the Iron Giant
| The Iron Giant | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster for The Iron Giant |
|
| Directed by | Brad Bird |
| Produced by | Allison Abbate Pete Townshend Des McAnuff |
| Written by | Tim McCanlies Brad Bird Ted Hughes (book) |
| Starring | Jennifer Aniston Harry Connick, Jr. Vin Diesel |
| Music by | Michael Kamen |
| Cinematography | Steven Wilzbach |
| Editing by | Darren T. Holmes |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| Running time | 86 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $48,000,000 |
| IMDb profile | |
The Iron Giant is a 1999 animated science fiction film, directed by Brad Bird, produced by Warner Bros. Feature Animation, and released by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Script (written by Tim McCanlies), and for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. It is loosely based on a 1968 children's book by Ted Hughes, The Iron Man.
A young boy named Hogarth Hughes discovers an amnesiac "iron man" that fell from space, and saves him from
The characters are voiced by a cast that included Harry Connick, Jr., Jennifer Aniston, John Mahoney, and a then relatively unknown Vin Diesel.
Tagline: It came from outer space!
Synopsis
The story is set during the Cold War in October 1957. The movie begins with a large flaming object plunging through space towards Earth and crashing into the Atlantic Ocean just off the coast of Rockwell, Maine. This meteorite turns out to be the Iron Giant, a 50-foot tall robot of unknown origin and purpose.
The next night, Hogarth Hughes is home alone as his mother, Annie, has to work late again waitressing at the local diner. Hogarth's father is absent throughout the movie except for a brief glimpse of a photograph of a man climbing into the cockpit of a fighter plane. During agent Kent Mansley's questioning of Hogarth, there is a quick mention of, "Been divorced long, scout?"
Hogarth is watching a cheesy science fiction film on the television about a
disembodied brain that comes alive in a tank of water (which closely resembles Fiend
Without a Face or The Brain from Planet Arous) when the
reception fails. He goes outside with a flashlight and finds the TV antenna chewed up on the ground. Seeing a trail of
destruction leading off into the woods, Hogarth gathers a battered pilot's helmet and
The next day, Kent Mansley, a pompous and self-centered U.S. Government agent, arrives at the substation as part of his investigation into reports of a strange object that landed off the Maine coast. (With the recent launch of the satellite Sputnik 1 by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957, a shocked America became even more paranoid of the Iron Curtain nations. Sputnik is shown orbiting the earth as the film begins.)
Apparently Mansley was sent to Maine to see if the meteorite report and smashed substation were all part of a secret Soviet weapon aimed at the United States. At that time, Americans feared that if the Soviets could place a satellite into Earth's orbit with their rockets, they could just as easily launch a nuclear bomb on the U.S. with very little warning.
After finding Hogarth's smashed BB gun with part of his name ("Hog... Hug...") on the remains of the gun stock, Mansley is preparing to leave the substation and drop the whole investigation as not being important enough for him, when he discovers that half his car is missing. He tries to find a witness to verify what has happened, but by the time they return, the entire automobile is gone (the Giant was hungry).
Meanwhile, Hogarth goes into the woods with a camera to find the Giant again. When the two meet, the Giant tries to follow him home, not understanding or heeding Hogarth's pleas to remain behind. When the Giant accidentally causes a train wreck, Hogarth changes his mind and lets the Giant follow him home, hiding it in his barn. There he shows it comic books depicting Superman as an alien visitor who becomes a hero, but also some evil robots and alien invaders. We also learn from these scenes that the Giant is capable of self-repair, that its body parts can function independently and that it can survive the impact of a speeding train.
