The Andromeda Strain (1971)
Kate Reid: Dr. Ruth Leavitt
Photos
Quotes
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Dr. Jeremy Stone : According to this, there'll be a super-colony of Andromeda over the entire southwest in...
Dr. Charles Dutton : [interrupting] Jeremy! These are biological warfare maps!
Dr. Jeremy Stone : Why, yes... so they are... uh... but... simulations, Charlie. Defensive... it's just a scenario.
Dr. Ruth Leavitt : That's not the point, for God's sake! Wildfire was built for germ warfare! Wildfire AND Scoop! And you knew, Stone! YOU KNEW IT!
Dr. Jeremy Stone : That's not true, Ruth! I learned about Scoop the same time you did!
Dr. Charles Dutton : They already have Andromeda programmed! The purpose of Scoop was to find new biological weapons in outer space, and then use Wildfire to develop them!
Dr. Ruth Leavitt : It stinks, Stone!
Dr. Jeremy Stone : You're blowing your tops! We have no proof...
Dr. Charles Dutton : The map!
Dr. Jeremy Stone : Don't be an ass! That map only shows what Andromeda could do in the hands of an enemy!
Dr. Charles Dutton : Enemy? We did it to ourselves!
Dr. Jeremy Stone : Perhaps! But this is hardly the time to organize a protest!
Dr. Ruth Leavitt : [sarcastic] Another giant leap for mankind!
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Dr. Jeremy Stone : Stick to established procedures.
Dr. Ruth Leavitt : Establishment gonna fall down and go boom.
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Dr. Jeremy Stone : [handing out suppositories] Umm... stop by your rooms and insert these before taking the elevator.
Dr. Ruth Leavitt : I have risked drowning in that foul bath! I have been par-boiled, irradiated and xenon-flashed, and now you suggest I...
[pushing suppository upward in the air]
Dr. Jeremy Stone : I HAVE to! We haven't done a thing about the G.I. tract yet. On level five we must be as nearly germ-free as possible.
Dr. Ruth Leavitt : [eyeing suppository sheepishly] Anyone care to join me for a "smoke"?
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Dr. Jeremy Stone : Where's the next substation, Hall?
Dr. Mark Hall : Left of elevator on Level 2.
Dr. Jeremy Stone : Right. Across the corridor from Body Analysis, our next port of call.
Dr. Ruth Leavitt : Not for my alabaster body! I mean it, Stone, you can take your Body Analyzer and you can st...
[door closes]
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Dr. Robertson : You can relax now, we've just left the President. He agreed to drop the bomb...
Dr. Jeremy Stone : NO NO! You've got to stop 7-12 from being carried out!
Grimes : Now wait a minute! We're not playing ping pong! We just got through telling the President that you...
Dr. Ruth Leavitt : For God's sake, go back! It grows when exposed to x-rays. or any source of energy.
Dr. Charles Dutton : Tell him NO nuclear device mush be detonated anywhere near it.
Dr. Jeremy Stone : We just found out Andromeda functions like a little reactor. Converts matter to energy, energy to matter, directly
Dr. Robertson : [Whistles] Then the bomb would just provide a fantastically rich growth medium.
[to Grimes]
Dr. Robertson : Understand?
Grimes : No, but I'll pass along the recommendation.
[smugly]
Grimes : The boss'll be pleased to know that HE made the right decision on 7-12 in the first place.
Dr. Ruth Leavitt : [harsh with sarcasm] Congratulate him on his scientific insight.
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Dr. Charles Dutton : The whole thing. What a world we're making... I can see why the kids are dropping out; we should've.
Dr. Ruth Leavitt : It's an emergency, Dutton. We got tagged, period. 'Til I saw those photos from Vanderburg, I...
Dr. Charles Dutton : They brought it on themselves.
Dr. Ruth Leavitt : Who? The people in Piedmont?
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Dr. Charles Dutton : No excretions. No waste of any kind.
Dr. Jeremy Stone : You'd expect that, Andromeda's perfect for existence in outer space. Consumes everything, wastes nothing...
[Leavitt, Stone, and Dutton exchange anxious glances]
Dr. Jeremy Stone : Good lord!
Dr. Mark Hall : What?
Dr. Jeremy Stone : Stone to Delta-Five. Put me through to Dr. Robertson Immediately!
Dr. Mark Hall : WHAT?
Dr. Ruth Leavitt : God, I hope we're not too late.
Dr. Mark Hall : Tell me!
Dr. Ruth Leavitt : It functions like an atomic reactor!
Dr. Jeremy Stone : An atomic blast could provide it with enough energy to grow into a gigantic supercolony.
Dr. Charles Dutton : In one day!
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Assistant to Cabinet Secretary : Dr. Leavitt, I told you *there's a fire*!
Dr. Ruth Leavitt : My experiment's at the critical stage, I can't just leave now.
[to Bess]
Dr. Ruth Leavitt : I want that plate as soon as it's developed.
Bess - Lab Technician : Yes, ma'am.
Assistant to Cabinet Secretary : [insistent] My orders come from Dr. Robertson, the president's science advisor.
Dr. Ruth Leavitt : There's a phone, pick it up. Call Robbie. Tell him I've burnt my draft card.
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[Leavitt averts her eyes when passing a flashing red warning light]
Dr. Charles Dutton : Something wrong?
Dr. Ruth Leavitt : I never liked red lights. They remind me of my years in a bordello.
