Un porte-avions moderne est projeté dans le temps jusqu'en 1941 près d'Hawaï, quelques heures seulement avant l'attaque japonaise sur Pearl Harbor.Un porte-avions moderne est projeté dans le temps jusqu'en 1941 près d'Hawaï, quelques heures seulement avant l'attaque japonaise sur Pearl Harbor.Un porte-avions moderne est projeté dans le temps jusqu'en 1941 près d'Hawaï, quelques heures seulement avant l'attaque japonaise sur Pearl Harbor.
- Réalisation
- Scénario
- Casting principal
- Récompenses
- 1 victoire et 2 nominations au total
- Lt. Perry
- (as James C. Lawrence)
- Simura
- (as Soon-Teck Oh)
Avis à la une
I has low expectations for this film. The whole idea just seemed silly and merely a vehicle for that schoolboy fantasy of modern jet fighters taking on WW2 planes. However, it is far better than that.
Writers and director set the scene well. We see the everyday operation of an aircraft carrier, the different parts and people in the organisation and, of course, the machinery of war. Makes for interesting viewing, so much so that even if there was no plot the video footage could be used as a documentary.
The plot development is handled well too, to the point that the whole time-travel concept even becomes plausible. It is handled quite well, even touching on the implications of changing history.
After this great set up, the conclusion is a bit disappointing, being fairly low-key as the movie sort of fizzles out. The changing history scenario isn't fully explored and you feel that the writers missed a few opportunities to create a powerful ending.
Still, quite entertaining, especially if you like to see military aircraft in action and the workings of an aircraft carrier.
I know that this will sound trite and maudlin, but I remember going up on the flightdeck one morning after working the night shift, shortly after I saw this film. The USS Bonhomme Richard was at the pier near us- painted with zinc, all closed up, its gunmounts covered, doorways sealed-up, bridge windows shuttered, its flightdeck silent save for the screeching of seagulls. Looking at that old wooden-decked warhorse through the rain and mist, I felt a new appreciation for it and the other vessels in mothballs.
I felt as if I were looking through time itself.
To this day I wonder which, if any, sailors and Marines I saw were actual service people. If any were, Don Taylor and his second-unit directorial crew got excellent small performances from them. Here's an example: In a brief scene that probably barely survived the final cut, there's interaction among some sailors: "Christ, Chief, all we wanna know is what's going on," asserts one mildly exasperated rating. "If you need to know, you'll be told," replies the Chief Master-at-Arms curtly. The people who spoke this dialogue definitely weren't Screen Actors Guild types; they looked and sounded pretty much like sailors I've known. And that's a little detail that's done right so seldom that I hardly notice anymore that I'm deliberately overlooking it.
The aerial sequences set a standard that wouldn't be touched until /Top Gun/ hit the screen. To be sure, both movies relied to some extent on stock footage of naval-aviation ops, but as with /Top Gun/, this film's flying was spectacular -- and, in the last of the years before CGI took hold, REAL. (Compare this film's or /Top Gun/'s exteriors of aircraft with, say, /Air Force One/, and you'll see what I mean.
The "name-actor" ensemble of Kirk Douglas et al. performed, perhaps not brilliantly, but serviceably in a film that certainly was more plot-driven than character-focused. The story -- revealed by plenty of other comments here -- though implausible, is still capable of holding one's interest. But after you catch this flick on the tube for the second or third time, pay attention to the enlisted pukes doing their jobs -- to me, they're the real stars.
If it's on the shelf, rent it. If it's on TV again, watch it. At the least, it's an entertaining story. At its best, it's a good study in style and pacing.
Out of the blue, the vessel faces a weird storm and they find that they have traveled back in time to the eve of the attack of Pearl Harbor on 06 December 1941. When the two Japanese Zeros attack the motorboat of Senator Samuel Chapman (Charles Durning), the crew of the Nimitz rescues the senator and his assistant Laurel Scott (Katharine Ross). But sooner Lasky learns that the senator had disappeared on that day and Capt. Matthew Yelland is planning to attack the Japanese. Will these actions create a time paradox?
Today I have seen "The Final Countdown" maybe for the fifth or sixth time, and it is impressive how this good film has not aged after more than thirty years. The story has time paradox but is engaging supported by a magnificent cast. The DVD released on Brazil by New Line distributor is excellent, with audio Dolby 5.1 and DTS 6.1 and a documentary with the unit production manager Lloyd Kaufaman (Troma) in the Extras. My vote is seven.
Title (Brazil): "Nimitz - De Volta ao Inferno" ("Nimitz – Back to Hell")
But when you need lots of planes and ships, you gotta have official help. And few movies have gotten more assistance than the producer, director and cast of "The Final Countdown," now available on DVD,a sci-fi recruiting spectacular that features - on loan at taxpayer expense - the huge carrier U.S.S. Nimitz complete with crew. Now that's cooperation!
