The Blob
Directed by	Irvin Yeaworth
Produced by	Jack H. Harris
Written by	Story: Irving H. Millgate Screenplay: Kay Linaker Theodore Simonson
Starring	Steve McQueen Aneta Corsaut Earl Rowe Olin Howland
Music by	Ralph Carmichael Burt Bacharach
Cinematography	Thomas E. Spalding
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	September 12, 1958
Running time	86 min.
Language	English
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

The Blob is an independently made American horror/science-fiction film from 1958 depicting a giant amoeba-like alien that terrorizes the small community of Downingtown, Pennsylvania. The film was not originally considered to be an international hit. It was not until star Steve McQueen became famous with the TV series Wanted: Dead or Alive that the film became a hit at the drive-ins. Today, the film is recognized as one of the quintessential 1950s American sci-fi/horror films. This was the debut starring performance for Steve McQueen (credited as "Steven McQueen") and also starred Aneta Corsaut. The film is also known for its tongue-in-cheek theme song, "Beware of the Blob" which was written by a pre-stardom Burt Bacharach and Hal David.

Synopsis

The Blob is an amorphous creature from another planet which lands on Earth encased in a meteor. Two teenagers, Steve Andrews (McQueen) and Jane Martin (Corsaut) take a car to try to find where the meteor has landed. Meanwhile, an elderly transient (Howland) has heard the meteor crash near his house. He goes outside and upon finding it pokes it with a stick. The rock breaks open and he finds a small mass of jelly-like substance inside. This "blob", which is actually a living creature, crawls up the stick and sticks to his hand. The man runs hysterically onto the road where he is almost hit by Steve's car. Steve attempts to help the man, but he begs to be taken to the doctor. So they drive him there and arrive just as Doctor Hallen is about to leave the office. He takes the old man in and anesthetizes him, but finds that the mass has grown larger. Finally, it dissolves the old man completely and rolls to the floor, where it also engulfs and eats the nurse and later, the doctor himself.

Steve and Jane return to the office in time to see the Blob consuming the doctor. He phones the local police, kindly Lt. Dave and cynical Sgt. Burt, and they come to the office where they find no sign of the creature or the doctor. Dismissing Steve's story, the police return Steve and Jane to their homes and parents. Later, they sneak out and get Steve's friends out of the late-night "Spook Show" (Daughter of Horror) and try to convince them that the Blob is threatening the town. The Blob, in the meantime, has consumed a mechanic and later (off camera), the janitor in Mr. Andrew's grocery store. Steve and Jane find it here, and it chases them into the walk-in refrigerator, but for some reason it does not follow them in after starting to squeeze under the door. They then escape and set off the town's fire and air-raid alarms. The whole town gathers and demands to know what is going on. As the townspeople and police angrily confront Steve, the Blob enters the Colonial Theater and attacks the audience. As the patrons run screaming out of the theater, the truth of Steve's story is finally confirmed to everyone.

The Blob then follows Steve, Jane and her little brother into the local diner, which it engulfs. The kids, along with the owner and his wife, run into the cellar. The police try to kill the Blob by dropping a power line onto it. This fails, but sets the diner on fire instead. The people are trapped inside with no hope of escape, until Steve starts to quench the fire with a fire extinguisher. The Blob, which is trying to reach them in the cellar, recoils. Steve tells Lt. Dave that the Blob cannot stand cold, and so, taking the fire extinguishers from the local high school, they attack the monster with carbon dioxide. Soon, the Blob is frozen solid, unable to move or engulf anyone. The film closes with a scene of a military plane dropping the Blob into an Arctic landscape.

The film ends with the words "The End", which then morph into a question mark, suggesting that the Blob may return, which it does in the sequel, Beware! The Blob (AKA Son of the Blob).

Cast

• Steve McQueen as Steve Andrews
• Aneta Corsaut as Jane Martin
• Earl Rowe as Lt. Dave
• Olin Howland as Old man
• Elbert Smith as Henry Martin
• Hugh Graham as Mr. Andrews

Production

The Blob was directed by Irvin Yeaworth, who had directed more than 400 films for motivational, educational, and religious purposes. Yeaworth was never particularly proud of this film.^{[citation needed]}

The Blob was filmed in and around Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. The primary shooting took place at Valley Forge Studios, and several scenes were filmed in the towns of Chester Springs, Downingtown, Phoenixville and Royersford. Including the basement of a local restaurant named Chief's. (The setting is apparently Downingtown, Pennsylvania itself as the one policeman identifies his office as "Downingtown HQ" to "East Cornwall HQ" over the radio during his chess game.) It was filmed in color and widescreen.

Steve McQueen received only $3,000 for this film; he had turned down an offer for a smaller up-front sum with 10% of the profits because he did not think the movie would make any money and he needed the money immediately to pay for food and rent; it ended up grossing $4 million.

Legacy

• A comedy sequel was made in 1972, entitled Beware! The Blob, directed by Larry Hagman. In 1988, a remake was made, in which the Blob is rewritten as a secret government project gone wrong. In 2006, Paramount Pictures announced a second remake will be produced by Scott Rudin, slated for release in 2007; Carey Hayes and Chad Hayes, who penned the remake of House of Wax, have been hired to write the screenplay.

• Scenes from The Blob appear in the 1978 musical, Grease.

• R. L. Stine's Goosebumps also featured one story that was an obvious homage to the movie, called The Blob That Ate Everyone.

• Since 2000, the town of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania — one of the filming locations — has held an annual "Blobfest". Activities include a re-enactment of the scene in which moviegoers run screaming from the town's Colonial Theatre, which has recently been restored.

• "Treehouse of Horror XVII", an episode of The Simpsons, contains a parody of The Blob, in which Homer Simpson eats the blob (he thought it was a green marshmallow from space, though this blob tried to get away from him) and turns into a large mass that consumes everything, including Dr. Phil.

• The Blob is also referenced in The Simpsons episode "Bart of Darkness". Homer dives into his algae-infested pool and exlaims "Lisa! the Blob has got me! Don't come close or it'll get you too!".

• The Blob is referenced in the Red Dwarf episode "Camille". Upon learning of Kryten's intention to take a large green blob out on a date, Lister comments "When Steve McQueen met The Blob he tried to kill it. Probably never crossed his mind to take it out to a restaurant."

See also

• Star Jelly

External links

• The Blob (1958) at the Internet Movie Database
• Beware! The Blob (1972) at the Internet Movie Database
• The Blob (1988) at the Internet Movie Database
• Blobermouth (1990) at the Internet Movie Database The Blob (1958) redubbed with a comedy soundtrack.
• The Blob Site - Location tour, trivia, Blobfest
• The Blob - A Hollywood Gothique Retrospective
• Criterion Collection essay by Bruce Kawin
• The Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville, PA - An historic, non-profit theatre and location in The Blob
• Books and movies about Blob-like creatures. (German)/(English)

The Blob
The original movies:	The Blob (1958) • Beware! The Blob (1972)
The new movies:	The Blob (1988) • The Blob (2000s)

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