MovieChat Forums > The Crazies (1973) Discussion > Dumb SCIENTIST or DUMB SOLDIERS. Who's t...

Dumb SCIENTIST or DUMB SOLDIERS. Who's to Blame?

posted 14 years ago by movieperson113
4 replies | jump to latest

Okay so the Scientist is trying to find a cure or way to stop the virus. He must have found something important or he wouldn't have rushed out so fast.

I know the guy had been there for a long time in an isolated room, but none of the guards there knew who he was? How come that other lady didn't come out and tell them who he was?

Sure he didn't have a name badge, but all the guys would have been briefed that the scientist guy was there in the first place. Also it wasn't chaos until he started yelling. Before that there was no reason for them not to know who he was.

It just seemed like a quick and easy reason to have him killed off with knowledge he only knew.

[–] chrisclark880 14 years ago

I blame the DUMB SCREENPLAY. That scene bothered me so much (and I already hated the film). It screamed of desperation, as if the screenwriters needed the guy to die but had no idea of how to do it (how about...let him be killed by one of the "crazies" who slips by the soldiers?). I mean, almost anything would have been better than what they did. So glad that someone else felt the same way.

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[–] spstou 14 years ago

I agree. Watching it right now and I actually paused to come on to see if anyone else had brought this up.

[–] nikongal 13 years ago

From a military perspective, that would be a perfect SNAFU, and they're not as uncommon as one might think. I do agree that they should have known he was working in the building, and the fact that he knew Brubaker's name should have been a clue. However, there were plenty of references to new soldiers coming in/being moved to new posts; maybe that group wasn't there when he came in to work. Given that so many people were acting weird, it's not implausible to think that at least one of the soldiers would assume he was an infected townsperson, and the others would just follow suit.

The very first time the voice imprint protocol is brought up, you know it's going to lead to at least one mix-up/mess-up later in the story.

Tho it is dark . . . know our flag . . . is still there.

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[–] activista 9 years ago

I have to admit, the only really stupid thing the scientist did was run out with the two vials in his hand without anything to protect them with-----being a scientist, you'd think he would have known better to have been that careless---especially if he had discovered a cure. He should have put them in a case for one thing, and on top of that, he should have told his assistant what was up with his discovery, and then told her what to do with in case something happened to him. You're right---that scene should have been handled way better than it was---it was flat-out ridiculous.