The Blob [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

Director: Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr. Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr.

Overview

In his first starring role, Steve McQueen plays a typical oversexed, car-lovin' highschooler who can't get anyone to believe his story about a huge meteor, which crashes to earth and begins exuding a pink, gooey substance. Affixing itself to the body of an old man, the "blob" begins parasitically sucking the life out of several unfortunate humans, growing to an enormous size. Problem is, the disappearances of the victims can all be explained (one is supposed to be out of town, another is attending a convention), so the cops still won't believe McQueen or his girlfriend Aneta Corsaut (the future Helen Crump of The Andy Griffith Show). Rallying his teen pals, McQueen finally manages to get the adults' attention-but by now, the Blob is consuming entire city blocks. In 1972, the sequel Beware the Blob followed.

Product Details

Release Date:	03/12/2013
UPC:	0715515103312
Original Release:	1958
Source:	Criterion Collection
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Language:	English
Time:	1:22:00
Sales rank:	8,574

Special Features

New 4K digital restoration with uncompressed monaural soundtrack; Two audio commentaries: one by producer Jack H. Harris and film historian Bruce Eder and the other by director Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr. and actor Robert Fields; Blobabilia!, a gallery of collector Wes Shank's trove of rare stills, posters, props (including the blob itself!) and other ephemera; Trailer; Plus: an essay by critic Kim Newman

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Steve McQueen	Steve Andrews
Earl Rowe	Lt. Dave
Alden Chase	Dr. T. Hallen
John Benson	Sergeant Jim Bert
Vincent Barbi	George, the Cafe Owner
Julie Cousins	Sally, the waitress
Elbert Smith	Mr. Henry Martin
Audrey Metcalf	Mrs. Elizabeth Martin
Keith Almoney	Danny Martin
Elinor Hammer	Mrs. Porter
Lee Paton	Nurse Kate
George Karas	Officer Ritchie
Pamela Curran	Smooching Teenager
Ralph Roseman	auto mechanic
Robert Fields	Tony Gressette
James Bonnet	`Mooch' Miller
Anthony Franke	Al,Al
Molly Ann Bourne	Teenager
Diane Tabben	Teenager
Aneta Corsaut	Jane Martin
Hugh Graham	Steve's Father
Olin Howland	Old Man
Charlie Overdorff	Actor
David Metcalf	Actor
Josh Randolph	Actor
George Gerbereck	Actor
Eugene Sabel	Actor
Stephen Oates	Actor
Vivian Ogden	Actor,Fire Chief
Jasper Deeter	Civil Defense Volunteer
Tovert Fields	Actor

Technical Credits

Theodore Simonson

Kay Linaker

Jack H. Harris	Producer
Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr.	Director
Theodore Simonson	Screenwriter
Kay Linaker	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

Cold War anxieties and a pervasive fear of youth culture fuel the 1958 cult gem The Blob. Starring a young and already ultra-cool Steve McQueen, this vintage sci-fi/horror movie starts out promisingly enough with a catchy theme song penned by Burt Bacharach and Hal David and a crashed meteor that releases the deadliest pile of jelly known to man. When he witnesses the goo ingesting the town's doctor, McQueen tries to warn locals of their impending doom. But no one listens to him -- he's a rabble-rousing youth, after all. Soon enough, it's up to McQueen and his girlfriend Jane (Aneta Corsaut) to save lot of running and screaming townsfolk from the hungry blob. McQueen makes the movie, his trademark strut and stoicism are already firmly in place, albeit pit against a truly absurd villain. Charming in its 1950s Americana morals, The Blob is an ideal drive-in throwback, the higher end version of what contemporary schlockster Ed Wood aspired to make, and a generally campy good time for genre fans.

Barnes & Noble - R.J. Wafer

One of the more memorable low-budget 1950s monster movies, The Blob deals with a gelatinous alien mass which gobbles up a small town, growing bigger as it feeds on human beings. Steve McQueen is the good-hearted juvenile delinquent (okay, so he was 28) who tries to warn the adults, but they don't listen. This Pennsylvania-shot chiller has a number of well-done scenes, including an attack on a movie theater showing Daughter of Horror, as well as the standard drag-racing and other teenage hijinks. Aneta Corsaut plays McQueen's girlfriend, and Olin Howland is the old man with the stick in the film's creepy opening sequence. Kitschy, but fun, the film was followed by Son of Blob in 1972 and remade in 1988.

All Movie Guide - Robert Firsching