https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066769/
Runtime: 131 minutes
Directed by: Robert Wise
Starring: Arthur Hill, David Wayne, James Olson, Kate Reid, Paula Kelly
From: Universal
Split screen scenes, 70’s Moog music, hard science, nerdy scientists as the heroes, the then-new novelty of computers running everything: of course this had the elements to be a winner for me… and it was.
For a motion picture I’ve known of for years, some mutuals here on Letterboxd noting this fact and how they liked it was enough encouragement to make the streaming rental on Amazon. Admittedly some may think Andromeda is too dull for them. After all, it’s centered around a small group of scientists who work together in a sterile lab and the whole process is shown methodical in a methodical pace. It did drag a moment or two but otherwise I was riveted throughout. Andromeda is not as dry as it may sound-there are some quips made, mostly by the woman scientist. Those pithy moments didn’t always make me laugh but at least it wasn’t “Marvel humor.”
A satellite crashes in a tiny New Mexico town and that results in most of its residents dying on the spot. Via the government, the satellite is retrieved then the process began of calling in those scientists, whereupon they travel to a secret location in barren Nevada-not Area 51-start the process of the scientific method. It’s apparent the deaths occurred due to a dangerous space organism but like with something of terrestrial origin, there are hypotheses, tests/experiments run, and from there they try to solve the query. The question of how to neutralize or eradicate the threat is also present.
Andromeda is over 2 hours long so the pacing is rather measured and thus some time is spent on showing our heroes go through a rigorous sterilization process. Some may find it an alternative to Unisom yet for me the whole process was fascinating; they used the scientific method and many tests to discover what it is then make decisions based on what they discover. It was well-directed by Robert Wise and the performances from the small cast were solid all around. The opening credits where “official documents” were presented in bright colors against a black background was pretty dope… oh yeah, the movie attempted to claim this was “based on a true story.” That might not have been believed by anyone half a century ago yet the idea of something from outer space landing on Earth and resulting in a pandemic is perhaps not that far-fetched… hopefully we have scientists someone that can deal with it-and be allowed to deal w/ it.
I’ve never read the early Michael Crichton novel this is based on but I understand the movie is relatively faithful to that. One last thing: this may be the least G rated movie I’ve ever seen that is rated G. Besides there being a warning on the official poster that “it’s G but it still may be too intense for young children” there is a shot of a man’s bare butt AND a topless woman’s corpse is seen for a few seconds! Don’t ask me why it wasn’t rated PG.
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