silver age movies
Silver Age Movies are films starting with 2001 (1968) and continuing up to Star Wars (1978), the first sci-fi movie of the modern age.

Capricorn One


(1978)
Directed by:
Peter Hyams

Writing credits:
Peter Hyams

CAST


Elliott Gould .... Robert Caulfield
James Brolin .... Charles Brubaker
Brenda Vaccaro .... Kay Brubaker
Sam Waterston .... Peter Willis
O.J. Simpson .... John Walker
Hal Holbrook .... Dr. James Kelloway
Karen Black .... Judy Drinkwater
Telly Savalas .... Albain
David Huddleston .... Hollis Peaker
David Doyle .... Walter Loughlin
Lee Bryant .... Sharon Willis
Denise Nicholas .... Betty Walker
Robert Walden .... Elliot Whiter
James Sikking .... Control Room Man
Alan Fudge .... Capsule Communicator

SYNOPSIS


Due to a reduced budget and a need to give the people a spectacular, NASA decides to fake a trip to Mars. Keeping the astronauts incommunicado on a secret sound stage while they broadcast shows "back" to Earth.

All is not well, though, as the astronauts start to become more and more restless and fed up with the hoax. In order to insure that the story doesn't get out, they decide to have an "accident". This will also have the benifit of creating a few martyrs for the space program.

The astronauts figure out what's going on, though, and escape to the California desert. Seperating in three different directions to increase their chances, the ersatz space travelers must contend with the harsh desert and government forces in order to get their story out.

X Files fans will like this movie, (and the appearance of the infamous "black helicopters"), fueling their conspiricy fires. An interesting sidebar to this movie is the cries from the lunitic fringe about how this movie is based on fact, and that the moon landings were faked in just such a manner. A strong cast of veterans such as hal Holbrook, Karen Black, Sam Waterson, etc., and not a great script. An okay movie if you like paranoia flicks.

Believe it or not, but NASA actually cooperated with the making of this movie!


My rating: 2 1/2 out of 5 stars.

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