Hyams is also a fairly solid writer and one of the most enjoyable aspects of Capricorn One is its surprisingly sharp, witty dialogue. Even though he’s made his fair share of stinkers, he’s also made quite a few underrated films that I just happen to like. Hyams is one of those solid, no-frills directors who’s been making films for nearly fourty years, but doesn’t get a lot of recognition. It’s with the Caulfield character that Capricorn One starts to have a little fun with itself, and Peter Hyams shows that he’s willing to tell his outlandish story with tongue planted firmly in cheek. Anyway, the only chance the astronauts have of surviving this ordeal is a reporter named Robert Caulfield (Elliott Gould), who senses there’s something wrong once a NASA technician friend of his discovers a discrepancy with the space flight and literally winds up disappearing from existence. Yes, even though Hal Holbrook is a terrific bad guy, it’s that pair of ominous black helicopters who are the stand-out villains of Capricorn One. They escape into the desert and find themselves pursued by the scariest mechanical villains since the tanker truck in Duel. It all goes well until the astronauts find out that that their capsule’s heat shield has ruptured upon re-entry to Earth, and realize that the only way that NASA’s conspiracy will hold together is if they’re dead. Holbrook then delivers a long monologue about the importance of the space program that’s so well-written and acted with such conviction that you’re almost convinced that this conspiracy is necessary for the future of mankind! The plan: have the astronauts fake their landing on Mars inside a large studio as it’s broadcast live on national television. He reveals that the life support system on the shuttle was found to be faulty, but if the mission had been cancelled, funding for NASA would have been cut off. And once it’s revealed that Hal Holbrook is playing the head of NASA, then you know something shady must be going on. The empty shuttle then launches into space while the astronauts are taken to an abandoned military base in the middle of the desert. But just because a movie’s implausible doesn’t mean it’s not tremendously entertaining.Ĭapricorn One is the name of the space shuttle that’s set to take NASA’s first manned trip to Mars, but only minutes before take-off, the three astronauts (James Brolin, Sam Waterston, O.J.
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Of course, the storyline of Capricorn One is hugely implausible and should pretty much demonstrate that a massive conspiracy like this would never hold together.
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Simpson plays one of the astronauts who participates in the hoax and it’s likely that conspiracy theorists have a field day with this movie.
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CAPRICORN ONE YOUTUBE TV
This is the story of NASA staging a fake landing on Mars inside a TV studio, and believe it or not, this idea from writer-director Peter Hyams was quite unique and original back in 1978.
CAPRICORN ONE YOUTUBE MOVIE
Watergate helped make conspiracy thrillers hugely popular in the 1970s, so it seemed inevitable that someone would try to make a movie with a conspiracy involving space travel. Unfortunately, that seems to be the film’s biggest legacy, which may be the reason why it’s somewhat underappreciated as a thriller. If there’s one thing to hate about Capricorn One, it’s the fact that it helped give birth to all those nutjobs who believe that the moon landing is a hoax.