Continuity mistake: On Day 2, when the two officers go into the town's doctor's office, they leave the van with the driver's door way open, beyond 90 degrees, almost 180. The door didn't move to indicate it corrected itself as they went in. When they come out, the door is almost closed. And there has been no indication of a wind other than the helicopter, and that is supposed to be 1000 feet up and not even close to the office.
The Andromeda Strain (1971)
Directed by: Robert Wise
Starring: Arthur Hill, David Wayne, James Olson, Kate Reid
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Dutton and Hall are viewing the monitor showing where the two patients are, Dutton's symbol (initial "D" on the monitor) is shown leaving the room on the monitor. When the monitor is shown again, Dutton's and Hall's symbols are both in the room. The characters had not left the room as of yet. (00:59:15)
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.
Trivia: Unknown at the time, two future Star Trek references are made in this film. The director, Robert Wise, would go on to direct Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and at the end of the film when discussing the cloud seeding, a caption on the video monitor reads out "Nimbus 3". This was the name of the planet on which Sybok takes prisoners in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.
Dr. Charles Dutton: Experiment with your own lives, damn it.
Dr. Jeremy Stone: Where have you been?
Dr. Mark Hall: Leavitt had a seizure.
Dr. Jeremy Stone: What?
Dr. Mark Hall: Epilepsy. The red light flashing at three-per-second brought on a fit. Why the hell didn't she tell us about it?
Dr. Jeremy Stone: Probably no top lab would have her if they knew. Insurance, prejudice, all that crap.
Dr. Mark Hall: From the Middle Ages.
Dr. Jeremy Stone: Stick to established procedures.
Dr. Ruth Leavitt: Establishment gonna fall down and go boom.
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).
Question: Why wasn't Andromeda spread by the wind, killing birds, wildlife, and individuals in the area around Piedmont?
Answer: The satellite containing the Andromeda strain was recovered quickly, helping contain the contagion. Also, Piedmont was an isolated town, further limiting the spread. Dead birds and other animals were shown, but most would be happening off-camera. The scientists also learned later that Andromeda quickly mutated into a non-lethal form but one that caused certain synthetic materials to dissolve, creating further havoc. To eradicate the strain, clouds were seeded to produce rain, which swept Andromeda out to sea where the alkaline ocean water rendered it inert. Would add that movies at this time and before had stricter standard codes and did not show excessive blood and gore like they do today.
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 ★