Capricorn One (1978)

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

I love this film. I must have been about 10 when I first saw on tv this around 1981. Probably one of the first "grown up" films I watched, so some of the plot possibly went over my head but the action scenes of the second half really stuck with me. Then as I was older each time it was on I'd watch it with a little more understanding. It's very much a film of two halves, the first quite slow paced and lots of talking, setting the story out. The second half picks the pace up and delivers so great moments. It's not a classic, but if you come across it on tv or streaming service it's worthy of your attention.

I'll be entirely honest straight away and open with the blunt opinion/statement that "Capricorn One" isn't a very good movie. The script is often poorly written, with abysmal dialogues and unclear sub plots being the most noticeable painful shortcomings. There are also too many overlong and tedious sequences, underdeveloped characters and a downright ridicule climactic battle-sequence featuring an antique and ramshackle crop duster versus two hi-tech governmental helicopters! But guess what? All this doesn't really matter because "Capricorn One" also has one of THE most shockingly brilliant and uncomfortably disturbing premises of all times! 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. It's probably the latter, but fact remains that Hyams was the courageous man who turned the hypothesis into a big Hollywood story AND even managed to engage NASA as a sponsor and technical adviser for a tale that basically banters them.I tell you, the premise is truly amazing! The moment is finally there after years of preparation and hard work. A not-so-large crowd has gathered to witness the launch of the very first manned US space mission to Mars, but literally seconds before lift-off, the three "hero"-astronauts are instructed to leave their capsule and subsequently get escorted to a secretive desert location. First they receive a long and depressing speech from NASA director James Kelloway, about how the American public - including the President - isn't interested in expensive space programs anymore and how potential failures aren't tolerated. The three astronauts (Brubaker, Willis and Walker) silently listen to their superior and immediately understand what is expected from them. They are forced to comply with the simulation of the whole prestigious mission. For months and months, they stay at the hangar where the Martian landscapes and a replica of their rocket Capricorn One have been recreated to fool the TV- networks and their wives. However, pretending to be circling around in outer space is easy, but what'll happen when the mission is about to come to an end? Meanwhile, a freelance journalist (Elliot Gould) becomes suspicious after a tip from an inside NASA collaborator. "Capricorn One" is utmost powerful and compelling for as long as it remains a tense (and talkative) conspiracy thriller. Peter Hyams exploits the surreal but simultaneously plausible premise, but his film runs into trouble as soon as story-complexities arise or when the obligatory action/thriller footage has to be delivered. The second half of the film is quite boring, even though that is clearly supposed to be the exciting half, and the whole climax is a weak & desperate attempt to enforce a "happy/truth-will-come-out" ending. Or perhaps the ending of "Capricorn One" is dumb and goofy because NASA only wants us to believe that such a large-scaled conspiracy is impossible and unrealistic! After all, yours truly isn't 100% convinced that the landing on the moon ever take place. Ha :-)

"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)

With NASA feeling the burn of limited funded, their ultimate space exploration project, which entails sending a manned mission to Mars, must be a full-fledged success. However, when the on-board life support systems are deemed faulty just days prior to launch, the entire crew of the space shuttle: commander Charles Brubakar (James Brolin) and his two assisting astronauts Peter Willis (Sam Waterston) and John Walker (O.J. Simpson), are whisked away during the flight's countdown to an unnamed location. There they are coerced (partially through threats) to fake the entire Mars mission with the use of a Hollywood set. Meanwhile, the head of the space mission Dr James Kelloway (Hal Holbrook) will stop at nothing to quell any doubts surrounding the Mars shuttle.When a pesky journalist Robert Caulfield (Elliott Gould) stumbles upon the truth, the complex fake risks being exposed... But the mission must remain an unmitigated success. Any problems must be dealt with, whether it be a console technician discovering the truth or the inbound Mars craft burning in the atmosphere.Writer/director Peter Hyams, not especially revered for his body of work, stumbles upon an intriguing plot concept, but ultimately fails to craft a workable story around it. The sci-fi elements are pretty scarce, with fantastic elements going as far as suggesting that the drab and scientifically benign NASA can essentially be a self-serving and ruthless secretive agency. With his space rendition of "Wag the Dog" the overlying story is derailed by a muddled pacing and lack of honest idea as to what exactly the movie is, essentially spiralling into a lumberous thriller with little interest in forwarding the premise. The three astronauts are seriously short-changed, hardly creating a screen presence before the final act comes up, making it hard to really sympathise or even understand their plight. James Brolin, partly due to the uncanny resemblance to his son, stands out nonetheless as the moral backbone around which right and wrong is determined.Even more detrimental is the wayward focus, which swiftly tracks back from building the hoax (all but three scenes actually present the crew of the fake Mars mission and almost no focus is placed on the attempt to cheat the world public), instead starting to build a meandering backdrop for journalist Caulfield and his mildly intriguing investigation. Finally the movie shifts a gear, suddenly turning into a prolonged chase sequence. In itself the action is swift and at times compelling viewing, but it also further derails attention from the essence of the story - the hoax itself. Whereas "Wag the Dog" manages to take the sociological context and expand on it to deliver a riveting farce on media in general, "Capricorn 1" starts off with its conspiracy theorist pretext and mounts it onto a craft with not enough thrust to lift it outside of mediocrity.