'Look at his butt' - The Andromeda Strain (1971) Discussion

[–] efs2 17 years ago

There weren't many. But there were at least a couple of others.

There was the suppository scene, including the line by Leavitt: "Anyone care to join me for a smoke?"

And the scene as they are approaching the town in the helicopter, when the pilot is distressed to hear they will all be "sterlized" if something goes wrong and says: "Hey! wait a minute! That's not what they told me. Just 'incinerated'."

When you get sued for sounding like yourself, you get a little paranoid. - John Fogerty

reply

[–] sir_mathew 17 years ago

I think Kate Ried had some of the best lines. Her answer to the computer's question on any allergies; her reply in disgust "RAG WEED POLLEN" gets me every time. I also like when she tosses the helmet on the floor after the xenon burn scene.

reply

[–] inthepalemoonlight 16 years ago

Don't forget when the old man spoke into the camera about this not being the way to run a hospital.

reply

[–] jump237 16 years ago

i loved it when ruth commented that the above-ground facility would be a "great place to grow pot"

reply

[–] savagesteve13 14 years ago

How about the cynical sergeant manning the message console at the top floor. He knows he's at a dead-end job so he gets all snippy and says "ding-a-ling!, I press the button to start the machine".

reply

[–] MerovingianGoddess 14 years ago

Yeah I always wanted to shoot that guy in that scene. Obviously well played to evoke that emotion! LOL!!

Nancy*
Living my life vicariously through cinema
http://www.facebook.com/nancychandlerhsm

reply

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Melq 13 years ago

More from Ruth:
You're obviously lost. No one's been down this goat path in years!
I hate red lights. They remind me of my days in a bordello.

reply

[–] MystMoonstruck 13 years ago

Also Ruth:
"Great place to grow pot."
"Establishment going to fall down and go *boom*."
And, the aforementioned: "RAGWEED POLLEN!!!!!"

She reminds me of me! I would have thrown the helmet down, too! She was a great change from the generally attractive lady scientists that were considered the norm. I still recall my first time seeing this movie in the theater, with the ending causing me to take a death grip on the seat-arms and lean forward till he turned that key!

There are many lighter moments, such as when Hall flirts with the "luscious" (I think he says) voice. Or, when he's asked if he's read the material, says, "I never went in for science fiction." Hall and Ruth should get together, as they have the same way of expressing themselves.
"Most of them died instantly. A few had time to go quietly nuts."

I've watched this film twice in two days for the umpteenth times, and IT GETS BETTER EVERY TIME! (to paraphrase a certain bio-exorcist)

(The miniseries is an abomination={)

*** The trouble with reality is there's no background music. ***

reply

[–] bhasse-1 12 years ago

Actually, this "butt" thing is the worst exchange in an otherwise superb movie.

Consider: Both these guys are scientists/doctors. They are wandering a town filled with corpses (killed by something that could spread and cause deaths in the millions). When one doctor, under these circumstances, says to another, "Look at his butt," there isn't a chance in creation that what he's really attempting to communicate is, "Ha ha! Get a load of this! Isn't it funny to look at a dead guy's ass?! God this job has great perks!" Nor would another doctor for an instant read it that way.

Somebody should have caught the profound wrongness of this utterly false moment and cut the "That's not funny" line.

(And as others have pointed out, there are in fact quite a lot of very funny lines amid all the seriousness.)

reply

[–] sir_mathew 12 years ago

So maybe he should have said "look at his gluteus maximus"?

reply

[–] TexasBEAST 10 years ago

I think the line was actually, "Look at his buttocks." It was a few lines later when he reduced that to just "butt".

So the initiating speaker was pretty much speaking in a clinical, medical sense.

It was the responding speaker who erred by turning it into a joke. And it pretty much fell flat, at that.

reply

[–] rogueforte 11 years ago

The "That's not funny" response is not the worst writing, but I have to agree that it's completely unnecessary, and pretty damn bad. A real scientist would have simply said, "Why?", and the doctor would have then explained.

But much worse than that is just about everything Leavitt said. No scientist would ever act like her, particularly one chosen to be on a team as important as this one. Every time she opened her mouth it made me cringe. She simply acted like she didn't want to be there and didn't really seem to contribute much of anything to the research. I guess maybe it was a sign of the times to have this one rebellious 'rogue' on the team, but she was a constant distraction in an otherwise decent science fiction yarn.

OTOH, the lines and the actor who played Mr. Jackson did a fine job of providing all the comedy relief that was needed.

reply

[–] scribe1270 11 years ago

The thing is he wasn't trying to be funny in that scene, but to make the point that since the man had died sitting down there should be lividity as a result since blood pools at the lowest points. And they had been dead long enough for rigor mortis to have come and gone so lividity should have been present.

reply