The Crazies

Viewing The Crazies as a straight critique of the army would be rather nearsighted. At the time of its making, American society had gone through a series of significant issues and disillusioning events, and the picture reflects the prevailing mood of fear and the sense of helplessness. The director thoroughly subordinates everything in the film to the central theme of madness represented by the loss of established certainties and ideals. In a certain respect, the affliction affects all the characters, whether ordinary citizens, soldiers, or government officials headed by the president. Each of these three groups is at odds with the other two, ultimately resulting in an all-pervasive paranoia. In the final analysis, The Crazies serves as a chillingly complex metaphor for American society after the Vietnam War, or more precisely after “Vietnamization,” the US process of distancing itself from the conflict. Even at the level of the individual the inescapable madness manifests itself in a variety of forms: from alarmingly uninformed soldiers and a maniacal military scientist to infected civilians and a conscientious colonel, who is sent to the contaminated area only to be withdrawn after failing to do anything about it.