Capricorn One

1978 "The mission was a sham. The murders were real."
6.8| 2h3m| PG| en| More Info
Released: 02 June 1978 Released
Producted By: ITC Entertainment
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

In order to protect the reputation of the American space program, a team of NASA administrators turn the first Mars mission into a phony Mars landing. Under threat of harm to their families the astronauts play their part in the deception on a staged set in a deserted military base. But once the real ship returns to Earth and burns up on re-entry, the astronauts become liabilities. Now, with the help of a crusading reporter, they must battle a sinister conspiracy that will stop at nothing to keep the truth hidden.

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Director

Peter Hyams

Production Companies

ITC Entertainment

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Capricorn One Audience Reviews

Hellen I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much
Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable
Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.
Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.
Eric Stevenson Never heard of this movie? Well, it does have over 100 reviews here, so it can't be that obscure. Anyway, this is a pretty nice little film even though it's not a classic. The plot is that astronauts are going to Mars, but it turns out to all be a hoax. The astronauts aren't aware that they just sent a fake space shuttle and they're taken to a studio where they'll film being on Mars. Unfortunately, the fake space shuttle disintegrates. The only way to cover this up is to kill the astronauts, so they steal an airplane to escape but it runs out of gas. They're stranded in the desert where the government hunts them down. I admit the second half isn't as good as the first, but it's still good. It is too long, but I still found it to be a unique idea done pretty well. I had no idea OJ was in all these movies. I just know more about movies than sports. ***
rzajac An interesting flick. It starts out very, very strong; but eventually winds up being a bit uneven, a bit dated. If it were made today, some of the kinks of less-than-inspired scenario choices and production might could maybe be ironed out.Early in the flick the writing is reminiscent of Chayevsky; solid, researched, flinty/dramatic. But I sense that the producers maybe weren't aware of what they had, and that they'd need to babysit the project in a manner that closely and consistently honored those exertions. The early moments establish a wonderful sharp-edged verite. Subsequently, the quality gets rocky, and balls get dropped. Too bad!That's it! Tho I will mention that this flick would certainly be of interest to folks who want to see some of the players in their nubile years, e.g., Waterston and Holbrooke were fascinating to me. Folks complain about Gould, but I'd point out that he, probably by dint of dumb bad luck, got the short/brown end of the story management stick, this go-'round (as did Black).Oh, yeah! And... O.J. Simpson! Hubba hubba!
dentrex TV didn't kill radio, it just transferred a lot of entertainment from sound to vision. News and music radio is still alive. TV didn't kill the movies, it just forced them to be more entertaining. And you could throw in a few swear words to delineate the medium. People want to be entertained, and as we see here that was the paramount objective at any show then as well as now. Oh - The moon landings were real - the Soviets were watching EVERY move and zeroed every telemetry and voice transmission. Any fakery would have been called out immediately, loudly, and triumphantly, because if anyone had a reason to fake it, it was the then-USSR. Now I'll leave you to wikipedia for that story, but that's something I needed to get straight here right away.Here we have a real popcorn 1970's style film, replete with big names and contemporary TV personalities. It's factually inaccurate and disastrously so, with plot holes galore (they incessantly point out the delays in radio transmission and they keep happening in real time, lol). Yet it works somehow, and that's because the back story of a faked space mission is so compelling.Great script and really great music from Jerry Goldsmith round it out for a real Saturday afternoon treat. Remember that? Greasy 'buttered' popcorn? Smoking allowed n the Balcony? Dots, Sugar Babies and Chuckles in BIG packages? Here's the movie for it.All actors, OJ included, do a bang up job. Elliot Gould is a pro, Brolin and Waterston too. Hal Holbrook really puts his all into his character and shines. The aerial stunts are insane. The cinematography, in particular the lighting, is really top notch. It shows that even a third-rate Hollywood flick was imp0ortant enough to do a first rate job on. Worth watching any time.
JPfanatic93 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.