Capricorn One

Plot synopsis:
Capricorn One—the first manned mission to Mars—is on the launch pad. The bewildered crew of Brubaker (James Brolin), Willis (Sam Waterston), and Walker (O. J. Simpson) are removed from Capricorn One and flown to an abandoned desert base. The launch proceeds on schedule, and the public is unaware that the spacecraft is empty. At the base, the astronauts are informed by NASA official Kelloway (Hal Holbrook) that a faulty life-support system would have killed the astronauts during the flight, and they must help counterfeit the television footage during the flight to and from Mars. Initially they refuse, but Kelloway threatens their families if they do not cooperate.
The astronauts remain in captivity during the flight and are filmed landing on Mars within a studio located at the base. The conspiracy is known to only a few officials, until alert technician Elliot Whitter (Robert Walden) notices that ground control receives the crew's television transmissions before the spacecraft telemetry arrives. Whitter mysteriously disappears before he can finish sharing his concerns with journalist friend Robert Caulfield (Elliott Gould). Caulfield discovers that all evidence of his friend's life has been erased and begins investigating the mission, surviving several attacks.
Upon returning to Earth, the empty spacecraft burns up due to a faulty heat shield during re-entry. The captive astronauts board a plane to be placed in the spacecraft, but the plane unexpectedly turns around and returns to the airfield. They realize that something has gone wrong with the re-entry process and that officials can never release them because doing so would automatically expose the hoax. They break out of their confinement and escape in a plane, which runs out of fuel soon after take-off. Forced to crash-land and stranded in the desert, they attempt to return to civilization while being pursued by two helicopters. They start walking in three directions. Brubaker is the only one to avoid capture.
Caulfield's investigation leads him to the desert, where he finds the military base and the hangar abandoned. Looking around, he finds a necklace given to Brubaker by his wife and concludes that the astronauts were in the hangar. With the help of crop-dusting pilot Albain (Telly Savalas), he searches the desert and rescues Brubaker from the men in the helicopters. The helicopters chase their plane but are destroyed after being blinded with crop spray. Ultimately, Caulfield and Brubaker arrive at the astronauts' memorial service, exposing the conspiracy.

Tags: humor, murder

Review:
Why, they would become expendable if the government was ruthless enough to kill them, which for the three "astronauts" of this film(James Brolin, Sam Waterston, and O.J. Simpson(!) is exactly what happens, though they manage to escape by plane into the desert, being pursued not only by the corrupt head of the project(played by Hal Holbrook) but also investigative newspaper reporter Elliot Gould, who risks his career and life to track them down, and get his story.Despite the fanciful premise, this a smart, taut, and breathless film from Peter Hyams,that involves the viewer both emotionally and intellectually, leading to a most satisfying ending..
That film was CAPRICORN ONE, a fairly taut combination of science fiction and conspiracy thriller elements that, in some ways, presaged later TV shows like "The X Files", and, perhaps inadvertently, also accelerated the conspiracy theorists' attacks on America's manned space program.James Brolin, Sam Waterston, and O.J. Simpson portray the three men who are about to embark on a ten-month space voyage whose ultimate goal is a manned walk on Mars.
The trouble is, of course, that all three men are actually alive and well, and Holbrook knows that the space program's continued success is incumbent upon them never appearing anywhere in public again.In steps an enterprising news reporter (Elliott Gould) who, against all odds and some very sardonic colleagues, investigates the Capricorn One incident and uncovers the truth, only to be pursued by military personnel in Blackhawk choppers.
Only Brolin is able to evade capture or death, however; and it is only through the quick thinking of Gould and an eccentric crop-dusting pilot (Telly Savalas) that he is able to sort everything out for the world.Writer/director Peter Hyams, whose later sci-fi forays included the HIGH NOON-inspired 1981 opus OUTLAND, and the much-underrated 1984 film "2010" (the sequel to the 1968 Stanley Kubrick classic 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY) directs with a good flair for suspense sequences, especially Brolin's struggle for survival in the desert as he is chased by government agents, including loose homages to both Kubrick's DOCTOR STRANGELOVE and Hitchcock's NORTH BY NORTHWEST.
