![]() So, James Kelloway (Hal Holbrook) gives them the big speech, it’s impassioned and he makes a lot of sense, even I’m on board by the time he’s finished. The mission to Mars must therefore be a success only one way to accomplish that – call Subterfuge-R-Us. Almost certainly, NASA’s budget will get the chop after such a high profile and expensive failure. The mission is in ruins even before lift-off. Unfortunately, having spent billions on a Mars mission – “4 billion dollars to put crazy people into space” – they discover the life support system is banjaxed and the astronauts will be dead 3 weeks into the journey. NASA needs a healthy Martian boost to keep the astro-lolly rolling in. The premise is believable, spot on in fact, depicting a government unwilling to spend funds on a space program when there are more pressing financial matters on Earth. If they want him dead (and they clearly do) why didn’t they kill him? He’s on his own, no one around, unarmed… Walk up to him, pop a cap in his donkey and dump his carcass out in the desert. On the soundtrack we hear a vehicle take off at speed. He’s wandering around following a loose lead when somebody takes a pot shot at him. The tampered brakes sequence is a lot of fun, but when it ditches in the drink we don’t see how he gets out of the ‘COCKADOODIE CAR!’ No matter, my main bone of contention is with the Flat Rock visit. ![]() Because Caulfield has been clocked buddying around with the missing Whitter, he’s now a target. ![]() At one point he gobs off to his editor Walter (David Doyle – ace, he refers to Caulfield sarkily as ‘Scoop’) about all the work he’s been putting in on the story with little in the way of support (hunting down flat records where Whitter lived, etc), but we haven’t seen him doing any of this stuff. Unfortunately, there isn’t much detective work on offer. He’s the journalist sniffing around Whitter’s obsession with the anomalous signal plus his subsequent vanishing act. Take the Robert Caulfield character (Elliott Gould). I always do this with Capricorn One, pick nits, that is. "It was very nice of George to lend us Tatooine." While you’re watching Capricorn One you get caught up in the action but once those credits have rolled things fly apart. It’s just a detail – easily handed its hat as the pace picks up. If not, that’ll be one very bemused flight controller and if yes, he’d have to be very good at lip-sync. Plus, a great many more folk at Mission Control would be wondering just who was communicating with the crew (remember, as part of the ruse, we’re told the in-flight chatter is constructed from their training mission recordings) the flight controller would have to be a plant. We as an audience have to forget that more than one person at Mission Control would be scratching their heads at the radio anomaly not to mention many stations around the world tracking the spacecraft. The screenplay addresses it thus: rub out Whitter and the errant signal goes away never to darken our doorstep again. I mean, Hyams isn’t daft, he knows the movie can’t be allowed to dwell on the comms signal beyond Whitter (Robert Walden), the NASA technician puzzled by the glitch early on. People believe what they see on the telly some folk think Coronation Street is real. I’m not saying that, in reality, space missions couldn’t be faked, I’m sure they could. I’m saying that now because it may sound as if I don’t. I’ve got to say straight out I like this movie. Meanwhile, a roving reporter is investigating the mysterious disappearance of his NASA friend which he finds is distinctly ratus smellius… But when the now un-manned mission returns, a faulty heat shield destroys the ship meaning the astronauts will have to disappear.Īnd when they escape captivity – make that disappear permanently. Naturally, they aren’t too keen, it’s hardly in keeping with the spirit of discovering new frontiers… until their families are threatened, then they’re much more amenable to the idea. “Funny thing happened on the way to Mars…” When a mission to Mars is abruptly interrupted, the three astronauts are whisked away to a remote hangar and asked to simulate a landing on the Red Planet instead. This one replaced L’amour En Fuite on the list because L’amour turned out to be the fifth film featuring the main character and is basically a clip show of the previous four! May contain snake eating and spoilers… Starring: Elliott Gould, James Brolin, Hal Holbrook
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |