Directed by:
Robert WiseScreenplay:
Nelson GiddingCinematography:
Richard H. KlineComposer:
Gil MelleCast:
Arthur Hill, David Wayne, James Olson, Kate Reid, Paula Kelly, George Mitchell, Ramon Bieri, Kermit Murdock, Richard O'Brien, Peter Hobbs, Eric Christmas (more)VOD (1)
Plots(1)
After an errant satellite crashes to earth near a remote New Mexico village, the recovery team discovers that everyone in the town are victims of a horrible death, with the mysterious exception of an infant and an old homeless man. The survivors are brought to a state-of-the-art underground laboratory, where the puzzled scientists race against time to determine the nature of the deadly alien virus before it wreaks havoc. A trailblazer in the areas of special effects and inventive sets, The Andromeda Strain is based on Michael Crichton's best-selling novel that created national paranoia for it's topical relevance to the first moon landing and is perhaps the most chillingly realistic science fiction thriller ever made. (Umbrella Entertainment)
(more)Reviews (4)
With no unnecessary special effects, just impressive scenery with a minimum of actors, this film amounts to a solidly suspenseful game played for time with an unknown toxin. It has a clever theme, an intelligent script, and a few atmospherically packed moments, and the only thing keeping the film below the highest standard is ultimately tiresome runtime.
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Robert Wise tried to take a "serious" approach to the material and created a sobering spectacle of what a deadly epidemic of the future could look like. He relied on contemporary scientific theories, and his greatest desire was clearly the believability and rationality of the story. He consciously abandoned the usual genre clichés, which is commendable, but in the end, a somewhat sterile spectacle was created, suffering to some extent from excessive length, exaggerated emphasis on dialogues, and that it is overall static. It's worth a decent three stars, but it's not a film that I would feel any desire to revisit. Overall impression: 60%.
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I've read the novel and it's very good and engaging. For the most part, the filmic adaptation is merely a faithful transcript which, unfortunately, doesn’t have much in store for those who have read the original. The non-readers, though, will appreciate the undeniably palpable tension.
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A very good sci-fi that manages to feel epic, but at the same time modest and almost intimate. This is also due to the fact that it is aimed at a disease that probably came from outer space. Why didn't it kill one infant? And why didn't it kill an old man? A very well handled film where you feel like you might get infected yourself. And most importantly, you don't know what the consequences will be.
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