Very disappointing...

Good concept, poorly executed.

Expected more

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

A near miss that should have been a landmark 1960s suspense thriller. It had a personable star in George Maharis, a heavyweight antagonist in Richard Basehart, a highly proficient action director (John Sturges) at the helm, a quirkily unnerving Jerry Goldsmith score and a chilling premise - a stolen flask of a super-bacteria that threatens global extinction. Throw in sleek 60s technology and photogenic desert locations and what could go wrong?Unfortunately the exposition. We're never given any firm idea of Basehart's motivation, and his accomplices (including a younger Edward Asner) just seem like B-movie heavies. Dana Andrews hasn't enough to do as Maharis' brooding superior, while romantic interest Anne Francis' part is virtually superfluous. It badly needs some more interesting secondary characters. And, bafflingly, there's not actually that much action or pace either, though Sturges does build up the tension masterfully at the climax.Enough remains to just about hold the attention. But it should have been better...

George Maharis, Richard Basehart, Anne Francis, and Dana Andrews look for "The Satan Bug," a 1965 film based on a novel by Alistair MacLean.The subject is something that certainly holds sway today: biological warfare. Lee Barrett (Maharis) who had been a security officer at a top secret government lab until he was fired, is summoned back to duty. Biological warfare agents have been stolen from the facility, and it is most urgent that what is referred to as the "Satan Bug" is found. The bug has the capacity to wipe out all of mankind if it is released. The thief, apparently a wealthy dissident, is threatening to release it in a public place. He wants the Security 3 division shut down. Barrett suspects the crook had help from the inside.The film's pacing is a little off, and the film is a little too long, though it's nice-looking and has one of those great '60s casts familiar to baby boomers. George Maharis had hit stardom with his TV show "Route 66" and Anne Francis, who was a starlet at Fox, was TV's "Honey West." Richard Basehart, besides a fine film career, was the star of "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea." I also spotted ex-Mike Karr on "The Edge of Night," John Larkin, and Ed Asner in a very small role. Film star Dana Andrews, whose career declined due to alcoholism, is here as General Williams.The casting of a pivotal role gives away some of the plot, but that won't be true for everyone who sees it. Worth seeing, and certainly the topic is timely.

It's hard to say just what this "Satan Bug" flask carries. It's described as a virus at times, and at other times a bacteria, since the bad guy has developed a vaccine for it.That wouldn't matter so much, if it wasn't for the constant changing of its properties, although it's hard to tell exactly what they are, since too many lines are given to George Maharis, whose ability to speak clearly is about nil. One drop of the deadly "Satan Bug", at first, will wipe out the Earth in a few weeks, then it only wipes out an area near Florida, then a flask can only kill two out of three men in a small abandoned house.This, of course, lets us know that either the writers are goofy, or the character who claims it will wipe out the world at the beginning is a liar. So much for "suspense" in who the bad guy is.Still, too much changes, and characters speak too fast to know what is going on. Mostly Maharis.The other actors in this all star cast pretty much save the movie, though. From top to bottom, we get most of the mainstays of the great films and TV series. Sutton, of "Gomer Pyle", Asner of his series and "Mary Tyler Moore", Oakland of "Psycho", Anderson of "Ride the High Country", Andrews of many big films, and the big star, Richard Basehart.Seeing all of these big names, along with others, makes this a minor all star cast that at least makes it fun. The supporting actors are good, and do salvage the film to some extent. On the whole, there are as many assets as detriments. The big scene involves the flask thrown into a room of three men, and how it affects them.

Just as Forbidden Planet was a forerunner to Star Trek so too was Satan Bug a forerunner to 24 and Jack Bauer. Forty some years later and it still has a look ahead of its time as well as a storyline as current today as it was back then. Though not filled with major stars of the time, Dana Andrews was near the end of his career, all the actors came from supporting roles in movies and TV, all were familiar faces and competent actors and a few would move on to bigger things like Anne Francis as Honey West, Frank Sutton as the sergeant on Gomer Pyle and James Doohan as Scotty on Star Trek. The storyline may be spread across a couple of days, but it's constantly moving in a 24 fashion, 2 hours versus 24 hours to be sure, but like today's 24 it never lightens up. Agent George Maharis is pulled back into the agency by a national emergency over the theft of a biological weapon and he's as disillusioned with the government as Jack Bauer can be and yet determined to do his job and save not only our country, but possibly the entire world. And though the story wraps up all too suddenly, like 24, the ending isn't all neat and tidy, perhaps a bit more real than more Hollywood, and it makes you wonder, what's next?