Donald Sutherland has been doing great work in films for decades and television shows for decades now, so when I heard he had passed away his entire filmography passed through my mind. Films like Ordinary People, Kelly’s Heroes, The Dirty Dozen, Backdraft, A Time To Kill, and The Hunger Games Franchise as President Snow. One of his most memorable roles though is in the 1978 remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Where he’s running for his life

Matthew Bennell (Donald Sutherland) is an employee at the Department of Health. He goes around checking restaurants for bad behavior, rodent feces, and so forth. When his close friend Elizabeth Driscoll (Brooke Adams) says something is odd about her husband Groffrey, it starts a series of events. He gets news from others he knows of Jack Bellicec (Jeff Goldblum) and his wife that this has happened to a friend of theirs as well. He eventually seeks help from a noted Doctor David Kibner (Leonard Nimoy), who at first seems like he’s on their side, but he’s in actuality one of the pod people.

Sutherland is great in this role. He never doubts Adam’s character and this causes him a lot of trouble in the city with the neighbors, the police, and politicians. This role is typical of the paranoia you might see in an alien objection film or even a war movie. Sutherland has to keep his wits about him because he can’t trust anybody except the Adams character.  It’s thrilling, suspenseful, and ominous all at the same time. It’s like a political thriller such as Three Days of the Condor. Which also came out in the 70s.

This film is based on the 50s original which is based on the novel by Jack Finney. The writer of the script WD Richter and the director Philip Kaufman create a film with a mass hysteria attached to it. It has multiple meanings though. One of which is a politically themed idea that the government will take over and we have to all fall in line with them or be doomed. This falls into 70s-themed films because of the stuff that happened with Richard Nixon and the Vietnam War. It’s a great allegory for this type of story.

With all horror films, there are jump scares and crazy situations involving people hatching from pods. A massive operation that involves thousands of people which signifies a large conspiracy. The overwhelming circumstances are almost more than anyone could overcome. That’s why the film is so important in the horror genre as well as sci-fi and political thriller genres as well. It stands the test of time so well. Like all great movies do.

Sutherland is similar to a lot of film characters in this movie. He is all by his lonesome at one point and is up against overwhelming odds. We all feel that way in life sometimes. The old saying where there’s a will there’s a way comes to mind. Once the conspiracy is fully revealed it’s a race to save humanity and he does a lot of running and jumping just to stay free of the Pod people. It’s a fantastic well-rounded performance from him. This is just one of the many roles that proved why he got an honorary Oscar a few years ago. His speech was hilarious by the way.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers is an amazing remake of a classic 50s horror film with very topical subject matter. It has a great last scene which I won’t spoil in case readers of this review haven’t seen the film. The political sci-fi and horror elements are all combined to create a sense of mass hysteria and an ominous nature. It’s brilliantly written by Richter and directed by Kaufman. Without the believable cast that included Nemoy, Goldblum, and the great Sutherland it wouldn’t be so iconic still to this day. Sutherland will be missed but his filmography remains and that’s a great thing for fans all over the world of all ages, creeds, and religion.       

Dan Skip Allen