A germ that could destroy life on Earth is stolen from a biological warfare lab and the thief threatens to release it into the open prompting world-wide manhunt.A germ that could destroy life on Earth is stolen from a biological warfare lab and the thief threatens to release it into the open prompting world-wide manhunt.A germ that could destroy life on Earth is stolen from a biological warfare lab and the thief threatens to release it into the open prompting world-wide manhunt.
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- Veretti
- (as Ed Asner)
- Police Captain at Dodger Stadium
- (uncredited)
- Helicopter Pilot
- (uncredited)
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Featured reviews
Yes, the plot groans a bit (for instance, the Anne Francis character, though well-played, seems to serve no purpose - except as a poorly explained romantic interest), the characters are one dimensional (well it is a suspense film and you can always use your imagination), and some of the motivation is a bit suspect; but this film still generates a real tension and sense of terror. It's a well-imagined, claustrophobic world of neurotic scientists, a secret state, disillusioned spooks, and isolated top-secret labs. There are good performances (especially Jon Anderson, Ed Asner, Frank Sutton, Richard Basehart - despite dodgy Austrian accent - and George Maharis) and a superb, tense score by Jerry Goldsmith that keeps the fear and suspense palpable. The action too remains tight but down-played; it does move forward at a reasonable pace but the emphasis generally remains on the realistic and the prosaic. This lack of the spectacular may be more due to the small scale of the production but for me it fits perfectly to the claustrophobic style of the film and doesn't detract from the plausability of doomsday-virus-goes-missing plot line; this is key to why the films' appeal has remained strong - the story seems all too possible (and hence frightening), and it certainly is as possible today as it was 40 years ago.
There are two other stars of this film that deserve special mention. One is the desert - I think much of the the filming was done around Palm Springs in the Colorado Desert. It looks truly beautiful and other-worldly (well if you're from London it does) but also desolate and lonely. Its emptiness intensifies the sense of paranoia and isolation and serves as a subconscious reminder to the watcher of the apocalypse that the Satan Bug could unleash upon mankind... the other star is a small flask with a red seal that requires just 4 lbs of pressure to break it... if I had to compile a list of the scariest things in cinema I think I'd place that little flask pretty near the top.
I do see some problems with the screenplay however, in that things see to happen in the film, that just pop up from nowhere. A mans car getting stuck that we the audience are not entirely clued in on, two agents just coming on the screen at a particular time, what where the motivations for this to happen is not explained, and a dead body, that without the use of a DVD player or DVR that we can view the movie on Turner Classic Movies, and look back on, might make us wonder who this dead body is.
The Maharis character is the most interesting of the lot, he is a man who is at odds with his government throughout his life, and he is a character in films ahead of his time. We didn't get to see people like this in movies before. He is a man who it is emphasized at the beginning of the film to be a rebel, but knows the difference between wrong and right. When his country needs him as he shows in this film he will be there for the correct cause. His last line in this film, is a telling one, I'm paraphrasing it here, but it goes something like this "Will start over again." This film, makes one ask the question, how could any country sanction a sight that could create something so deadly, and which might, as we learn towards the end, might destroy life on earth? At the same time, while the film I think questions this, it does at least give us some comfort that our government agencies fighting terror might be able to stop it as shown by agents, beside Maharis, as being capable of stopping mad men through their hard work.
A great supporting cast helps the film as well, Richard Basehart is outstanding, and I just realized that Frank Sutton, (Sargent Carter) of GOMER PYLE fame, is one of the villains, and what a different role it is.
John Sturges in his direction, shows a man who knew how to direct an action film, and an entertaining one to boot. The film was also ahead of its time, in warning us that we had more to fear than just a hydrogen bomb, as that fear of the bomb I believe was coming to an end at the time. A flawed, but entertaining film, that still holds up some forty years latter.
It's just a guess. Parts of Arizona could also have been involved. But that trailer park where the bad guy lives looks very much like one that's located near the base of the mountain on the back road out of Palm Desert (Hwy 111?).
Fun movie to watch for the scenery alone.
Too bad Ann Francis is once again only window dressing. She's capable, as many beautiful actresses are, of more. At least she gets to give one of the villains some grief.
Did you know
- TriviaLee Remick: In the scene in the jazz club where Lee Barrett is introduced, the waitress that tells him he has a phone call, in an uncredited role.
- GoofsWhen Barrett enters the vault, he dials the top combination lock. The door has two locks requiring a second combination (held by another person) to open. This is common in high security zones to prevent a lone individual accessing a secure area.
- Quotes
Dr. Gregor Hoffman: More than forty chemical weapons are being developed at Station 3. I will confine myself to two which we have developed here, at E Lab. The first, botulinus. We have twelve hundred grammes in six flasks. If ten grammes of it were allowed to contaminate a city, that city is a morgue in four hours. It is an ideal weapon, if you will forgive the phrase, because it only destroys people. It oxides itself, and in effect dies after eight hours.
Lee Barrett: Well, then it's safe to go in there. It's been over eight hours since that vault door was closed. And if all twelve hundred grammes of botulinus were spilled, it would still be safe. The closed-air circulation system is still in operation, so it would be oxidised.
Dr. Gregor Hoffman: That is correct, but there is something else in there. It is only three weeks since Dr. Baxter refined it, and only three days since he communicated its existence to anyone.
Gen. Williams: There's something beyond botulinis?
Dr. Gregor Hoffman: Yes, the second weapon. Also a virus, airborne. But self-perpetuating. Indestructible. Once released it will multiply at a power beyond our calculations. It perhaps will never die. To this virus we have given a highly unscientific name, but one which describes it perfectly. "The Satan Bug." If I took the flask which contains it and exposed it to the air, everyone here would be dead in three seconds. California would be a tomb in a few hours. In a week all life, and I mean all life, would cease in the United States. In two months, two months at the most, the trapper from Alaska, the peasant from the Yangtze, the Aborigine from Australia are dead. All dead, because I crushed a flask and exposed a green colored liquid to the air. Nothing, nothing can stop the Satan Bug.
Lee Barrett: What would be the last to go?
Dr. Gregor Hoffman: Perhaps the Great Albatross swinging its way around the bottom of the world. Perhaps an Eskimo deep in the Arctic. But the seas travel the world over, and so do the winds. One day, one day soon, they too would die. The Satan Bug is behind that door! One flask. It has got to be locked up in there, it has got to be! I must make you understand, if botulinus has been spilled then, as Mr. Barrett here says, it does not matter. But by god, if someone were to get in there and the Satan Bug has been spilled and the vault door were opened more than half an inch and left open, then the airlock room is lethal! Open this door for more than five seconds, and everything that I have told you will happen will happen. I beg you sir, seal up the door! You cannot take the risk!
- ConnectionsReferenced in The Good Book (1997)
Details
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- Also known as
- Estación 3, secreto supremo
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- Budget
- $6,000,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 54 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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