I’ve not seen Groundstar, but I saw Andromeda Strain in the late 70’s as a pre-teen and I still re-watch it even today. What makes it utterly terrifying is the absolute plausibility that such a thing could happen - especially prescient in the last couple of years!
Horror is scarier when its something that is BELIEVABLE. For example CUJO scared me more than Alien because I knew that those "xenomorphs" did not really exist and even IF they did they would be many light years away and I would never encounter them but DOGS do exist and RABIES is a real disease so a big dog with rabies killing people is something more realistic that might actually happen.
As a young boy in the 1970s, "The Andromeda Strain" is one of my favorite movies. I was crazy for computers back then and this movie looked like a future I was ready for.
@@salty-walt I remember seeing it on TV and since bought the DVD. The technology was a nice mix of the things current then and additional stuff expected for a few years in the future. The man who typed in the messages for Colossus was using a teletype machine. Those were made for communication like the ones in Andromeda Strain, but also used as computer terminals for connecting to the computer.
Robert Wise directed The Body Snatcher,The Set-Up,The Day the Earth Stood Still,Run Silent Run Deep,I Want to Live,The Haunting,The Sand Pebbles,Somebody up There Likes Me and two low key musicals :) let's forgive him
And I'm sure it was RKOs idea to ruin "Ambersons" and not Wise's. He also cut the first half hour and that turned out all right. And Welles isn't completely blameless for what happened to the movie, either.
I live walking distance from a movie theater that once a week shows 2 old movies back to back. Its a special event called CULT CLASSICS. I would love it if they did Andromida Strain and Groundstar Conspiracy back to back.
Thanks for recommending Groundstar Conspiracy. I haven't seen it, but I've lived in Vancouver all my life and I especially love seeing my city on the screen from the 70s when I was a kid. BTW, the "brutalist architecture" is Simon Fraser University (SFU), opened in 1967.
The SFU campus is a legendary shooting location and is in Battle Star Galactica, the x files, Stargate, Halo: Forward unto Dawn and countless other movies and TV shows 🙂
I must have 'watched' The Andromeda Strain at least a dozen times at this point. Not because it's so fantastic - it isn't (although I do quite enjoy it), but it's just one of those familiar old comforts that makes for some distracting background noise when working / cooking / whatever. So it's not exactly a glowing endorsement from me, but I'll undoubtedly watch it again and still find bits to enjoy. The Groundstar Conspiracy though, can't believe I've never even heard of it and as a Peppard fan that will definitely be going on the watchlist (to be watched properly). Thanks for the video as always, hopefully life picks up as it usually does.
@@terrytalksmovies Temporary life hassles are the best life hassles. I prescribe lots of chicken soup, or something (I guess it's winter down there so why not?). I completely understand that chicken, garlic & ginger don't actually cure every medical ailment, but you try explaining that to my girlfriend.
The Groundstar conspiracy could use a MODERN REMAKE with how much surveillance technology has changed in the almost half a century since it was filmed.
Like a lot of people here, I saw this in the theater during the initial run when I was quite young. My view of the emotions that characters were feeling basically leaked out in the movie while they were all to busy to have time to think about them. So, that would include some of the comments from Karen (Hall's assistant/guide) about how training seemed like a game or about the human touch. We got to see the scientist's thoughts during the first night of sleep and their general cranky, sour dispositions that lead to the arguements about the maps. I did like the sleek look of the Wildfire site and the early computer usage--that include the use of a light pen to "click" on things on the screen. One big thing that I haven't seen mentioned is that Crichton did have a point about mistakes and problems occurring during the movie although these are very scientific and competent people. The issue with the teletype machine not ringing because the bell was muffled is a good example of something minor causing a big problem. The 7-12 directive was just part of the protocol (sterilize the contaminated site) that turned out to be a huge potential mistake that was luckily was delayed and had to be called off. And oops, the Wildfire site self-sterilization on contamination becomes a liability that can't be fixed until the paperwork is done.
@@terrytalksmovies I think the idea was that what didn't get destroyed by the blast would feed on the radiation. The entire two lower levels were contaminated so it was spreading up and possibly out of the lab. A big if, but very possible. One problem that others have mentioned is that Andromeda was mutating, but it all was doing the same thing. It should be varying like Covid19. It acts more like a machine rather than something biological. Also, it acts more like a gas rather than like a virus that has to be passed along in a sneeze or close touching of skin. It reproduces seemingly very quickly too.
I've never seen the Groundstar Conspiracy, but I see it's here on YT, so I'll give it a go. I happen to love the Andromeda Strain, and first saw it on TV when I was a kid. It's a great example of a small sub-genre of sci-fi that are "scientific process" movies. It's attention to the science, and showing how everything is thought-out, is one of the points of the movie (and, IIRC, the book). Films like "Marooned", "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea", and "From the Earth to the Moon" (plus "The Satan Bug" which you mentioned). would fall into that sub-category. I think the lack of emotion among the characters is deliberate, and is intended to showcase the technology of Wildfire, in the same way that the entire cast of "2001 A Space Odyssey" is almost completely unemotional. It forces the viewer to focus on the technology and the process itself, rather than on the characters. That might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I think it does do what it's intended to do. Rather than focusing on the interpersonal relationships of the characters, you're forced to follow the process of identifying the virus (or going on the voyage to Jupiter) because that's all there is.
For me, that stoicism is one of 2001's weaknesses, too. When the emotional stakes are low it reduces audience engagement. I know this because I'm guilty of it on this channel, too.
@@terrytalksmovies "Stoicism". That's a great word to describe it. Personally it doesn't bother me at all (I'm a big fan of U.F.O. from the 1970's, which is also quite low-emotion most of the time), but I do see how a lot of people would find it unengaging.
Wow just watched groundstar and it was great…love good 70s movies and tv. The music and cinematography reminds me of Quinn Martin. 70s architecture was wonderful. The film kept me wondering until the end. Great recommendation and I have always loved George Peppard
Got Andromeda on DVD. Always remember the scream by the first people to visit the town in a surveillance van but it isn't explained why they screamed. Cutting wrists to reveal powder instead of blood was memorable too. Still a good film. Never seen Groundstar. It's on my check out list now.
Groundstar is new to me. I'll have to check it out. I must admit that I really like The Andromeda Strain. You're right that the placement of the Senate hearing makes no sense, but I really like the film despite that. I especially like the step by step scientific approach.
Let’s not forget that also in the early 70s the church committee, here in the US, was uncovering quite a bit of unpleasantries committed by the CIA including but not limited to the Cointelpro program which was involved in targeted assassinations, framings of black panther leaders, and much more than I can list here. Another great review by the way. Also I hope things improve on a personal level for you.
George Peppard was a memorable anti-hero in the Groundstar Conspiracy. He was a very good actor, who did not mind playing unsympathetic characters, even lead characters. I perfect example was Jonas Cord from The Carpetbaggers but it might have begun with his character in The Victors (1963) or even as early as the .Rat who witnesses Jocko's crime in The Strange One (1957). (He is also the only one in that film who seemed to know how to do basic drill and ceremonies, which makes sense as he was a former US Marine.)
"Rat" is a freshman Cadet at VMI, VA Tech or The Citadel at that time, analogous to "Plebe at USMA or USNA. (The Strange One is set at a place based on VMI or The Citadel, the original novel is more clearly about The Citadel.)
Something funny. Last weekend I was on JB online ordering eeaao and had added this dvd to the cart. I have seen andromeda strain a few times but the groundstar conspiracy I hadn’t seen and it sounded interesting and you have now made it more interesting. Anyway go to checkout and couldn’t get it done with that dvd, so you have reminded me to go back and get it. Am picking up eeaao tomorrow 😁
I actually thought the "looking at the dead" montage in Andromeda Strain made it more intriguing. It really gave you the feeling that something was off and put you in the heads of the men looking in, who would just be getting quick, horrifying glances at these people before moving on. The only thing in that scene that was off-putting was the nudity of one of the dead people (a young woman, of course,) because you couldn't tell if it was meant to shock or titillate. It was just an...odd choice. To me, the Wildfire facility resembles Dante's vision of Hell - starting with red like fire and becoming cooler and grayer at the bottom. I always wondered if that was an intentional bit of symbolism.
The symbolism was a bit blatant. The dead young woman in the montage was definitely a mistake. Unfortunately the montage took me out of the horror rather than underlining it.
The image of the naked woman might have been to increase the sense of unease. Both titillate and shock at the same time. He did live during the time of WWII when there were many images of death and destruction that seem to be very easy to come across. My parents had year-in-review books that included shocking images that they bought somewhere in the 1950s.
I saw the Andromeda Strain dead people montag on TV in the 1970s. I was too young for that and it did stick with me for a long time. When older I rewatched it and that helped me process it. BTW Eaters of the Dead is am excellent Michael Crichton book and made a good movie (different name) too.
