The Crazies

I saw the original The Crazies last night on Watch Instantly. It's harder to ignore the things that fans of Romero (to be clear I count myself as one) brush aside, when you can't tell the difference between characters infected with a homicidal virus, and those who are just over-acting. One of the most interesting elements of the film, how some of the people infected with Trixie become non-violent flower children who are promptly mowed down by the army, gets no play in the dialogue at all. It's spawned a million critical essays, I'm sure, about how the film was a microcosm for the curdling of the 60's non-violent protest movement, but it never really gets explored.