2. The Andromeda Strain (1971)
Director: Robert Wise Cast: Arthur Hill, James Olson, Kate Reid, David Wayne Adapted from a book by Michael Crichton, The Andromeda Strain is one of those classics that every lover of cinematic sci-fi should see. It sprang from the mind of a gifted writer of science and tech fiction and was directed by the equally gifted Robert Wise. Something has gone terribly wrong in a small desert town where a government satellite has touched down. Everyone in the town has died except for an old man and a baby. Project Wildfire goes into effect, bringing together a team of scientists chosen for just such a crisis. (This is, coincidently, similar to the opening of Crichtons novel Sphere.) They bring the satellite to a deep underground bunker, consisting of multiple levels of security and overlapping decontamination procedures. The Wildfire team studies the organism brought back by the satellite from space, and the team doctor tries to figure out why the baby and the old man survived exposure. But the germ mutates and multiple levels of the Wildfire facility are compromised. This starts an automatic countdown to the detonation of a nuclear device within the facility to prevent harmful organisms from reaching the earths surface. Like many of the science fiction classics on this list, The Andromeda Strain is cerebral sci-fi, exploring the impact extraterrestrial microbes might have on the planet earth. Robert Wise ably directs the film with contributions from Douglas Trumbull, who designed the special effects, and Boris Levin, who won an Oscar for production design. While it takes a couple of days for the Wildfire team to get through the various levels of decontamination before the real meat of the story takes place (read: slow second act), the climactic ending is serves as a satisfying payoff that is easily enjoyed.