I like that series of movies Peppard did with John Guillermin, The Blue Max, PJ, and House of Cards, but especially The Blue Max the plane scenes are jaw dropping. Also like Operation Crossbow, especially the first part, get a little too James Bondish at the end :)
Still love The Andromeda Strain..Great flick. You could also include "Colossus: The Forbin Project" , "Westworld", "FutureWorld", "Fantastic Voyage" and "The Questor Tapes" (made-for-TV, but still fits the bill) as some great 70's techo-thrillers.. I'll also second your recommendation of "Frankenstein: The True Story". (I have a copy in my DVD player right now, as a matter of fact). One of those "with an all-star cast" miniseries from the 70's
Watched Groundstar! Thanks for the recommendation! What an amazing twist ending! George Peppard is one of my favorite actors. I also see what you mean about the end of Andromeda Strain being lazy. It never bothered me tho. It is of the same era as “Fantastic Voyage” which I love for the techno less than the “thriller” aspect. Groundstar has so much more to it. A kind of love story, redemption too. Very interesting.
Will check out Ground Star conspiracy! I like the Andromeda Strain. The film is basically the scientific method on screen and the fact that Wise made it compelling is a feat in itself. I especially like the Gil Melle soundtrack. I agree with you on the multi POV effect. It looks like a comic book in AS. In fact it'd probably be even more dynamic and visually interesting if it were a comic drawn by a talented artist! 🙂
I liked "Andromeda Strain" more than you did, but I can understand your criticisms. Recently, I read the sequel novel "The Andromeda Evolution" from last year, which shows the non-lethal variant at the end of the original story is not as harmless as suspected. Oh, and re: Michael Sarrazin, I recommend the 1976 comedy "The Gumball Rally", also starring Tim MacIntyre and Raul Julia. It's pretty much the prototype for the later Burt Reynolds movie "The Cannonball Run", but lower key in its humor.
I've always liked ANDROMEDA STRAIN. I do have to agree with you on what I've always called "the clumsiness" of the film though. I just chocked it up to a 70's interpretation of where technology and thinking would be for that type of situation actually happening.
Terry, you think Robert Wise was an 'unimaginative' director ? You think that the climax of 'The Body Snatcher' or innumerable scenes in 'The Haunting' were 'unimaginative' ?
Love your stuff. I appreciate your POV of the importance of historical context in film. I liked your comparing the Andromeda Strain to The Stan Bug from a biological techno-thriller standpoint. In terms of plot and character dynamics, it has always felt like a Howard Hawks film in that it revolves around an isolated set of individuals in a remote location facing a life threatening challenge. It also shares the aspect of a tough/salty female character in a largely male dominated scenario. My favorite less celebrated Hawks movie for literally decades has been Only Angels Have Wings for those reasons.
My favourite Hawks film is still Rio Bravo. It humanises John Wayne's persona and shows frontier law enforcement as an occupation in the context of an action film.
I haven't seen The Groundstar Conspiracy hopefully I'll come across it. You make it sound interesting. Telling a story in flashback is a risky proposition. Having a scientist with a medical condition she wanted to hide for professional reasons was timely, yes that character was played very well. You have a point about the Deus ex Machina. Then again fast mutations is what viruses do. They did solve the riddle of the survivors on their own. The mutation was to give them a fighting chance for survival. They still had to contend with the lasers.
Hi Terry. Those Umbrella double features have been pretty great so far. Robert Wise, a journeyman director of sorts, did many genres. His Noirs are pretty good such as Born to Kill, the Set-Up and Odds against tomorrow 👍 the Day the Earth Stood Still is superior to Star Trek - The Motion picture 😜 he did give us the Sound of Mucus so I will knock him down a peg for that. 😂
Re: Michael Chrichton - I agree with your comments in general about him, but as an example of (maybe) the exception to the rule as it were I confess I have always had a soft spot for The Great Train Robbery. I love Caper movies, 19th Century adventures in general and the lead actors so I allow as to the weight of prejudice in this case. Still ...
I enjoy The Andromeda Strain, which I first saw on TV back in the B&W days, so just a year or so after it hit the theatres. I was very interested in science then (still am) but only lasted one semester of a Biology degree before eventually ending up in the federal public service with other uni dropouts. I was fascinated with computers, which was part of why I liked that movie, they seemed so real in how they were used. I also most liked the Kate Reid character she was so down-to-Earth and real. As for the film, I'd read Satan Bug and a lot of Clarke/Asimov/Heinlein/Christopher etc science fiction so was fairly forgiving when it came to science in movies cos it always had massive plot and reality holes. I still wrote a complaint letter to Channel 9 after they showed Day of the Triffids, though.
The ending of the Andromeda Strain did (IMHO) have a twist to it. *Minor spoilers*. As it turned out the bug would have had serious consequences for humanity had the scientists allowed the facility's self-destruct mechanism to be triggered. So beware of the consequences of approaches which were created for the very best intentions.
Terry - keep going on! Fascinating stuff and I'm a UK mofo enjoying your videos. TH-cam make it difficult but you're smashing this. Keep going my old mate! Loving the content.
Terry, I really loved THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN when it first came out. I think what you consider a "bug" is a feature - that the scientists are largely Bo-RING functionary types who see their job as "Fix the Problem" with no real thought as to the broader issues (no Oppenheimers in this bunch!). That's why they cast television/B-movie level actors like Arthur Hill, David Wayne and James Olson, all three of who could just as easily (and often did) play Lawyers, Physicians, Accountants, Corporate Executives...Robot Overlords, largely without changing the style of their performance. All that makes Kate Reid's epileptic coded-lesbian doctor such an interesting splash of color in the monochromatic acting because she's acerbic, chain-smokes (in an ultra clean-room environment!), and is the one horrified and angry at the realization that the titular space virus was deliberately "harvested" for use in biological warfare. She can be that much of a loose canon because it's likely the Government knew of her epilepsy (and her sexuality) - while most institutions would outright fire a LGBT doctor, others (most academic, though intelligence services did this as well) hired them because they'd be less likely to make waves for fear of being exposed as "deviated preverts". One character you missed, and probably just as well, was the fifth member of the Wildfire Team - Prof. Christian Kirke. He had appendicitis and couldn't be available in time. A LOT of film criticism at the time was written about how the team was lost, and almost destroyed the world, without "Christian Kirke" to help guide them...! 🤣🤣🤣 (Now I want an episode that starts with Terry snarling and flipping off his monitor repeatedly as he reads this last paragraph.) I don't share your contempt for Robert Wise (he was still a low-level studio employee at the time of THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS, would have been blackballed if he'd refused to re-edit the film - and it still would've gotten recut!), and I still think THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN is one of the smarter Late Sixties/Early Seventies SF films, even if it was based on Michael Crichton's first novel. It was a lot better than the 2008 miniseries, which was just...dire....
I loved your characterization of Michael Crichton -- cribbing ideas from better SF writers and making them into airport-bookstore paperbacks. 😄 As a kid I thought _The Andromeda Strain_ was fun, and I loved the Kate Reid character, but even as a kid, and even when common folk knew a lot less about virus mutations than we do now, the ending struck me as a cop-out. "The virus has mutated into a harmless strain"? But, but, but ... "a virus" isn't a single individual. If a harmless strain arises, all of its non-harmless aunts and uncles are still going to be around, doing their non-harmless thing.
(sigh) the same thing is already happening with the Corona virus. Every variation becomes more infectious, but less harmfull. Remember: it doesn't do a virus very much good if it kills it's host, ie means of reproduction. Most viruses (viri?) evolves to become less stressful to a host to increase reproductivity. And suuuure, _even as a kid_ you understood the concept of a virus (eye roll).
Terry, something's just struck me about The Andromeda Strain. You say it has a cop-out ending because the virus is seen to settle down to no longer threaten humanity ... are you sure that is EXACTLY how the movie ends ? I seem to recall the last frame of the movie where the virus 'twitches', suggesting - to me anyway - that it's about to mutate again. Am I wrong about that ending ?
@@terrytalksmovies You perhaps have a point. But I still like the movie. ... I watch some movies with strong endings, and I watch some movies with weak endings ;-)
It's been a while since I stopped by to see you, and I'm glad I did. Like visiting a friend. You may be a bit harsh on "The Andromeda Strain," however. It did have all the ingredients of a reasonably sketched-out techno-thriller, and it gave me some really tense moments. I thought the sequence where the female scientist had that fit was creepy as hell. Also, how often does a sci-fi film end with the end of the world? The only one I can think of is "Melancholia," which I recommend you review.
@@terrytalksmovies Oh, you're right! I confess I started watching it but didn't finish. I dunno, I could see where it was going and just lost interest.
I have a sort of viewing project that I've been doing for years inspired by the Drive-In Delirium (and now blu-ray) DVD series, and handily enough this blu-ray double contains two titles on that list I haven't seen (I may have seen a bit of Andromeda Strain very late at night on TV years ago, but I can't really remember). Must invest. I like Robert Wise a bit more than you evidently do, and I can't entirely blame him for the Ambersons debacle, cos I presume RKO would've been the ones really calling the shots there.
Last Sunday I watched The Groundstar conspiracy, amazing much this film stand really well. I forgot that Geroge P was in it. I remember Michael S. Groundstar does holds your attention. I agree with you about the films. Strain could have been better film.