At the same time, the engineers of the wrecked train (caricatures of, and voiced by,
veteran Disney animators Frank
Thomas and Ollie Johnston) tell Mansley that the train ran into "a giant metal
man" and point to Hogarth's house as a likely place to find a telephone. From Hogarth's home Mansley calls his superior, General
Rogard, in Washington, D.C.; Rogard angrily tells him to get more evidence. As he
leaves, Mansley realizes that the
In order to conceal the Giant, Hogarth relocates it to a nearby scrap yard; the Giant is happy with the massive amounts of metal available for it to eat. The yard's proprietor, a beatnik metal artist named Dean McCoppin, reluctantly agrees to let it stay the night. While exploring the woods, Hogarth and the Giant find a deer. The Giant is entranced by it and disappointed when it leaves. Shortly afterwards, a gunshot is heard and the two discover the body of the deer, killed by hunters. Hogarth explains to the giant about death and how guns kill, but he also states that it isn't bad to die and that souls never die.
Meanwhile, Mansley has rented a room in the Hughes house so he can keep an eye on Hogarth. Little by little, he uncovers the truth, finally tracking the robot's whereabouts to the scrap yard and summoning the Army, led by General Rogard. Hogarth warns Dean, who disguises the Giant as a massive iron statue. Dean proudly shows Rogard his "statue" and even offers to sell it to him. General Rogard is not happy with Mansley.
While playing with Hogarth as the Army is leaving town, the Giant unwittingly reacts to the brandishing of Hogarth's toy gun with automated defensive fire. Hogarth fails to realize what's happening, but Dean rescues him and points out to the Giant what he almost did to Hogarth. The Giant is disturbed by this and leaves. Hogarth gives chase, dropping his toy. Picking it up, Dean recognizes it as having triggered the Giant's response as a defense mechanism. He then assists Hogarth in giving chase.
The Giant is about to leave the town, when he's spotted by a pair of brothers with binoculars, trying to find out if the claim of the giant metal man is real. The balcony they stood upon gives way, and they end up dangling high above town. The Giant rescues the boys, but Mansley, alerted by Dean and Hogarth heading toward town, turns and spots the Giant. He chooses to interpret this as "the giant stomping the town," and exhorts the army to open fire, just as the town realizes with awe that the Giant is friendly.
The Giant flees with Hogarth, deliberately not returning fire. Dean attempts to warn the general that the Giant only reacts defensively to being fired upon. Eager to be proven right, Mansley tells General Rogard that the Giant has killed Hogarth, provoking an escalation of the situation to the president. When the Giant regains consciousness after being shot down by a group of three F-86 Sabres, it sees Hogarth lying on the ground unconscious and motionless, like the deer. Knowing no better, the Giant assumes that its best friend is dead; it is grief-stricken and mourns the apparent loss.
When the military recognizes that the Giant is still "alive" and attacks it at Mansley's command, the Giant becomes enraged. Spontaneously, the dent in its head is repaired and its body transforms into a heavily armored battle machine. The Giant begins using the full force of its superior alien weaponry. The 1950s U.S. military machines are devastated by the attack and have no choice but to retreat, as their weapons prove useless. The military tries to divert the Giant away from Rockwell with some battleships in the harbor, which fire their cannons unsuccessfully at the armored behemoth.
By this point Hogarth has regained consciousness, and he evades the Army to talk to the Giant. Averting the destruction of the battleships, he is able to calm the Giant, which reverts to its regular form upon recognizing Hogarth. Seeing the Giant stand down, General Rogard takes to heart Dean's warning that the Giant will only retaliate in self-defense if it is attacked. He is ready to call a cease fire, but Mansley, who is now obsessed with the Giant's destruction, seizes General Rogard's radio transceiver and orders the crew of the USS Nautilus to launch a nuclear missile. (A use of artistic license: Nautilus was not armed with missiles, nuclear or conventional. A Regulus missile submarine would have been more appropriate but less recognizable.) However, the missile is targeted at the Giant's present location in the center of town. When the nuclear explosive completes its exospheric flight and returns to Earth, Rockwell will be destroyed with no survivors. When General Rogard points this out to him, Mansley panics and tries to escape in a Jeep, but the Giant blocks his escape.