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Dr. Mark Hall : That body analyzer! I'd like to be there when the AMA gets wind of it.
Dr. Jeremy Stone : So far it's only been used to treat astronauts in space.
Dr. Ruth Leavitt : You doctors better start making house calls again.
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Dr. Ruth Leavitt : Why'd they pick Hall? He's no scientist. Who needs an overpriced MD?
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[Leavitt has added a second scanner to view the Scoop capsule]
Dr. Jeremy Stone : No, Ruth. Use only one microscanner.
Dr. Ruth Leavitt : You being paid by the hour? We could cover the capsule in one-half the time!
Dr. Ruth Leavitt : There's less chance of missing something when we both concentrate on the screen
Dr. Ruth Leavitt : Let's go directly to the inside. We can assume they put the scoop on the thing to scoop something into it. Brother, they sure got what they were looking for.
Dr. Jeremy Stone : We're not here to make accusations. We have a job to do, purely as scientists
Dr. Ruth Leavitt : Maybe not so pure.
Dr. Jeremy Stone : [coldly] Continue the scan, Ruth. On the outside.
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[At the entrance to Wildfire]
Dr. Charles Dutton : Put your hands on that glass, palms down. It's a finger and palm print analyzer, that...
Dr. Ruth Leavitt : -reads a composite of ten thousand dermatographic lines.
Dr. Charles Dutton : How'd you know that?
Dr. Ruth Leavitt : [coyly] Oh Dutton, I have a *long* criminal record.
Dr. Charles Dutton : Then you're in trouble. This machine has a *long* memory.
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Dr. Charles Dutton : [Viewing x-ray crystallography scan of Andromeda] How does something so simple use energy for growth?
Dr. Jeremy Stone : No way of telling from the structure.
Dr. Ruth Leavitt : Oh yes there is.
[uploading information]
Dr. Ruth Leavitt : With this new data we can get a computer simulation of how Andromeda operates.
[Contrast-enhanced computer stimulation begins on display]
Dr. Jeremy Stone : They're not uniform.. could be mutation...
[simulation speeds up and eventually crashes. Computer displays '601']
Dr. Charles Dutton : What the devil...?
Dr. Jeremy Stone : 601? The computer's overloaded! Too much data coming in too fast.
Dr. Charles Dutton : Dividing and mutating at the same time?
Dr. Ruth Leavitt : And *nothing* to stop it. Normal Earth checks and balances don't exist for it.
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Assistant to Cabinet Secretary : Are you sick ma'am? We have a physician on call.
Bess, Dr. Leavitt's assistant : [Handing Leavitt a glass of water and a pill] All Dr. Leavitt needs is rest.
Dr. Ruth Leavitt : Oh knock it off, Bess.
[takes pill]
Assistant to Cabinet Secretary : Now if a physician certifies that you are unable to continue...
Dr. Ruth Leavitt : No!
[long pause]
Dr. Ruth Leavitt : I'm fine.
[rises and walks to corner, removing her lab coat. MP blocks her path]
Dr. Ruth Leavitt : [to MP] Relax! I'm going with you.
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[Leavitt and Stone examine a micro-meteoroid embedded in the Scoop collection medium at 60x magnification]
Dr. Ruth Leavitt : Jeremy, do you think maybe...
Dr. Jeremy Stone : Maybe it's just a grain of sand. Go to 80.
[at 80x, specs of green become visible]
Dr. Ruth Leavitt : What about the bits of green?
Dr. Jeremy Stone : Paint!
Dr. Ruth Leavitt : For God's sake!
Dr. Jeremy Stone : Pistachio ice cream! There's no basis to assume it's anything yet.
Dr. Ruth Leavitt : You're too good a scientist to not be thinking the same thing I am. If this really is something now, some brand-new form of life...
Dr. Jeremy Stone : The best hope of cracking it is to be grindingly thorough, with the help of computer number one!
[taps Leavitt on side of head]
Dr. Jeremy Stone : Okay? now let's get on with it!
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[Arriving at the Wildfire entrance, disguised as an agricultural facility]
Dr. Ruth Leavitt : It's a great place to grow pot.
Dr. Charles Dutton : Just a plain old crop of barley. Still, it is rather clever, I think.
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Dr. Ruth Leavitt : You don't believe the infection in that capsule was brought back deliberately, do you?
Dr. Charles Dutton : Skip it. Skip it. I hope I'm talking through my hat.
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Dr. Jeremy Stone : You two know each other, don't you?
Dr. Mark Hall : By reputation only.
Dr. Ruth Leavitt : Ah, yes, up to now we've had to worship from a far.
Dr. Jeremy Stone : Be good, Ruth.
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Dr. Jeremy Stone : We face quite a problem: how to disinfect the human body, one of the dirtiest things in the known universe.
Dr. Ruth Leavitt : That is without killing the human being at the same time.
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Dr. Charles Dutton : When I retire, I'd like an agricultural station like this - in Alaska.
Dr. Ruth Leavitt : You, a sourdough?
Dr. Charles Dutton : The sourest.
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Dr. Ruth Leavitt : [offering a glass of something to drink] Hemlock! All for you, Hippocrates.
Dr. Mark Hall : Not your own venom? Tastes like orange juice.
Dr. Jeremy Stone : Nutrient 42-5. Developed for the astronauts. Eight ounces satisfy all daily nutritional requirements.
Dr. Mark Hall : Except coffee.
Dr. Ruth Leavitt : And lipid soluble vitamins.
