THE PLOT

A huge meteor crashes to earth and begins exuding a pink, gooey substance. Affixing itself to the body of an old man, the “blob” begins parasitically sucking the life out of several unfortunate humans, growing to an enormous size. This film helped to launch the careers of Steve McQueen, who plays one of the teenagers trying to warn the town against the “blob’s” attack, and of Burt Bacharach, with his hit single “Beware of the Blob”. 

Not rated; 83 minutes

Film Facts for THE BLOB

The last time Steve McQueen was billed as "Steven McQueen". 

The monster is referred to as "the mass" in the shooting script. 

Partially filmed in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. The theater everyone is seen running from is the Colonial Theater. 

The Blob was created with a modified weather balloon in the early shots, and in the later shots with colored silicone gel. 

This independent production was originally picked up by Paramount for use on the bottom half of a double bill with their in-house production of I Married a Monster from Outer Space (1958). Early marketing tests and initial bookings indicated that a larger share of the ticket buyers were coming for this film rather than "I Married a Monster," so it became the main feature and more money was spent on its promotion. 

The title song "The Blob" was co-written by Burt Bacharach and is on his CD, "Look of Love: The Burt Bacharach Collection". Paramount tapped Bacharach and Mack David (brother of Hal David) to come up with a non-threatening theme that would prevent the faint of heart from going into nostril-flaring terror during the opening credits. Together the two men concocted "The Blob", a goofy musical creature that is one part "Temptation" to two parts "Tequila". Session singer Bernie Nee does the champagne-cork-popping honors by pulling his finger out of his cheek seven times. Only Ralph Carmichael's score received a screen credit, giving credence to the notion that the song was a last-minute addition. The Five Blobs turned out to be a phantom group that consisted of Bacharach, a bunch of musicians for hire and Nee, who tracked his voice five times to achieve that Boris Karloff-esque quality. 

In some of the promo material, the character played by Aneta Corsaut is referred to as "Judy". Her character in the film is named "Jane". 

The producers originally signed Steve McQueen to a three-film deal with this being the first project. McQueen was so difficult to work with during filming that he was released from his contract for the other two films. 

This film was originally going to be called "The Glob". It was changed when it was discovered that cartoonist Walt Kelly had already used that title.

The old man who discovers and becomes the first victim of the Blob was played by veteran character actor Olin Howland. This would be his final film in a career than spanned almost 200 films going back to the silent era.

When Steve and Jane go to the police station to report the death of Dr. Hallen, the calendar on the wall reveals that it is July 1957. 
 
Although producer Jack H. Harris always claimed that this film cost $240,000 to produce, years later director Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr. said that the actual cost was only $120,000.

Steve McQueen was offered $2,500 or 10% of the profits. He took the $2,500 because the film wasn't expected to make much. It ended up grossing over $4 million.

In an attempt to profit from Steve McQueen's success in The Towering Inferno (1974), this film was re-released in various countries during the mid-'70s, falsely promoted as an Irwin Allen-style new disaster movie.  

Trivia from: www.imdb.com