The title of the original novel of “The Groundstar Conspiracy” was “The Alien”. It was so confusing that one local library had it in Science Fiction and another in Espionage. The movie is better and one of my favorites and, if you’ve seen it, you know why.
Cheers Terry - got to agree with you about both Andromeda and Chrichton. The former is ok but I’ve never seen why people regard it so highly. As for Chrichton, his narrative across books/movies seems to have been: scientific development, scientific development goes awry and chase in the last third - see Jurassic Park and Westworld particularly. I’ll have to check out Groundstar though, never heard of that before and looks good. Take care!
I will always love Andromeda because it features a man named Hall saving the world, but I do remember Groundstar mainly for the character played by Peppard. I'm with you on Medium Cool, though -- I only caught snippets of it on TV ages ago and wouldn't mind catching the whole thing.
@@terrytalksmovies I saw it on its original release and then again about 10 years ago now at the theatre at the George Eastman Museum. Robert Forrester, a Rochester native, was the special guest that night and gave a short talk about the film/experience before the film was shown. I was impressed by how well it has stood the test of time. And it has Frank Zappa in the soundtrack.
Guess I'm going to have to look up "The Groundstar Conspiracy"! 🙂 I've been familiar with the title for half a century, but never made it a priority to watch.
Saw the movie last night. It was pretty good! Those last scenes really had me wondering who was what! The one irritating thing was that 90+% of the dialog was replaced. Even the interiors! It's so artificial sounding. Takes me right out of the movie.
I watched the Andromeda Strain but it was a long time ago and I was young so... I liked it back then, not sure if I'd still like it now. Another dark techno thriller is Demon Seed, which is another one I liked when young but might not now (and it would definitely be problematic nowadays!)
I remember Demon Seed when it was released in the 70s. Found it very disturbing. Julie Christie being trapped in a house with a computer voiced by Robert Vaughn…then impregnated. Hello…Alexa!
I enjoyed the Andromeda Strain and picked it up from Arrow, but I'm never against hearing suggestions as to how a film might have fallen down or done better for us.
Hi Terry, I've not seen TGC but it looks interesting. Gonna try to see it. The Andromeda Strain is a favourite of mine. Really good sci-fi movie directed by a great movie director, Robert Wise. I love Kate Reid as the scientist who's competely pee'd off with her sh***y job (there just aren't enough bored, pissed-off scientists in movies are there ! ... Veronica Cartwright's character Lambert in 'Alien' is one other) Yeah ... Robert Wise ... one of my very favourite film directors. And yes, when I told you this a while back you admonished me disgracefully by saying that you hated him for his editing of Orson Welles' 'The Magnificent Ambersons'. You need to let this go mate. That movie was 80 years ago for goodness sake. We all make mistakes in life ... I mean I kid you not, I actually paid to see 'The Lost City Of Z' at the cinema. PS I really liked Frankenstein: The True Story. A nice take on the classic story.
I hold no flame for Robert Wise, but I thought that he edited Ambersons under the overview of the RKO(?) producers, rather than off his own bat? I don’t know what strictures he was given, but running time would be one, I’d think. I dare say Welles left the film in a state that didn’t allow for much editing in terms of structure. I’d love to see the Welles version, but as RKO destroyed all the offcut sections I doubt it’ll ever happen other than as stills or some kind of animation.
Airport Bookshop form of Paige-Turning Middle-of-the-Road Fiction!!! Possibly the most effective imagery producing quip I have ever heard! 😁😁😁 (Although I must confess, I loved 'The Eaters of the Dead' in my youth!) & since you mentioned it, I have been meaning to ask why you take umbrage to the term 'SCI/FI'??? Not a fan of Forrest Ackerman???✌
@@terrytalksmovies Whole-E-Smokes! NEVER knew that about Forrest Ackerman!😱😱😱 Yet another Icon shattered!!! (Of course, I SHOULD be used to it by now!🤕🤕🤕!) Please forgive my ignorance Terry!✌
I swear this was published in the US under a title like “Him”. The book ends with us never clear if the main character is the scientist or a Soviet spy.
Thought something mighta been up. Noticed your absence. VERY sorry to hear it. Hope it's to rights soon. Love/Hate re: Andromeda Strain. As a kid, looking for SF, it was the WORST, MOST boring Sat Afternoon SF ever. But I remember it being sold on it's "Science." And "scienceY" it was. As slow a deliberate as science. In fact Crichton was going for a very cold, detached feel to make it more convincing - and people of the time found it very much so. I always took that painfully dated split screen montage to be intentional, to get that clinical effect that is forefront of most of the film. I mean, long expositional scenes about decontamination and lab design were shot, let alone kept in. To my memory they were lauded for it. It's usually held up as a good example to do hard SF. I liked it for some of that as an adult, but I *also* feel like tricks like that are to distract from that it was shot like a TV Movie on a big budget. I guess I'm saying it worked for me, within the frame of what the film was trying to do- the same sorta exercise as certain horror or kung fu movies that you;'ve gotta take at face value. I've not read any of his books but "Eaters of the Dead" and as you point out, that is VERY largely cribbed from Ahmad ibn Fadlan. In general I share your opinion of the film making duo though. I may be misremembering, but didn't Crichton direct much of this film with a sour, anti-SF Wise looking over his shoulder for his own & the studio's piece of mind? I know it *sounds* crazy, but Andromeda Strain was a huge breakthrough novel that made a TON of money and brought SF into profitable "Mainstream." As long as the science was "REAL." Of course a studio wouldn't do it today, but he wrote & directed "Westworld" outta nowhere. I thought I remembered that. . . no footnotes, sorry.
I beg to differ in regard to Robert Wise. One of my favorites. I don't like all his movies BUT I love The Haunting, and The Body Snatchers. I respect his versatility PLUS one of the few directors that didn't treat the actors like shit. cough cough Fritz Lang.
I have no respect for abusive directors. They'll get a monumental film, but leave an actor scarred for life. Hitchcock sucks. Kubrick is worse. Bertolucci is the worst. Peter Weir and Christopher Guest are the best.
I remember watching "The Groundstar Conspiracy" when it first came out and about 10 years later on TV. I think I saw an "American version" of the movie because in the key scene you showed, I distinctly remember the line as ".. sabotage, revolutions, they all begin in bedrooms"... not "In privacy" (Might be a Mandela flash). I agree that the beginning of "The Andromeda Strain" was a complete mistake. I think the montage was just a crude attempt to keep the pace up and fill in more horror, but was clumsily done. The part that I always hate is the ridiculous ladder climb with Lasers at the climax,. It is so crude a badly done that it completely pops me out of the movie. Part of what make the movie work for me is the humor mixed in with tension. The book's ending is a little better. It turns out that they in fact failed in containing the organism, and that it moved into the upper atmosphere it continues to "live". It destroys a maned spacecraft on re-entry to Earth's atmosphere when it eats the heat shield of the craft. The implication is that the government has covered Andromeda up, and that mankind is no trapped on Earth. I suppose the implied good is that it hints that ICBMs would no longer be effective if they couldn't survive re-entry. I read half a dozen of Crichton's books and gave up when I saw that they all followed the same anti-science plot in every story.
@@terrytalksmovies The only book of his that I think was actually worthy of any praise was "The Terminal Man"., although I have to admit I gave up after reading 5 or 6 of his books. "Sphere" in particular was so bad I am amazed it was published, let alone made into a movie. It had a great cast, but was so bad you could find it in the $3 bargain bin here in the states.
Great reviews as usual. I particularly liked your review of the Groundstar Conspiracy and I agree that poster art is a thing of the past. I disagree with your evaluation of Wise but I have always found the movies of Crichton's books better than the books themselves. I sort of agree with your evaluation of Kate Reid's character but you have to remember that this was 1971 and women of intelligence were still the matronly librarian types. Your automatic assumption that she might be a lesbian because, of course, as a real woman would not go into science, is a holdover from this. They were either Kate or Raquel in those days and as you said, Wise had to be convinced to have a Kate. That was the transition of the times. I liked the extra BTW for Andromeda Strain. The "making of" short that was made (and on TH-cam) gives a great account of how they "pushed" the technology of the day to do things technology of 1971 could not do. I like filmmaking secrets.
I didn't assume she was a lesbian. I said that it could be interpreted that way. I love the fact they didn't go with a 'starlet' for the role. It grounds the science and the sense of reality.
@@terrytalksmovies I agree with you on that. So many times they choose style over substance. Of course in Andromeda Strain, there were no swimsuit scenes. 😁 Keep up all your good work.
I have to admit I loved the Andromeda Strain when I was a boy. I watched every time it was on TV. I stopped being a fan of Michael Crichton when he took money to compromise his art. He wrote "State of Fear" in the early 2000's as a hit piece against climate change. I remember seeing a story at the time that Crichton was paid to write just such a hit piece.
"Paid to write a hit piece"? Did it ever occur to you that Crichton (as well as a lot of other people who know what they're talking about) are against the agenda of manmade global warming/cooling? And why would he need to "sell out" when he was already filthy rich just from the *Jurassic Park* money alone?
