Amazon.com video review:
Thanks to repeated showings on cable television and home
video, this speculative thriller has built quite a loyal following
since its release in 1978. The provocative "what if?"
scenario still packs a punch, even if it is not always
believable. James Brolin, Sam Waterston, and O.J. Simpson star as
three astronauts who agree to spare the government embarrassment by
faking their historic landing on Mars after their spacecraft is
determined to be unsafe for blastoff. When a scheming mission
controller (Hal Holbrook) plots to kill the astronauts in a staged
capsule fire, the trio embarks on a dangerous mission to expose the
truth. Elliott Gould costars as the journalist determined to crack the
conspiracy, and director Peter Hyams turns up the tension with an
exciting chase sequence involving Telly Savalas as an eccentric
barnstormer who comes to Gould's aid in his attempt rescue the hoax
mission's sole survivor. --Jeff Shannon
Amazon.com video review:
Thanks to repeated showings on cable television and home
video, this speculative thriller has built quite a loyal following
since its release in 1978. The provocative "what if?"
scenario still packs a punch, even if it is not always
believable. James Brolin, Sam Waterston, and O.J. Simpson star as
three astronauts who agree to spare the government embarrassment by
faking their historic landing on Mars after their spacecraft is
determined to be unsafe for blastoff. When a scheming mission
controller (Hal Holbrook) plots to kill the astronauts in a staged
capsule fire, the trio embarks on a dangerous mission to expose the
truth. Elliott Gould costars as the journalist determined to crack the
conspiracy, and director Peter Hyams turns up the tension with an
exciting chase sequence involving Telly Savalas as an eccentric
barnstormer who comes to Gould's aid in his attempt to rescue the hoax
mission's sole survivor. --Jeff Shannon
