The Crazies | March 16, 1973
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| The Crazies |
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| The Crazies |
The Crazies (also known as Code Name: Trixie) is a 1973 American science fiction horror film written and directed by George A. Romero. The film stars Lane Carroll, Will MacMillan, and Harold Wayne Jones as residents of a small American town who are accidentally infected with a military biological weapon. Filmed in Evans City, Pennsylvania, The Crazies initially failed commercially but later became a cult film. A remake of the film was released in 2010.
In Evans City, Pennsylvania, a man kills his wife and burns down his farm. Firefighters David, a Vietnam War veteran, and Clank respond to the scene. David's pregnant girlfriend and nurse, Judy, heads to Dr. Brookmeyer's office, where the arsonist’s two children are receiving burn treatment. The office is taken over by heavily armed soldiers led by Colonel Ryder. A few days prior, a military plane carrying a biological weapon crashed near the town, contaminating the water supply with a virus code-named "Trixie," which is highly contagious and causes victims to die or succumb to homicidal hysteria. Government officials send Colonel Peckem and Dr. Watts to Evans City to develop a cure for the virus. Martial law is declared, and the town is quarantined. Soldiers forcibly relocate townspeople to the high school, evicting many from their homes, and shoot anyone attempting to escape. An armed bomber is on standby to destroy the town if necessary. David, Judy, Clank, teenage girl Kathy Fulton, and her father Artie try to find a way to escape the town. After spending the night at a country club, the group attempts to flee through nearby woods, avoiding soldiers on the ground and helicopters overhead. They neutralize several soldiers at a house. One soldier reveals what he knows about the virus to David, but when another soldier grabs a gun, Clank shoots and kills the soldiers. David tells Judy what he knows about the virus and says that Kathy, Artie, and possibly Clank are infected. After Clank attempts to have sex with Kathy, Artie hangs himself in despair. Kathy goes outside and is killed by soldiers. Realizing he is infected, Clank kills several soldiers to give David and Judy time to escape. He is shot and killed. The next night, Judy, now visibly infected, is killed by armed civilians. Desperate and fearful, David surrenders to the military. After being detained, David eventually realizes he is immune to the virus but keeps this fact to himself. Dr. Watts develops a potential cure for the virus, but he is killed while attempting to deliver the sample to Peckem and Ryder, and the sample is destroyed in the chaos of infected townspeople breaking out of quarantine. Troubled and traumatized by his experiences in Evans City, Colonel Peckem is ordered to relocate to Louisville, where virus symptoms have been reported.