As the missile soars into space, the Giant asks what has frightened the townspeople, and Hogarth explains that when the missile comes down, everyone will die. Reminded of the deer it saw killed by hunters, the Giant decides that it must not allow this to happen. Turning to Hogarth, it declares, as Hogarth told it when they met for the second time, "You...stay. I...go. No following." With that, it launches into the sky, headed for the missile. As it leaves the lower atmosphere, it recalls Hogarth's words: "You are who you choose to be." Closing its eyes, the Giant utters the word "Superman" before colliding with the missile. The detonation can be clearly seen by everyone on the ground. Hogarth takes refuge with his mother and Dean, who can offer him no consolation.
A few months later, in the spring of 1958, Dean and Annie have started dating, and Dean has sculpted a metal statue of the Giant that is placed as a monument in the town park. Hogarth is sent a single screw by General Rogard, the only piece of the Giant recovered from the explosion. In bed that night, Hogarth hears a tapping noise at the window; the screw is attempting to leave, presumably in order to reunite itself with the rest of the Giant. Smiling and realizing what the piece's activity means, Hogarth opens the window and lets it roll away.
The movie ends with the Giant's body parts traveling to the Langjökull glacier in Iceland, summoned there by its self-repair mechanism. In the final shot, the Giant's eyes light up as it smiles.
Voice cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Vin Diesel | The Iron Giant |
| Eli Marienthal | Hogarth Hughes |
| Harry Connick, Jr. | Dean McCoppin |
| Jennifer Aniston | Annie Hughes |
| Christopher McDonald | Kent Mansley |
| John Mahoney | General Rogard |
| James Gammon | Marv Loach Floyd Turbeaux |
| M. Emmet Walsh | Earl Stutz |
Box-office and reception
According to Rotten Tomatoes, the critics' reviews were 97% positive, with praise from many major film critics such as Roger Ebert. Despite critical acclaim, it did poorly at the box office, grossing only $23 million in the U.S.; its poor box office performance can be attributed in part to anemic marketing on Warner's part. The total worldwide gross was only $80 million, although that amount covered the film's estimated budget of $48,000,000.[1] It has since gained a cult following through VHS and DVD sales, and 24 hour marathons on Cartoon Network. It is now regarded as a classic.
Ed Hooks' book Acting for Animators (ISBN 0-325-00580-X) takes the Iron Giant as a classic example for a case study of 'acting in animation' and storytelling.
Trivia
 |
Trivia sections are discouraged under
Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
- In 1989, Pete Townshend of The Who released a concept album based on the book The Iron Man titled The Iron Man: A Musical. Townshend and stage director Des McAnuff developed a stage version that had a successful run at The Old Vic Theatre in London in 1993. They originally wanted to produce a film version of the stage production, but McAnuff and Warner Bros. agreed it would work better as a non-musical animated feature. Although this film is very different than Townshend's concept, he is still credited as an executive producer.
- The Iron Giant appears briefly in a Flying Legions hangar during the 2004 science fiction film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.[1]
- The weapons used by the robot to attack the military forces were based on designs from The War of the Worlds (1953).
- The basic design of the Iron Giant is an allusion to the classic robot "Rico". -->
Soundtrack
- Blast Off - The Tyrones
- Rockin' in Orbit - Jimmie Haskell
- Kookies Mad Pad - Edd "Kookie" Byrnes
- Salt and Peanuts - The Nutty Squirrels
- Comin' Home Baby - Mel Tormé
- Cha-Hua-Hua - Eddie Platt
- Let's Do the Cha-Cha - The Magnificents
- Blues Walk - Lou Donaldson
- I Got a Rocket in My Pocket - Jimmy Lloyd
- Searchin' - The Coasters
- Honeycomb - Jimmie Rodgers
- Destination Moon - The Ames Brothers
- You Can Be... - Michael Kamen
- ...Who You Choose to Be - Michael Kamen
Notes
External links
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