Donald Sutherland's '70s Sci-Fi Horror Film With An All-Star Cast Isn't Talked About Enough Today

Even if you aren't familiar with 1978's "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," you'll have seen the image of Donald Sutherland's character pointing and looking angry. It's a meme sensation, but the scene's context within the film is actually terrifying. Philip Kaufman's sci-fi horror masterpiece is one of the greatest alien invasion movies ever made — one that captures the cultural paranoia of the 1970s to great effect. The film also boasts a star-studded cast, with Brooke Adams, Leonard Nimoy, and Jeff Goldblum joining Sutherland for the nightmare.

"Invasion of the Body Snatchers" — an adaptation of Jack Finney's "The Body Snatchers" — sees Sutherland play Matthew Bennell, a public health inspector who learns that the citizens of San Francisco are being replaced by extraterrestrial clones. Bennell is the type of everyman hero we all want to get behind, but how is he supposed to stop creatures who can emulate regular people?

"Invasion of the Body Snatchers" reigns supreme in the kingdom of '70s alien invasion movies, but it deserves another moment in the sun. The film earned rave reviews from critics, as evidenced by its 93% score on Rotten Tomatoes. What's more, the project is fondly remembered by those who worked on it.

Everyone should see "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" because it's one of the best science fiction films of all time. If you need further convincing, though, it was also influential in helping Jeff Goldblum become the actor he is today. "The Jurassic Park" star credits the movie for refining the nervous speech patterns we now associate with his performances, as he explained in an interview with Nerdist.

"[In one scene], I say, 'I... I... I... never thought that they would come in... in metal ships.' And the way [Kaufman] appreciated the way I had done that. It wasn't a big Goldblumism, but I thought, 'That's kind of... I sort of... I think I found something.'"

Philip Kaufman, meanwhile, believes that "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" is relevant in modern times. The director noted that people have become ideologues who lack compassion for those with differing viewpoints, similar to the heartless nature of the aliens who want to overtake humanity in the movie.

"I feel that poddiness has taken over a lot of our discourse," he told The Hollywood Reporter. "I don't want to make this a political diatribe on what's disturbing me in today's world, but it certainly is there."

"Invasion of the Body Snatchers" holds up after all these years, regardless of its themes. Quite simply, it's a perfectly constructed horror movie starring a group of top-tier actors at their very best. There are several great cinematic interpretations of Jack Finney's story, but the 1978 version is unbeatable.