The crazies, a movie about the inept efforts of the military to deal with the consequences of an accidental release of a biological weapon into a small town that drives the townspeople mad, feels on the surface like a zombie movie.
Sure, just by looking at them you can't tell they are crazy, and, unlike zombies, they don't eat people but just kill them. However, the opening sets a tone that belongs to any standard zombie fare.
Two aspects make movie this different and more interesting: first, the almost-obligatory band of survivors who try to escape the reach of both the infected and the military effectively takes second place to a portrayal of the authorities' efforts in dealing with the catastrophe, and second, that portrayal relentlessly depicts a group of incompetents in charge who don't know how to deal with the situation effectively and could care less about the population they are supposed to protect. In that, it reminded me a little of 'Dr. Strangelove...'.
The movie was made in the early 70s and seems to have been influenced by at least three contemporary sociopolitical events:
First, a large proportion of Americans was becoming disillusioned with the Vietnam war, and this reflected itself in growing protests against the ongoing operations. One of these culminated in the Kent State massacre in 1970, where national guard troops shot and killed, as well as injured, several student protesters at Kent state University. In fact, this is briefly referenced in the film.
Second, the Biological Weapons Convention was signed in 1972 (going into effect in 1975), which banned its signatories, including the United States, from developing and testing biological weapons.
Third, also in 1972, the Watergate scandal erupted, which exposed people at the highest levels of authorities attempting to pull strings behind the scenes illegally and being quite incompetent at doing so. Incidentally, these political events reflected themselves in cinema in a string of excellent paranoid 70s thrillers of which this movie is at least a close cousin.
There are a few nice examples of how the various forms of the incompetence by the authorities stack on top of each other to give rise to something like a synergistic effect. In one scene, a scientist finds a potential cure but cannot transmit the information due to excessive bureaucratic procedure, so he decides to report it in person. He fails to communicate his findings to his colleague before dashing off, only to be blocked by the military who lump him together with the crazies.
While much of the cinematography seems dated, there are still several effective scenes with rapid editing techniques that keep the tension high. The acting is for the most part decent, and the multiple story lines are easy to follow, even if we may not care about all characters the same amount.
Quite early in the movie it is established that there is practically no hope for the townspeople, and this gives the entire movie a nihilistic outlook. As the movie progresses, the authorities in their white decontamination suits, initially portrayed as not unreasonable, seem increasingly like evil aliens, an effective device which inverts the standard good guys vs bad zombies movie narrative.
In my view, the subversive sociopolitical commentary puts this movie a cut above the rest, even though purely in terms of film-making it does not stand out as much.
Sure, just by looking at them you can't tell they are crazy, and, unlike zombies, they don't eat people but just kill them. However, the opening sets a tone that belongs to any standard zombie fare.
Two aspects make movie this different and more interesting: first, the almost-obligatory band of survivors who try to escape the reach of both the infected and the military effectively takes second place to a portrayal of the authorities' efforts in dealing with the catastrophe, and second, that portrayal relentlessly depicts a group of incompetents in charge who don't know how to deal with the situation effectively and could care less about the population they are supposed to protect. In that, it reminded me a little of 'Dr. Strangelove...'.
The movie was made in the early 70s and seems to have been influenced by at least three contemporary sociopolitical events:
First, a large proportion of Americans was becoming disillusioned with the Vietnam war, and this reflected itself in growing protests against the ongoing operations. One of these culminated in the Kent State massacre in 1970, where national guard troops shot and killed, as well as injured, several student protesters at Kent state University. In fact, this is briefly referenced in the film.
Second, the Biological Weapons Convention was signed in 1972 (going into effect in 1975), which banned its signatories, including the United States, from developing and testing biological weapons.
Third, also in 1972, the Watergate scandal erupted, which exposed people at the highest levels of authorities attempting to pull strings behind the scenes illegally and being quite incompetent at doing so. Incidentally, these political events reflected themselves in cinema in a string of excellent paranoid 70s thrillers of which this movie is at least a close cousin.
There are a few nice examples of how the various forms of the incompetence by the authorities stack on top of each other to give rise to something like a synergistic effect. In one scene, a scientist finds a potential cure but cannot transmit the information due to excessive bureaucratic procedure, so he decides to report it in person. He fails to communicate his findings to his colleague before dashing off, only to be blocked by the military who lump him together with the crazies.
While much of the cinematography seems dated, there are still several effective scenes with rapid editing techniques that keep the tension high. The acting is for the most part decent, and the multiple story lines are easy to follow, even if we may not care about all characters the same amount.
Quite early in the movie it is established that there is practically no hope for the townspeople, and this gives the entire movie a nihilistic outlook. As the movie progresses, the authorities in their white decontamination suits, initially portrayed as not unreasonable, seem increasingly like evil aliens, an effective device which inverts the standard good guys vs bad zombies movie narrative.
In my view, the subversive sociopolitical commentary puts this movie a cut above the rest, even though purely in terms of film-making it does not stand out as much.