Outbreak (1995)

Extreme measures are necessary to contain an epidemic of a deadly airborne virus. But how extreme, exactly?

Director:

Wolfgang Petersen

Writers:

Laurence Dworet, Robert Roy Pool

Stars:

Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo, Morgan Freeman

6 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dustin Hoffman	...	Sam Daniels
Rene Russo	...	Robby Keough
Morgan Freeman	...	General Billy Ford
Kevin Spacey	...	Casey Schuler
Cuba Gooding Jr.	...	Major Salt
Donald Sutherland	...	General Donald McClintock
Patrick Dempsey	...	Jimbo Scott
Zakes Mokae	...	Dr. Benjamin Iwabi
Malick Bowens	...	Dr. Raswani
Susan Lee Hoffman	...	Dr. Lisa Aronson
Benito Martinez	...	Dr. Julio Ruiz
Bruce Jarchow	...	Dr. Mascelli
Leland Hayward III	...	Henry Seward
Daniel Chodos	...	Rudy Alvarez
Dale Dye	...	Colonel Briggs

Storyline

In July of 1967, In Motaba River Valley, Zaire, a virus with a 100% mortality rate starts infecting people. The virus becomes known as the Motaba virus, and it's so deadly that it causes severe bleeding and liquefies internal organs, killing within 3 days. The virus wipes out Motaba River Valley, and a devastatingly huge fire bomb is dropped onto Motaba River Valley in order to reduce the chances of further infection. The bomb was dropped on the orders of corrupt General Donald McClintock, even though an army surgeon, General Bill Ford, was against the idea. 27 years later, in 1994, there is another outbreak in Motaba River Valley. At the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), located at Fort Detrick in Maryland, Colonel Sam Daniels is doing research on the Motaba virus, and so is his ex-wife Roberta Keough, who works at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia. A monkey carrying the Motaba virus stows away on a ...

---

Plot Keywords:

virus | disease | monkey | river | army | 

---

Taglines:

Try to remain calm.

---

Genres:

Action | Drama | Sci-Fi | Thriller

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Korean French

Release Date:

10 March 1995 (USA)

Also Known As:

Epidemia

Filming Locations:

Arcata, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$50,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

£4,343,040 (UK) (16 June 1995)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros, Arnold Kopelson Productions, Punch Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

127 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The monkey shown as the host is a White-headed Capuchin, a species native to Central and South America. This conflicts with the setting of the original virus in Zaire, Africa.

---

Goofs

Maj. Gen. Donald McClintock has a Special Forces tab over the Special Forces patch on his right shoulder. This patch represents former overseas combat assignment. The tab is a service school qualification tab to be worn only on the left shoulder according to Army Regulation 670-1.

---

Quotes

Sam Daniels: We are fugitives of the law. Idiocy is our only option.

---

Connections

Referenced in The Salton Sea (2002)

---

Soundtracks

"Polka Dot Puss"
Written by Scott Bradley

User Reviews

With a cast like that it should be decent...

...and it is. It's nothing earth shattering, but as enjoyable as you need for an evening in. The plot was predictable (this is disaster thriller territory): a deadly virus, that kills within hours, has somehow made its way from Zaire to the US and there is a race against time to stop it. Generally I thought the plot twists were plausible, although I'm sure some could disagree. The script seemed pretty good to me. Maybe that was partly down to the quality of cast brought in to say it.

Dustin Hoffman, as always, did a good job although covering ground more typical of Pacino. I also thought Kevin Spacey was also worth a mention but the ensemble as a whole worked well.

The direction was also successful with a good mix of suspense and emotion. I did think at the start, however, that the cinematography looked a little dated and the music sounded like it was written 10 years earlier. Although the overarching plot seemed facile there were some rather surprising action scenes involving military helicopters and bombs which I found quite absorbing.

Overall a solid thriller made work by the successful acting and character formation.