Mars Needs Women (1967)

Dop leads his fellow Martians to Earth on an interplanetary quest for females. Dop proves that Martians have impeccable taste when one of his first conquests turns out to be sexy scientist Dr. Marjorie Bolen.

Director:

Larry Buchanan

Writer:

Larry Buchanan

Stars:

Tommy Kirk, Yvonne Craig, Warren Hammack

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tommy Kirk	...	Dop - Martian Fellow #1 / Mr. Fast - Seattle Sun Reporter
Yvonne Craig	...	Dr. Marjorie Bolen
Warren Hammack	...	Martian Doctor / Fellow #2
Tony Huston	...	Martian Fellow #3 (as Anthony Houston)
Larry Tanner	...	Martian Fellow #4
Cal Duggan	...	Martian Fellow #5
Pat Delany	...	Artist Abducted by Martians
Sherry Roberts	...	Brenda Knowlan, Abductee
Donna Lindberg	...	Stewardess Abducted by Martians
Bubbles Cash	...	Stripper Abducted by Martians (as 'Bubbles' Cash)
Byron Lord	...	Col. Bob Page, U.S.D.S.
Roger Ready	...	Stimmons
Barnett Shaw	...	Man at Military Conference
Neil Fletcher	...	Secretary of Defense
Chet Davis	...	Real Mr. Fast

Storyline

After receiving a series of messages from outer space all decoded to be "Mars Needs Women", the United States Decoding Center in Houston receives a visit from Dop, the leader of a group of five Martians on an experimental voyage to Earth. Because of a genetic problem, Martians are producing virtually only male offspring and thus need to import women for the survival of the species. The Martians' non-hostile mission is to bring back to Mars five fertile and single human women. Those at the Center see the mission as a hostile one and as such the Martians decide to carry out their mission as inconspicuously as possible without the cooperation of the authorities by posing as Earthlings. Of the potential women they spy which includes strippers, co-eds and flight attendants, the one they believe is the most conducive to success of the project is the beautiful Dr. Marjorie Bolen, an expert in space genetics. In pursuing her, Dop falls in love with Dr. Bolen. But the Martians have to complete...

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Plot Keywords:

theft | break in | car theft | subterfuge | petrol station | 

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Taglines:

They were looking for chicks... to go all the way!

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Genres:

Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Official Sites:

MGM Studios [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Also Known As:

Mars Needs Women

Filming Locations:

Richardson, Texas, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Azalea Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

83 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The "Space Center," which looks like a big white mushroom, is not the revolving restaurant at the Houston Airport Marriott at George Bush Intercontinental. While similar in design, the restaurant is far larger. "Space Center" was part of the Collins Radio Antenna Building, 1300 International Parkway, Richardson, Texas. The building's two round towers are visible on GoogleEarth. and is now the PCI Health Training Center

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Goofs

Dop tells the other Martians that on Earth they weigh twice what they do on Mars. Actually, Earth surface gravity is three times Martian surface gravity.

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Quotes

Dop: Since the Earthmen, especially the Americans, seem to place their faith in luck rather than scientific certainties, I wish you all luck.

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Connections

Referenced in Best of the Worst: Playing Dangerous 2, the Exterminator, and the Deadliest Prey (2013)

User Reviews

Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Gotham City

Went into this movie expecting Tommy Kirk to do a reprise of his Gogo the Teenage Martian role from 1964's 'Pajama Party'. Instead, we get Dop, a seriously serious 'medical missionary' from the dying red planet, who needs five voluptuous young earth women 'unmarried ... of good health ... and possessing the common indicators of fertility and reproduction'.

The boys from Mars had tried the usual method of standard alien abduction in the movie's opening scenes, snagging a tennis-playing ingenue, a woman taking a shower, and a girl in a restaurant waiting for her beau to get back from the cigarette machine. WE NEVER SEE THESE THREE WOMEN AGAIN. Dop explains this ominously but matter-of-factly to blustering Army Colonel Robert 'Bob' Page: "We have attempted to seize three women by transponder. We have been unsuccessful." Could be the problem was using a transPONDER instead of a transPORTER -- since transPONDERS receive radio signals, not flesh-and-blood females.

So the five Martians decide on the sensible, low-tech direct approach -- hypnosis and kidnapping. And Dop is nonplussed when Colonel Page considers this "an overt action of ... war!" The Martian fellow (successfully) transports himself back to his ship and prepares for their one-UFO invasion.

In the words of the nameless network news announcer " ... the most powerful nation on earth is humbled by five men in a space cylinder hurtling toward the approximate vicinity of ... Houston, Texas."

For the next few minutes, we get to watch exciting stock footage of the X-15 and fighter jets trying to intercept the Martian craft, while Colonel Bob and his aide stare blankly at a loudspeaker explaining all the action.

The aliens land secretly and cautiously debark from their saucer, armed with Ray-O-Vac flashlights and harpoon guns. No wonder they misused the transponder.

Their immediate invasion plans call for securing "earth apparel, an automobile, currency, and a city map" of Houston. Martian operative 'Fellow 3' successfully appropriates the needed currency and map by raiding the nearby Phillips 66 gas station.

The boys' criteria for appropriate female specimens is not unlike Dr. Bill Cortner's search for the perfect body on which to attach his fiancé's severed head in "The Brain That Wouldn't Die". They round up an airline stewardess, a buxom co-ed artist, a homecoming queen (who bears a haunting resemblance to Marilyn Quayle), a stripper (played by local Texas burlesque legend, Bubbles Cash), and Pulitzer Prize-winning geneticist Marjorie Bolen, who, as 'Fellow-2' puts it, "happens to be blessed physically, too -- anatomically-speaking."

Dr. Bolen is played by the 'physically-blessed' Yvonne Craig, who is more recognizable in her skin-tight Batgirl costume from the '60s Batman TV show. Dr. Bolen melts at the insightful DNA questions that Dop asks at her news conference. Soon the Pulitzer-Prizewinner and the Invader from Mars are holding hands at a planetarium, where Dop delivers a heartsick soliloquy about his dying planet.

This movie is ripe with inadvertently funny lines delivered in dead seriousness, like:

"Do not -- repeat -- DO NOT eat any of the earth food."

"You are now, for all practical purposes -- earth men."

"Our time is short ... considering that in the next 20 hours, each of us must survey, choose, examine the medical records of, and abduct a female meeting the exacting qualifications of Operation Sleep-Freeze."

"Dr. Marjorie Bolen turned out to be a stunning brunette, who found it hard to hide her charm behind her horn-rimmed spectacles."

"Tonight: 'Sex and Outer Space' -- A News Conference On Extra-Terrestrial Reproduction by Dr. Marjorie Bolen, One of America's Leading Authorities On Space Medicine, in the Coronado Suite, 10:00 P.M. Only Newsmen with proper press credentials admitted."

"The exotic dancer is secured."

'Mars Needs Women' owes a lot to other great cheesy movies, like the aforementioned 'Brain That Wouldn't', and especially 'Teenagers From Outer Space', and even anticipates 'Revenge of the Nerds', when the geek geneticist wins the day with LUV. Watch this, then chase it down with 'Pajama Party', for a real 60's spaceman/bodacious babe overdose. 4 of 10.