Mars Attacks!
| Mars Attacks! | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster. | |
| Directed by | Tim Burton |
| Written by | Jonathan Gems |
| Produced by | Tim Burton Larry J. Franco Laurie Parker |
| Starring | Jack Nicholson Glenn Close Annette Bening Pierce Brosnan Danny DeVito Martin Short Sarah Jessica Parker Michael J. Fox Tom Jones Natalie Portman Christina Applegate Rod Steiger Lukas Haas Jim Brown Lisa Marie Sylvia Sidney |
| Cinematography | Peter Suschitzky |
| Edited by | Chris Lebenzon |
| Music by | Danny Elfman |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release dates | December 13, 1996 |
Running time | 106 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $70,000,000 (estimated) |
Mars Attacks! is a comedy and science fiction film by Tim Burton based on the popular card series Mars Attacks. It was released in 1996 by Warner Bros.
The film combines the storyline and tone of a B-movie (or B-movie spoof) with the budget of a blockbuster movie. It features an ensemble cast. The film is highly dependent upon special effects. The soundtrack by Danny Elfman makes extensive use of the theremin.
The film received mixed reviews from critics (though it was more popular in Europe), and although it grossed some $101,371,017 worldwide, it was considered a moderate box office success because of its cost ($70 million).
Cast
- Jack Nicholson - President James Dale - US President, husband of Marsha Dale, father of Taffy Dale. Seeks to gain relations with the Martians. He is persuaded to be peaceful by his more liberal advisors.
- Jack Nicholson - Art Land - Las Vegas Property developer, husband of Barbara Land. Not concerned by the invasion, more concerned by the well being of his investors
- Glenn Close - First Lady Marsha Dale - US First Lady, Wife of James Dale, mother of Taffy Dale. Agrees with General Decker over the Martian's intentions
- Annette Bening - Barbara Land - ex alcoholic, wife of Art Land. She likes the Martians
- Pierce Brosnan - Professor Donald Kessler - Chairman of the National Academy of Astronautics, advisor to President, in love with Nathalie Lake, thinks the Martians are friendly
- Danny Devito - Rude Gambler - Gambler, he is a lawyer and attempts to negotiate with the Martians
- Martin Short - Press Secretary Jerry Ross - White House Press Secretary, very sleazy. Only cares about the President's media image.
- Sarah Jessica Parker - Nathalie Lake - Reporter for Today in Fashion, girlfriend of Jason Stone, in love with Donald Kessler
- Michael J. Fox - Jason Stone - Reporter for GNN, boyfriend of Nathalie Lake
- Rod Steiger - General Decker - Four Star General, wants to destroy the Martians and doesn't trust them. He turns out to be right.
- Paul Winfield - General Casey - Three Star General, thinks the Martians are peaceful. Sent to greet the Ambassador in Nevada
- Tom Jones - himself - Famous real life singer, assists Byron, Barbara during their escape from Las Vegas
- Jim Brown - Byron Williams - Bouncer at a Las Vegas casino, ex world heavyweight champion
- Lukas Haas - Richie Norris - Lives in Perkinsville, Kansas. Family outcast, eventually saves the world
- Natalie Portman - Taffy Dale - US First Daughter, daughter of James and Marsha Dale; voiced in the Japanese dub by Aya Hisakawa
- Pam Grier - Louise Williams - Wife of Byron, mother of Cedric and Neville. Washington D.C bus driver
- Lisa Marie - Martian Girl - Disguised as a beautiful woman, tricks Jerry Ross into letting her into the White House
- Brian Haley - Secret Service Agent Mitch - Bodyguard of President Dale, remains with him throughout the film
- Sylvia Sidney - Grandma Florence Norris - Lives in Perkinsville. Family outcast, helps Ritchie save the world with her music which kills the Martians
- Jack Black - Billy Glen Norris - US Army Soldier, volunteers for Martian detail in the Nevada desert
- Ray J - Cedric Williams - Brother of Neville, son of Byron and Louise, helps protect the President
- Brandon Hammond - Neville Williams - Brother of Cedric, son of Byron and Louise, saves the President's life
- Janice Rivera - Cindy - actress at a Las Vegas casino. Escapes with Tom Jones and Barbara
- O-Lan Jones - Sue Ann Norris - Mother of Billy Glen and Ritchie. Wife of Mr. Norris.