Goldsmith, who had won an Oscar for THE OMEN in 1976, and whose sci-fi credits include PLANET OF THE APES, also provides a tense and dramatic score, with almost Stravinsky-like menace.CAPRICORN ONE is not necessarily the perfect science fiction film; one can spot a number of implausible situations right off.
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 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.
Capricorn One is a very exciting, thought provoking thriller which still stands up today.Writer/director Peter Hyams deserves great credit in attempting in just 2 hours screen time to construct a film designed to entertain and at the same time get you thinking.
When I first heard of this movie in high school, about the time of its release (it would be years before I would actually see it), I was under the impression that it was sort of an expose, clothed in fiction, of the "moon hoax." Actually, while the makers of this flick were no doubt inspired by these weird theories, they didn't really subscribe to them, which I was gratified to learn.In Capricorn One, the head of the U.S. Government space agency (a fictional NASA) learns that a planned mission to Mars cannot be accomplished.
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.
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.
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.
This movie came one year too late."Star Wars" happened,for better or for worse,depending on whom you ask.This is clever sci-fi,very close to Crichton's work,before he gets bogged down in Jurassic Park and spielbergesque follies.("Mondwest" "Coma" and later "looker")Is it sci-fi anyway?Admittedly,it's unlikely as hell,but not much more than many a spy thriller.In the movie,this whole performance was to make people believe the astronauts actually landed on Mars.This trickery,isn't it what Peter Hyams (and all other directors!) does when he makes his movie?His whole performance is to make US believe that Astronauts are to land on Mars but...
They do it with mirrors,like Jorge Luis Borges.The second part of the movie is a chase,a well done thriller,in landscapes recalling "Planet of the apes(1968)".Hyams does not show the killings,and the way James Brolin manages to show the way to his wife,then to journalist Gould is pretty smart.The ending verges on black humor.Had this movie been released five or ten years sooner,when sci-fi had strong scripts ,it would have been deservedly acclaimed.But in the land of special effects and childish stories ,it became a sleeper,every sci-fi buff should know.Neither "outland" (some kind of remake of "high noon " on Jupiter),nor "2010" (which failed dismally as a "2001" sequel)is on a par with "capricorn one"..
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.
In an inspired asinine turn, instead of mathematically proving that they had the grounds to sue the vendors who created the faulty system (and to snidely appropriate promised funding should the mission be a success) NASA executives dive off the deep end to waste incalculable time and energy on duplicity which doesn't rectify any problems, save any money, or justify any effort, by staging a fake Mars landing on a studio set, whilst confining the astronauts against their will for the duration of the "mission".
I'll leave in the middle what came first: writer/director Peter Hyams' ideas for this film or the existing conspiracy theories around the 1969 Apollo moon landing.
The actors playing the astronauts are very good but the movie is made by actors in small parts - David Doyle as Elliot Gould's long-suffering assignment editor, Karen Black as as Gould's co-worker and Telly Savalas, who saves the day (more or less).
Rather than scrubbing the mission which might lead to a cancellation of the entire space program, NASA launches a Watergate-like conspiracy to defraud both the public and the US government by staging a flight and landing on Mars much like a Hollywood movie.
that's exactly what happens in this tense,exciting film from Peter Hyams (2010).the astronauts reluctantly go along with the ruse at first,but then decide they don't want to be apart of it.that's when things get interesting.the tension ratchets up from here on in as the suspense mounts.James Brolin O.J. Simpson and Sam Waterston play the three astronauts and Elliot Gould plays a reporter who stumbles onto to what might be the story of the century,if only someone would believe him.for a movie made in 1977,Capricorn one has aged remarkably well.it's easily as exciting and suspenseful as any modern day film of the genre.i was on the edge of my seat for a great deal of the film.for me,Capricorn One is an 8/10..