Kirk Douglas skippers the supercarrier which is on Pacific Fleet maneuvers. On board as some sort of efficiency consultant is a young Martin Sheen, not yet ready for the West Wing. A mysterious and never explained weather phenomenon grips the mighty floating air base and to the unfolding amazement of captain, officers and crew dawns the realization that the Nimitz in sailing not that far from Pearl Harbor on 6 December 1941.
Meanwhile a U.S. senator, played by one of Hollywood's deservedly decorated war heroes, Charles Durning, is enjoying his yacht, also near Pearl, while dictating to his lovely secretary, Katharine Ross. A brace of Japanese Zeroes sink the yacht, killing two passengers which then prompts the carrier C.O. to order trailing F-14 Tomcats to "splash" the "enemy." Durning and Ross are rescued. Without a word, this talented actor's face does a comical double-take when introduced to the ship's executive officer who just happens to be black (in 1941 a black navy man could only serve as a steward in the officers mess. That was it. Period.)
The dilemma facing Douglas, of course, is a classic time-travel conundrum. To interfere with the course of history (the carrier's air wing can make instant teriyaki of the six Japanese carriers) or to let events take their known and disastrous course.
A chaste incipient romance between the nearly drowned damsel and the carrier's Commander Air Group competes with the white knuckle decision-making struggle of the C.O.
So much for the plot. What is on offer here is a demonstration of every aircraft type, fixed-wing and rotary, deployed on the vessel as well as demonstrations of shipboard activities ranging from retrieving a damaged jet to going to General Quarters to...you name it. The technical advisers knew they had a film crew pliant to every suggestion. The result is a genuinely exciting show- a great warship going through its paces. And, unlike "Tora Tora Tora" it doesn't appear that any genuine sailors were harmed in the making of the movie.
There's one big problem. A science fiction story is usually utterly improbable, indeed impossible, but its internal logic is vital: it must be consistent. Spielberg understands that very well. Watch the first couple of minutes when Sheen is greeted by his employer's lackey and the last minutes when he debarks from the Nimitz. Something is very, very off-kilter. Could the CEO of a great military-industrial conglomerate have used top secret technology to send the carrier back to 1941 for...
So what. This is a beautifully filmed adventure story, not a great film. The cast probably relished taking over the carrier for a while and the real captain, never shown, surely wished that the Navy hadn't banned hard spirits from our ships in World War I. But all emerge unscathed in a genuinely entertaining romp through time.
8/10
Le saviez-vous
- AnecdotesA total of 48 real life U.S. Navy personnel from the USS Nimitz were credited in the closing credits for their performances as extras, background artists, or actors; some even had speaking parts.
- GaffesWhen Mr. Lasky first arrives on board the Nimitz, he is met at the hatch into the island by the XO, CDR Thurman. CDR Thurman has his cover on, on the flight deck, during flight operations. As the XO, he should know that covers are never worn on the flight deck during flight ops. The hat could get blown off his head and become FOD, or Foreign Object Debris, and possibly get sucked into a jet intake and cause major damage to the engine and maybe cost some sailors their lives.
- Citations
[an F-14 pilot is reporting the identity of a pair of enemy planes to Captain Yelland over the radio]
Captain Yelland: Alert 1 this is Eagle 1, what've you got?
Pilot: Two Japanese Zeroes, sir.
Captain Yelland: Two what?
Pilot: Two Trophy Class Mitsubishi A6Ms in original condition, complete with all markings. I mean, they look brand new sir!
Captain Yelland: Have you been spotted?
Pilot: Negative, we're right in the sun at their 6 o'clock high.
Captain Yelland: Stay in visual contact, take no action without clearance.
Pilot: Wilco Eagle 1, out.
- Versions alternativesUK cinema and video versions were cut by six secs to edit blood spurts from gunshots. In 2002 these cuts were waived by the BBFC.
- ConnexionsEdited from Tora ! Tora ! Tora ! (1970)
Meilleurs choix
Détails
- Date de sortie
- Pays d’origine
- Langues
- Aussi connu sous le nom de
- El final de la cuenta atrás
- Lieux de tournage
- Sociétés de production
- Voir plus de crédits d'entreprise sur IMDbPro
Box-office
- Budget
- 12 000 000 $US (estimé)
- Montant brut aux États-Unis et au Canada
- 16 647 800 $US
- Montant brut mondial
- 16 647 800 $US
- Durée1 heure 43 minutes
- Couleur
- Mixage
- Rapport de forme
- 2.39 : 1