Delta Force, Navy Seals and The Day the Earth Stood Still


There is a special movie genre that has devoted fans and clear winners when it comes to the top offerings.  I am talking about 1950’s era science fiction.  Almost any discussion of these sci-fi classics will put the 1951 movie, The Day the Earth Stood Still in the number one spot.  The movie starred Michael Rennie (damn good looking man!) and Patricia Neal in a thriller steeped in cold war paranoia and a dark warning for the future of man.  In many ways, however, the second lead belongs to a huge, metallic and all powerful robot, Gort, played by 7’7” actor, Lock Martin (what a great stage name!).              

            The old movie (don’t waste popcorn on the 2008 remake) has a spaceship setting down on the Capitol Mall.  Klaatu (Rennie) gets out, tries to deliver a message of peace and is shot down.  His robot, Gort, retaliates but Klaatu stops him.  Klaatu is healed, escapes, goes underground as the mysterious, “Mr. Carpenter,” finds a sympathetic pseudo-love interest (Patricia Neal), and finally gets his message across to the world’s leading scientists, though he dies in the attempt.

[Deep breath.]

In all of this, Gort, the robot, remains a menacing, barely controlled presence (sort of like Mark Levin).  It is finally revealed that Gort is one of a race of autonomous, rational robot policeman who were created to wreck vengeance on any group that threatens the safety and serenity of all civilized beings.  The robots were created and empowered by the sentient beings of the galaxy to keep monsters in check. Klaatu’s message to Earth is that we need to get our house in order, or the robots will cull the herd and make way for better problem solvers.

Only serious trivia players know that the movie was taken from a short story, “Farewell to the Master” written by Harry Bates and published in the October, 1940 issue of Astounding Science Fiction.  In this story, both simpler and more thought provoking than the movie, the plot twist at the end reveals that the robot, not the humanoid, is the master—an emotional exclamation point. 

Personally I like the idea of a totally dispassionate, justice seeking authority that shares Gort’s simple mission.   We either take care of the problem ourselves, or someone big and bad is going to take care of it for us. 

That leads me to this weekend’s laudable efforts by our armed Special Services.  On Saturday, October 5, Seal Team Six came ashore on the Horn of Africa, near Barawe in Somalia.  Their target was a pusillanimous barrow named Abdikadir Mohanned, a Kenyan of Somali origin who is responsible for the Al-Shabaab massacre at the Nairobi mall.  At the same time, the Army’s Delta Force was in North Africa, capturing Abu Al-Libi in Tripoli.  Al-Libi is responsible for the 1998 bombings of embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.  He is an old fish and had probably thought he’d escaped the net.  Wrong. 

These Special Forces, along with a few well placed drone strikes could be our, “Gort.”  Screw up your welcome on this planet and you are dead.  We will see to it.  We have smart bombs, pin-point missile capability and a few amazing fighting men who can administer justice in one almighty final way.  We will keep executing these sociopathic creeps until their own people start choosing better leaders.

I have heard it said that America can not be the policeman for the world.  Well someone has to.  If you let rats run rampant we all end up with the plague. 

Stay strong and keep the faith. 

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