Well crafted thriller with a diverse cast of veterans telling the story of three astronauts (Brolin, Waterston and Simpson) who are about to man a shuttle to Mars when their mission is covertly aborted due to costs.
Starting with the hoax of the Mars mission to the astronauts realizing they're dead if they don't escape the situation they're in, it's the ride of your life.Speaking of which, Elliot Gould has the ride of his life in one of the most exciting car chase scenes ever.And, finally, Telly Savalas appears in the last twenty minutes and gives one of the funniest cameo performances ever put on film.A must see for ANY fan of the action-adventure/suspense genres..
i remember watching this movie back in 1983 when i was about 12 .in the beginning it was complicated for my little experience with movies at the time because i started watching movies about 9 years old OK.but this movie is just plain great i got into it immediately.good innovative surprisingly simple story .great suspense .this movie came in the heels of 70 era watergate conspiracy thrillers..and in the end its not that complicated .this is a great unique movie to enjoy .no special effects.no monsters and no phasers if you expect in sci-fi .just great old fashioned mystery suspense ..elliot gould is great .one of my best of its kind .its in my blu-ray collection.
I think this was a very good, well paced conspiracy film about a hoax trip to Mars after some technical issue that would cost NASA's future in space.Elliot Gould stars as a frankly uninspiring reporter who is looking for the biggest scoop of the century, sometimes I just didn't like his character at all - but I did like how he slowly figured things out without people telling him what the conspiracy was.Secondly, I liked the three astronaut characters, despite them all being (with the exception of James Brolin's character) under-developed and left unexplored.The ending is the best part of this film and has some of the best helicopter and aeroplane stunts I've ever seen on film, especally when James Brolin is hanging on the wing of a plane as it nose-dives down a canyon - being chased by black helicopters.Overall: 6.5/10.
At the films heart is Elliot Gould's (he himself seems sadly forgotten for his great 70s work) intrepid journalist, Robert Caulfield, after being nudged in the ribs by one of his friends at NASA, he himself is under threat of death from shadowy government types who will think of nothing to offing him along with the astronauts.The film is split into two very significant halves, the first half is the set up, the conversations before and after the fake landing are clever and crucially attention grabbing, and of course we get to know our characters with the right amount of time.
Capricorn One is a great mystery/suspense film packaged around a good space, conspiracy theme.
(Check out the Fox special "Conspiracy theory: Did We Land on the Moon?"  Yeah I know it's a Fox special, but it's good, trust me.)  Questions such as "Why can we see shadows on the moon pointing in conflicting directions when NASA claims the only light source was the sun?" and "How does the American flag flap in the supposedly airless atmosphere?" have caused some to believe we never made it to the moon.Regardless of this, Capricorn One is a C+ film with an A+ cast and a D- ending, but it still receives my endorsement and I encourage you to go pick it up and judge for yourself..
The three astronauts (James Brolin, O.J. Simpson and Sam Waterston) have less to work with--and eventually just play pawns--but Brolin's perseverance is solid and commendable, while wife Brenda Vaccaro (she of the gravelly voice and pithy demeanor) is amusingly skeptical--even her look at the end seems less one of surprise than one of "I knew it!" There are some flashy chases, a car out of control (with the movie camera on the front bumper), and lots of plot-holes.
More than 20 years later,Capricorn One is still one of the most exciting movies ever made,Elliot Gould gives one of his funniest performances,and James Brolin is great as the leader of the ill-fated crew.The final twenty minutes of the movie is worth the price of admission,one of my all time favorites!.
In this film, the three astronauts of Capricorn One, James Brolin, Sam Waterston and O.J. Simpson, are whisked away just moments before they are about to blast off to Mars.
