The Crazies (The Original)

The Crazies (1973)

Runtime: 103 minutes

Directed by: George A. Romero

Starring: Lane Carroll, Will MacMillan, Harold Wayne Jones, Lloyd Hollar, Lynn Lowry

From: Pittsburgh Films

I had to specify that this was the original as sometime in the next two months I'll give the 2010 remake a spin: 

Earlier in the month I happened to look at an old review I did for Night of the Living Dead; I don't usually do this as to be honest when I look at most of my reviews after the fact I spot errors or things I'd write differently... but because of a recent release I looked at what I said about Romero's classic, and... besides the fact that review was posted on August of 2016, I had also mentioned that I would be seeing The Crazies “sometime next week”, which definitely did not happen; I couldn't even tell you why I dun goofed there. This seemed like the opportune time to rectify my mistake so this was finally viewed last night. 

This does seem like a riff on Living Dead, except that it's “a biological weapon is unleashed by accident on a rural Pennsylvania town due to a plane crash” instead of “the dead rise from their graves after suspected radioactive contamination from a space probe.” Infected people go absolutely berserk, but not everyone feels the affects of this virus; thus, they are able to question how the (typical) incompetent federal government and the military deals with this situation. It is also like Dead in that a random group of people have to team up to avoid the threat, but this time they are on the run and go all over the real life town of Evans City, Pennsylvania. Not only do they bicker with each other, so do the authorities on how to handle this situation.

The movie is a low-budget affair and is full of locals from the area, some of whom are not what you'd call “good actors”, to be brutally honest. That said, this was still fine overall. It still managed to be entertaining as the quintet spends most of the movie on the run and there are various shootouts & near-misses. Plus, there are many caustic barbs against the military and government as they are incompetent boobs who can't get organized and even in national emergency are mired in bureaucracy. Not that this could ever happen with the United States government in real life I was surprised at how bleak this was, although perhaps I shouldn't be considering the director and this being a product of the 70's. The stark opening sets the tone for the entire movie.

As this was a flawed product, I am not mad that this was remade in 2010. Sometime in the next two months I'll view that and talk about it here, and this time that promise will be kept.