@@TheRealNormanBates I read that story. He was PAID by right-wingers to write that piece of trash. He did NOT know what he was talking about, and Chricton would not be the first to compromise his art for money.
@@fje6902 It wouldn't surprise me either way, but considering he was already rich, your story seems dubious and illogical. Reading the Wiki page, I don't understand your point of view, as he wrote a novel he did research on, and as it states "Crichton warns "both sides" of the global warming debate against the politicization of science. Here he provides two examples of the disastrous combination of pseudoscience and politics: the early 20th-century ideas of eugenics (which he directly cites as one of the theories that allowed for the Holocaust) and Lysenkoism." So you have a problem with questioning very wealthy people who are using the current modern morality as a weapon to control people, when they themselves absolve themselves from their own preached sin? It seems you have some vendetta with this, and anyone who takes a book this seriously needs some medication.
I have seen the Andromeda Strain and it always felt a little stiff and stilted it was like they said we're making a serious movie and you will respect our seriousness. It also had too many coinvent thing going wrong a convenient times to make the plot work seriously the first time I saw the movie I thought one of them was a spy sabotaging things. There is a remake from the 2000's that is actually worse adding a weird 12 monkey's plot to it. in medias res has ruined many a film the one that most readily comes to mind is Ghost of Mars which could of been a tense little sci fi horror movie but by having a couple of characters at the beginning of the movie in a classic "So tell us what happened at..." scene it stripped most of the tension from the movie. I have watched Banacek and it is much unappreciated gem I loved Peppard's performance and really liked the series if you ever spin off another channel covering old tv shows you have to do a show on it.
Wasn't Wise acting under the orders of the studio heads when he recut Ambersons? Andromeda Strain has the feel of real technical science but too slow paced and wonky. The other film sounds interesting.
Haven't seen either of these but I read The Andromeda Strain novel and it sucked so I believe you about the film. I can't cosign on the Robert Wise dislike but we all have our opinions, I've been known to come in hot on people I can't stand. Haha
@@terrytalksmovies They saw him as a studio proxy, who'd look out for their interests, and by the time of Star Trek he was credited for making the SF BLOCKBUSTER "Andromeda Strain." And the worm eats it's tail.
Terry: I usually go along with your assessments of the movies you profile. However, not this time. Back in the day, The Andromeda Strain and Colossus, The Forbin Project were on a double feature during its theatrical run. As a kid, I have fond memories. I even rewatched both a few years ago. Yeah, they’re “B Movies” for sure…but entertaining nonetheless. I tried watching on TH-cam a free viewing of The Ground Star Conspiracy. After 30 minutes, I couldn’t take it anymore. What a dreadful film. I expected more from the (Universal stock) actors lead by George Peppard and your glowing recommendation. (Mr. Peppard’s performance in “Damnation Alley” was better…and that’s no prize either) Anyway, enough of my grousing. BTW: Get rid of the teleprompter. I prefer your natural deliveries and the occasional visit by your cat. Thanks
Ok. Now I have to search for a copy of Groundstar Conspiracy. Curse you Terry. 👍👍👍👍👍 PS I totally agree about Andromeda Strain. I like it , but the script is flawed. The actors are not engaging with the exception you mention. And Crichton is not a good writer.
Just as the point is made about brutalist architecture there is a man wearing a white tie that is wide enough to provide shelter for three in an emergency. There is NOTHING as entertaining as watching films from the era and look at the clothes. Check out Thunderbolt & Lightfoot for further entertainment.
I have to agree. I really liked seeing your movie collection bookcase. It had the "we're just having a discussion about this movie" vibe that I liked. The moving green screen background drove me crazy.
I saw Andromeda Strain at the theater as a kid, and I thought it was paced too slowly and was boring. It was probably just over my head. I do like Wise as a director, not sure it's fair to blame him for the butchering of the Welles film; if he had refused to do it, the studio would have just hired someone else to do it. I also think he did a fantastic job on the Star Trek movie, especially compared to the garbage that Trek has become in recent years. I haven't seen Groundstar Conspiracy, but it looks interesting. I think Peppard was an underrated actor, and should've had a better film career.
@@john-lenin The actual subculture consists of the few people that like and relate to this emo NuTrek junk. When an entire season of STD was shown on major network TV, it got the lowest ratings of any show in its time slot. Few people wanted to watch it even for free...not Star Trek fans, not non-fans.
I like Andromeda Strain and you had pretty much talked me around UNTIL you unfavourably compared the weak writing with that of Avengers: Endgame. Endgame is possibly the worst film ever written. Russos had written themselves into an impossible corner in Infinity War and their Endgame solution... time travel. Let's forget logic, continuity. Let's just go fix what we broke and FU*K the intelligence of the audience 'cause they are so dumb they'll buy this shite whatever we do. Sadly, they did.
@@terrytalksmovies Oddly yes. And... beyond awful. Still less nonsensical than Endgame. And, I argue, the Russos KNEW Endgame would make no sense long before shooting because that was the only way to make a sequel to Infinity War without affecting Marvel sequels and infringing Sony copyright (for which Disney would have been held legally libel). Seriously this is the apex in film making cynicism. Shameful.
I’ve not seen Groundstar, but I saw Andromeda Strain in the late 70’s as a pre-teen and I still re-watch it even today. What makes it utterly terrifying is the absolute plausibility that such a thing could happen - especially prescient in the last couple of years!
Yep. Andromeda has a do-nothing President, which the plot conveniently turns into a virtue.
Horror is scarier when its something that is BELIEVABLE. For example CUJO scared me more than Alien because I knew that those "xenomorphs" did not really exist and even IF they did they would be many light years away and I would never encounter them but DOGS do exist and RABIES is a real disease so a big dog with rabies killing people is something more realistic that might actually happen.
As a young boy in the 1970s, "The Andromeda Strain" is one of my favorite movies. I was crazy for computers back then and this movie looked like a future I was ready for.
All those stainless steel surfaces in Andromeda must've been so easy to clean. An antiseptic future. 😀
Well, YOU need to see "Colossus: The Forbin Project" One of my faves.
@@salty-walt Colossus is an awesome movie!
@@salty-walt I remember seeing it on TV and since bought the DVD. The technology was a nice mix of the things current then and additional stuff expected for a few years in the future. The man who typed in the messages for Colossus was using a teletype machine. Those were made for communication like the ones in Andromeda Strain, but also used as computer terminals for connecting to the computer.
@@salty-walt I think I may have a new favorite 70s sci fi movie now. That was awesome. Thanks for the recommendation. 👍
Robert Wise directed The Body Snatcher,The Set-Up,The Day the Earth Stood Still,Run Silent Run Deep,I Want to Live,The Haunting,The Sand Pebbles,Somebody up There Likes Me and two low key musicals :) let's forgive him
And Star Trek the Motion Picture.
And I'm sure it was RKOs idea to ruin "Ambersons" and not Wise's. He also cut the first half hour and that turned out all right. And Welles isn't completely blameless for what happened to the movie, either.
Still don't like him. 😀
Hear hear !
I live walking distance from a movie theater that once a week shows 2 old movies back to back. Its a special event called CULT CLASSICS. I would love it if they did Andromida Strain and Groundstar Conspiracy back to back.
Can I live at your place? 😉
Thanks for recommending Groundstar Conspiracy. I haven't seen it, but I've lived in Vancouver all my life and I especially love seeing my city on the screen from the 70s when I was a kid. BTW, the "brutalist architecture" is Simon Fraser University (SFU), opened in 1967.
That University was a rough piece of concrete.
The SFU campus is a legendary shooting location and is in Battle Star Galactica, the x files, Stargate, Halo: Forward unto Dawn and countless other movies and TV shows 🙂
Thanks for talking about The Groundstar Conspiracy, one of my favorite films.
My pleasure.
I must have 'watched' The Andromeda Strain at least a dozen times at this point. Not because it's so fantastic - it isn't (although I do quite enjoy it), but it's just one of those familiar old comforts that makes for some distracting background noise when working / cooking / whatever. So it's not exactly a glowing endorsement from me, but I'll undoubtedly watch it again and still find bits to enjoy.
The Groundstar Conspiracy though, can't believe I've never even heard of it and as a Peppard fan that will definitely be going on the watchlist (to be watched properly).
Thanks for the video as always, hopefully life picks up as it usually does.
The life hassle was temporary. Sal was in hospital for a necessary operation but she's definitely on the mend at home now.
@@terrytalksmovies Temporary life hassles are the best life hassles. I prescribe lots of chicken soup, or something (I guess it's winter down there so why not?).
I completely understand that chicken, garlic & ginger don't actually cure every medical ailment, but you try explaining that to my girlfriend.
I've seen both these films. Watched Groundstar as a kid on T.V. Andromeda Strain is a classic.
Try Groundstar again.
The Groundstar conspiracy could use a MODERN REMAKE with how much surveillance technology has changed in the almost half a century since it was filmed.
I think the impact would be less in a remake. Similar stories have been donesince the 1970s.
OMG....your insight on THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS thank you!
My pleasure. I'm looking forward to the restored edition.
Thanks for your review Boss I really like movies from the 1970s a lot Too Mate!😉☮️
My pleasure. The 70s was such a rich time for American and Australian cinema.
