The Satan Bug (1965)

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

So many ingredients for an exciting movie, but most of them get wasted in this one. An extremist pacifist ( apparently that is possible) gets hold of a virus that could kill all mankind. OK, that's one way to attain world peace, i guess. But why would the US government develop a virus that will kill all life on earth, including life in the US of A? In exchange for the virus the rabid peacenik wants the government to close down the research lab that made the virus, or people will get killed in great quantities. (I thought he was a pacifist?) Instead of giving in to this demand, which can so easily be subverted ( just build it somewhere else) government agents start to track down the culprit. The hero of this movie is supposed to be special agent Lee Barrett, but instead of building up his character we get a lot of crosstalk between other officials, none of which helps the plot along. Worse than that, the actor playing Barrett has the stiff-jawed charisma of a showroom dummy, and gets paired up with a female sidekick that has literally nothing of any importance to say or do. Add to that the flat camera-work, the lazy acting of most of the crew and numerous plot twists that make no sense and you're left with a frustrating and confusing would- be thriller. To give an example: two villains start to shoot at Out Hero holding the deadly virus in a flask, just to show they mean business. Yeah, wise move. In another scene two guys pretend to arrest the villain, only they turn out to be his accomplices. Huh? And why does the helicopter pilot get so enraged with the hero that he starts fighting with him in mid-flight, leaving the helicopter to the forces of gravity? I could go on naming such absurdities, but i won't. If you want to see them for yourself, check this movie out. Otherwise, any episode of, say Mission Impossible will make more sense and provide more thrills than this lazy effort.

Based off of Alistair MacLean's novel of the same name, The Satan Bug concerns Station 3, a top-secret research facility in the California desert where the US government engineers designer germs. One day, thieves manage to circumvent security and gain access to the main lab, where the murder chief of security Reagan and chief scientist Dr. Baxter and abscond with several specimens in airtight flasks. All but one of the flasks contain botulinus. The other is the one and only existing specimen of a new strain of polio codenamed "Satan Bug." It's so deadly that if it were unleashed, it could wipe out all life on Earth in two months.Eric Cavanaugh of the SDI (a fictional government organization) and Station 3 director Dr. Leonard Michaelson go to the lab's former chief of security, Lee Barrett, for assistance. Barrett is a top-notch detective, but quit his job because he disagreed with the military applications of Station 3's experiments. He now works as a lawyer. But with Reagan dead, there's no one else who knows the facility better and can have any chance of recovering the viruses.Aided by a beautiful female operative named Ann Williams, herself the daughter of Barrett's former employer General Williams, Barrett determines that the thieves were the henchmen of a wealthy sociopath named Charles Reynolds Ainsley. Ainsley, styling himself a modern-day messiah, shares Barrett's disdain for Station 3, and threatens to unleash the Satan Bug unless the lab is closed down for good. But is this really his plan...? Barrett will need to find out and fast; to prove he means business, Ainsley has had his henchmen unleash some of the botulinus in Florida, killing thousands. The Satan Bug could be next if Barrett can't track down Ainsley and the viruses fast!Behind the camera, The Satan Bug has an impressive pedigree. Based off of a novel by Alistair MacLean and directed by John Sturges, and featuring a score by Jerry Goldsmith. In front of the camera is a different story.First and foremost, there's the total change in setting. Although the movie is, beat for beat, a fairly accurate retelling of MacLean's novel, the book was set in England. There wasn't really much reason beyond budgetary constraints to relocate the story's setting to America and make all of the characters American. They also changed (i.e. simplified) the villain's plan. In the novel, his threat to unleash the viruses unless the lab is closed is just a smokescreen so he can achieve something completely different behind the good guys' backs, a la Simon in Die Hard with a Vengeance. That said, despite the relocation to America, I rather slightly prefer the film to the novel.Action-wise it's mostly limited to a couple of brief fistfights and shootouts that are over fairly quickly.The climax aboard the helicopter is just plain silly. Without warning, the pilot stops flying and turns to try to shoot Barrett who is riding in back. This results in the aircraft going into a spin with no one flying it, whilst Barret fights with Ainsley and the pilot, all while the flask containing the Satan Bug perches precariously on the edge of the seat and threatens to roll out the open door. Barrett ultimately manages to overcome the villains, kick them out, grab the flask and regain control of the chopper. Definitely one of the goofier climaxes I've seen in a while.The cast is good, but with the exception of Richard Basehart as Dr. Hoffman (a.k.a. Ainsley), there aren't too many familiar faces in prominent roles. I will say, though, I liked George Maharis as Barrett. In terms of the supporting cast, look for James Doohan (Scotty from Star Trek) as an SDI agent who shows up in a few brief scenes, and Ed Asner as henchman Veretti.

Get a load of those clogged LA freeways from the air. I've always wondered what my morning commute looks like to a flying bird. But then everybody's evacuating because nutcase Hoffman's (Basehart) going to let loose a deadly virus somewhere in the city. Barrett (Maharis) better get to him and the germ flask first or Hollywood won't be making any more of these disaster films.It's edge of the seat suspense the whole way. Events get a little complicated midway as we try to figure out who's doing what to whom and which side they're on. But that's okay since one development leads quickly to another. I especially like the set-up in the first part, where events in the lab unfold mysteriously. It's a heckuva hook, well staged and scripted.Actor Maharis is appropriately intense. I guess that makes sense since the fate of the world, no less, may depend on him. Lovely Francis is along as eye candy, while Basehart growls his lines from the bottom of a well. And is that the prickly Lou Grant (Asner) practicing his glower as a laconic thug.All in all, it's an ace thriller with a highway tour of the drier parts of LA county. However, I don't think I'll be risking a cold soda at Dodger stadium any time soon.

Despite some major changes in location from the UK to the USA the spine tingling spirit of Alistair MacLean comes through in this adaption of The Satan Bug. MacLean novels seem almost to roll out of the printed page and right on the screen. It's been done, but's pretty hard to make a dull film out of a MacLean work.George Maharis plays our protagonist investigating a leak in security at a very top secret germ warfare laboratory. What leaked out seems to be the ultimate in germ warfare, a virus in a vial called The Satan Bug and it will guarantee destruction of life on a planetary scale. The viewer's knowledge that these are the stakes being played for is what makes this film harrowing watching.Maharis is aided in his quest by Anne Francis who is the daughter of General Dana Andrews for whom he works. But the performance that dominates the film is that of Richard Basehart as the maddest scientist of all. He has stolen The Satan Bug and he's got big plans for it. I will say that the fact he got in and did the job speaks volumes about the lack of competence of American security. See the film and you'll see what I mean.John Sturges brought in a first rate thriller in The Satan Bug, do not miss it if broadcast.