Capricorn One

I randomly stumbled across the film "Capricorn One" (released before my time) and I had to check out. The premise of the film sounded very interesting and the movie looked like something that may be more about story and no so much theatrics like the films of 2014 and up. Watching this film I was not disappointed. The story is interesting and exciting, the acting is excellent, and overall this is a pretty good B grade sci fi film that has stood the test of time. I really enjoyed Capricorn One and I have to say this movie is a must-watch if you are a fan of classic and/or sci fi flicks.

In a nutshell, Capricorn One is a film about a NASA hoax where astronauts perform a Mars landing on a soundstage fooling the country and families of the astronauts alike. The film revolves around the drama and conspiracies of what is going on within the confines of NASA and the struggles of the astronauts trying to maintain the secret. The rest is pretty self explanatory and you just have to watch the film to see all the events of the film unfold! This movie has a lot of pluses going for it. Great cast, great storyline, and overall it is just a great film. For a while I forgot I was watching a movie that is almost 40 years old now! The only bumps in this movie are in the scientific area. The Saturn V was no where powerful enough to travel to Mars. The ships were too small to carry enough oxygen and supplies for such a trip. The LEM from the Moon was the same design for Mars, and the LEM was completely incapable of ever landing on Mars. One of the main (and only) reasons I am docking a few points for the film is that they blatantly ignored scientific facts about landing on Mars. Even someone that doesn't know NASA science that well should know that a LEM cannot land on Mars and how ridiculous the entire concept of the Mars mission in this film was. Besides the scientific fact, I won't spoil the movie but I was hoping for a more "satisfying" ending...

Overall, Capricorn One is a great movie.One of the reasons I think this movie has been "swept under the rug" (meaning you don't see it much on streaming services such as Netflix or hear about it much in modern times) is I think because of O.J. Simpson's notoriety. This film is a great movie with a diverse cast and you are missing out on a great film (as well as not admiring the performance from the rest of the cast) by avoiding this film simply because of O.J. Simpson. This film came out far before he ever committed any crimes or had any notoriety. If you get the chance, check out this film. It is very enjoyable and I hope some day it gets a proper remastering in blu ray!

James Brolin, Sam Waterston and O.J. Simpson are astronauts on the way to Mars. NASA knows the mission will not be a success; so the trio is removed from the capsule before the actual launch. The astronauts are then coerced into playing a hoax on the watching world.

Fine performances also from Hal Halbrook, Brenda Vaccaro, Robert Walden and Elliot Gould. Gould actually has the most exciting scene of the movie. He tries to blow the whistle on the hoax and someone fixes his car to malfunction.

Interesting movie that gives you something to think about.

"Capricorn One" is one of the last great 70s thrillers, alongside "The China Syndrome", "The Andromeda Strain", "Coma", heck maybe even "The Exorcist". Perhaps taking their cues from Stanley Kubrick (2001: A Space Odyssey, Clockwork Orange, etc), all of these classics are presented with an artistic, slightly off-kilter, brightly creepy vibe that encapsulated the end of 60s flower-power optimism and the beginning of 70s cold cynicism.

Stylistic examples include wide angle shots and slow, mechanical camera movements that give the viewer a disturbing feeling of voyeurism or disconnection from humanity (à la "Open the pod bay doors, Hal." "I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid can't do that."). This quiet yet bone-chilling style is the opposite of MTV-type filmmaking which made heavy use of flashy, closeup, disorienting camera shots cut together so quickly that you feel like someone slipped some magic pixie dust in your Kool-Aid. No, the 70s classics, in particular "Capricorn One" and other films by Peter Hyams, instead give you long, deliberate shots from a distance, allowing you to absorb every bizarre detail that was meticulously laid out for you.

If you get bored easily, then this isn't for you. But if you're looking for a film that slowly reels you in without any gimmicks, carefully building momentum for the 1st hour leading to an explosive, roller-coaster finale, then look no further. It's best if you know nothing about the story, so I won't say anything about the plot except that it centers around a mission to Mars. But this is not a sci-fi flick, it's closer to a political thriller.

"Capricorn One" won't necessarily scare the pants off you like some of the other films, but the story will definitely keep you on the edge of your seat wondering what's going to happen. The director never telegraphs the ending, so you're never quite sure if things will turn out good or if it'll be a miserable tragedy. You have to ride it out to the very last scene.

Two things won me over immediately. First is the careful, artistic approach to cinematography which is evident in the opening scene: a slow rusty sunrise behind the colossal silhouette of the Capricorn spacecraft. Many other shots are as powerful, whether they're outdoors or indoors. Hyams frequently does a neat little trick where he establishes a shot and leaves the camera where it is but slowly, over the course of 2 minutes or more, moves the camera in or out of the action, creating a thick suspense.

