This is a 1971 film based on a 1969 book with the same name. Together, they established Michael Crichton's reputation as a talented writer of techno-thrillers. His success culminated in his immensely successful Jurassic Park.

The plot is excellent and reflects Crichton's education as a physician. A returning spacecraft has brought back to earth a deadly organism, and a race begins to understand how it functions before it spreads to the rest of humanity.

I found the "odd man hypothesis" particularly intriguing. If you needed someone to make a decision that might require them to die to save humanity from a deadly plague, what sort of person should you select? For this tale, Crichton manufactured scientific research claiming that your best choice was the "odd man"an unmarried man. Personally, I suspect you'd have to be careful to select the right sort of man.

Coming along after the 1968 film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, this film helped to pioneer special effects in movies. In fact, the circular hallways of the underground laboratory in it reminded me of those in 2001. Here, however, the computers are impersonal and benign. In fact, to modern eyes, they seem distinctly primitive, displaying green text on terminals and printing to teletypes. You're getting a glimpse into the past. I worked with minicomputers in 1968, and that's how they looked. Don't laugh. In thirty years or less, our computers will seem equally primitive.

--Michael W. Perry, editor of Eugenics and Other Evils : An Argument Against the Scientifically Organized State

Dommage que cet excellent film de SF ne soit toujours pas disponible che nous. Un satellite ramène de l'espace une variété inconnue de micro-organisme qui fait se solidifier le sang. Seuls deux personnes sont épargnées, sans qu'on comprenne pourquoi. Une équipe de scientifiques tentent d'en percer le secret, dans l'espace clos d'un bunker. Pas le meilleur Crichton mais agréable et étouffant.

A space probe has brought back a mysterious metamorphosing molecular life form. The real story is a combination of running away form the bug and what is our government up to type of paranoia. These two themes are well integrated.

This may sound strange but "Andromeda Strain" is dated (or a period piece) and the premise would not be unique today. Today the bug would have to eat your cell phone. This movie is a classic and anyone replacing the original characters would always be compared to the original. Still it is fun to watch and say "Don't do that!"