| The Andromeda Strain | |
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Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Robert Wise |
| Produced by | Robert Wise |
| Written by | Nelson Gidding Michael Crichton (novel) |
| Starring | Arthur Hill James Olson Kate Reid David Wayne Paula Kelly George Mitchell |
| Music by | Gil Melle |
| Cinematography | Richard H. Kline |
| Editing by | Stuart Gilmore John W. Holmes |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | March 12, 1971 |
| Running time | 130 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Andromeda Strain is a 1971 American science-fiction film, based on the novel published in 1969 by Michael Crichton. The film is 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.
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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.[1] 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.
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 63% "fresh" rating from the film review site Rotten Tomatoes, based on 23 reviews.[2]
The film was nominated for two Academy Awards:[3]
American Film Institute Lists
Like Forbidden Planet, The Andromeda Strain is one of the few mainstream Hollywood productions to feature an electronic music score. The soundtrack was composed by composer-musician Gil Mellé, who is probably best known for his theme music for the 1970s Rod Serling TV series Night Gallery. It is a unique blend of electronically generated sound, manipulated taped sounds (musique concrète) and some traditional instrumentation (piano, double bass, percussion), punctuated by bursts of electronic white noise and pink noise.
A limited edition soundtrack (10,000 copies) was released by Kapp Records in 1971 under the supervision of director Robert Wise (at a cost of $20,000). The vinyl discs were hexagonal and came housed in a die-cut hexagonal enclosure (which folded out to reveal photographs from the film) attached to a square backing board. The album was re-released shortly afterward as a conventional circular 12" LP in a regular square sleeve.
The sets of the Wildfire facility in the film were re-dressed for use in Hang Up, the tenth episode of season one of the TV show Emergency!, first broadcast on 8 April, 1972. The sets were shown as a scientific facility which was the scene of an explosion and radioactive hazard rescue.
Footage and stills from the movie were used in Population: Zero, the first episode of the TV show The Six Million Dollar Man, first broadcast on 18 January 1974. The episode features a town where all the citizens have succumbed to an external force.
The 1995 Japanese anime TV series Neon Genesis Evangelion featured the computer readout "601" in green letters on a black screen to depict the same unreadable data error that is encountered in The Andromeda Strain. This occurs in several episodes, notably in episode five, Rei I. There appear to be two other direct references to The Andromeda Strain in the Neon Genesis Evangelion series: the layout of the Central Dogma facility appears to be very similar to that of the Wildfire installation; and in episode 13, Lilliputian Hitcher, an "Angel" is similar to the eponymous Andromeda strain of organism, being a tiny crystalline life form that attacks the seals and vents in Central Dogma, infecting the installation, and threatening to trigger its self-destruct sequence.
For the overflight of the town by the jet a FLIR is ordered, a Forward looking infrared image.
When the Wildfire Alert is called, we find Dr. Jeremy Stone (Arthur Hill) and his wife Alice hosting a dinner party for friends and fellow Berkeley academics. When Capt. Morton arrives to "collect" Dr. Stone, Alice interrupts her husband to tell him there's someone at the door. He jokes; "The S.D.S. has arrived, no doubt". This is a reference to the 1960s era Students for a Democratic Society. When he is rushed to the Wildfire facility as the sole passenger on a TWA airliner Stone says he feels like Onassis. When Dr. Charles Dutton says he wants a similar facility in Alaska Ruth says "you, a sourdough?" A reference to the people of Klondike Gold Rush who left from San Francisco.
The number 601, which is displayed on a computer screen a short while after it begins to display a simulation of the growth of the crystals, is explained during the film as meaning "the computer is getting too much data". As it turns out, error number 601 on Digital Equipment Corporation's PDP-11 computers is "Buffer Overflow". Coincidentally, during the final descent stage of Apollo 11 (the first Lunar landing) the Lunar Module computer experienced a series of "1202" and "1201" alarms signalling an executive overflow in the computer.[7][8]
Biological (and chemical) weapons issues also cropped up in some television shows and other movies of the period, from Hawaii Five-0 (Three Dead Cows at Makapuu -- Feb 1970), On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), and Rage, with George C. Scott, 1972. On November 25, 1969, President Nixon ordered the U.S. military to cease all biological warfare work, and in April 1972 the Biological Weapons Convention treaty was completed and later signed, ratified by the U.S. Senate in December 1974 and went into effect in March 1975.
The music band Apollo 440 sampled the audio during the scene in which the tiny meteorite is being examined under progressively higher magnification. The phrase "Let's go back to the rock and see it at 440." spoken by Dr. Stone at 1:20:55 into the film is the opening sample of the tune Ain't Talkin' 'bout Dub.
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