![]() The spacecraft is launched empty, and the crew are taken to a remote Air Force base, where they are forced to act out the Mars landing in a studio for the benefit of television cameras.Įlliot Whitter (Robert Walden), one of the technicians at mission control, notices something strange – that the television signals are being transmitted ahead of the telemetry – and tells his reporter friend Robert Caulfield ( Elliott Gould). James Kelloway ( Hal Holbrook) informs them, a poorly made life-support system that would have killed the astronauts three weeks into their trip means they'll have to fake it, as Congress can't afford another screw-up. ![]() Simpson) are the crew for the first manned mission to Mars, Capricorn One. It’s a fun film to watch and chuckle about how things have turned out over the last 40 years.A 1978 American thriller film written and directed by Peter Hyams, Inspired by… the various conspiracy theories surrounding the Apollo 11 moon landing.Īstronauts Charles Brubaker ( James Brolin), Peter Willis ( Sam Waterston), and John Walker ( O. This is a great conspiracy thriller loaded with many layers of intrigue that stands the test of time. Then, ironically, he is forced into a production that would fool the world. There is a moment in the film when the James Brolin character vacations to a film set and realizes that the filmmaking process is becoming so advanced that anything can be realized. What’s more dangerous is the technology today is being manipulated by the news outlets, governments, and social media platforms all over the world and force-fed to the masses in order to achieve whatever agenda they have in mind. With the technology of today (Deepfake programs for example) any kid with a laptop can manipulate images and sound and make it look very convincing. I find the film more fascinating today then I have in the past because we now live in a time when people are skeptical of everything. It won’t be easy to keep this secret because the astronauts escape which leads to a really cool chase in the Nevada desert. After months of faking the mission the astronauts are pronounced dead during re-entry. As he begins to unravel the truth his life is continually threatened, but that does not stop him from pursuing the story and exposing the truth. As the world tunes into the televised hoax a reporter, played by Elliott Gould, gets wind that something might be wrong. The astronauts are strong-armed into cooperating, if they don’t, the lives of their families are threatened. He has the astronauts extracted before the launch and secreted away to a remote facility in the desert so they can be filmed on a set in order to dupe the investors and the people of the world. The director of the program, played by Hal Holbrook, has an idea to save face and the billion dollar funding of the botched mission. Simpson) months before they reached the Red Planet. It seems that faulty manufactured life support systems would fail and ultimately kill the astronauts (James Brolin, Sam Waterston, and O.J. The story is about a NASA mission to Mars that goes bust and how they plan to make it look as though everything is hunky-dory. CAPRICORN ONE is not a low budget docudrama detailing a hack point off view about an on-going conspiracy theory, it is a major motion picture that rationalizes the concept and turns it into a very fun piece of entertainment. ![]() Then, but a mere nine years later, CAPRICORN ONE is released and adds fuel to the conspiracy theory. As a child I could not conceive of the idea that the moon landing might have been faked, a big and elaborately produced hoax. I’m dating myself here, but I have a fond memory of watching this thriller on a hot summer night at the drive-in. ![]() Starring James Brolin, Hal Holbrook, and Elliott Gould.
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