Penned by science thriller guru Michael Crichton – a former doctor himself – there’s no glossing over technical detail in 1971’s The Andromeda Strain. At times, it actually seems as if the laboratory set and the gadgetry therein grab more spotlight than the actors themselves.
Director Robert Wise helped build mainstream sci-fi with 1951’s The Day the Earth Stood Still, but his 1960s resume focused more on musicals like West Side Story and The Sound of Music. The Andromeda Strain let him put the emphasis back on things that don’t sing and dance.
No one in Piedmont, New Mexico, is singing or dancing, that’s for sure. A government research satellite that was busily and secretly collecting deadly micro-organisms from outer space (“Project Scoop VII”) has just crash-landed near that town. Buzzards circle overhead, and reconnaissance photos indicate everyone in the town died instantaneously.
A crack team of radiation-suit-wearing scientists – led by biologist and Nobel Prize winner Dr Jeremy Stone (Arthur Hill), and including Dr Ruth Leavitt (Kate Reid), a distinguished microbiologist; Dr Mark Hall (James Olson), a noted surgeon and an authority on blood chemistry; and Dr Charles Dutton (David Wayne), a pathologist – is assembled from around the country and sent into the body-strewn ghost town.
To the team’s horror, all the dead bodies have powder in their veins, instead of blood. All, that is, except for the two lone survivors who are found – a crying baby and the town drunk.
The scientists and the two survivors steal away to a vast underground government facility – five levels deep – where “Project Wildfire” is underway. With the threat of a worldwide epidemic looming, the science team performs tests, tests, and more tests – computer printouts are a-printing, and vials of blood are a-taken.
As the team works on a cure, the nasty extraterrestrial virus begins to mutate and soon can dissolve plastics.
If this keeps up, the scientists fear, the killer bug might ultimately escape the confines of the lab and enter the unsuspecting world.
Eschewing big-name Hollywood stars, The Andromeda Strain cast an ensemble of low-key, relatively unknown character actors in the major roles, and they made for authentic-looking and sounding brainiacs.
There were nearly silent scenes, scenes with very little action (but loaded with tech talk), and overall cinematography that evoked documentary filmmaking.
The movie certainly had some melodramatic, “the end is nigh” Hollywood moments, especially in its finale, but it also explored the not-so-glamorous, real-life world of science.
It may not have been glamorous, but it made for a good, solid thriller.
The Andromeda Strain was one of the biggest hits of 1971, leading to a long string of sci-fi thrillers from author Crichton (Westworld, Coma, Jurassic Park) that continues today.
Dr Jeremy Stone Arthur Hill
Dr Charles Dutton
David Wayne
Dr Mark Hall
James Olson
Dr Ruth Leavitt
Kate Reid
Karen Anson
Paula Kelly
‘Gramps’ Jackson
George Mitchell
Major Arthur Manchek
Ramon Bieri
Dr Robertson
Kermit Murdock
Grimes
Richard O’Brien
Senator Phillips
Eric Christmas
Major General Thomas C.Sparks
Peter Hobbs
Lieutenant Shawn
Mark Jenkins
Sergeant Crane
Peter Helm
Sergeant Burk
Joe Di Reda
Lieutenant Comroe
Carl Reindel
Toby
Ken Swofford
Clara Dutton
Frances Reid
Captain Morton
John Carter
Hospital Director
Paul Ballantyne
Allison Stone
Susan Brown
Senator McKenzie
David McLean
Captain Morris
Quinn K. Redeker
Dr Rudolph Karp
Reuben Singer
Director
Robert Wise
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As the team works on a cure, the nasty extraterrestrial virus begins to mutate and soon can dissolve plastics.
