The Andromeda Strain Film, Poster, Plot, Cast, Critical Reception and Trailer

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 that 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.

Plot

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 the Wildfire Laboratory, built deep underground in the Nevada desert.

They are interrupted only by the disembodied voices of computers and the public address system. A conflict erupts among the team when it learns that Wildfire is actually a biological weapons research laboratory. The government may be intending to use the alien strain, code-named “Andromeda”, as such a weapon.

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, killing it. On the screen, the “strain” dissolves into computer error code “601″, signifying information overload in the Wildfire mainframe computer.

Filming

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 Star Trek: The Motion Picture. 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 susceptible viewers in the theater audience.

Cast

The cast of characters in the novel was modified for the film, most notably by changing the male Dr. Peter Leavitt in the novel into a woman, Dr. Ruth Leavitt. Screenwriter Nelson Gidding suggested the change to Wise, who at first was not enthusiastic, as he initially pictured the sex-changed Dr. Leavitt as a largely decorative character reminiscent of Raquel Welch’s character in the 1966 film Fantastic Voyage. When Gidding explained his take on Leavitt, Wise resolved the question in an appropriately scientific way by asking the opinion of a number of scientists, who were unanimously enthusiastic about the idea. Eventually Wise came to be very happy with the decision to make Leavitt female, as Kate Reid’s Dr. Leavitt turned out to be, in his words, “the most interesting character” in the film.

Another minor change was the character of Burton in the novel, who became Charles Dutton in the film; no reason was given for this name change.

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.

* 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 Technician)
* 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

A recorded voice by an unknown person also wakes up the main cast before their mission.

Critical Reception

The opinion of critics is generally mixed, with some critics enjoying the film for its dedication to the original novel and with others disliking it for its drawn-out plot. Overall, the film has earned a 61% “fresh” rating from the film review site Rotten Tomatoes, based on 23 reviews.

Awards

The film was nominated for two Academy Awards:

* Best Art Direction (Boris Leven, William H. Tuntke, Ruby R. Levitt); lost to Nicholas and Alexandra
* Best Film Editing (Stuart Gilmore, John W. Holmes); lost to The French Connection

Soundtrack

The film’s soundtrack, by Gil Mellé, is a unique mélange of electronic and mechanical sounds punctuated by burst of static. A limited edition soundtrack of 10,000 records was 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.

Other media

Footage and stills from the movie were used in the first serial episode — titled “Population: Zero,” aired January 18, 1974 — of the television show Six Million Dollar Man, an episode which deals with a town where all the citizens have succumbed to some external force.

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