Capricorn One

Rating: ***/*****, or 7/10

Despite one of the most intriguing premises in movie history, to my mind at least, this science fiction thriller ultimately fails to deliver on its promised goods. However, it's still a good flick with a fairly solid plot. Still caught up in the space race, the planned NASA landing on Mars turns out a doomed project due to technical errors and financial problems, but to keep up national pride without making America lose face with the rest of the world, the US government secretly plays out and films the whole proposed landing in a studio (a popular conspiracy theory concerning the actual lunar landing in 1969, which some consider to have been a hoax), while still sending a rocket up into space and convincing the world it's manned. However, the covert plot backfires completely when the rocket disintegrates upon re-entry into the Earth atmosphere and everyone assumes the astronauts (played by James Brolin, Sam Waterston and O.J. Simpson; yes, that O.J.) have died with it. Soon, the three would-be space explorers need to run for their lives, hunted down by their own government who can't allow them to survive and thus expose the whole conspiracy. A damn brilliant set-up for a movie, but it focuses too much on the melodramatic family issues of the astronauts and a rather dull investigation by journalist Elliott Gould, and thus never gets going as the high adrenaline political thriller it could have been. A remake has been suggested on multiple occasions: though I'm usually opposed to the very notion, in this case I'll make an exception since there's still plenty to improve upon this otherwise fascinating premise.

Starring: Elliott Gould, James Brolin, O.J. Simpson

Directed by Peter Hyams

USA: ITC, 1978