The 2nd thing that won me over was something many thrillers overlook: HUMOR. There are some priceless scenes that had me rolling, and it's all due to the great script and lines delivered by great actors. Telly Savalas makes an appearance as a grumpy old airplane pilot, and his rapid fire volley of dialogue with Elliot Gould is like something straight out of a Cary Grant-Catherine Hepburn comedy. Another hilarious rapid-fire comedic scene is Elliot Gould arguing with his boss, played by David Doyle ("Bosley" on the original Charlie's Angels). Big laughs without disrupting the tension of the story. It takes a bold filmmaker to put such comedy in a serious film, and Hyams & his acting troupe succeeded brilliantly.

A final note that's worth mentioning: there's a scene where a snake meets with an unfortunate fate. While the snake is real (hats off to James Brolin for having the guts do the scene), the snake's stunt double was a dead carcass they had found. No snakes were harmed. So animal lovers as well as 70s thriller lovers, have no fear. Once you start watching "Capricorn One", nothing will make you Sat-turn the channel! (wow that was lame)

America is excited by a new space launch; the mission to mars putting them past their 'space fatigue'. However, mere minutes before the launch, the astronauts are spirited away from the rocket while the mission goes ahead but unmanned – with the vast majority of NASA, the media, the politicians and the American people completely unaware that this has occurred. The astronauts are taken to a soundstage and informed that the mission would have failed, killing the space programme; however the plan is to fake the landing and keep the funding – a plan the astronauts begrudgingly agree to when they see their options are very limited. However when the rocket explodes on re-entry, the astronauts realize that the men in charge have only one way to keep their secret– killing them. Meanwhile journalist Robert Caulfield tries to follow a suspicious lead given to him by a man inside NASA only for the man to vanish and for Robert to be nearly killed when his brakes 'fail' – he investigates what he suspects but cannot believe.

The film opens with a blacked out screen with a man introducing the mission launch to gathering (unseen) journalists. This is a solid start and it continues in an aborted launch that immediately sets up a premise that is so simple and so effective that it promises a great film to come. However from the moment the astronauts escape the film has already taken a real dip from the good start. What spoils it is the writing; the start gives it the foundation to build on but it doesn't manage to build very much at all. Things happen but there is no consistent tension or excitement to speak of – the astronauts are forced into one-off moments of danger but that's about it; this leaves Caulfield as the main thread which, while enjoyable, still doesn't manage to cut it. The film should have been tighter, with a deeper conspiracy, a tangible threat and a real sense of it being a race against time – but it doesn't manage it. It still remains interesting and watchable but the word 'thriller' is not one that I would pick.

The film ends in a stronger final 20 minutes where we get a helicopter chase and some well shot scenes with a crop duster but even these are filled with the same lack of logic that the middle section of the film suffers from. Sadly even an exciting conclusion gives way to a rubbish final shot of slow-mo sentiment. The cast are part of the reason that the film is watchable as they are quite good even if the material lets many of them down. Gould is always watchable even though his section should have been much more dramatic. Of the astronauts, Brolin is OK, Waterson has an average character and Simpson is wisely given little opportunity to flex his acting muscles. Holbrook starts with a good sense of conspiratorial menace but the film practically forgets he is there and he just slips away. Black is wasted and she doesn't even look like she wants to be there, but the presence of Huddleston is always welcome. Savalas is good value even if he seems to have walked in from another film – but he is good fun and breathes quite a lot of life back into what was becoming a rather stale affair.

Overall this is watchable and quite enjoyable but it is frustrating to see the potential of the premise wasted. The opening 30 minutes is great and sets up a tense film that is sadly never forthcoming. The majority of the film after the rocket is destroyed goes gradually downhill as logic fails and it totally fails to ratchet up the tension in the manner it really should have. Watchable but it should have been loads better – I'm not a remake fan per se, but surely somebody can remake this film and make good on the potential.

This movie is indeed a noteworthy sci-fi/conspiracy flick, even after all these years.

Unmistakeably based on the real-life "moon hoax" pseudo-conspiracy, it takes the issue one step further and explores just how far your government might go to cover up its own incapacity and silence everyone who gets in its way (Ironically enough for that matter, the moon landings are portrayed in this movie as a non-hoax and really did take place).

When three would-be Mars astronauts are secretly pulled out of their capsule just minutes before liftoff due to a malfunctioning life support system that would have meant certain death, they are quickly transferred to an abandoned air force base out in the desert. Upon arrival, they are told that they'll have to play make-believe using the facility's very own "Mars" sound stage. It's got everything in place to fool the public about an actual Mars landing. Things go somewhat well and although the astronauts really begin to resent the big swindle they were drawn into, nobody really notices. That is, until their real-life landing capsule disintegrates while re-entering the earth's atmosphere. They figure that now that they're all supposed to be dead, the government will have them killed for real....

So much for the plot, the rest is yours to find out about. Definitely worth watching. One thing though, try to watch it in widescreen - somehow they showed the 4:3 full-frame version on TV here, which was a major drawback considering the movie's original 2.35:1 aspect ratio.

8 out of 10!