# Identify a movie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 16, 2007, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-a-movie/396232 "2007-03-16T17:34:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Pabitel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbce88/32.png) [@Pabitel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pabitel)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-a-movie/396232/1 "2007-03-16T17:34:13Z")
Not much to go on here but something brought it to mind and it’s driving me nuts. I’m not sure when the movie was made but strongly suspect the 1960s. I believe it was color and not B & W. It was a science fiction movie that was done as a satire on the type. The base premise was an alien invasion that takes place largely off-screen. The distinguishing characteristic was a reference to a science fiction TV show. Some janitor or something has worked his way up to some exalted rank by sending in box tops and learning the secret code. He is then joined by people of increasing importance in the real world but with decreasing rank in the fan club and they follow him. Ultimately a general in the army, who is but a lowly private in the “space cadets” (or whatever they were called) joins his band. I think that, under the janitor’s leadership, they end up repelling the invasion somehow, but that is merely a vague recollection. So, any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![Pabitel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbce88/32.png) [@Pabitel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pabitel)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-a-movie/396232/2 "2007-03-16T20:22:07Z")
Little bump to give it one more chance then I’ll let it die. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-a-movie/396232/3 "2007-03-16T20:36:40Z")
Did it have some really artsy shots? One was a woman in a full shirt standing in the middle of a road at sunset. If so, I can’t help you, because I’ve had the same question for a while… Good luck. ---
**Author:** ![essell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/34f0e0/32.png) [@essell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/essell)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-a-movie/396232/4 "2007-03-16T20:36:54Z")
I’ll ask my Mum. This is her field of expertise. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-a-movie/396232/5 "2007-03-17T01:59:16Z")
Any chance it was [Invasion of the Star Creatures (1963)](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0128274/)? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-a-movie/396232/6 "2007-03-17T04:57:04Z")
Maybe Don Knotts in _The Reluctant Astronaut_ (1967). From the American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures: > [@](#): > > Timid Roy Fleming is so terrified of heights that he becomes dizzy operating the space ride at an amusement park. One day he learns that he has been accepted by the astronaut training program after his father entered him as an applicant. Arriving at the space center, he is given the assignment of apprentice janitor. His father and two friends come to pay him a visit, and Roy dons a space suit and attempts to demonstrate some equipment. The results prove disastrous, and Roy is dismissed from his janitor’s post. Roy is called back to duty, however, as the Russians prepare to launch a fully automated capsule. The United States decides to prove the efficacy of their own capsule by manning it with the least-qualified individual. In orbit, Roy loses contact with the ground and is left on his own, but, recalling his amusement park experience, he maneuvers the rocket and guides his craft back to earth. Now a national hero, he marries his childhood sweetheart, Ellie Jackson. As their honeymoon plane takes off, Roy is hiding in a patch of tall grass watching Ellie’s solo departure. Or Soupy Sales in _Birds Do It_ (1966): > [@](#): > > When a dust particle ruins a space rocket being constructed at Cape Kennedy, Melvin Byrd becomes a “top secret” janitor equipped with selfpropulsion cleaning utensils. Since his duties are not divulged to outsiders, enemy agents infiltrate the base and unsuccessfully attempt to eliminate him. Melvin’s affection for Judi, an astrochimp, results in his accidentally becoming “negatively ionized” so that he not only floats and flies like a bird but becomes irresistible to women. As Melvin soars away over the base, he is watched by a stunned group of visiting congressmen, field personnel, and the enemy agents. And young Claudine Wald, the daughter of Melvin’s superior, forgets her usual indifference to Melvin and races after him, wildly screaming her love. Melvin’s journey over the bay creates havoc among commercial and private planes and among the boats in the harbor. But just as the Coast Guard arrives on the scene, the “ionizer” at the base is turned off and Melvin descends to the ground. The Coast Guard gathers all of his pursuers into a huge cargo net, picks out the enemy agents, and releases the others. Despite the loss of his extraordinary powers, a delighted Melvin discovers that Claudine still finds him irresistible. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-a-movie/396232/7 "2007-03-17T06:13:45Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] Maybe Don Knotts in _The Reluctant Astronaut_ (1967). From the American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures:Or Soupy Sales in _Birds Do It_ (1966): [/QUOTE] The mind boggles at how plots like that get greenlit. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-a-movie/396232/8 "2007-03-17T06:21:30Z")
If it’s the one that’s been driving me crazy, it was much more subtle than those. There was a feel of '50s B movie space operas. (_The Blob; I was a Teenage Werewolf_) ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-a-movie/396232/9 "2007-03-17T08:14:32Z")
Could it have been the 1969 comedy [The Monitors](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064684/maindetails) which concerned a group called SCRAG who were resisting a benevolent alien takeover. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-a-movie/396232/10 "2007-03-17T08:47:47Z")
> [@](#): > > Melvin’s affection for Judi, an astrochimp, results in his accidentally becoming “negatively ionized” so that he not only floats and flies like a bird but becomes irresistible to women. Don’t you just hate when that happens.