Like a lot of people here, I saw this in the theater during the initial run when I was quite young. My view of the emotions that characters were feeling basically leaked out in the movie while they were all to busy to have time to think about them. So, that would include some of the comments from Karen (Hall's assistant/guide) about how training seemed like a game or about the human touch. We got to see the scientist's thoughts during the first night of sleep and their general cranky, sour dispositions that lead to the arguements about the maps.
I did like the sleek look of the Wildfire site and the early computer usage--that include the use of a light pen to "click" on things on the screen.
One big thing that I haven't seen mentioned is that Crichton did have a point about mistakes and problems occurring during the movie although these are very scientific and competent people. The issue with the teletype machine not ringing because the bell was muffled is a good example of something minor causing a big problem. The 7-12 directive was just part of the protocol (sterilize the contaminated site) that turned out to be a huge potential mistake that was luckily was delayed and had to be called off. And oops, the Wildfire site self-sterilization on contamination becomes a liability that can't be fixed until the paperwork is done.
Also, I have a problem with the idea that any molecule even from space could survive a nuke. I've been at ground zero in Hiroshima.
@@terrytalksmovies I think the idea was that what didn't get destroyed by the blast would feed on the radiation. The entire two lower levels were contaminated so it was spreading up and possibly out of the lab. A big if, but very possible.
One problem that others have mentioned is that Andromeda was mutating, but it all was doing the same thing. It should be varying like Covid19. It acts more like a machine rather than something biological.
Also, it acts more like a gas rather than like a virus that has to be passed along in a sneeze or close touching of skin. It reproduces seemingly very quickly too.
I've never seen the Groundstar Conspiracy, but I see it's here on YT, so I'll give it a go.
I happen to love the Andromeda Strain, and first saw it on TV when I was a kid. It's a great example of a small sub-genre of sci-fi that are "scientific process" movies. It's attention to the science, and showing how everything is thought-out, is one of the points of the movie (and, IIRC, the book). Films like "Marooned", "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea", and "From the Earth to the Moon" (plus "The Satan Bug" which you mentioned). would fall into that sub-category.
I think the lack of emotion among the characters is deliberate, and is intended to showcase the technology of Wildfire, in the same way that the entire cast of "2001 A Space Odyssey" is almost completely unemotional. It forces the viewer to focus on the technology and the process itself, rather than on the characters. That might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I think it does do what it's intended to do. Rather than focusing on the interpersonal relationships of the characters, you're forced to follow the process of identifying the virus (or going on the voyage to Jupiter) because that's all there is.
For me, that stoicism is one of 2001's weaknesses, too. When the emotional stakes are low it reduces audience engagement. I know this because I'm guilty of it on this channel, too.
@@terrytalksmovies "Stoicism". That's a great word to describe it. Personally it doesn't bother me at all (I'm a big fan of U.F.O. from the 1970's, which is also quite low-emotion most of the time), but I do see how a lot of people would find it unengaging.
Wow just watched groundstar and it was great…love good 70s movies and tv. The music and cinematography reminds me of Quinn Martin. 70s architecture was wonderful. The film kept me wondering until the end. Great recommendation and I have always loved George Peppard
Glad you liked it.
Got Andromeda on DVD. Always remember the scream by the first people to visit the town in a surveillance van but it isn't explained why they screamed. Cutting wrists to reveal powder instead of blood was memorable too. Still a good film. Never seen Groundstar. It's on my check out list now.
I hope you enjoy Groundstar.
Groundstar is new to me. I'll have to check it out. I must admit that I really like The Andromeda Strain. You're right that the placement of the Senate hearing makes no sense, but I really like the film despite that. I especially like the step by step scientific approach.
The scientific method is great but the rest is dull.
@@terrytalksmovies I don't think so, but it's all subjective.
I dig the new vibe and especially enjoy seeing clips from the movies. I like Andromeda Strain but your points are well made. Keep up the good work.
Much appreciated! I like changing things around a bit. With the clips I have to be careful because too much and the video gets demonetized.
Let’s not forget that also in the early 70s the church committee, here in the US, was uncovering quite a bit of unpleasantries committed by the CIA including but not limited to the Cointelpro program which was involved in targeted assassinations, framings of black panther leaders, and much more than I can list here.
Another great review by the way. Also I hope things improve on a personal level for you.
It's all good now. The 70s were the age of the coolest techno-thrillers, along with the late 90s.
George Peppard was a memorable anti-hero in the Groundstar Conspiracy. He was a very good actor, who did not mind playing unsympathetic characters, even lead characters.
I perfect example was Jonas Cord from The Carpetbaggers but it might have begun with his character in The Victors (1963) or even as early as the .Rat who witnesses Jocko's crime in The Strange One (1957). (He is also the only one in that film who seemed to know how to do basic drill and ceremonies, which makes sense as he was a former US Marine.)
"Rat" is a freshman Cadet at VMI, VA Tech or The Citadel at that time, analogous to "Plebe at USMA or USNA. (The Strange One is set at a place based on VMI or The Citadel, the original novel is more clearly about The Citadel.)
Peppard was always credible and got stuck in the studio system hamster wheel. His issues with alcohol also affected him. It's a horrible disease.
The Groundstar conspiracy is on TH-cam in its entirety if anyone is interested
Thanks for letting us know. I like having it on disc. That way if a copyright owner takes down the YT version, I'm covered.
Something funny. Last weekend I was on JB online ordering eeaao and had added this dvd to the cart. I have seen andromeda strain a few times but the groundstar conspiracy I hadn’t seen and it sounded interesting and you have now made it more interesting. Anyway go to checkout and couldn’t get it done with that dvd, so you have reminded me to go back and get it. Am picking up eeaao tomorrow 😁
Enjoy!
I actually thought the "looking at the dead" montage in Andromeda Strain made it more intriguing. It really gave you the feeling that something was off and put you in the heads of the men looking in, who would just be getting quick, horrifying glances at these people before moving on. The only thing in that scene that was off-putting was the nudity of one of the dead people (a young woman, of course,) because you couldn't tell if it was meant to shock or titillate. It was just an...odd choice.
To me, the Wildfire facility resembles Dante's vision of Hell - starting with red like fire and becoming cooler and grayer at the bottom. I always wondered if that was an intentional bit of symbolism.
The symbolism was a bit blatant. The dead young woman in the montage was definitely a mistake. Unfortunately the montage took me out of the horror rather than underlining it.
The image of the naked woman might have been to increase the sense of unease. Both titillate and shock at the same time. He did live during the time of WWII when there were many images of death and destruction that seem to be very easy to come across. My parents had year-in-review books that included shocking images that they bought somewhere in the 1950s.
Terry mentioned the movie Satan Bug. That will be Turner Classic movies on 7/28 (tomorrow) at 8:15am.
I have the Kino Lorber blu-ray. Looks great and has some useful extras.
"The Groundstar Conspiracy" - sounds like you're introducing "The Conversation".
The Conversation will be on the channel eventually.
I saw the Andromeda Strain dead people montag on TV in the 1970s. I was too young for that and it did stick with me for a long time. When older I rewatched it and that helped me process it. BTW Eaters of the Dead is am excellent Michael Crichton book and made a good movie (different name) too.
The movie version of Eater of the Dead is better than I remember, too.
I like that series of movies Peppard did with John Guillermin, The Blue Max, PJ, and House of Cards, but especially The Blue Max the plane scenes are jaw dropping. Also like Operation Crossbow, especially the first part, get a little too James Bondish at the end :)
I covered House of Cards in a previous video. Imprint did a great release of it on blu-ray.
Still love The Andromeda Strain..Great flick.
You could also include "Colossus: The Forbin Project" , "Westworld", "FutureWorld", "Fantastic Voyage" and "The Questor Tapes" (made-for-TV, but still fits the bill) as some great 70's techo-thrillers..
I'll also second your recommendation of "Frankenstein: The True Story". (I have a copy in my DVD player right now, as a matter of fact). One of those "with an all-star cast" miniseries from the 70's
FutureWorld is the least of those. I watched it a few years ago and it's very marginal.
Watched Groundstar! Thanks for the recommendation! What an amazing twist ending! George Peppard is one of my favorite actors. I also see what you mean about the end of Andromeda Strain being lazy. It never bothered me tho. It is of the same era as “Fantastic Voyage” which I love for the techno less than the “thriller” aspect. Groundstar has so much more to it. A kind of love story, redemption too. Very interesting.
Glad you liked Groundstar.
Will check out Ground Star conspiracy! I like the Andromeda Strain. The film is basically the scientific method on screen and the fact that Wise made it compelling is a feat in itself. I especially like the Gil Melle soundtrack. I agree with you on the multi POV effect. It looks like a comic book in AS. In fact it'd probably be even more dynamic and visually interesting if it were a comic drawn by a talented artist! 🙂
True. The montages just don't work.
