Based on Michael Crichton's first novel released under his own name this 1971 movie chronicles the efforts of a team of scientists to stop a deadly alien disease brought back to Earth by a space probe.

I saw bits and pieces of this film when I was small and found it quite scary. Seeing it on TV as an adult last weekend it wasn't all that scary, and somewhat draggy at times. The scientists being decontaminated scenes could have probably have been trimmed somewhat to tighten things up.

Its interesting that the actors chosen for the leads look like veteran scientists. A film made of this story today would likely have considerably younger actors with plenty of sex appeal in the roles, and would likely have some sort of romantic subplot between two of the scientists tacked on.

This film was apparently rated G when it came out if the IMDB is to be believed! I would think that even the minor nudity in the film would have prevented such a thing in 1971.

A US military aircraft crashes after passing over the sealed off zone around the town the satellite carrying the disease crashed in. Despite the fact that there is a chance, however slim, that the Andromeda organism may have killed the pilot the crash scene is investigated by military personel with no protective gear of any sort, which seems very negligent, and hence very unlikely. The plane is described as a Phantom, but the wreckage looks to be of an F100 Super Sabre.

Its rather amusing when Dr. Hall comes stumbling out of the maintenance shaft, trying to reach one of the stations to stop the atomic device, and an extra he runs into runs away, presumably scared he has the disease. You'd think she'd be far more panicked by the warning the atomic bomb was about to go off.

The "atomic bomb might go off" subplot was somewhat unconvincing. Some issues I had with it: The countdown was too short to be useful if only one man could act. (What if that man had been asleep? He wouldn't have enough time to figure out why the countdown started to make an informed choice about whether to stop it.) It is possible for a section without a key station to be sealed off, which makes the key useless. (The script tries to cover this by saying that other stations are under construction, but which is easier to install: a key station, or automatic containment doors?) The lasers in the central core are designed to take out lab rats, but can't even hit a fully-grown man after he's hit and moving slowly.

The scientists reaction to the news that Wildfire was designed for biological warfare are overblown and unconvincing. Why else would the government make it top secret and concealed? The CDC could have a public installation for dealing with rapidly-spreading natural diseases---but that would be the first place taken out in the event of a biological attack.

It strains credibility that the satellite was actually designed to catch any random alien life flying by, and did. Space is big; really big. For a satellite that small to catch a meteor, let alone a meteor carrying life is enough of a coincidence; that that particular satellite was sent up just to catch any life-carrying meteors is absurd.

The one thing I've never understood. . .since Andromeda reproduces asexually (I thought) why would the entire colony mutate in exactly the same way, within a few days, to its harmless state? Shouldn't there be a mix of the deadly Andromeda and the new kind? Why would the Andromeda at Piedmont mutate in the same way?

According to my Dad, the book didn't have lasers at all, but dart guns that fired tranquilizers.

The book also mentions that a Curare based gas, is also vented into the "Central Core" access shaft of Wildfire.
Hall gets hit by several darts, while climbing up the shaft, in the book, but due to the tranquliser dart's, being set up to "Knock Out" small Primates, not Human Beings, is able to reach Level 3, in time.
As to Wildfire's Function, is'nt it a
military installation...?
The Scoop Programme in the book, is clearly labelled as a Military Bioweapons programme (There's a reference, in the book, to a organism retrieved from Scoop 7's predecessor, Scoop 6, which is capable of affecting poultry )
Nowadays, you could argue that Andromeda is a Nano-machine NOT a Biological organism..?

Airport was released at roughly the same time as The Andromeda Strain. It also received a "G" rating, despite some more mature subject matter (infidelity, out-of-wedlock pregnancy, and a man who smuggled a bomb on a plane)}
Whatever happened to James Olson? He was a very visible film and TV actor throughout the '70's and well into the '80's. However, the IMDB has no credits for him after 1990. Even his bio there states he's all but disappeared

I've heard recently that Ridley Scott is producing a TV miniseries for Sci-Fi to come out some time next year. Oooh...

I second that Ooh...

And in case anyone's confused, mine isn't intended to be sarcastic (hopefully Snick's isn't either but I can't entirely speak for him).

I've heard recently that Ridley Scott is producing a TV miniseries for Sci-Fi to come out some time next year. Oooh...
You were about four years too early. And, wrong venue. The new Andromeda Strain miniseries will air this Memorial Day weekend on A&E. Check it out here.

Sky Movies have already shown this 2 part "remake" in the U.K, & personally, I regard it as a "twisted" version of the original...

The lasers in the central core are designed to take out lab rats, but can't even hit a fully-grown man after he's hit and moving slowly.

I guess my biggest qualm with this was, if they are so careful about not letting something so small as a microorganism loose, how the heck could lab rats "escape"?

The "ding-a-ling" sergeant in charge of the computer was the least effective part of the movie. He said all he had to do was listen for the bell, then send an alert to the team. What, he couldn't read the printouts if the bell didn't ring? If you only have one function (and a rarely performed one at that) you'd certainly need something else to occupy your time. Also, the messages were on the teletype on the team's floor as well -- shouldn't someone have been checking them once in a while? There were other people there, and I'd think communiques would be vital.

When recently renting this from Netflix I realized that in the 5 times or so I'd seen this previously on TV, I had never seen the beginning of it!

I was always a little disappointed by the ending as the solution given was more verbal than visual. As a kid I had a hard time understanding how exactly Andromeda was no longer dangerous.

There were no PG or PG-13 ratings in 1971. I believe there was an M rating for a while, but the next step from G was usually R.

I'll bet the new version has the things tim feared above. Still, I'm going to watch it!

There were no PG or PG-13 ratings in 1971. I believe there was an M rating for a while, but the next step from G was
usually R.

The original ratings codes were G, M, R and X. Usually spoken as jemrex. I seem to recall M turning up quite regularly.