Capricorn One (1978)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Peter Hyams

Writer:

Peter Hyams (written by)

Release Date:

2 June 1978 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

The mission was a sham. The murders were real.

Plot:

A NASA Mars mission won't work, and its funding is endangered, so they decide to fake it just this once. But then they have to keep the secret...

Plot Keywords:

Mission | Astronaut | Mars | NASA | Journalist

Awards:

4 nominations

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 Whitter
James Sikking	...	Control Room Man (as Jim Sikking)
Alan Fudge	...	Capsule Communicator

Runtime:

123 min

Country:

USA | UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (35 mm magnetic prints) | 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints)

Certification:

USA:PG (certificate no. 25000) | Iceland:L | Netherlands:12 (DVD rating) | Netherlands:6 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | West Germany:12 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Long Beach, California, USA

Company:

Associated General Films

Trivia:

The end helicopter-crop-duster sequence was used in an episode of the television series "The Fall Guy" (1981).

Goofs:

Errors in geography: When Caulfield looks at the magazines in Alva Leacock's apartment, there is a close up of the address label. The ZIP code is 80144. This is not a Houston ZIP code. All ZIP codes in Houston start with 77.

Quotes:

Walter Loughlin: Listen to me and listen good. I don't like you, Caulfield. You're ambitious. You think the way to get ahead is to come up with the scoop of the century. Woodward and Bernstein were good reporters, that's how they did it. Not by telling me they've located Patty Hearst three times like you did or that brilliant piece of investigative journalism you pulled off by finding an eye witness to the second gunman in the Kennedy assassination...
[...]

Movie Connections:

References Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

Suspenseful, on the edge of your seat, adventure

"Capricorn One" is filled with more suspense then most movies today. 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.