I liked "Andromeda Strain" more than you did, but I can understand your criticisms. Recently, I read the sequel novel "The Andromeda Evolution" from last year, which shows the non-lethal variant at the end of the original story is not as harmless as suspected. Oh, and re: Michael Sarrazin, I recommend the 1976 comedy "The Gumball Rally", also starring Tim MacIntyre and Raul Julia. It's pretty much the prototype for the later Burt Reynolds movie "The Cannonball Run", but lower key in its humor.
The original Cannonball with David Carradine is my favourite.
I've always liked ANDROMEDA STRAIN.
I do have to agree with you on what I've always called "the clumsiness" of the film though. I just chocked it up to a 70's interpretation of where technology and thinking would be for that type of situation actually happening.
I definitely think the script needed more work and maybe a more imaginative director than Wise who was very middle of the road.
Terry, you think Robert Wise was an 'unimaginative' director ?
You think that the climax of 'The Body Snatcher' or innumerable scenes in 'The Haunting' were 'unimaginative' ?
Love your stuff. I appreciate your POV of the importance of historical context in film. I liked your comparing the Andromeda Strain to The Stan Bug from a biological techno-thriller standpoint. In terms of plot and character dynamics, it has always felt like a Howard Hawks film in that it revolves around an isolated set of individuals in a remote location facing a life threatening challenge. It also shares the aspect of a tough/salty female character in a largely male dominated scenario. My favorite less celebrated Hawks movie for literally decades has been Only Angels Have Wings for those reasons.
My favourite Hawks film is still Rio Bravo. It humanises John Wayne's persona and shows frontier law enforcement as an occupation in the context of an action film.
Alan Oppenheimer before he was Skeletor. Definitely worth a look 👍
It's a amall role.
I haven't seen The Groundstar Conspiracy hopefully I'll come across it. You make it sound interesting. Telling a story in flashback is a risky proposition. Having a scientist with a medical condition she wanted to hide for professional reasons was timely, yes that character was played very well. You have a point about the Deus ex Machina. Then again fast mutations is what viruses do. They did solve the riddle of the survivors on their own. The mutation was to give them a fighting chance for survival. They still had to contend with the lasers.
To mutate fast, most of the time, virii need a LOT of infected hosts. Omicron came out of South Africa and spread because it was more infectious.
Hi Terry. Those Umbrella double features have been pretty great so far. Robert Wise, a journeyman director of sorts, did many genres. His Noirs are pretty good such as Born to Kill, the Set-Up and Odds against tomorrow 👍 the Day the Earth Stood Still is superior to Star Trek - The Motion picture 😜 he did give us the Sound of Mucus so I will knock him down a peg for that. 😂
Yeah, I'm not into straight up Nun movies like Sound Of Music.
Re: Michael Chrichton - I agree with your comments in general about him, but as an example of (maybe) the exception to the rule as it were I confess I have always had a soft spot for The Great Train Robbery. I love Caper movies, 19th Century adventures in general and the lead actors so I allow as to the weight of prejudice in this case. Still ...
The new Dungeons and Dragons movie is framed as a caper film, too. I'm looking forward to that.
I enjoy The Andromeda Strain, which I first saw on TV back in the B&W days, so just a year or so after it hit the theatres. I was very interested in science then (still am) but only lasted one semester of a Biology degree before eventually ending up in the federal public service with other uni dropouts. I was fascinated with computers, which was part of why I liked that movie, they seemed so real in how they were used. I also most liked the Kate Reid character she was so down-to-Earth and real. As for the film, I'd read Satan Bug and a lot of Clarke/Asimov/Heinlein/Christopher etc science fiction so was fairly forgiving when it came to science in movies cos it always had massive plot and reality holes. I still wrote a complaint letter to Channel 9 after they showed Day of the Triffids, though.
Day of the Triffids was disappointing. Howard Keel didn't sing.
hope all is well Terry.
Yep. Sal had some surgery but she's home now and healing well.
The ending of the Andromeda Strain did (IMHO) have a twist to it. *Minor spoilers*. As it turned out the bug would have had serious consequences for humanity had the scientists allowed the facility's self-destruct mechanism to be triggered. So beware of the consequences of approaches which were created for the very best intentions.
Yep. But still, a flat ending.
Terry - keep going on! Fascinating stuff and I'm a UK mofo enjoying your videos. TH-cam make it difficult but you're smashing this. Keep going my old mate! Loving the content.
My pleasure @dogbarse ! Stay cool up there.
Terry, I really loved THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN when it first came out. I think what you consider a "bug" is a feature - that the scientists are largely Bo-RING functionary types who see their job as "Fix the Problem" with no real thought as to the broader issues (no Oppenheimers in this bunch!). That's why they cast television/B-movie level actors like Arthur Hill, David Wayne and James Olson, all three of who could just as easily (and often did) play Lawyers, Physicians, Accountants, Corporate Executives...Robot Overlords, largely without changing the style of their performance.
All that makes Kate Reid's epileptic coded-lesbian doctor such an interesting splash of color in the monochromatic acting because she's acerbic, chain-smokes (in an ultra clean-room environment!), and is the one horrified and angry at the realization that the titular space virus was deliberately "harvested" for use in biological warfare. She can be that much of a loose canon because it's likely the Government knew of her epilepsy (and her sexuality) - while most institutions would outright fire a LGBT doctor, others (most academic, though intelligence services did this as well) hired them because they'd be less likely to make waves for fear of being exposed as "deviated preverts".
One character you missed, and probably just as well, was the fifth member of the Wildfire Team - Prof. Christian Kirke. He had appendicitis and couldn't be available in time. A LOT of film criticism at the time was written about how the team was lost, and almost destroyed the world, without "Christian Kirke" to help guide them...! 🤣🤣🤣 (Now I want an episode that starts with Terry snarling and flipping off his monitor repeatedly as he reads this last paragraph.)
I don't share your contempt for Robert Wise (he was still a low-level studio employee at the time of THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS, would have been blackballed if he'd refused to re-edit the film - and it still would've gotten recut!), and I still think THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN is one of the smarter Late Sixties/Early Seventies SF films, even if it was based on Michael Crichton's first novel. It was a lot better than the 2008 miniseries, which was just...dire....
Yeah you have to be careful naming characters. Anyone who names a character Michael Hunt is asking for trouble. 😉
@@terrytalksmovies - yeah, but at least that's good for a laugh!
Christian Kirke? Is a real 🤦♂!
I loved your characterization of Michael Crichton -- cribbing ideas from better SF writers and making them into airport-bookstore paperbacks. 😄
As a kid I thought _The Andromeda Strain_ was fun, and I loved the Kate Reid character, but even as a kid, and even when common folk knew a lot less about virus mutations than we do now, the ending struck me as a cop-out. "The virus has mutated into a harmless strain"? But, but, but ... "a virus" isn't a single individual. If a harmless strain arises, all of its non-harmless aunts and uncles are still going to be around, doing their non-harmless thing.
Viruses as we now know, are tricky bastards.
Covid has mutated into much more transmissible but much less dangerous strains.
(sigh) the same thing is already happening with the Corona virus. Every variation becomes more infectious, but less harmfull. Remember: it doesn't do a virus very much good if it kills it's host, ie means of reproduction. Most viruses (viri?) evolves to become less stressful to a host to increase reproductivity.
And suuuure, _even as a kid_ you understood the concept of a virus (eye roll).
Terry, something's just struck me about The Andromeda Strain. You say it has a cop-out ending because the virus is seen to settle down to no longer threaten humanity ... are you sure that is EXACTLY how the movie ends ?
I seem to recall the last frame of the movie where the virus 'twitches', suggesting - to me anyway - that it's about to mutate again.
Am I wrong about that ending ?
You're right but it's still a weak ending.
@@terrytalksmovies
You perhaps have a point. But I still like the movie.
... I watch some movies with strong endings, and I watch some movies with weak endings ;-)
It's been a while since I stopped by to see you, and I'm glad I did. Like visiting a friend. You may be a bit harsh on "The Andromeda Strain," however. It did have all the ingredients of a reasonably sketched-out techno-thriller, and it gave me some really tense moments. I thought the sequence where the female scientist had that fit was creepy as hell. Also, how often does a sci-fi film end with the end of the world? The only one I can think of is "Melancholia," which I recommend you review.
Don't Look Up, too.
@@terrytalksmovies Oh, you're right! I confess I started watching it but didn't finish. I dunno, I could see where it was going and just lost interest.
I have a sort of viewing project that I've been doing for years inspired by the Drive-In Delirium (and now blu-ray) DVD series, and handily enough this blu-ray double contains two titles on that list I haven't seen (I may have seen a bit of Andromeda Strain very late at night on TV years ago, but I can't really remember). Must invest.
I like Robert Wise a bit more than you evidently do, and I can't entirely blame him for the Ambersons debacle, cos I presume RKO would've been the ones really calling the shots there.
The analogy I'd use is my schools. Some male teachers dealt out corporal punishment, others took a moral stance not to.
Last Sunday I watched The Groundstar conspiracy, amazing much this film stand really well. I forgot that Geroge P was in it. I remember Michael S. Groundstar does holds your attention. I agree with you about the films. Strain could have been better film.
Yep. It's in the script and direction where Andromeda falls down.
Cool blue screen.
