Outbreak (film)
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| Outbreak | |
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 The movie poster for Outbreak. |
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| Directed by | Wolfgang Petersen |
| Produced by | Duncan Henderson Anne Kopelson |
| Written by | Laurence Dworet Robert Roy Pool |
| Starring | Dustin Hoffman Rene Russo Morgan Freeman Kevin Spacey Cuba Gooding Jr. Donald Sutherland |
| Music by | James Newton Howard |
| Distributed by | Warner Brothers |
| Release date(s) | March 10, 1995 |
| Running time | 127 min. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Outbreak (1995) is a suspense film starring Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Spacey. The film was directed by Wolfgang Petersen, who has also directed films such as Troy, The Perfect Storm, and Air Force One. In addition to Hoffman, Russo, Freeman and Spacey, Outbreak features Cuba Gooding Jr., Donald Sutherland, and Patrick Dempsey.
The film focuses on an outbreak of a fictional Ebola-like virus called Motaba. Its primary settings are government disease control centers USAMRIID and the CDC, and the fictional town of Cedar Creek, California. Outbreak shows how far the military and civilian agencies might go to contain the spread.
The film was released in March of 1995 and went on to become a moderate box office success. The film was nominated for various awards but failed to garner any major award nominations. It also brought on many "what-if" scenarios in media outlets across the nation and world. News outlets began to question what would the government really do if a situation similar to the movie happened in reality and the CDC actually has plans in case an outbreak ever actually does occur.
The film was shot at various locations in California and Hawaii. The locations used in California include Eureka, Ferndale, Los Angeles, and Pasadena. The lone spot used in Hawaii was Kauai, which was used to film some of the scenes that were supposed to be in Africa.
The film was inspired by a rival, never-produced virus outbreak movie, Crisis in the Hot Zone, an adaptation of Richard Preston's factual 1994 best-seller The Hot Zone.
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[edit] Synopsis
A virus similar to Ebola & Lassa is discovered in the African jungles in 1967 and is kept top-secret by those who know about it. The discovery is covered up by destroying the village where it is discovered with a fuel-air bomb, a specially-designed conventional weapon capable of nuclear-type yields.
Twenty-five years later, it resurfaces in Africa again. Col. Sam Daniels (Hoffman) of the U.S. Army is sent to investigate the Motaba case with his crew. He and his crew contain the virus and return to the United States where he asks his superior, General Ford (Freeman), to put out an alert for the virus. Ford, who knows the virus is not new, tells Daniels that it is unlikely to show up. What neither of the men knows is that the host animal, a monkey, has been brought to the U.S. on a ship to be sold illegally in the pet trade. Jimbo Scott (Dempsey) bribes a guard at the shipping location and takes the monkey to Cedar Creek to sell for breeding. On the trip, the monkey spits into Jimbo's mouth, effectively infecting him.
Once Jimbo arrives at the pet store in Cedar Creek the owner of the store tells him he got the wrong sex but only after the monkey has scratched him, infecting him. Jimbo then takes the monkey and releases him into the woods of California. Jimbo starts to show signs of infection on his plane trip to Boston where he gets off the plane and kisses his girlfriend, infecting her. They are both hospitalized and Daniels' ex-wife, Robby (Russo), is called in to investigate this infection. While all of this is going on, the owner of the pet store in Cedar Creek begins to show signs of infection as well. Robby investigates and concludes that everybody in Boston checked out all right.
While the techs in the hospital are running tests on the pet store owner's blood, a vial breaks and splatters blood on one of them, infecting him. He is the first person infected with an airborne strain of the virus. Later on, he goes to a packed movie theatre and coughs, expels, and exposes hundreds of citizens to the virus and this starts the massive Cedar Creek outbreak. Col. Daniels learns of the infection and wants to be sent there but is being sent to New Mexico. He changes his orders and sends himself and his crew to Cedar Creek where he is joined by Robby. They work on isolating the town, especially the sick, and finding out where the virus came from. They find out about the pet store owner and believe that a host animal at the store may be carrying antibodies. They search the store and find a monkey; the monkey is already sick but they contain it and examine it. It is also apparent that a state of martial law has been declared in Cedar Creek as the army controls everything from rounding up the sick to setting a curfew.
