From out of space ... a warning and an ultimatum!
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Where's the Yahoo In This Picture?
TIME May 14, 1951
The Day The Earth Stood Still
The Day The Earth Stood Still combines a glimpse into the futuristic marvels of outer space with a thoughtful look at the seedy old earth of 1951. Klaatu (Michael Rennie), the visitor from outer space, is an ultra-civilized human being who makes the earthmen, by contrast, look like a monstrous race of Yahoos.
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Klaatu comes from an unnamed planet 250 million miles away and thousands of years more advanced than the earth, on a mission that will determine our planet's fate. His 4,000 m.p.h. spaceship pancakes to a perfect landing near the Washington Mall, and he steps out with a friendly greeting into a hostile ring of troops, tanks, and artillery. When a jittery G.I. puts a bullet into Klaatu, a huge robot lumbers out of the spaceship and emits a ray that melts the weapons in the soldiers' hands and the tanks right out from under them. Klaatu finally accomplishes his mission, thanks to a young war widow (Patricia Neal), her eleven-year-old son (Billy Gray) and the earth's leading scientist, well played by Sam Jaffe with an Einstein hair-do.
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