We've heard how they were ready to shoot the moon landing in a studio here on Earth, if something went wrong.In this movie they actually do shoot the Mars landing in a studio here on Earth.They find out that the life support system is faulty, so astronauts Charles Brubaker, Peter Willis and John Walker are pulled out of the capsule.Their job is to act to the public they're actually in Mars.NASA's Dr. James Kelloway makes sure nothing goes wrong.After the mission is over, their lives should be too.Journalist Robert Caulfield becomes suspicious.Also his life is at stake soon.Capricorn One (1978) is a cult classic written and directed by Peter Hyams.Elliot Gould gives a brilliant performance as Caulfield.James Brolin is terrific as Brubaker.Brenda Vaccaro plays his wife Kay.Sam Waterston is great as Willis.Lee Bryant plays his wife Sharon.O.J. Simpson, who's not primarily known from his acting career, does steady work as Walker.Denise Nicholas plays his wife Betty.Hal Holbrook makes a superb villain.Karen Black is fantastic as Judy Drinkwater.Robert Walden is excellent as Elliott Whitter.Telly Savalas gives a memorable performance of Albain in the end.David Huddleston is very good as Congressman Hollis Peaker.James Karen is marvelous as Vice President Price.This movie doesn't have its reputation for no reason.It's pretty amazing to watch Elliott Gould driving the streets with no brakes.And the crop duster/helicopter chase is really captivating to watch.As is the journey through the desert.An entertaining gem of the 70's..
Three astronauts played by James Brolin,Sam Waterston OJ Simpson, Are about to undertake The first manned space mission to mars, But before blast off, They are unceremoniously taken out of The capsule, where they are then whisked away to a unknown Desert location,The men are met by A NASA official Hal Holbrook, They are then convinced by the sinister Holbrook to 'Fake the Landings on the giant sound stage,This seemingly fools the American public.
In addition to this, most of the support is also excellent, with James Brolin and Hal Holbrook putting in accomplished performances as two old friends forced into confrontation.Made less than 10 years after the moon landing, Capricorn One was well before its time, and perhaps would have been much more successful if released in the late eighties or nineties.
This movie starts out with a promising premise, a manned flight to Mars is planned but just before lift off there is a problem so it is decided to surreptiously remove the astronauts from the ship and fake the whole thing (of course many people believe this is exactly what happened with the Apollo moon landing but that's a different story).
The moon landing has been disputed by some people and here the government is the big bad as they try to tie up loose ends by killing off the astronauts, all in the name of world unity and to secure further funds to pursue the ultimate goal of conquering space.The story is great, the cast is perfect but a shoddy script, huge plot holes and a very abrupt ending spoil a near classic in the political paranoia genre so evident in the 1970's.
For those of us who believe it never happened, it was filmed on sound stages with elaborate Hollywood style special effects, but those involved in the cover-up never had to run for their lives like the crew in this movie do.If you take away the chase elements and substitute the Moon for Mars, you'll get the picture.
Brolin does his part - does what an astronaut does without too much thinking, looks good and has a human face at the end.Have always loved this movie.
I have heard from people who actually thought there was a fake Mars mission, not realizing it was a movie plot!
A couple of suspenseful and exciting sequences help obscure the fact that the plot premise is bland and its execution unimpressive.****** Capricorn One (6/2/78) Peter Hyams ~ Elliott Gould, James Brolin, Brenda Vaccaro, Sam Waterston.
A very good conspiracy thriller, beginning like some sort of space film, and ending on a brilliant stunt of helicopter chase (back then shooting this was certainly a harder thing to do than today CGI can provide).Enjoy this really good entertainment - and wait until some director decides that such a good story can be told again..
"Capricorn One" has a promising beginning: that story about the NASA faking the images of the arrival to Mars makes you think that's gonna be a nice politic film full of suspense.
But even he does a pretty good job in his role, although you'll most likely be tempted to focus more on James Brolin and Sam Waterston as the other two astronauts.Anyway, it's a very well done movie, and shows Peter Hyams to be a capable director.