What an eerie beginning for one of the more scary Sci-Fi thrillers of the sixties-seventies era. The small town of Piedmont, New Mexico, in the middle of the barren desert, has just lost all of its inhabitants (except for an old man & a baby) to a virus from outer space. A couple of scientists (played by Hill & Olson), looking like visiting aliens themselves in their spacesuits, investigate the dead area. As with many Sci-Fi films, I first saw this many years ago, when I was in my early teens, on TV. It's one of those films, however, which I've grown to appreciate more & more as I got older. It's based on the novel by Michael Crichton, his first; Crichton went on to direct his own films, starting with Westworld in 1973.
When I saw this as a kid, I found many sequences to be very dull. Now, as one example, I find the lengthy decontamination sequence to be fascinating, as is everything else. "What A World we're making" Wayne's scientist character says somewhat sadly early in the story. He's commenting on our ever-growing technology as he and Reid's character descend into the special underground installation, Wildfire. But, all the technology associated with that wild underground facility is what sets the hearts of most Sci-Fi fans to beating faster. What a trip it was, and is (since we can still see these scenes on LDs and DVDs). BoG's Score: 7 out of 10
A TV REMAKE aired on Monday, 5/26/08 & Tuesday 5/27/08, on the A&E channel, starring Ben Bratt & Ricky Schroeder. Early reviews were not good - Entertainment Weekly gave it a C- grade. Most viewers rated it even less. Other films with those pesky little bug threats include The Satan Bug (1965), Warning Sign (1985) and Outbreak (1995). Also, Stephen King's The Stand (TV-94) used such a lethal virus to wipe out most of humanity. But, here's the original Andromeda Strain film:
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