The Andromeda Strain (film)

Infobox Film
name = The Andromeda Strain


caption = Theatrical release poster
director = Robert Wise
producer = Robert Wise
writer = Novel:
Michael Crichton
Screenplay:
Nelson Gidding
starring = Arthur Hill
James Olson
Kate Reid
David Wayne
Paula Kelly
George Mitchell
music = Gil Melle
cinematography = Richard H. Kline
editing = Stuart Gilmore
John W. Holmes
distributor = Universal Pictures
released = March 12, 1971 (USA)
runtime = 130 min.
language = English
rating = G
budget =
gross = Unknown
amg_id = 1:2247
imdb_id = 0066769

"The Andromeda Strain" is a 1971 science-fiction film, based on the novel published in 1969 by Michael Crichton about a team of scientists who investigate a deadly organism of extraterrestrial origin which causes rapid, fatal blood clotting. Directed by Robert Wise, the film starred Arthur Hill, James Olson, Kate Reid, and David Wayne. The film follows the book closely. The special effects were designed by Douglas Trumbull. A young Michael Crichton makes a cameo appearance in a non-speaking role during the scene where Dr. Hall is told to break scrub because he has to report to Wildfire, the government's secret underground research facility. The character of Dr. Peter Leavitt in the novel was replaced by a woman, Dr. Ruth Leavitt, in the film. In addition, the character of Charles Dutton in the film--played by Wayne--was named Burton in the novel (no reason was given for this name change).

A strong feel for technology and governmental procedures and formalism permeates the film. The main set, constructed in mostly white with contrasting bright primary color coding, becomes increasingly claustrophobic as the four scientists work in near isolation at Wildfire. They are interrupted only by the disembodied voices of computers and the PA system. A conflict erupts among the team when it is learned that Wildfire is actually a biological weapons research lab. The government may be intending to use the alien strain, code-named "Andromeda", as such a weapon, a fact that Dr. Jeremy Stone apparently already knows.

Robert Wise used a single set to create Wildfire's color-coded corridors, repainting it for scenes that take place on the different levels. Wise would use this trick again in "". When filming the scene where Dr. Ruth Levitt has an epileptic seizure due to watching a blinking red light, care had to be taken when choosing the frequency of the blinking, so it was the "least likely" frequency to induce seizures among the theater audience.

Comic relief is provided by George Mitchell as a town drunk who survives the "strain", as well as Dr. Hall and Dr. Leavitt's interactions with the base's automated systems.

At the movie's end, the "strain" has mutated into a nonlethal form and is carried by wind over the Pacific Ocean where cloud seeding causes Andromeda to fall into the salt water which kills it.

Footage and stills from the movie were used in the first serial episode of the "Six Million Dollar Man". The episode itself deals with a town where all the citizens have succumbed to some external force.

A miniseries based on the same novel was released in 2008; see The Andromeda Strain (2008 miniseries)

oundtrack

The film had a soundtrack, but it was a limited edition of 10,000 records released by Kapp Records in 1971 under the supervision of director Robert Wise (at a cost of $20,000). The records were hexagonal and came in hexagonal record sleeves. The album was re-released shortly afterward as a conventional 12" LP in a regular square sleeve.

Cast

* Arthur Hill – Dr. Jeremy Stone
* David Wayne – Dr. Charles Dutton
* James Olson – Dr. Mark Hall
* Kate Reid – Dr. Ruth Leavitt
* Paula Kelly – Karen Anson (nurse, laboratory technician)
* George Mitchell – Mr. Peter Jackson (Piedmont)
* Mark Jenkins – Lt. Shawn (Piedmont Team)
* Peter Helm – Sgt. Crane (Piedmont Team)
* Joe Di Reda – Sgt. Burk (Wildfire Computer Tech)
* Ramon Bieri – Major Arthur Manchek (Scoop Mission Control)
* Carl Reindel – Lt. Comroe (Scoop Mission Control)
* Frances Reid – Clara Dutton
* Peter Hobbs – General Sparks
* Kermit Murdock – Dr. Robertson (White House Science Advisor)
* Richard O'Brien – Grimes
* Eric Christmas – Senator Phillips (Vermont)
* Ken Swofford – Toby (Technician)
* John Carter – Capt. Morton (military police)
* Richard Bull – Air Force Major
* James W. Gavin – Dempsey (helicopter pilot) (uncredited)
* Garry Walberg – scientist (uncredited)
* Victoria Paige Meyerink - Additional Character

External links

*imdb title|id=0066769|title=The Andromeda Strain
*amg title|id=1:2247|title=The Andromeda Strain
*"The Andromeda Strain" (1971), DVD ASIN|B00008438U
* [http://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s780strain.html DVD Savant - a long and detailed essay on the film] (includes a discussion of the apparent killing of the monkey)