen and her son, Bobby. Bobby is a bright kid. After seeing Klaatu go into the space ship at night he comes to the perfectly reasonable conclusion that he's a diamond smuggler. And Helen is an irresponsible mother in allowing him to wander around with a total stranger who could be a child molester or something. I'm sure they get them in outer space too. Meanwhile the military continues it's bungling. Only two men guard the most dangerous object in the world without any other hardware or electronic surveillance and the public seems none too curious, either. Also despite there being soldiers on every street corner, not one of them notices a great big robot stomping along the pavements looking for Klaatu. Could his low opinion of the human race be justified? Possibly. Helen is told to say to Gort: "Klaatu barada nikto." But instead she tells him: "Gort Klaatu Barada Nikto" which isn't the same thing. She was lucky not to get zapped.

Now, I could go on all day (and I usually do) but it has to be said that Klaatu's out of order. He enters American air space without permission, lands an unlicensed vehicle in a municipal park, damages military property, deals in un-authorised currency, obstructs traffic, illegally uses a service elevator, kills two men, damages some deck chairs, knocks down a wall and finally tries evading a taxi fare. Are we meant to be impressed?

In fairness, he does pay a great personal price for his reprehensible behaviour but remains supercilious and lacking in humility to the last. He gives us some fascistic nonsense about a system that crushes any aggression with robots that fly around the galaxy. What is this, dumb and dumber? Can you imagine how many arguments and punch-ups there are amongst billions of inhabitants on a planet PER DAY? Get real. And EXCUSE ME, Mr Silver jumpsuit, but doesn't all human progress rely on aggression and individuality? It's every human's right to start wars, oppress the weak and drive around at dangerous speeds in a jeep while having one hand on a phone. We saw off Communism and we'll see you off too, MISTER Klaatu.

Send this Article to a Friend



Separate multiple emails with a comma (,); limit 5 recipients






Your email has been sent successfully!

Manage this Video in Your Playlists




notify when someone comments
X

This website uses cookies.

This website uses cookies to improve user experience. By using this website you consent to all cookies in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

I agree
  
Learn More