Day the Earth Stood Still The (1951)

Directed by Robert Wise with a screenplay by Edmund North that was based on a story by Harry Bates this above average sci-fi thriller was added to the National Film Registry in 1995. The drama which begins with a flying saucer landing in Washington D.C. involves an alien visitor named Klaatu (Michael Rennie) who along with his bodyguard robot Gort (Lock Martin) has come to Earth shortly after our World had entered the nuclear age to advise us about peace and warn us about our own destructive aggression. Predictably Klaatu is shot which though it’s somewhat accidental causes Gort to exhibit his powerful ability (a heat ray) to annihilate our soldiers their weapons and tanks. Klaatu is taken to a hospital where he recovers and then escapes adopting the name Carpenter to walk anonymously among ‘us’ and learn more about Earth and its residents. Through widow Helen Benson (Patricia Neal) and her son Bobby (Billy Gray) Carpenter gets a sense of human nature which includes kindness but events eventually lead to another confrontation and Helen’s utterance of the classic line "Gort! Klaatu barada nikto!". Hugh Marlowe plays Helen’s boyfriend Tom Stevens and Sam Jaffe plays Professor Jacob Barnhardt the brilliant scientist who (naturally) seeks greater understanding. A young Stuart Whitman is recognizable (in his second movie role) as an uncredited Army sentry. #82 on AFI’s 100 Most Heart-Pounding Movies list.

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