IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE (1953) ** Blueprint for all subsequent movies taking place in the desert where aliens inhabit earth bodies, it avoids the primary pitfall of its legacy by avoiding extended dull periods. It's also true that it doesn't have the spicy individuals that often give the later flicks local character. Incredibly, this one was considered something of a political statement at the time (McCarthy era) on the grounds that it celebrated that the individual might occasionally be correct in the face of the opposition of the masses. Hmm, sounds more Rugged Individualist than Communist to me, which makes you wonder where America's collective mind was at. When Barbara Rush re-emerges as an alien she's wearing significantly less clothing, suggesting that aliens don't share the hang-ups associated with '50s Western culture or the Taliban. Good diplomatic primer for someone who doesn't get the basics anyway, probably bound to be controversial in virtually any mass civilization.