The Crazies

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Romero (The Dark,Night of the Living Dead)</B></div> <div> <B>Screenplay...George A. Romero (Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead)</B></div> <div> <B>Music............</B></div> <div> <B>Producer.........A.C. Croft</B></div> <div> <B>Based on an Original Script by Paul McCollough</B></div> <div> <B>Special Effects by Regis Survinski & Tony Pantanello</B></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Dramatis Personae</U></B></div> <div> <B>Judy....................Lane Carroll</B></div> <div> <B>David..................W.G. McMillan</B></div> <div> <B>Clark...................Harold W. Jones</B></div> <div> <B>Col. Peckem........Lynn Lowrey (Fighting Mad, They Came From Within)</B></div> <div> <B>Artie....................Richard Liberty (Day of the Dead)</B></div> <div> <B>Dr. Watts..............Richard France (Dawn of the Dead)</B></div> <div> <B>Major Ryder.........Harry Spillman</B></div> <div> <B>Dr. Brookmyre.....Will Disney</B></div> <div> <B>Lab Technician...Edith Bell</B></div> <div> <B>Brubaker.............W.L. Thunhurst, Jr.</B></div> <div> <B>Shelby................Leland Starnes</B></div> <div> <B>Gen. Bowen........A.C. MacDonald</B></div> <div> <B>Hawks.................Robert J. McCully</B></div> <div> <B>Sheriff Cooper.....Robert Karlowsky</B></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Critique</U></B><B>: An excellent </B><I><B>Omega man</B></I><B> interpretation down to the genius scientist-savior murdered through the ignorance of ideologues. Like the Heston character, Dr. Watts is an allegorical Christ figure. Perhaps all the gore in Romero's films stems from the catholic iconography on his mother's wall. The young Romero was no doubt awed by the holiness of limbs drenched in blood.   It's too bad Romero didn't concentrate more on the infected "crazies" and less on the army of safe-suit soldiers. Perhaps if the effects of the virus were more horrifying than a certain manic giddiness this would have lent some focus to the movie. We felt we had a classic Romero zombie confrontation in the works, but were left jilted waiting around in the woods instead. Our crazies behaved themselves relatively well, stranded as they were in a gymnasium, presenting only a minor security concern. The victims of the virus were simply overwhelmed by superior logistics. Still, Romero shows a deft touch with shot transition particularly in the excellent beginning. The characters don't evoke a lot of interest from the pompous Doctor Watts to the vacuous pregnant woman and her boring Green Beret husband. On the other hand, the idea of germ warfare backfiring leaving an entire city dead or insane fits in nicely to Romero's oevre of toxic mutation apocalyptic horror, unfortunately without the energy of Night and Dawn of the Dead. The first half hour of this film moves with a sure hand until our refugees begin skulking around in the woods. The guerrilla warfare scenes between the town folk and the safe suits just don't hold the viewer's interest due to the pronounced lack of characterization and motivation of the resistance. Bacteriological or viral? Get it straight. Theme song composed by major recording artists and writers Carol Bayer Sager and Melissa Manchester. Romero scholars will recognize Richard France who plays Dr. Watts also played the desperate television journalist in Romero's classic "Dawn of the Dead". Again, Romero is among the first to problematize America's Vietnam experience in the form of a bewildering guerrilla war, featuring an army left literally in the dark and a public that rebels.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Plot Summary</U></B><B>: Evan City, PA: Billy is scaring his little sister when someone really scares them by smashing up the house. Things get worse when they find mommy and daddy slashed up in bed. Soon a fire breaks out, the kids are badly burned, and Billy's sister dies. It appears that there is a biohazard stemming from a plane crash which held a vial of an experimental serum. That serum was brought into the town along a mountain stream near the crash site. A quarantine has been placed on the town, but so fare antibiotics are being distributed to military personnel only. Judy, pregnant with David's child, takes antibiotic with her and leaves the area as troops arrive in order to contain the problem. She drives off just as the perimeter around the town is set. The local police and firemen wonder why soldiers have set up road blocks around the town. There is apparently not enough antibiotic to go around. The citizens are being rounded up and all radio traffic from the town is silenced as a military strike on the town is recommended in order to contain the infection. The head man of the "Trixie" special weapons and tactics team is forced onto a plane and brought to the town. Little Billy has since become insane. The biohazard-suited soldiers round up the townspeople, telling them they are under quarantine, pulling them out of their beds, and pilfering as they go. As Judy is heading out of town she is met by soldiers at a checkpoint. She and her friend David and some others are rounded up and sent back to the high school. The mayor's strident protests are ignored. Three civilians have already been killed, and a few policemen begin to fight back against the troops and one is shot. Meanwhile, the civilians have formed a resistance force. Judy's group in the van hear shooting and break out, overpowering the soldiers guarding them. They take the van and head out of town again under pursuit. They hole up in a country club. Regrettably, there is no antidote once the infection takes hold. At the country club the young woman accompanying the group seems to have the disease, as her thinking has become incoherent. The town is now in open revolt. The soldiers become more and more draconian in their methods as resistors are routinely shot and their bodies burned. Even the soldiers are becoming infected. The head of Trixie insists they send out blood samples in an effort to find an antidote. The priest self-immolates in front of the church. Soon citizens become more organized as hunting rifles begin overpowering assault weapons by sheer numbers. The group from the lodge is soon located and hunted by helicopter. Fortunately, Dave is a Vietnam vet and they shoot the helicopter down. At the high school, the plague is spreading fast. Attempts to isolate an immune blood sample are slowed down by red tape. Mike, Dave, Judy and the infected girl and her father continue to evade detection. Mike and Dave overpower some soldiers and get some information about the virus from them before Mike does away with them. Although Mike is feeling the effects, David may have a natural immunity. Things are continuing to go down hill for our group as the older man begins to sexually assault his daughter until he is pulled off. Soon he hangs himself. Soldiers head toward the house where the group is holed up and the infected girl is shot. Mike makes a stand against them as Dave and Judy escape. Mike manages to get quite a few of these amazingly incompetent soldiers. Clearly they are reserves. Just as Dr. Watts is heading across the compound with the antidote, he is mistaken for one of the crazies in an identification blunder which complicates everyone's fate. David and Judy have a showdown with soldiers at a construction site. David is captured, but they don't bother with an immunity check. The colonel is flown out and the mess rages on. </B></div> </td> </tr></table></body>