Capricorn One

One of those movies I'm ashamed to admit that I love. The logic comes and goes in this roller-coaster ride of a film, but the emotional highs are most memorable. One of Elliot Gould's last starring roles. I particularly enjoyed Telly Savalas, who chews the scenery unmercifully but is fun to watch as he saves the day. Also James Brolin, who goes the extra mile and does things that some actors would balk at, such as eating a rattlesnake. When I saw this in the theatre, there were a couple of scenes that had the audience cheering, which is not something one sees very often. And how they ever got NASA to allow them to film has got to be a story in itself, one which I am eager to hear.

One of the all time great opening themes (by Jerry Goldsmith) pounds furiously over the credits. Then this conspiracy thriller settles in and a sense of unease is established almost immediately. A sterile controller announces information that is often ironically at odds with what's shown onscreen. Three astronauts are about to fly to Mars, but something is just not right despite everyone's enthusiasm. Sure enough, the mission is doomed to failure. However, some upper level governmental types have decided to stage the whole thing with cameras and a dusty set and force the astronauts to play along while the world watches what it believes is a real Mars landing. Unfortunately, when the actual module burns up in reentry, the astronauts realize that, technically, they are dead. Now they must fight for their lives as the conspirators, with all the U.S. military's resources, become determined to wipe them out. The astronauts are played by Brolin (sturdy and heroic if a touch wooden), Waterston (nerdish and fond of ice-breaking bad jokes) and Simpson (ill-defined and played very amateurishly.) The head of the conspiracy is played by Holbrook in the type of role that he excels at and no one else can play quite as effectively. He is given a showy monologue in the film. Gould stars as a reporter who senses something foul about the whole matter after his friend, a skeptical controller, disappears into thin air. Vaccaro scores as Brolin's worried, but stalwart wife. Peppered amongst these star roles is a series of cameos by known faces. Black (an actress who starred in seemingly half of all 1970's films and then completely dropped off the radar!) is a sarcastic reporter friend of Gould's. Huddleston spits out several snappy lines as a Congressman. Savalas turns in a surprisingly amusing, yet thankfully brief performance near the end. The whole thing is riddled with plot holes and illogic, but is so compelling and, at times exciting, that most first time viewers won't care. The atmosphere of dread and malice is strong, but is relieved by some really witty dialogue and some hair-raising action sequences. One flaw is the films overlength. Even just a few minutes of trimming would have tightened it up for even more impact. However, it remains a watchable, intriguing film. The aforementioned score is tremendous. The film also features pairs of black helicopters which are piloted by faceless hunters. These machines are given bird of prey-like qualities which render them quite menacing and memorable. TV addicts will note many actors in the cast with familiar faces including Sikking, Bosson, Doyle and Bryant (legendary for her work in "Airplane!") Finally, the film affords an amusing chance to see the former Mr. Streisand (Gould) run alongside the future Mr. Streisand (Brolin.) That alone, gives the movie a sort of camp, cult status.

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!

Even though this certainly isn't the best movie you'll ever see, it's still a movie that is a perfectly entertaining one. It makes this movie one of my favorite movies to watch from the '70's.

The movie has a really great premise, that provides the movie with plenty of thriller elements and action. It has a lot of elements in it that always make '70's movies such great ones to watch. It's a movie with a conspiracy story but luckily the movie decides to be more entertaining with it than heavy or serious really.

It's really mainly the concept and main story that makes this movie an interesting one as well as entertaining. It doesn't always make the movie the most believable one to watch out there but in this particular case that hardly matters at all. It's such a great and entertaining movie that you're basically willing to forgive everything that is less great about it. It's a movie that I have always enjoyed watching and always will.

Some of the action is really memorable. The plane and helicopters chase in this movie is pretty insane and was obviously very dangerous for all of those involved with it. No way they'll ever do a sequences like that again now days, with all those heavy regulations for stunts and of course the availability of CGI this present time. But of course as you can expect from an '70's movie, there also is plenty of action involving cars and other great action stuff.

What also really uplifts the movie and its action and entertainment value is the great musical score by Jerry Goldsmith.

It's a really well made movie, that got directed with lots of pace by Peter Hyams, who has always been at his best directing action stuff, even though most of his movies aren't exactly among the greatest, this one not included. It also had some real nice camera-work by Bill Butler.

The movie also has a pretty nice cast with Elliott Gould, Hal Holbrook, James Brolin, Sam Waterston and O.J. Simpson involved. Perhaps it's true though that the movie is lacking a clear main character and the movie isn't always clear with on which character it is going to focus with its main plot. Karen Black and Telly Savalas also make some small, almost cameo like appearances in this movie.

One of the most entertaining '70's-flicks out there.

8/10

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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.