All of a sudden the last thing imaginable happens. Simpson, and Sam Waterston are strapped in their space craft and are going to blast off in minutes. Mars is a long way to travel and this trip will take more than a year. They have trained for years and every possible scenario has been explored. This is the longest journey ever attempted. However, if for personal reasons you can get past that, his screen time as the third wheel astronaut is quite minimal and of little importance to the film. This makes no sense as the 'powers that be' has already been successfully portrayed to the audience as a deadly serious foe who wouldn't allow Gould’s character to keep poking around.Įven so, Goldsmith's tense and commanding score anchors the film with themes based on the film's strengths: the lurking and deadly powers that be, James Brolin's stoic and determined astronaut, dynamic action sequences, and a couple of touching and underplayed scenes featuring Brolin's grieving wife (Vaccaro) and their young family.Īnd yes, O.J. Its other big problem is that once it is clear to Elliot Gould's pragmatic reporter character that he has been targeted for death by the lurking powers that be, he still returns in broad daylight to his own home, to NASA, and even visits astronaut Brolin’s wife for an interview. It gives in to small comedy bits using off beat supporting characters that work against it, not for it. Unfortunately, the film's script is uneven and undermined by two serious flaws that prevent it from delivering as the top notch action/political thriller it might have been. The film offers a wonderful, eclectic all star cast, all in their prime and making every effort to give this film their best: Elliot Gould, James Brolin, Brenda Vaccaro, Sam Waterston, Hal Halbrook, Karen Black, Telly Savalas, with support from Robert Walden, David Doyle and David Huddleston. Jerry Goldsmith's score is outstanding and the film's action scenes involving aerial chases and stunts are quite riveting and very well done. Capricorn One builds on that premise as a scheduled manned Mars mission that has to be faked in its eleventh hour due to faulty life support systems, and how ‘the powers that be’ coerce the three innocent and unsuspecting astronauts into playing along. The film’s premise is based on the real rumors circulating at the time suggesting the 1969 Apollo Moon landing was faked using a TV studio. Just saw this film again on TCM I saw it in its original theatrical release in 1978. Uneven but worthwhile with excellent Goldsmith Score
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