Linkshoch Wonderful Movie

Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

GarnettTeenage The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Michael Morrison In some ways, this scary preparedness film is rather hokey and out of date -- but not in the acting nor the special effects.Interestingly, despite some misinformed reviews and even the overview at IMDb, no enemy country is ever named. At some points, the enemy sound like Nazis, at others Eastern European.Yes, they are Marxists, and that is bluntly explained a few times, but, for whatever reason, perhaps of diplomacy, no nation is named.In fact, in 1952 Marxists were the indeed the enemy most to be feared, foreign and domestic.And that is still true today, even if they are subtler in their goals and targets than the ones portrayed in this film. And even if they prefer to label themselves "democratic socialists."One important lesson in this film, not at all intended, is that all governments and all violent movements, whether Marxist, Nazi, or religious extremist, pose serious dangers to people, to individual human beings.This movie opens with a reporter asking people whether they would support a "universal draft," not just for the military, but for "essential" jobs, such as military or defense plants.Such a concept springs from a collectivist notion: We as individuals count only as cogs in the giant machine of the state.One man expresses anger that the government wants to take over his plant to make tanks: He has spent years building his business, he notes, and he has others depending on him and his output. He objects to being taken over by the government. Tractors are important to society, also.At the close, a quote from George Washington about preparedness being the best prevention of war re-emphasizes the movie's point; but the movie misses another point, the one I mentioned earlier: People are their own purposes, and as we submerge ourselves into the group, into "society," into the collective, we set ourselves up just for such scenarios as this.Big government almost inevitably leads to war.Movements that use, that advocate violence to accomplish their goals, whether economic or religious, promulgate and maintain their own wars.Big government and violent mass movements each causes and results from the lessening, the very destruction of individualism. It behooves each of us, all of us, to work and vote and educate for freedom, for strengthening individuals and the concept of the individual, and work, vote, and educate for human rights.But, and this is very important, those efforts are vital, not just in these United States, but in every nation-state and in every city. And especially in every human heart.

Michael_Elliott Invasion U.S.A. (1952) * 1/2 (out of 4) If you listen to most reviewers they'll have you believing that this propaganda film is among the worst movies ever made. The story is pretty simple as a group of strangers are sitting in a bar when the news breaks that the Soviet Union have invaded America. Before long most of America has been hit with an Atomic Bomb.INVASION U.S.A. is considered by many to be one of the worst movies ever made but I think that's rather extremely. There's no question that there are some very bad things in the picture but at the same time it manages to hold you attention no matter how bad things get. I think the biggest problem with the film is the fact that its budget was so low that they really weren't able to do anything good with the picture.I say that because even though the film is only 72-minutes long, I'd say a third of that is made up of stock footage, which obviously makes the picture look cheap. There are so many scenes where it's either stock footage or projection stuff that you can't help but not be frightened by anything you're looking at. The entire point of this picture was to frighten you into thinking that the Soviet Union could strike at any moment but without the drama there's just not much here. To make matters worse, there are some unintentional funny moments including a scene where the Hoover Dam is bombed and a family gets taken out by the water.There are some decent performances here including Gerald Mohr and Dan O'Herlihy. Character actor Tom Kennedy is also on hand playing the bartender. Another problem I had with the story is the fact that America pretty much falls without any issue. I mean, as easy as it was for us to be taken over it would be impossible for America to beat anyone. Still, INVASION U.S.A. isn't nearly the bomb some make it out to be.

Royalcourtier This film is no masterpiece. But it is nowhere near as bad as often made out, perhaps by those who have never seen it.The use of stock footage, and some cheap special effects, is not unusual for films of this vintage. For a low budget film, it actually made good use of the available resources.I suspect most of the criticism is not based on the film itself, but its supposed political failings. However the politics of a film are not a reason to pan it. We recognise the Battleship Potemkin as a great film, despite it being communist propaganda. The same applies to Triumph of the Will as Nazi propaganda. Less successful but no less political films, such as Schindler's List, are rated on their merits, irrespective of their message.Invasion U.S.A. adopts a narrative that is close to documentary. It does not include irrelevant romantic distractions, or complex sub-plots. It is rather more of a war film than an anti-communist work.The enemy is not clearly identified. They look and sound rather more like Nazis than Reds. The identity of the enemy is not as important as the message that America needs to be ready to defend itself. I would have thought that the message that a country needs to be vigilant is as correct now as in 1952.The course of the invasion, and its successful outcome, were refreshing after watching too many gung ho American films where the US heroes always prevail. This film shows the reality that the USA could have been invaded by the Soviet Union in 1952 - if they had been, the Soviets would almost certainly have won the war. Russia had a narrow window of opportunity, before the USA developed too many thermonuclear weapons, and invasion would be too costly. There were Soviet invasion plans prepared.I wonder when we will see an American film about a successful Taliban or ISIS attack on the USA, with the message that the USA needs to be prepared.

Michael O'Keefe A low-budget scare movie full of propaganda with tons of repeated stock footage. Having drinks in a Manhattan cocktail lounge are cattle baron(Erik Blythe), tractor factory owner(Robert Bice), TV reporter(Gerald Mohr), a fetching "hottie"(Peggie Castle)and a mysterious stranger(Dan O'Herlihy)that convinces all that the H-bomb has been released on America, when TV reports that Alaska and the state of Washington have already been attacked by Communist invaders. Actual bombings and air battles intersperse the overacting. Other players include: Phyllis Coates, Tom Kennedy, Wade Crosby and Clarence A. Shoop.