James, an NYC cop, is hired by Agent K of a secret government agency that monitors extraterrestrial life on Earth. Together, they must recover an item that has been stolen by an intergalacti... Read allJames, an NYC cop, is hired by Agent K of a secret government agency that monitors extraterrestrial life on Earth. Together, they must recover an item that has been stolen by an intergalactic villain.James, an NYC cop, is hired by Agent K of a secret government agency that monitors extraterrestrial life on Earth. Together, they must recover an item that has been stolen by an intergalactic villain.
- Won 1 Oscar
- 22 wins & 39 nominations total
- Beatrice
- (as Siobhan Fallon)
- INS Agent Janus
- (as Fredric Lane)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaVincent D'Onofrio researched his role as Edgar by watching a lot of bug documentaries. In order to achieve his character's distinctive walk, he put on knee braces so he couldn't bend his legs, and taped up his ankles.
- GoofsIn the tunnel, Jay falls upside down and appears to have a Caucasian leg. However, the behind-the-scenes featurette shows that Will Smith performed this scene without a stunt double, so this must be a trick of the light.
- Quotes
Edwards: Why the big secret? People are smart. They can handle it.
Kay: A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it. Fifteen hundred years ago everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat, and fifteen minutes ago, you knew that humans were alone on this planet. Imagine what you'll know tomorrow.
Edwards: What's the catch?
Kay: The catch? The catch is you will sever every human contact. Nobody will ever know you exist anywhere. Ever. I'll give you to sunrise to think it over.
[starts walking away]
Edwards: [shouting after Kay] Hey! Is it worth it?
Kay: Oh yeah, it's worth it...
[starts walking again, stops and turns back briefly]
Kay: ... if you're strong enough!
- Crazy creditsThe animals and aliens used in this film were in no way mistreated and all scenes in which they appeared were under strict supervision with the utmost concern for their handling.
- Alternate versionsThe version shown on Australian cable television is the uncut version with a PG rating
- ConnectionsEdited into Men in Black: Extended and Alternate Scenes (2000)
- SoundtracksMen In Black
Produced by Track Masters
Co-produced by Will Smith
Written by Will Smith, Patrice Rushen, Freddie Washington and Terri McFadden
Performed by Will Smith featuring Cheryl Gamble (as Coko)
Courtesy of Columbia Records
Tommy Lee Jones (Agent K) and Will Smith (Agent J) are perfect in their roles. Not since Lenny Briscoe and Mike Logan were partners on "Law and Order" has the young cop/old cop routine been done so well with such great chemistry and deadpan humor. All of the supporting roles work too. Rip Torn is great as Zed, the head of the secret government organization - the "Men In Black" - who are in charge of overseeing the visits of extraterrestrials who have chosen to establish contact with earth and in some cases become semi-permanent residents of this planet. His great one-liners include telling a group of rejected job applicants - who really don't know what kind of job they've applied for - "Congratulations gentlemen. You are all we've come to expect from years of government training".
Some of the rank and file employees of the agency are aliens themselves. Unmotivated and not particularly loyal, they enjoy hanging out in the break room drinking coffee, smoking heavily, and collecting cheap miniatures of the Statue of Liberty. Vincent D'Onofrio is also outstanding in the dual role of Edgar, a human who gets eaten by a malicious alien cockroach, and also as the cockroach himself as he tools around New York City in his "brand new Edgar suit" - Edgar's skin - in an attempt to appear human while trying to start an intergalactic war.
Any human who happens to encounter an alien won't remember it thanks to the neuralizer - a device the size of a fountain pen - that the "Men In Black" administer to erase any resulting memories. This includes employees of the agency themselves, should they choose to quit or retire. The underlying purpose of all of this covering up makes sense when Smith's character, during his orientation session, tells Tommy Lee Jones that he thinks that people could handle the truth about aliens living among them. Jones' (Agent K's) response is: "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky animals and you know it." This is hard to argue with when you think about the acts that people throughout history have performed as a mob that they would never have done as individuals. I really enjoyed this film, and its smart humor has held up over the years. I think in the future many will wonder, as I still do, why this film didn't get a nod at the Academy Awards other than its award for best makeup, at the very least for the screenplay.
- AlsExGal
- Feb 5, 2010
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Languages
- Also known as
- MIB
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $90,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $250,690,539
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $51,068,455
- Jul 6, 1997
- Gross worldwide
- $589,390,539
- Runtime1 hour 38 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1