Goofs for
The Andromeda Strain (1971) More at IMDbPro »

• Revealing mistakes: At the crash site of the Phantom F-4, the tail section of the crashed aircraft is that of an F-100.
  
  
• Factual errors: When the scientists in Piedmont check the dead driver of the satellite recovery van, his eyes are glistening wet. He had been dead for many hours, so they should have been dried out.
  
  
• Audio/visual unsynchronized: After the two scientists in hazard suits are dropped-off in Piedmont, there is a shot of the helicopter hovering overhead, yet the sound effect is that of a helicopter flying away. Moments later the helicopter does fly away slowly.
  
  

• Audio/visual unsynchronized: A close-up of the crying baby found in the town by the recon scientists shows the face of a baby that is obviously not crying as the soundtrack portrays.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: The lips of the dead man in the barber's chair in Piedmont can be seen moving in the close shot.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When the scientist moves to close the dead doctor's eyes in Piedmont, the man's eyes close before the scientist closes them.
  
  
• Continuity: When the lead scientist is handling the satellite in the clean room with robot arms. The clocks in the background show vastly different times between shots although only a short time (seconds) has passed.
  
  
• Errors in geography: According to the map shown after the Situation Room scene, Wildfire was located in southern Clark County, Nevada, 46 miles from downtown Las Vegas, 34 miles from The Hoover Dam, and only five miles from Searchlight, Nevada; notably closer than 112 miles from any "...inhabited area..." as stated in the dialogue.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: When they first subject the lab animals to the virus, on the right hand side of the screen in the reflection of the metal walls you can see the crew rushing towards the monkey cage to revive him right before they cut back to the shot of the scientists.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): In the scene when the two scientists are first exploring the town, we see a shot of a priest lying dead on the steps of a church, eyes wide open. Right before the scene cuts, the supposedly dead priest stops his dead-eyed stare and looks to the right, obviously moving both eyes.
  
  
• Factual errors: The screen showing the distribution of elements in the samples goes by atomic number, but skips over neon (10) for some reason. (It can't be because of lack of neon; other elements are indicated with a 0 or -.)
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Dutton, Stone and Hall walk towards the electrostatic decontaminator, they are shown full-body from the rear to be nude entering the chamber. The next scene, tastefully blurred and solarized, still shows Dutton and Stone wearing athletic supporters, and Hall wearing bikini underwear.
  
  
• Continuity: When the scientists get to the doctor's office in Piedmont, they leave the driver's side door of the van open, almost farther than a standard van door is allowed to open. When they return, it is open only that standard amount.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Dr. Hall is being scanned, you can see in the reflection on the screen that he is wearing an athletic supporter.
  
  
• Continuity: The oscilloscope in Scoop Mission Control shows the voices from the recovery team, but not the beeping of the tracker. This can be seen clearly after the team dies and the trace flat lines.
  
  
• Factual errors: When Hall first uses the Medcom program on the computer in Level 5, the word "analysis" is misspelled as "ANALYS".
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: James Olson goes under several decontamination procedures. During one early procedure, he has a very thick amount of body hair that looks like it is fake and applied. In a later procedure, the hair is much thinner and more natural. There is no explanation for the changes in hair thickness or texture.
  
  
• Continuity: During the initial briefing on level 1, the overall display of the Wildfire complex shows the old man and the baby (2 yellow 'x's) as being on level 1. Dutton then asks Stone if they're both still alive, and Stone switches the display to a live video feed of the patients descending in the central core. On the wall behind the old man is a large "3", indicating he's passing level 3, but only 5 seconds have elapsed between the first shot and Dutton's question - not enough time for him to have gone from level 1 to level 3.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Leavitt gives up her glasses, she states that she better get them back or she will need a white cane. However, without her glasses, she can plainly read from the documentation binder stating that an unmarried male must carry the second nuclear key.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: Reflections of the camera team and some studio lights can be seen in the glass visor of the scientist's helmet, right after his initial encounter with the old man.
  
  

• Plot holes: SPOILER: The story shows the only Destruct Substations located in passageways. Considering that individual labs seal off if they become contaminated, every single room should have had a Destruct Substation. If Dr. Hall had been stuck in the lab with Dr. Dutton, the story would have ended on a tragic note.
  
  
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: SPOILER: The airborne contamination kills almost everyone in the town, the laboratory animals, and the jet pilot in just seconds. When the capsule recovery team and later the scientist first enters Piedmont there are live vultures flying over the town at night and later the next day eating the corpses of the towns people. Dr. Stone is even concerned enough that the contamination is going to be spread they drop a double dose of gas canisters to kill the birds. They don't check the wind direction or have any concern that someone might still be alive in the town before they leave the helicopter to recover the capsule and do their investigations, because the gas is only toxic to animals with an unusually fast metabolism such as birds and does not harm mammals.
  
  
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: SPOILER: The characters state that the Andromeda Strain can only live within a narrow pH band: it affected those with a normal blood pH level, but not the old man and the baby who had abnormal blood pH levels. They go on to state that the virus from Piedmont will end up in the ocean where it will be destroyed by the ocean's pH level. This is plausible: healthy human blood maintains a pH of 7.35-7.45, completely outside the ocean's 7.5-8.4 range.
  
  

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