- Christina Applegate - Sharona - Lives in a trailer diagonally across from the Norris's
- Joe Don Baker - Mr. Norris - Father of Billy Glen and Ritchie. Very proud of Billy Glen
- Jerzy Skolimowski - Dr. Zeigler - Inventor of the translator device. Present in Nevada during first contact
- Barbet Schroeder - Maurice, the French President - President of France, negotiates unsuccessfully with the Martians.
- David Chadwick - Larry Murphy - The Wedding day singer
Style and movie references
 | This article possibly contains original research. (September 2007) |
As with other Burton movies, the subject under scrutiny is not only the present, but the mass culture of his own suburban childhood. Although nominally set in the present day, the film contains numerous anachronistic references to the style of the 1950s science fiction B-movies of which it is a parody. The film's tone is similar to that of the trading card series, depicting exaggerated comic violence with an intense and often garish color scheme.
The plot is fairly simple but contains unusual variations on the normal Martian invasion movie. The premise is that Martians have arrived at Earth and the President of the United States, James Dale, (played by Jack Nicholson) seeks to gain maximum public relations points by establishing a friendly relationship with them. The Martians, however, reject these overtures and proceed to wreak havoc with their spectacular red and green death-ray guns that vaporize all but the skeleton of the target. The Martians also toy with Professor Kessler's assumption that advanced civilizations are peace-loving; they repeatedly set up meetings for peace treaties and then massacre the humans involved. They use this tactic to wipe out both the United States Congress and the National Assembly of France.
As in the film The War of the Worlds, a simple weapon is ultimately found to counter the alien invaders: in this instance it is the playing of a piece of yodeling music, "Indian Love Call" by Slim Whitman, that turns out to be lethal to the Martians, making their brains explode. This is similar to another parody of B-movies, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, in which the killer tomatoes were defeated by playing the song "Puberty Love" by Ronny Desmond.
The film has an interesting relationship with Independence Day, an alien invasion movie released a few months earlier by rival studio 20th Century Fox. Mars Attacks plays for comedy everything that Independence Day plays with relative seriousness. For example, where Independence Day has an extended sequence of epic and impressive destruction across the world, Mars Attacks! has the aliens using Easter Island as a bowling alley, carving their own faces in Mount Rushmore, toppling the Washington Monument onto boy scouts in Washington, D.C. (a deliberate parody of a similar scene in the 1956 B-movie Earth vs. the Flying Saucers), and melting the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal, Sydney Opera House and the Big Ben. Other similarities include:
- Enthusiastic humans who eagerly await the aliens' arrival, only to be mercilessly slaughtered in the initial attack.
- Scenes of frantic escapes from the White House.
- The death of the First Lady (in this case, Marsha Dale (Glenn Close) is crushed under a chandelier [Nancy Reagan's chandelier] during the President's chaotic escape from the White House).
- The U.S. President needing convincing to use a nuclear weapon against the invaders. It proves futile.
Ultimately, Mars Attacks! parodies the American spirit of gung-ho independence that Independence Day celebrates. Since Mars Attacks! was released shortly after Independence Day, it appeared as a direct parody of that film; however, since Burton's film was almost completed at the time Independence Day was released, the similarities are purely coincidental, or derived from mutual use of science fiction clichés.
