The Andromeda Strain
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As in most crises, the events surrounding the Andromeda Strain were a compound of foresight and foolishness, innocence and ignorance!
An unmanned satellite returns to earth. mysteriously and lethally contaminated. Immediately 'Project Wildfire; the crash mobilisation of America's highest scientific and medical resources, begins at Wildfire's secret laboratory five storeys beneath the Nevada desert. There, surrounded by banks of the most sophisticated computer-assisted equipment, and under conditions of total secrecy, four scientists work against the threat of a world-wide epidemic.
They are seeking an antidote to a deadly micro-organism, and their hunt mounts to a horrifying climax....
Cast
Dr. Jeremy Stone -
ARTHUR HILL
Dr. Charles Dutton -
DAVID WAYNE
Dr. Mark Hall -
JAMES OLSON
Dr. Ruth Leavitt -
KATE REID
Karen Anson -
PAULA KELLY
Jackson, -
GEORGE MITCHELL
Major Manchek -
RAMON BIERI
Dr. Robertson. -
KERMIT MURDOCK
Grimes. -
RICHARD O'BRIEN
General Sparks -
PETER HOBBS
Senator from Vermont -
ERIC CHRISTMAS
A ROBERT WISE PRODUCTION; Directed by ROBERT WISE; Screenplay by NELSON GIDDING; From the novel by MICHAEL CRICHTON; Director of Photography, RICHARD H. KLINE, A.S.C.; Color by TECHNICOLOR; Filmed in PANAVISION; Production Designed by BORIS LEVEN; Art Director, WILLIAM TUNTKE; Set Decorations, RUBY LEVITT; Film Editors, STUART GILMORE, JOHN W. HOLMES; Special Photographic Effects, DOUGLAS TRUMBULL, JAMES SHOURT; Sound, WALDON O, WATSON, JAMES ALEXANDER, RONALD PIERCE; Production Manager, ERNEST B. WEHMEYER; Assistant Director, RIDGEWAY CALLOW; Costumes, HELEN COLVIG; Make-Up, BUD WESTMORE; Hair Stylist, LARRY GERMAIN; Music by GIL MELLE; A UNIVERSAL-ROBERT WISE PICTURE.
6-0-1.
Interpretation: Computer overloaded.
The three numbers spewing out of a confused computer filling the screen at the end of The Andromeda Strain grimly remind us that what caused the overload is a very real question: What do we do in the event of another biological crisis in the future?
Robert Wise's screen science thriller, taken from J. Michael Crichton's best selling novel, doesn't provide the answer. It simply poses the question, after it has brought us chillingly through earth's first biological crisis.
In urgent, news-like computerized fashion, Wise dramatically tells the story of a living organism from the outer regions of space that has hitch-hiked its way to earth aboard an earth-launched satellite, attacked and destroyed an entire community-except for two survivors-and is threatening to divide and mutate into a deadly super-colony with unlimited destructive force. Project Wildfire-established for precisely such a catastrophic emergency-wheels into action. In a top-secret underground research laboratory, a team of four hand-picked scientists. (portrayed by Arthur Hill, David Wayne, James Olson and Kate Reid) face an almost impossible task: within 96 hours isolate, identify and find a method of controlling the deadly invader. In documenting the havoc created by this extraterrestial microorganism, director Wise has employed highly sophisticated cinematic techniques to define the intricate plot.
The research laboratory, pat-terned after NASA's receiving lunar lab at Houston, Texas, is a five level supersterile underground facility, one of the most intricate and elaborate sets ever assembled for a motion picture. Within the set, Wise uses such visual aids as illustrations, dia-grams, schema technique, com puterized animations, multi-screen effects, printouts and psychedelic montage sequences.
In filming The Andromeda Strain, Wise tells a story that is very much now.
Indeed, the film becomes more frighteningly now
with each new scientific accomplishment in space. Among the many questions it asks, three stand out: 1. Does outer space pose a threat to man's survival? 2. Can living organisms from another galaxy invade earth? 3. Can mankind defend itself against such a possibility?
The Andromeda Strain is a fascinating story, one which makes a positive statement about biological and chemical warfare.
Robert Wise does a masterfull job in this adaption of the novel. It's an intensly cinematic experiece but with a restraint and attention to detail that keeps the science of the story grounded and believable. While the technology on display seems very outdated none of it looks cheap or fanciful - it all looks credible so the film still grabs 21st century audiences.
Daza's take on the plot
Posters
Lobby Cards
Behind the scenes
Many of The Andromeda Strain sequences were filmed at the near-ghost town of Shafter in the south-western rangelands of Texas. Shafter represents Piedmont, New Mexico, where the space capsule descends to earth. Its present population is 26.
The research laboratory for the Wildfire team was constructed on the grounds of Universal City Studios. The elaborate set was the work of Boris Leven, an Academy Award winner for his set work in West Side Story.
PR
Japanese souviner programme
Study Guide
Random PR
Soundtrack
According to record label Intrada for their 2010 Special Collection Volume 121 release of the music While The Andromeda Strain also broke new technical ground with the computer assisted effects by 2001's Douglas Trumbull, perhaps the film's most dazzling achievement would be Gil Mellé's electronic score, the first of its kind truly composed to picture. Pushing boundaries was always in the bloodstream of Mellé. The Andromeda Strain was made even more challenging by Robert Wise's desire to have electronics deliver the emotional impact of a traditional score without ever sounding like one. Mellé rose to the challenge by creating such new electronic instruments as the Percussotron, the world's first percussion synthesizer. He also recorded a wealth of organic sounds, from pins being knocked down at a bowling alley to buzz saws in a lumber mill. Such seemingly normal instruments as pianos, string basses and percussion were electronically mutated into new musical forms as Mellé performed live in his temporary studio at Universal. The result of Mellé's unique synthesis of sound effects and music was a Golden Globe-nominated score, one that not only captured the haunting, suspenseful sterility of Wise's vision, but also the throbbing, sinister evolution of something truly alien amidst the "sci-fi"q> scoring that had come before it.
Its inital release was an hexaganol vinyl 33 with an elaborate folding sleave:
Later editons were more conventially packaged:
Home Media
It's had a variety of releases...
TV Series
The book was made in to a TV show during the 21st century with a relase on DVD which included a very stylish special edition For Emmy Concideration DVD box set.
Arrow Films Blu-Ray Special features
- New restoration by Arrow Films from a 4K scan of the original camera negative
- High Definition (1080p) Blu-Ray presentation
- Original uncompressed mono audio, newly remastered for this release
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Audio commentary by critic Bryan Reesman
- A New Strain of Science Fiction, a newly-filmed appreciation by critic Kim Newman
- The Andromeda Strain: Making The Film, an archive featurette from 2001 directed by Laurent Bouzereau and featuring interviews with director Robert Wise and screenwriter Nelson Gidding
- A Portrait of Michael Crichton, an archive featurette from 2001 directed by Laurent Bouzereau and featuring an interview with author Michael Crichton
- Cinescript Gallery, highlights from the annotated and illustrated shooting script by Nelson Gidding
- Theatrical trailer, TV spots and radio spots
- Image gallery
- BD-ROM: PDF of the 192-page cinescript with diagrams and production designs
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Corey Brickley