This film was recently remade and updated. According to the viewer reviews, they should have let well enough alone.
The original 1971 version is considered a classic, and it seems that most people who have seen it just can't keep saying good things about this old movie. This is astonishing since the film has no big stars, only one gripping action scene, and by any reasonable measure can be only described as "slow and talky".
Let us see if we can find out the reason behind the affection.
The plot concerns a space probe, designed to collect cometary material, which lands back on Earth. The problem is that the probe carried a speck of interstellar dust scooped from the tail of a comet. A speck of dust which contains an extraterrestrial disease that is instantly deadly to human life.
As soon as the threat is identified, an emergency alert is broadcast through military channels.
It seems that the government has a plan in case of such a crisis. Thank goodness for that, since the disease has already wiped out a small New Mexico town!
Brilliant medical scientists are hastily collected by government troops and sent in to the stricken town to find out what is what.
This all takes place in the first twenty minutes or so. Although it seems that not a whole lot is going on, the director manages to ramp up the tension by carefully refusing to reveal too much too quickly. He does this by using techniques that are considered hokey and terribly outdated by film makers today, but which were certainly effective.
For example, the camera stares at a plain speaker for what seems like an eternity while the audience listens to men dying on the other end.
What is happening? We don't get to see anything but the aftermath, told in a wordless visual style that utilizes split screens. While the scientists examine the town looking for signs of life, we get to see the horrific scenes they stumble across at the same time.
A gimmick? Sure, but an effective technique for all that.
With evidence gathered, the action moves to a secret high tech disease research lab buried under the desert. The sets are astonishing, and it seems obvious that the decision was made to cast second string character actors so they could save money for special effects. Even today, in a world where just about every appliance we buy has a computer in it somewhere, the technology on display grabs out interest.
That is the communications room. I can't help but wonder what all those dials are on the wall behind the actors. Are they clocks, different time zones? Could be, I suppose, although there doesn't seem to be enough for that.
Nowadays the guy at the desk would have a single PC, and he would open a new window and leave it on the task bar when he wanted to monitor the time somewhere else. He'd get his work station configured the way he likes, and it would disappear when he logged off at the end of his shift. When he came back to work and signed on again he wouldn't have to bother setting everything up since the computer would remember for him.
Less clutter, less distractions, and a lower power drain. But there is just something about those big solid state buttons that light up when you push them with a loud clunk sound that shows you mean business. If you have to mash your thumb down on a solid piece of glass to make it light up, you know that you started something in motion.
There are other examples of technology on display, most of them pretty striking. There is a room that works as a sterile glove box....
...as well as those remote robot arms called waldos.
Still, there are still some jarring elements that remind the viewer of just how far we have come. The display from a medical scanner, for example, proves that the decision to move beyond ASCII was sound.
The main difference between this film and thrillers of today is that a government conspiracy does not drive the plot. Although there is some speculation that the disease from space was brought to Earth due to a project to obtain a new biological weapon, all of the characters realize that people will die unless they get with the program and develop some sort of defense. It is more of a medical thriller with space probes and high tech underground labs than anything else.
My suggestion is to ignore the remake and rent the classic. You won't be disappointed.