Capricorn One

Capricorn One is a 1978 thriller movie about a Mars landing hoax. It was written and directed by Peter Hyams and produced by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment production company for Warner Bros.

Although thematically Capricorn One is a typical 1970s government-conspiracy thriller with similarities to Hyams's subsequent film Outland, the story was inspired by allegations that the Apollo Moon landings were a hoax.

Plot

The setting is the late 1970s, and the first manned mission to Mars is on the launch pad ready to launch. NASA authorities (Hal Holbrook) realize that a faulty life support system has doomed any chance of a successful flight, so for political and financial purposes they decide to fake the landing rather than cancel the mission.

Minutes before launch, the bewildered crew (played by James Brolin, Sam Waterston, and O. J. Simpson) are removed from the capsule and flown to an old abandoned United States Army Air Corps base deep within the desert. The televised launch proceeds on schedule, but the public is unaware that the spacecraft (Capricorn One) does not have a crew.

At the remote base, the astronauts are informed they will fake the television footage from Mars and it is their patriotic duty to participate. Initially they refuse, but authorities imply their careers and the lives of their families are at stake if they do not cooperate.

The astronauts remain in captivity for a period of several months and are filmed "landing on Mars" within a studio located at the base. The conspiracy is known to only a select few NASA officials, but alert technician Elliot Whittier (Robert Walden) stumbles across something absurdly impossible. The television transmissions are arriving ahead of the spacecraft telemetry. He speaks to a journalist friend Robert Caulfield (Elliott Gould) about his concerns.

When Whittier mysteriously disappears, Caulfield becomes suspicious and begins investigating the Mars mission, resulting in several attempts upon his life. Meanwhile back at the abandoned military base, the astronauts begin to suspect that if the conspiracy is to be successful, they will eventually have to be eliminated. The astronauts' suspicions become reality when their empty capsule burns up during reentry. The captive astronauts immediately stage a daring escape and attempt to evade military forces in order to expose the conspiracy. Stranded in the desert, they try to make their way back to civilization while being pursued by a pair of "black helicopters."

In the end, Colonel Brubaker (James Brolin) is the only crew member to avoid capture, while Willis and Walker were captured and presumably murdered. Caulfield's investigation leads him to the desert, where he finds the military base and the set, and with the help of a cropduster pilot (Telly Savalas), he manages to rescue Brubaker before the men in the helicopters can capture him.

The film ends with Caulfield bringing Brubaker to the astronauts' memorial service, exposing the conspiracy in dramatic fashion in front of hundreds of witnesses.





Cast

* Elliott Gould ... Robert Caulfield
* James Brolin ... Colonel Charles Brubaker, USAF
* Sam Waterston ... Lieutenant Colonel Peter Willis, USAF
* O. J. Simpson ... Commander John Walker, USN
* Hal Holbrook ... Dr. James Kelloway
* Brenda Vaccaro ... Mrs. Brubaker
* Karen Black ... Julie Drinkwater
* David Doyle ... Walter Loughlin
* Robert Walden ... Elliot Whittier
* Telly Savalas ... Albain

Trivia

* The main actors are Barbra Streisand's ex-husband Elliott Gould and her future husband James Brolin.
* The helicopters in the film were OH-6 Cayuse.
* In the Friends episode "The One Where Ross Can't Flirt", Joey's grandmother refers to Capricorn One. Elliot Gould, who stars in Capricorn One, also appears in Friends as Jack Gellar, Ross and Monica's father.
* Both Capricorn One and Outland (also by Hyams) feature a nefarious corporation called "Con Amalgamate".
* Capricorn One's footage was later reused in the TV shows The A-Team (in the episode "The Battle of Bel-Air") and in Airwolf (in the episodes "Bite of the Jackal", "Echoes from the Past" and "Santini's Millions"). Capricorn One stunt pilot David Jones later flew the Airwolf helicopter as one of the stunt pilots for the show, and the location of the OH-6 chase scene would also appear in the Airwolf pilot episode "Shadow of the Hawke".



Video Clip of Capricorn One


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