Green. :-)
The title of the original novel of “The Groundstar Conspiracy” was “The Alien”. It was so confusing that one local library had it in Science Fiction and another in Espionage. The movie is better and one of my favorites and, if you’ve seen it, you know why.
For a smaller studio film, it takes a tangent away from playing it safe.
Cheers Terry - got to agree with you about both Andromeda and Chrichton. The former is ok but I’ve never seen why people regard it so highly. As for Chrichton, his narrative across books/movies seems to have been: scientific development, scientific development goes awry and chase in the last third - see Jurassic Park and Westworld particularly.
I’ll have to check out Groundstar though, never heard of that before and looks good. Take care!
You too. Groundstar isn't groundbreaking but it's an honest thriller.
I will always love Andromeda because it features a man named Hall saving the world, but I do remember Groundstar mainly for the character played by Peppard. I'm with you on Medium Cool, though -- I only caught snippets of it on TV ages ago and wouldn't mind catching the whole thing.
I have the Criterion of Medium Cool. It's one the great 1960s films.
@@terrytalksmovies I saw it on its original release and then again about 10 years ago now at the theatre at the George Eastman Museum. Robert Forrester, a Rochester native, was the special guest that night and gave a short talk about the film/experience before the film was shown. I was impressed by how well it has stood the test of time. And it has Frank Zappa in the soundtrack.
@@jeffmartin1026 Never a bad thing to have Frank in a flick.
Guess I'm going to have to look up "The Groundstar Conspiracy"! 🙂 I've been familiar with the title for half a century, but never made it a priority to watch.
The Watergate era paranoia and Tucson's emphatic defence of the indefensible resonates with audiences today.
Saw the movie last night. It was pretty good! Those last scenes really had me wondering who was what! The one irritating thing was that 90+% of the dialog was replaced. Even the interiors! It's so artificial sounding. Takes me right out of the movie.
I watched the Andromeda Strain but it was a long time ago and I was young so... I liked it back then, not sure if I'd still like it now. Another dark techno thriller is Demon Seed, which is another one I liked when young but might not now (and it would definitely be problematic nowadays!)
Demon Seed has an insane WTF? premise that it plays straight. Hilariously bad film.
I remember Demon Seed when it was released in the 70s.
Found it very disturbing.
Julie Christie being trapped in a house with a computer voiced by Robert Vaughn…then impregnated.
Hello…Alexa!
I enjoyed the Andromeda Strain and picked it up from Arrow, but I'm never against hearing suggestions as to how a film might have fallen down or done better for us.
There were some missed possibilities with Andromeda which would've strengthened it enormously.
Hi Terry, I've not seen TGC but it looks interesting. Gonna try to see it.
The Andromeda Strain is a favourite of mine. Really good sci-fi movie directed by a great movie director, Robert Wise. I love Kate Reid as the scientist who's competely pee'd off with her sh***y job (there just aren't enough bored, pissed-off scientists in movies are there ! ... Veronica Cartwright's character Lambert in 'Alien' is one other)
Yeah ... Robert Wise ... one of my very favourite film directors. And yes, when I told you this a while back you admonished me disgracefully by saying that you hated him for his editing of Orson Welles' 'The Magnificent Ambersons'.
You need to let this go mate. That movie was 80 years ago for goodness sake. We all make mistakes in life ... I mean I kid you not, I actually paid to see 'The Lost City Of Z' at the cinema.
PS I really liked Frankenstein: The True Story. A nice take on the classic story.
I'm still pissed off with lots of old movie stuff. Fatty Arbuckle getting shafted, Gene Tierney getting rubella, HUAC, Frances Farmer...
I hold no flame for Robert Wise, but I thought that he edited Ambersons under the overview of the RKO(?) producers, rather than off his own bat? I don’t know what strictures he was given, but running time would be one, I’d think. I dare say Welles left the film in a state that didn’t allow for much editing in terms of structure. I’d love to see the Welles version, but as RKO destroyed all the offcut sections I doubt it’ll ever happen other than as stills or some kind of animation.
Animation is the way they're going to it.
Airport Bookshop form of Paige-Turning Middle-of-the-Road Fiction!!! Possibly the most effective imagery producing quip I have ever heard! 😁😁😁 (Although I must confess, I loved 'The Eaters of the Dead' in my youth!) & since you mentioned it, I have been meaning to ask why you take umbrage to the term 'SCI/FI'??? Not a fan of Forrest Ackerman???✌
The same Ackerman who molested and hassled female fans? Not a fan. I'm with Harlan Ellison (also not a perfect human being) when it comes to sci-fi.
@@terrytalksmovies Whole-E-Smokes! NEVER knew that about Forrest Ackerman!😱😱😱 Yet another Icon shattered!!! (Of course, I SHOULD be used to it by now!🤕🤕🤕!) Please forgive my ignorance Terry!✌
@@thrashpondopons8348 It's okay. The women have had their say on it. Forry was a sleazy bastard and a relentless self-promoter.
Love your new sound stage and viral set decorations. I feel sorry for your podcast followers.
The podcasts are archived. I don't do them any more. But there are around 500 of them for people to enjoy.
Terry, what do you think of "The terminal man"?
Solid and dystopian.
@@terrytalksmovies agreed
Can you put some of your dash cam on your blue screen. It'd be cool. It would look like you're running backwards.
I have some plans for things like that in the future.
If you ran the dash cam in reverse that would work.
The whole point of andromeda strain was to give us the fear of whats going on in the real world!!
Space germs are real?
I swear this was published in the US under a title like “Him”. The book ends with us never clear if the main character is the scientist or a Soviet spy.
You're thinking of Who? which had Elliott Gould in it.
Thought something mighta been up. Noticed your absence. VERY sorry to hear it. Hope it's to rights soon.
Love/Hate re: Andromeda Strain. As a kid, looking for SF, it was the WORST, MOST boring Sat Afternoon SF ever.
But I remember it being sold on it's "Science." And "scienceY" it was. As slow a deliberate as science.
In fact Crichton was going for a very cold, detached feel to make it more convincing - and people of the time found it very much so. I always took that painfully dated split screen montage to be intentional, to get that clinical effect that is forefront of most of the film. I mean, long expositional scenes about decontamination and lab design were shot, let alone kept in. To my memory they were lauded for it. It's usually held up as a good example to do hard SF. I liked it for some of that as an adult, but I *also* feel like tricks like that are to distract from that it was shot like a TV Movie on a big budget. I guess I'm saying it worked for me, within the frame of what the film was trying to do- the same sorta exercise as certain horror or kung fu movies that you;'ve gotta take at face value.
I've not read any of his books but "Eaters of the Dead" and as you point out, that is VERY largely cribbed from Ahmad ibn Fadlan.
In general I share your opinion of the film making duo though. I may be misremembering, but didn't Crichton direct much of this film with a sour, anti-SF Wise looking over his shoulder for his own & the studio's piece of mind? I know it *sounds* crazy, but Andromeda Strain was a huge breakthrough novel that made a TON of money and brought SF into profitable "Mainstream." As long as the science was "REAL."
Of course a studio wouldn't do it today, but he wrote & directed "Westworld" outta nowhere. I thought I remembered that. . . no footnotes, sorry.
There attempting to fix magnificent Anbersons great news .
I know!
Hey mate , have you done the ant movie phase 5 or whatever it’s called , I always get it wrong because it’s in numerals, it’s excellent
Phase IV did get reviewed. Check the science fiction playlist on the channel. It's there somewhere.
I beg to differ in regard to Robert Wise. One of my favorites. I don't like all his movies BUT I love The Haunting, and The Body Snatchers. I respect his versatility PLUS one of the few directors that didn't treat the actors like shit. cough cough Fritz Lang.
Also Hitchcock.
I have no respect for abusive directors. They'll get a monumental film, but leave an actor scarred for life. Hitchcock sucks. Kubrick is worse. Bertolucci is the worst. Peter Weir and Christopher Guest are the best.
You're so right about Hitchcock. Made great movies but by all accounts treated his actors appallingly.
I remember watching "The Groundstar Conspiracy" when it first came out and about 10 years later on TV. I think I saw an "American version" of the movie because in the key scene you showed, I distinctly remember the line as ".. sabotage, revolutions, they all begin in bedrooms"... not "In privacy" (Might be a Mandela flash). I agree that the beginning of "The Andromeda Strain" was a complete mistake. I think the montage was just a crude attempt to keep the pace up and fill in more horror, but was clumsily done. The part that I always hate is the ridiculous ladder climb with Lasers at the climax,. It is so crude a badly done that it completely pops me out of the movie. Part of what make the movie work for me is the humor mixed in with tension. The book's ending is a little better. It turns out that they in fact failed in containing the organism, and that it moved into the upper atmosphere it continues to "live". It destroys a maned spacecraft on re-entry to Earth's atmosphere when it eats the heat shield of the craft. The implication is that the government has covered Andromeda up, and that mankind is no trapped on Earth. I suppose the implied good is that it hints that ICBMs would no longer be effective if they couldn't survive re-entry. I read half a dozen of Crichton's books and gave up when I saw that they all followed the same anti-science plot in every story.
