Capricorn One

Starring: Elliott Gould, James Brolin, O.J. Simpson, Sam Waterston, Hal Holbrook, Karen Black
Directed by: Peter Hyams
Rating: PG
Genre: Drama, Thriller
1978

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Three astronauts (James Brolin, O.J. Simpson, Sam Waterston) on a trip to Mars are pulled from their rocket moments before liftoff and told a problem with the life support system would have killed them in orbit. They are asked to fake the landing and cover up the evidence, which proves to be more than they bargained for. A reporter (Elliott Gould) begins to suspect something may be amiss.

Review:

Tim: Capricorn One is a movie that has a fascinating premise, starts off wonderfully, but at some point almost completely loses the audience. I was very into this movie until about two-thirds of the way in, when it all started to feel a little silly. This movie does enough right that I would consider it a good film, but not enough to really wow.

I like the idea of astronauts asked to cover up a Mars landing, especially since this all stemmed from those wacky conspiracy theorists who believe humans never landed on the moon (we did). Because of the very slim possibility of this movie being more true-to-life than we migh expect, it keeps us interesting. It is indeed fairly fascinating to watch how high powered men could potentially fake a historical event like humans setting foot on another planet. These scenes are very interesting. The problem is that the movie suddenly becomes an action-focused man-on-the-run picture, which is a far cry from where the movie began. This film feels like halfway through, it decided it wanted to be something else. The whole story just doesn't mesh well, and by the film's incredibly hard to believe conclusion, I just wasn't buying it anymore.

I was more excited about the cast on paper than I was after watching the movie. Elliott Gould gives the best performance of the film, a believable job as a reporter trying to uncover the story of the century. I enjoyed him in this film. The rest of the cast is less exciting. James Brolin is at least decent in the role of the lead astronaut. He makes a fairly convincing hero, but I never really cared about him as a character. O.J. Simpson is actually pretty terrible. His acting is tentative and atrocious. I didn't believe him for a second, and his presence only detracted from the movie (and this isn't because he is a murderer, his acting is actually that bad). Sam Waterston is decent, but isn't given anything of real subtance to do. I liked seeing Hal Holbrook in his cold-hearted role. He gives a really, really good performance.

Capricorn One is a very interesting movie that simply loses its way before it reaches its conclusions. At various points, I was interested, entertained, and occasionally enthralled. However, all of these emotions are short lived. Eventually, I grew tired of the movie (which is saying something because it's just over two hours long) and was waiting for it to be over. This isn't a classic movie, but it does just enough right for me to have mostly good thoughts about it.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Right Stuff, The Andromeda Strain, A Bridge Too Far