In a manner similar to that of Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove, Nicholson plays more than one role: he plays both the President and a Las Vegas real estate speculator; for the latter role he sports sunglasses, cowboy hat and buck teeth that make him "almost" unrecognizable. In another strange coincidence, Dr. Strangelove had a similar relationship with the movie Fail-Safe. They debuted at almost the same time with similar plots, but one was a straightforward drama and the other a comedy. Nicholson's double role was the result of a joke with director Tim Burton when Nicholson was cast and Burton had asked Nicholson which role he was interested in, to which Nicholson replied "All of them!" As a result, Burton permitted Nicholson to do the double role of Art Land and President Dale. (Jack Nicholson, Martin Short & Michael J. Fox are the only cast to return in Final destination 3)
Deaths
Most members of the top-billed cast have their character killed in the movie – twice, in Nicholson's case. Survivors included Bening, Jones, Brown, Sidney, Haas, Portman.
- General Casey (Paul Winfield): Incinerated by Martian ray gun
- Dr Ziegler (Jerzy Skolimowski): Incinerated by Martian ray gun off-screen
- Billy Glenn Norris (Jack Black): Incinerated by Martian ray gun
- Jason Stone (Michael J Fox): Incinerated by Martian ray gun off-screen
- Congress (all of them): Incinerated by Martian ray gun
- Jerry Ross (Martin Short): Hit in the head with paper weight
- Rusty the dog (no credit given): Incinerated by Martian ray gun
- Martian Girl (Lisa Marie): Shot in the head by Mitch
- Marsha Dale (Glenn Close): Crushed by falling chandelier
- Art Land (Jack Nicholson): Killed in building destruction by Martian spaceship
- Maurice, the French President (Barbet Schroeder): Incinerated by Martian ray gun
- Mr. and Mrs. Norris (Joe Don Baker & O-Lan Jones): Trailer smashed into Sharona's trailer by Martian in a robot.
- Sharona and Boyfriend (Christina Applegate): Trailer smashed into the Norris' trailer by Martian in a robot.
- Martian in robot: The robot runs into power and telephone lines toppling the robot over sending the Martian sailing into the windshield and splattering his head.
- Rude Gambler (Danny DeVito): Incinerated by Martian ray gun
- General Deckner (Rod Steiger): Shrunk by shrink-ray and squished
- Mitch (Brian Haley): Incinerated by Martian ray gun
- President James Dale (Jack Nicholson): Impaled in the back with robotic Martian arm which ended up being the Martian Flag.
- Martian Ambassador: Helmet smashed by Byron
- Martians: Brains explode when they hear music
- Natalie (Sarah Jessica Parker): Killed in flying saucer crash
- Professor Donald Kessler (Pierce Brosnan): Killed in flying saucer crash
Notes
 | This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. (June 2007) |
- The destruction of the spaceship-themed Las Vegas hotel was in fact an actual demolition, that of the Landmark Hotel and Casino. It was imploded to make way for a parking lot at the Las Vegas Convention Center.[citation needed]
- A large portion of the original trading cards series included oversized bugs that the Martians used to exterminate the humans. No oversized bugs were seen in the film, though flying saucers and robots were featured.
- The producers approached the US Army for cooperation in filming the movie. The Army refused after learning that the story involved Slim Whitman's song "Indian Love Call" being more effective against the invaders than the military.[citation needed]
- Much of the film was parodied in the first Destroy All Humans! video game. The main character sounded like Jack Nicholson and uses weapons similar to the ray guns seen in this film.
- Novelist Martin Amis was employed as a script consultant on the film. He is said to be a fan of the eventual production.
- In 1997, the Punk / Horror genre band, The Misfits released a song on the American Psycho album called "Mars Attacks!", inspired by both the original TOPPS brand trading cards of the 1960s and the Warner Brothers Movie.
- The giant donut was built in Hollywood by H. Bruce Norrbom and shipped to Burns, Kansas to be filmed.
- Casino scenes were filmed at the Luxor Hotel, Las Vegas.
- Goof: the Congressional Medal of Honor is only awarded to those in the Armed Services; the highest honor a civilian can get is the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
- The scene showing the junked casino signs was filmed in the "Neon Boneyard" once owned by the Young Electric Sign Company. It is now owned by the Neon Museum [1], a non-profit organization which is renovating the signs for future display.
