Capricorn One 1977

I wished I had seen "Capricorn One" before watching "Hangar 18". I think I would have like it more. The Mars landing conspiracy of "Capricorn One" paled in comparison to the hidden UFO cover-up of "Hangar 18". Regardless, I do think that "Capricorn One" is a better movie.

First off, it's got a great, late-70's cast. Hal Holbrook and Elliot Gould are the two main characters and are the strongest. I normally don't like the smarmy Gould, but the character he plays fits him perfectly. I'd also forgotten how well Holbrook plays a bad guy. He was certainly someone you loved to hate, and the dislike for him grows as the astronauts are tossed aside as sacrificial lambs for NASA. My two favorite bit players were Karen Black and David Doyle. Neither of them are in the movie much, but Karen Black is really sexy and Doyle is great as Caulfield's (Gould) boss. Telly Savalas is also funny as the cranky pilot of a cropduster.

The conspiracy runs deep in this one and the peril of the astronauts is affecting even though their struggles really slow down the movie at times. This also features an unexpected gross-out moment when Brubaker (James Brolin) eats a raw rattlesnake. Sam Waterston is a fun sidekick to Brolin's character but O.J. Simpson is a waste of a role. Someone, anyone, could have done better. His part is unnecessary and he's a bad actor.

The Jerry Goldsmith score was really good and I loved the opening where we slowly fade from black into the rocket on the launch pad.

I imagined what it must have been like for those astronauts to be pulled from the capsule just 10 minutes or so before launch. The explanation that Holbrook gives about hiring a cheap contractor who doesn't deliver a quality project is certainly not far-fetched. It is a little severe though, to try to hide an unsuccessful, over budget project to this level. The NASA of this movie is one messed up program.

Now to the ending, which without a doubt shows that the conspiracy will end up being nothing of the sort. There is no question that NASA, the President, Vice President, Senator, all of them, will be rejected by the American people. But the way that Hyams concludes things with Brubaker and Caulfield running, in slow motion, towards Brubaker's own funeral, is disappointing. It's great that everyone in the funeral sees them and that we see the looks of disbelief on their faces. It's also hinted that we know the American people are seeing that Brubaker is actually alive on live TV because the Network cameras turn toward him. But the fact that the movie ends, freeze-framed on Brubaker and Gould. It's a bummer because a cover-up of this size really demands more scenes of reaction. I normally like endings left open to interpretation, but not in the case of this movie. The "bad guys" were so bad, that I wanted to see them be punished.