FBI agent Robert Graham (James Arness) and New Mexico state trooper Ben Peterson (James Whitmore) battle giant mutant ants in Gordon Douglas's 1954 sci-fi thriller, Them!

Director Gordon Douglas masterfully delivered the sci-fi goodies in Warner Bros'. Them!, a monster classic steeped in 1950s paranoia and the radioactive climate of the Cold War. Starring a young James Arness, Them! also featured the talents of 1948 Oscar winner Edmund Gwenn, who as Dr. Harold Medford issued this stern warning...

"When man entered the atomic age, he opened a door into a new world. What we eventually find in that new world, nobody can predict."

It Came from George Worthy Yates

Them! was based on the story by George Worthy Yates (1901-1975), whose previous Hollywood credits included The Lone Ranger (1938), The Falcon in Mexico (1944) and This Woman Is Dangerous (1952). Yates would later hone his talents on such science fiction movie fare as It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955), Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956) and The Amazing Colossal Man (1957).

As originally written, Them! was set in New York City, where giant ants run rampant through the subways. The producers, however, deemed that New York locales were too expensive to film, so they settled on Los Angeles and its extensive network of storm drains.

Ants on the Set

Filmed from September to November 1953, Them! was originally to be shot in 3-D color format. But equipment failures, coupled with studio budget concerns, effectively killed that idea, and the movie reverted to standard black and white.

The principal special effects used in the movie were giant ants. These came in the form of two large props constructed by Dick Smith. One consisted of an entire ant while the other, used for closeups, comprised a front section only.

Flamethrowers, on loan from the U.S. Army and expertly wielded by actual WW II combat veterans, were convincingly utilized in the extermination scenes.

The Horror of Them!

The film begins with two New Mexico state troopers responding to a call in the desert. Here they find a little girl (Sandy Descher) wandering through the brush, apparently traumatized by some unknown event.

The two cops then travel down the road to Gramps Johnson's place, where they encounter the owner's dead body amidst the shattered debris. While Trooper Peterson (Whitmore) departs the scene, his partner, Ed Blackburn (Chris Drake), stays behind. Like Gramps, Blackburn soon becomes a victim, squeezing off several rounds from his service revolver before succumbing to an unseen horror.

With FBI Special Agent Robert Graham (Arness) now on the case, the evidence is examined, including a plaster cast of a strange footprint left at the scene and the autopsy report on Gramps. The latter proves chilling, as the deceased's body contained enough formic acid to kill twenty men.

A father/daughter scientific team (Gwenn, Joan Weldon) is brought in to aid in the investigation. They conclude that mutant ants, a product of atomic testing, have hatched in the New Mexico desert, offering the possibility of "a biblical prophesy come true."

Although an attempt is made to wipe out the ants' desert nests and their egg-laying queens, it ultimately fails, with the mutant creatures taking flight and causing havoc around the globe. One of their targets is the S.S. Viking, whose crew is butchered at sea by the giant beasts.

New York City Premiere

Them! premiered in New York City on June 16, 1954. Reviewing the movie was A.H. Weiler of The New York Times, who called it "taut science-fiction."

With Fess Parker, Onslow Stevens, Sean McClory, Olin Howlin, Leonard Nimoy, Richard Deacon and others in support, Them! proved to be Warner Bros'. highest-grossing film of 1954.

"Them! Them! Them!" the little Ellinson girl screams at the hospital as she recalls her harrowing ordeal.

Yeah, kid, Them! don't play nice...