What I’m watching: two films from the 1970s recently re-released on Blu-rayDate: 6/19/2019 What I’m watching this week are two films from the 1970s recently re-released on Blu-ray.
On Blu-ray: Andromeda Strain
The late author and filmmaker Michael Crichton may be best remembered for his many creations that include “Jurassic Park,” “Westworld” and ‘The Great Train Robbery.”
His first success as a novelist under his own name came with “The Andromeda Strain” in 1969 and director Robert Wise made the film based on the bestseller in 1971.
Wise had been interested in both science fiction and horror films – he made “That Day the Earth Stood Still” and “The Haunting,” both classics. For this film he used the device of procedural film, close to a documentary feel.
The plot is straightforward. A satellite returning to Earth crashes in a remote town of New Mexico where whatever the satellite has brought from space has killed the population of the town with brutal speed and efficiency.
Only two people remain alive – a baby that doesn’t stop crying and an old man who drinks Sterno.
With the discovery of the deaths, teams of scientists are called into service to find out what killed the people and how to stop it. Their efforts take place in a modern underground lab that, if compromised by the mysterious agent from space, would be destroyed by a nuclear bomb.
Although it is a procedural narrative, the film has plenty of suspense and dramatic moments. In an interview included in an excellent package from Arrow Video, Wise explained in an archival interview he deliberately chose actors who were not stars, but very capable. Arthur Hill, for instance, was the original male lead in the first production of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf?” on Broadways.
Kate Reid, who steals the show as the cynical biologist, was also from the theater. Only David Wayne had a long career in movies.
Wise was right. We pay attention to the story and characters without the distraction of a movie star being in the cast.
Wise keeps the action moving forward and the pacing adds to the excitement.
I had not see this film since it was released in 1971 when I was I junior in high school. I had fond memories of it, but time of course can play some tricks. I’m happy to say that for the most part, the film works very well today. There are several moments that still really pack a punch.
Arrow Video’s restoration of the film is great and it looks just as sharp as it its theatrical release.
“The Andromeda Strain” is science fiction that doesn’t insult your intelligence.
Between the Lines
I had wanted to see this film for years, as I will sit through any movie with a newspaper or media theme.
Director Joan Micklin Silver brought forth to the screen a script written by a former reporter for two alternative newspapers in Boston. The story revolves around an alternative weekly that has gone from an underground paper to a publication much more in the mainstream.
The film has little plot. Instead it follows the staff of the paper as they face a corporate buy-out and question what is their purpose with the counter-culture in the rear view mirror.
The film has a great cast include Jeff Goldblum, John Heard, Lindsay Crouse, Stephen Collins, Bruno Kirby and Marilu Henner. What it does not have is a good script.
Essentially the film focuses on the male characters who are almost all essentially jerks and the women who will stick with them no matter what. In 1977 there was plenty of feminist sensibility in American pop culture and one would assume a movie about an underground newspaper would reflect that.
It doesn’t.
This is a very disappointing and at times frustrating movie about characters who are incredibly disagreeable. I took absolutely no pleasure in watching it.
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