The Andromeda Strain

Synopsis
“Let's stick to established procedures.”
“Establishment gonna fall down and go boom.”

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 had helped build mainstream sci-fi film with 1951's The Day the Earth Stood Still, but his 1960's resume had 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, Arizona, is singing or dancing, that's for sure. A government research satellite that was busily, and secretly, collecting deadly microorganisms from outer space has just crash-landed there. Buzzards circle overhead, and reconnaissance photos indicate everyone’s dead. A crack team of radiation-suit-wearing scientists headed by Dr. Jeremy Stone are collected from around the country and sent into the body-strewn ghost town. To the science team’s horror, all the dead bodies have powder in their veins, instead of blood. All, that is, except for the two lone survivors that are found—a crying baby and the town drunk.

The scientists and the two survivors steal away to an underground government research facility, 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, vials of blood are a-taken. As the team works on a cure, the nasty extraterrestrial virus begins to mutate and is soon able to dissolve plastics. If this keeps up, the scientists fear, the killer bug might ultimately be able to 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 little-known character actors in the major roles, and they made for authentic looking and sounding brainiacs. There were scenes that were nearly silent, 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 near" Hollywood moments, especially in its finale, but it explored the not-so-glamorous, real-life world of science, too.

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.

Release History 1971 - The Andromeda Strain

Sub Categories live-action
sci-fi/fantasy

Studio Universal

Cast

Dr. Jeremy Stone		Arthur Hill
Dr. Charles Dutton		David Wayne
Dr. Mark Hall		James Olson
Dr. Ruth Leavitt		Kate Reid
Karen Anson (Nurse at Wildfire)		Paula Kelly
'Gramps' Jackson		George Mitchell
Major Arthur Manchek		Ramon Bieri
Dr. Robertson		Kermit Murdock
Grimes		Richard O'Brien
Senator Phillips (Vermont)		Eric Christmas
Major General Thomas C. Sparks		Peter Hobbs
Lieutenant Shawn, Piedmont Team		Mark Jenkins
Sergeant Crane, Piedmont Team		Peter Helm
Wildfire Computer Sergeant Burk		Joe Di Reda
Lieutenant Comroe		Carl Reindel
Toby, a technician		Ken Swofford
Clara Dutton		Frances Reid
Air Force Major		Richard Bull
Military Police Captain Morton		John Carter
Hospital Director		Paul Ballantyne
Military Policeman at Stone's		Michael Bow
Assistant to Cabinet		Secretary Walter Brooke
Allison Stone		Susan Brown
Technician		Dee Carroll
Technician		Sandy DeBruin
Vandenberg AFB Sargeant		Bill Dunbar
Copter Pilot Dempsey		James W. Gavin
Cabinet Secretary		Glenn Langan
Senator McKenzie (New Mexico)		David McLean
Midori		Bess, lab technician
Operator of "The Hands"		Michael Pataki
Bit Part		Ford Rainey
Captain Morris		Quinn K. Redeker
Dr. Rudolph Karp		Reuben Singer
Decontamination Receptionist		Jean Swift
Utah Crash Site Officer		Len Wayland