Wonderful character development!

The greatest movie ever made..!

Not even bad in a good way

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

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...

The times, they were a changin' in the Mid-Sixties, but unfortunately for Moviegoers they were not changing fast enough. It was a very awkward time at the Cinema just after the Fifties and not yet into the Definitive Sixties. This is one of those that just couldn't get it right. Should Men wear Hats or not? Should Women be more involved in a Men's Club Scenario (like Scientist and Spies)? These things would be answered shortly but not yet, at least not here.This is not a Bad Movie it just isn't too well thought out considering its Serious Subject Matter and its intention as High Brow Entertainment. It is a confusing Script that may bug (sorry) those wanting more credibility and tension involving the Bio-Weapons.There is a Chinese Checkers situation with vials of, which one is that now?, The Deadly one or the totally wipe out Mankind one, or the Antidote that really only works on the one, or the other, that nobody left on earth one, but we're not sure if it works but who's going to try it one. It is better just not to think of such things in this thinking Man's Movie.It is completely without frills or chills for that matter because everyone and everything is so bland and uninteresting that maybe smashing that flask is the only way to make this a satisfying affair. That just isn't going to happen. Especially in 1965.

I was an usher at the Silver Spring Theater (now restored as the AFI Film Institute) in Silver Spring, MD when "The Satan Bug" came out and so I got to see it more than once. It's a taut thriller with a germ warfare theme that seemed very cutting edge in 1965 and it was the first time I'd seen George Maharis since he played "Buz" on TV's "Route 66." Other veterans of that defunct TV series were Satan Bug players Ann Francis, Ed Asner and Richard Basehart. I got to speak to Asner several times on the phone and we discussed "The Satan Bug." Apparently director John Sturges was busy having meetings for his next film project, so Ed had to rely on his own intuition to add certain things like the gravelly voice he adopted after the chop to the throat he received from Maharis' character Lee Barrett.However absent Sturges may have been during filming, the film doesn't show it and moves briskly along as Barrett races to find the stolen flask containing a deadly virus that threatens all life on Earth. This film still works for me 47 years after I first saw it and seems relevant in the post-9/11 world of terrorist threats. "The Satan Bug" remains an overlooked gem of suspense and cold-war era paranoia and is well worth a look.

A True gem that's always been overlooked. First saw it in the late sixties and it scared the heck outta me. See it every four or five years and I still enjoy it and get a little detail I'd missed, really well written.I was surprised when I checked who'd written it and I didn't know of Ian Stewart, turns out it was a pen name for Alistair McLean.George Maharis and Ann Francis are excellent and I always wonder why Maharis never really made it. He was a very good actor. The desert background always gave that lonely eerie feel.Also watch for James Doohan (Scottie) as a G Man in a bit role.