Stowaway to the Moon (1975)

Such a frustrating disappointment

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

"Stowaway to the Moon" was broadcast 5 1/2 years after the first lunar landing in 1969 (only two years after the last), and no doubt symbolized the fascination with space in the hearts of young viewers. Based on a 1973 novel by William R. Shelton, and apparently quite faithful to its fictitious source, about 11 year old E.J. Mackernutt (Michael Link) successfully sneaking past NASA security at Cape Kennedy to hide in the trash compartment of the Camelot rocket due to take off in a few hours. Inspired by the fishing and honey making expertise of old Jacob Avril (John Carradine), whose home adjoins the launch site, the already incisive boy uses his knowledge and acumen to assist the trio of astronauts once they're on their way to the moon for rock samples. As one might expect, unexpected mishaps always play out to a satisfactory conclusion, predictable yet never less than entertaining. The passage of time can't help but make this well played adventure a bit naïve, kind of a child's version of the 1950 "Destination Moon," itself passe after just two decades. The presence of top billed Lloyd Bridges, from the rival production that beat the original moon film to theaters in 1950, "Rocketship X-M" (forced to use Mars as their destination), is a welcome bonus, fretting over things at Houston while an 11 year old boy earns plaudits out in space. The rushed climax makes everything look like it may have been a dream all along, but for viewers of any age it's a relic of a bygone era when the familiar lunar stock footage was still relatively new, with real life astronaut Charles 'Pete' Conrad doing the commentary.

Stowaway to the Moon is a film I can recall from my childhood when I was also a dedicated real-life space flight follower, and can recall the final moon flights fairly well. Anybody else ever have the Science Club booklet, Apoloo-to-the-Mooon Map with those paste-down stickers, and/or maybe even the model kit of Apollo Eleven on the Mooon? Anywyay, I doubt today's kids would be interested, non-digital, you see.Anyhow, I only saw this film once on a rare television showing since the 1970s, but the handful of reviews here sums it pretty well. I suspect the movie was meant to be entertaining as much as anything else, and perhaps the rushed ending was due to the low made-for-TV film budgets as much as anything else. It was good to see Lloyd Bridges and John Carradine, of course as well as real-life moonwalker Cahrles Conrad in a small role. I wish somebody would bring this out on disc for nostalgia's sake.

I remembered this as a kid like some others. IF this movie was an after school special catering to kids, my perspective would be different, but it was not when released in 1975.1. Even pre-terrorist days, launch sites were locked down tight. Especially then with a war still in its wake. No kid is going to sneak aboard.2. There is not as much space as depicted in the capsule. They are tight, just as the capsule the kid is shown in at the beginning of the movie.3. The guard entrances when the dad cam in would not have been so lax.I could go on all evening on this flick since it is clueless and lazy with effort. Based on the insanely rushed ending, they somebody must have gotten how bad this was and cut the budget- hence the abrupt and nonsense ending. Even as a kid all those years ago I thought the kid was dreaming, up until the end. Due to the odd demeanor of the adults and the lack of logic, I thought the movie was intended to be the kid dreaming and it then would have made sense. Reason being, the movie literally seems like a dream of an eleven year old.From a kids perspective, the movie would be a 7/10, since THEN it would make sense.

This is a sweet, simple story about a boy who stowaway on a spacecraft the night before lift off. It appears that he really thought this plan through, he studied up on space travel and the complex nature of traveling in space. This kid is smart, he knew what he was doing!This is 1974 and the security technology has not yet been available. It's impossible to get away with some thing like that today. I like the way this story is told, it's not corny, but neither is it overblown.This film also brings back the memories of the Apollo space program, while I was only 5 years old when Apollo 11 mission to the moon, I still remember the event because it was all anyone talked about at the time.This is good story telling. I give it ***1/2 out of *****.