Apparently one of Crichton's last books was an anti-global heating screed he was paid to write.
@@terrytalksmovies The only book of his that I think was actually worthy of any praise was "The Terminal Man"., although I have to admit I gave up after reading 5 or 6 of his books. "Sphere" in particular was so bad I am amazed it was published, let alone made into a movie. It had a great cast, but was so bad you could find it in the $3 bargain bin here in the states.
Great reviews as usual. I particularly liked your review of the Groundstar Conspiracy and I agree that poster art is a thing of the past.
I disagree with your evaluation of Wise but I have always found the movies of Crichton's books better than the books themselves.
I sort of agree with your evaluation of Kate Reid's character but you have to remember that this was 1971 and women of intelligence were still the matronly librarian types. Your automatic assumption that she might be a lesbian because, of course, as a real woman would not go into science, is a holdover from this. They were either Kate or Raquel in those days and as you said, Wise had to be convinced to have a Kate. That was the transition of the times.
I liked the extra BTW for Andromeda Strain. The "making of" short that was made (and on TH-cam) gives a great account of how they "pushed" the technology of the day to do things technology of 1971 could not do. I like filmmaking secrets.
I didn't assume she was a lesbian. I said that it could be interpreted that way. I love the fact they didn't go with a 'starlet' for the role. It grounds the science and the sense of reality.
@@terrytalksmovies I agree with you on that. So many times they choose style over substance. Of course in Andromeda Strain, there were no swimsuit scenes. 😁 Keep up all your good work.
Sidebar note: Nixon was never impeached- he beat that by resigning from the Presidency.
Nixon should've got a striped suntan going back as far as the 1950s but I take your point.
@@terrytalksmovies
I have an idea what you mean by 'striped suntan'. But feel free to explain exactly what it means, Terry.
@@keithf_ prison.
I have to admit I loved the Andromeda Strain when I was a boy. I watched every time it was on TV. I stopped being a fan of Michael Crichton when he took money to compromise his art. He wrote "State of Fear" in the early 2000's as a hit piece against climate change. I remember seeing a story at the time that Crichton was paid to write just such a hit piece.
He was always an International Pedlar. Rich people are the worst.
"Paid to write a hit piece"?
Did it ever occur to you that Crichton (as well as a lot of other people who know what they're talking about) are against the agenda of manmade global warming/cooling? And why would he need to "sell out" when he was already filthy rich just from the *Jurassic Park* money alone?
@@TheRealNormanBates I read that story. He was PAID by right-wingers to write that piece of trash. He did NOT know what he was talking about, and Chricton would not be the first to compromise his art for money.
@@fje6902 It wouldn't surprise me either way, but considering he was already rich, your story seems dubious and illogical.
Reading the Wiki page, I don't understand your point of view, as he wrote a novel he did research on, and as it states "Crichton warns "both sides" of the global warming debate against the politicization of science. Here he provides two examples of the disastrous combination of pseudoscience and politics: the early 20th-century ideas of eugenics (which he directly cites as one of the theories that allowed for the Holocaust) and Lysenkoism."
So you have a problem with questioning very wealthy people who are using the current modern morality as a weapon to control people, when they themselves absolve themselves from their own preached sin?
It seems you have some vendetta with this, and anyone who takes a book this seriously needs some medication.
LOVE WIIIIIIIIIIITCH!
IKR? It's fun!
I have seen the Andromeda Strain and it always felt a little stiff and stilted it was like they said we're making a serious movie and you will respect our seriousness. It also had too many coinvent thing going wrong a convenient times to make the plot work seriously the first time I saw the movie I thought one of them was a spy sabotaging things. There is a remake from the 2000's that is actually worse adding a weird 12 monkey's plot to it.
in medias res has ruined many a film the one that most readily comes to mind is Ghost of Mars which could of been a tense little sci fi horror movie but by having a couple of characters at the beginning of the movie in a classic "So tell us what happened at..." scene it stripped most of the tension from the movie.
I have watched Banacek and it is much unappreciated gem I loved Peppard's performance and really liked the series if you ever spin off another channel covering old tv shows you have to do a show on it.
I did a video on 1970s tv which included Banacek. It should be in the tv show playlist for the channel.
Wasn't Wise acting under the orders of the studio heads when he recut Ambersons? Andromeda Strain has the feel of real technical science but too slow paced and wonky. The other film sounds interesting.
Yes but he did it nonetheless. Butchered a potentially great film.
How much of the way a character is portrayed is up to the actor rather than the director?
It's more of a collaboration, if the director is any good.
Tenafly!
I do deep cuts sometimes. 😉
Haven't seen either of these but I read The Andromeda Strain novel and it sucked so I believe you about the film. I can't cosign on the Robert Wise dislike but we all have our opinions, I've been known to come in hot on people I can't stand. Haha
I think Wise was a middle of the road director with an inflated reputation. Why they gave him a Star Trek movie, I'll never know.
@@terrytalksmovies They saw him as a studio proxy, who'd look out for their interests, and by the time of Star Trek he was credited for making the SF BLOCKBUSTER "Andromeda Strain."
And the worm eats it's tail.
Terry: I usually go along with your assessments of the movies you profile.
However, not this time.
Back in the day, The Andromeda Strain and Colossus, The Forbin Project were on a double feature during its theatrical run.
As a kid, I have fond memories.
I even rewatched both a few years ago.
Yeah, they’re “B Movies” for sure…but entertaining nonetheless.
I tried watching on TH-cam a free viewing of The Ground Star Conspiracy.
After 30 minutes, I couldn’t take it anymore.
What a dreadful film.
I expected more from the (Universal stock) actors lead by George Peppard and your glowing recommendation.
(Mr. Peppard’s performance in “Damnation Alley” was better…and that’s no prize either)
Anyway, enough of my grousing.
BTW: Get rid of the teleprompter. I prefer your natural deliveries and the occasional visit by your cat.
Thanks
The cat visited. She clawed my leg.
Ok. Now I have to search for a copy of Groundstar Conspiracy. Curse you Terry. 👍👍👍👍👍
PS I totally agree about Andromeda Strain. I like it , but the script is flawed. The actors are not engaging with the exception you mention. And Crichton is not a good writer.
All true.
Peppard in Banacek mode?
A lot darker in tone than Banacek who always had a self-awareness and at times was self-depreciating.
Just as the point is made about brutalist architecture there is a man wearing a white tie that is wide enough to provide shelter for three in an emergency. There is NOTHING as entertaining as watching films from the era and look at the clothes. Check out Thunderbolt & Lightfoot for further entertainment.
Or Zoot Suit! 😀
@@terrytalksmovies It's a Zoot Suit Riot!
Andromeda Strain isn’t an adventure movie. It’s not supposed to be.
I never said it was.
Enjoyed the reviews but found your moving background to be very distracting and visually uncomfortable.
Work in progress. I'm going to stabilize and standardise the background. This was a test bed of sorts for the green screen.
I have to agree. I really liked seeing your movie collection bookcase. It had the "we're just having a discussion about this movie" vibe that I liked. The moving green screen background drove me crazy.
I saw Andromeda Strain at the theater as a kid, and I thought it was paced too slowly and was boring. It was probably just over my head. I do like Wise as a director, not sure it's fair to blame him for the butchering of the Welles film; if he had refused to do it, the studio would have just hired someone else to do it. I also think he did a fantastic job on the Star Trek movie, especially compared to the garbage that Trek has become in recent years.
I haven't seen Groundstar Conspiracy, but it looks interesting. I think Peppard was an underrated actor, and should've had a better film career.
Give Star Trek Strange New Worlds a try. It really works well.
Also, try Groundstar. I'm told it's on TH-cam.
Yeah - InCels hate new Trek. They just want reruns of their Wesley/Riker fan fiction.
@@terrytalksmovies Strange New Worlds - episodic so InCels don’t have to hurt their brains trying to comprehend a season long plot arc.
@@john-lenin The actual subculture consists of the few people that like and relate to this emo NuTrek junk. When an entire season of STD was shown on major network TV, it got the lowest ratings of any show in its time slot. Few people wanted to watch it even for free...not Star Trek fans, not non-fans.
I like Andromeda Strain and you had pretty much talked me around UNTIL you unfavourably compared the weak writing with that of Avengers: Endgame. Endgame is possibly the worst film ever written. Russos had written themselves into an impossible corner in Infinity War and their Endgame solution... time travel. Let's forget logic, continuity. Let's just go fix what we broke and FU*K the intelligence of the audience 'cause they are so dumb they'll buy this shite whatever we do. Sadly, they did.
Ever seen The Room or Birdemic?
@@terrytalksmovies Oddly yes. And... beyond awful. Still less nonsensical than Endgame. And, I argue, the Russos KNEW Endgame would make no sense long before shooting because that was the only way to make a sequel to Infinity War without affecting Marvel sequels and infringing Sony copyright (for which Disney would have been held legally libel). Seriously this is the apex in film making cynicism. Shameful.
You have no clue what Andromeda Strain is. You’re trying to turn it into a bad B-movie like all the other bad movies you watch.
Thank you for your kind opinion.