Check Out 'The Day The Earth Stood Still' For Free This Weekend

I love a good old sci-fi movie. The sci-fi genre really came into being during the Cold War because people were already so freaked out about the Russians that the idea that big, bad aliens were right outside the door ready to kick it in and kill everyone wasn't that big of a stretch of the imagination. Modern sci-fi movies concentrate too much on special effects and gore. Even the remake of this movie with Keanu Reeves didn't really stick to the subtle freaky details of the original, it weighed too heavily on the pyrotechnics and it took away from the hunkiness of Keanu.

Wait. We were talking about 50s era sci-fi movies, weren't we?

'The Day The Earth Stood Still' opens with a space ship landing in the nation's capital. A human-looking alien tells Earth's leaders that all alien life in the galaxy has been watching Earth and are worried that our war-like ways are a danger not only to earthlings, but to alien life as well. Aliens, it turns out, are particularly unsettled by the nuclear weapons proliferation and they want humans to put a stop to it, or else.

Klaatu, the human-like alien, doesn't seem to be much of a threat, but he has a pretty damned scary looking sidekick, Gort the robot, who also seems to be gentle, but he has a serious deathray that can shoot from his visor and that makes the military uncomfortable. They start hatching a plan to get rid of the aliens, but it's up to a single mother and her son to show the world that peace and tolerance are better than weapons.

Will they convince the military to stand down? Will they save the aliens and the world? Go see the movie. It is a lot of fun and so campy that the kids will like it, too.

The movie is free and the Museum has fantastically priced concessions so you can take someone with you and probably only spend about $20 for the whole afternoon. Make sure you check out the rest of the museum after the movie. It's gorgeous and will take your breath away.

WHAT: The Day The Earth Stood Still
WHEN: Saturday, July 6, 2:00 p.m.
WHERE: International Museum of Art, 1211 Montana
COST: FREE