Movies
Blob, The (1958, Steve McQueen, Aneta Corseaut)
In this quintessential ’50s monster flick, feisty teenagers Steve (Steve McQueen) and Jane (Aneta Corseaut) battle a blob of unidentifiable alien goo that has fallen from the sky in an asteroid. It’s alive, nasty and has a taste for human flesh, eating its victims by dissolving them.
The kids find an old hermit (Olin Howlin) blind with pain and with half an arm being dissolved in a strange, sticky substance. They take the old man to the doctor who prepares to amputate the afflicted arm but the messy mass of goo gobbles up the old man, the nurse and the doctor as the youngsters make their escape.
The kids tell the local police who refuse to believe them so Steve takes it upon himself to do something about the menace and, with the help of his young friends, sets out to awaken the community to the expanding, space-age threat.
This was McQueen’s first starring role (only his third feature appearance and the last time he was billed as Steven). He was 27 at the time, prompting US reviewer, Hollis Alpert, to note that the film boasted ‘the world’s oldest teenagers.’ But the biggest attractions are the special effects: the monster was created using a silicone-smeared weather balloon.
production details
USA | 86 minutes | 1958
Director: Irvin S Yeaworth Jr
Writers: Theodore Simonson, Kate Phillips (from an idea by Irvine H Millgate)
cast
Steve McQueen as Steve Andrews
Olin Howland as The Old Man
Aneta Corsaut as Jane Martin
Earl Rowe as Lieutenant Dave
John Benson as Sgt. Jim Bert
Robert Fields as Tony Gressette
Anthony Franke as Al
Alden ‘Stephen’ Chase as Dr. T. Hallen
Elbert Smith as Henry Martin
Audrey Metcalf as Elizabeth Martin
Kieth Almoney as Danny Martin
George Karas as Officer Ritchie
Vincent Barbi as George
Julie Cousins as Sally the Waitress
Lee Payton as Kate the Nurse
Elinor Hammes as Mrs. Porter
Molly Anne Bourne as Unidentified Teenager
Dianne Tabban as Unidentified Teenager
Pamela Curran as Unidentified Teenager
Josh Randolph as Unidentified Teenager
Hugh Graham as Mr. Andrews
Jasper Deeter as Marty the Mechanic
Tom Ogden as Phil the Fire Chief
Ralph Roseman as The Second Garage Mechanic
Theodore Simonson as Crabby Old Man in Audience
Charlie Overdorff
David Metcalf a
Eugene Sabel
George Gerbereck
James Bonnet as ‘Mooch’ Miller