Continuity mistake: When Stone and Levitt are examining the capsule, the angle of the camera changes each time the camera goes to a higher magnification. However, the following shot shows the camera mounted straight up and down with no joint to pivot for an angle change.
The Andromeda Strain (1971)
1 review
Directed by: Robert Wise
Starring: Arthur Hill, David Wayne, James Olson, Kate Reid
Your rating
Average rating
(2 votes)
The Andromeda Strain is the grandfather of epidemic outbreak movies. A space probe brings back a highly contagious microbial life-form that infects and kills humans and animals, consumes plastics and thrives off nuclear energy! An isolated team of top scientists try to contain and stop the germ from spreading, but it seems to keep thwarting them in this slow, tense thriller. Somewhat dated, sexist and plodding, The Andromeda Strain does hold merit for early CGI use, adapting Michael Crichton's book of the same name remarkably faithfully, lying the foundation for later outbreak-themed films, and meticulously portraying what a response to such an outbreak might be. Will humanity survive this alien plague? Watch one day and see.
More mistakes in The Andromeda Strain
Dr. Jeremy Stone: Stick to established procedures.
Dr. Ruth Leavitt: Establishment gonna fall down and go boom.
More trivia for The Andromeda Strain
Question: If the Andromeda "Incident" at Piedmont and the facility were top secret, ever wonder what they did with the old man who knew of both? (I'm excluding the baby, since he can't talk or remember).
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.
Answer: The government would have concocted an official story about what happened in Piedmont - attributing it to some natural disaster. The old man had dementia, was alcoholic, and suffered a severe emotional trauma, so it's doubtful many would give much credence to anything he had to say. He was also confined to a small area of the Wildfire complex and was given minimal information about what it was or where he was at. In his confused mental state at the time, he probably would have remembered little about what actually happened.
raywest ★