150 Word Review: 'The Andromeda Strain' (1971)
Going viral
This 1971 sci-fi thriller—the first Hollywood adaptation of a Michael Crichton novel—is all about viruses, aliens, and conspiracy theories. Timely! But then you're reminded it was made in the ’70s: in one scene, a real-life monkey "dies" after being exposed to a lethal extraterrestrial contagion. He was gassed with CO₂, IRL, then revived.
The Andromeda Strain is directed with cold efficiency by Robert Wise, the man who directed The Sound of Music, among many others. Wise shoots his movie from a documentarian's distance. We watch a quartet of cool-headed government scientists react to a mysterious outbreak while isolated in a sleek futuristic underground lab that resembles a spaceship in a Kubrick knock-off.
The standout egghead is Kate Reid, as a cranky lady genius. Our heroes barely flinch when told the deadly plague that killed the inhabitants of a small Southwestern town is being given the impossible cool codename: Andromeda Strain.