While in Cedar Creek, several accidents happen. Casey's (Spacey) protective suit tears and he is infected with the virus. While treating Casey, Robby pokes herself with a dirty needle infecting herself. Several citizens of Cedar Creek try to escape and three are killed when a helicopter fires at their truck. A mystery serum, E-1101, is introduced to those suffering from Motaba. Daniels wonders what this is and administers it to the infected monkey obtained from the pet store. The monkey gets better but the citizens of Cedar Creek do not. This tells Daniels that E-1101 is not experimental and people knew about this virus beforehand. He confronts Ford about the serum and he says it was not revealed due to national security.
Daniels then learns of Operation Clean Sweep, a plan by the U.S. military to destroy the town of Cedar Creek by bombing it, led by Maj. Gen. Donald McClintock (Sutherland), again using a fuel-air bomb. This leads him on a frantic search to find the host animal to save the town, Casey, and Robby. Daniels learns about the shipping location where the monkey was picked up from and finds out about the ship that brought it in. He flies to this ship and obtains a picture of the host monkey and broadcasts it on the news, when a mother watches and realizes her daughter plays with the monkey in their backyard. Daniels arrives at the family's house and asks the daughter to coax out the monkey, and then shoots it with a tranquilizer. He obtains the monkey and begins back to Cedar Creek to obtain antibodies for treatment. Once in Cedar Creek, Daniels learns Operation Clean Sweep is in progress and flies in the way of the bomber to stop it. He successfully stops the bombing as the bombers drop the weapon over water and not the town. Ford then places McClintock under arrest for withholding information from the President.
[edit] Taglines
- Try to remain calm.
- This animal carries a deadly virus and the greatest medical crisis in the world is about to happen.
- This "virus" has a 100% morbidity rate and a 100% mortality rate.
- You die a horrible death.
[edit] Awards & Nominations
- ASCAP Award
- Top Box Office Film (Won)
- Best Science Fiction Film (Nominated)
- Cuba Gooding Jr. - Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture (Nominated)
- Kevin Spacey - Best Supporting Actor (Won) - This nomination also included the film Swimming with Sharks, Se7en, and The Usual Suspects.
[edit] Box office
US Gross Domestic Takings: US$ 67,659,560
- + Other International Takings: $122,200,000
= Gross Worldwide Takings: $189,859,560
[edit] Cast
- Dustin Hoffman as Col. Sam Daniels
- Rene Russo as Robby Keough
- Morgan Freeman as Brig. Gen. Billy Ford
- Kevin Spacey as Casey Schuler
- Cuba Gooding Jr. as Maj. Salt
- Donald Sutherland as Maj. Gen. Donald McClintock
- Patrick Dempsey as Jimbo Scott
- Zakes Mokae as Dr. Benjamin Iwabi
- Malick Bowens as Dr. Raswani
- Susan Lee Hoffman as Dr. Lisa Aronson
- Benito Martinez (actor) as Dr. Julio Ruiz
- Bruce Jarchow as Dr. Mascelli
- Leland Hayward III as Henry Seward
- Daniel Chodos as Rudy Alvarez
- Dale Dye as Lt. Col. Briggs
- Johnny Kim as Seaman Chulso Lee
[edit] Trivia
- Dustin Hoffman's role of Sam Daniels was originally intended for Harrison Ford. Harrison Ford's character in Blade Runner was written with Dustin Hoffman in the role.
- Donald Sutherland plays a general to Dale Dye's colonel. Four years earlier in JFK, Dye played a general while Sutherland was a colonel.
- In the film, it is stated that the Motaba virus is even more deadly than Ebola but when photos of the Motaba virus are shown they are actually showing Ebola viruses.
- The bomb that explodes in the ocean was scripted to explode over the town destroying it. The ending was screened but after the screening the ending was changed and the town was saved.
- The monkey shown as the host is a white-headed capuchin, a species native to Central and South America. This conflicts with the setting of the original virus (Zaire, Africa).
- In the main plot to the TV series 24 (season 3) Donald Sutherland's son, Kiefer Sutherland plays a federal agent tasked with preventing a terrorist attack in the U.S. which would cause a nationwide virus epidemic.
[edit] Quotes
- Col. Daniels: "If you think I'm lying, drop the bomb. If you think I'm crazy, drop the bomb. But don't drop the bomb just because you're following orders!"
- Casey: "I hate this bug."
- Col. Daniels: "Oh, come on, Casey. You have to admire its simplicity. It's one billionth our size and it's beating us."
- Casey: "So, what do you want to do, take it to dinner?"
- Col. Daniels: "No."
- Casey: "What, then?"
- Col. Daniels: "Kill it"
