![]() ![]() The music score was created by Jerry Goldsmith.Ĭapricorn One-the first crewed mission to Mars-is on the launch pad. Hal Holbrook plays a senior NASA official who goes along with governmental and corporate interests and helps to fake the mission. It stars Elliott Gould as the reporter, and James Brolin, Sam Waterston, and O. It was written and directed by Peter Hyams and produced by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment. The film features two military “black helicopters”, which is now a term that’s become synonymous with conspiratorial military activity in the United States.Ĭheck out the Exploding Helicopter podcast episode on Capricorn One on iTunes, Podomatic, YourListen or Stitcher.Capricorn One is a 1978 British-produced American thriller film in which a reporter discovers that a supposed Mars landing by a crewed mission to the planet has been faked via a conspiracy involving the government and-under duress-the crew themselves. Funny thing happened on the way to Mars.” The lack of slow-motion chopper explosions despite the overuse of it a few minutes later. ![]() The expectation of seeing these two choppers explode far outweighs the pay-off. Standard usage of 70s pyrotechnics and remote controlled chopper technology. What grates about this scene is that Hyams could have employed the same technique to much better effect on the previous helicopter explosions. Hyams repeatedly cuts away to the mourners, who remain at normal speed, then back to slow-mo Brolin, and so on and so on, for what seems like an eternity. With these two relatively pedestrian helicopter explosions out of the way we’re then treated to one of the strangest sequences to end a movie ever committed to film.īrolin runs in slow-motion through a cemetery to gatecrash his own funeral. By this point one can only assume that Gould was scrabbling to find the lever with the words ‘ejector seat’ on it. Normality restored, I can relax a little.įor reasons I’m not quite sure, Savalas then shouts “perverts!” for comic effect. Surely we haven’t come this far together be denied at the final hurdle?įortunately, the pyro-technician for the second chopper is wide awake and it goes up like a Christmas tree. His plan is to send an empty shuttle into space and rely on his snake-like powers of persuasion and a couple of guarded threats to bring our reluctant astronauts on side - played by James Brolin, Sam Waterston and OJ Simpson.Ĭhopper one hits the rock face nose first and drops like a stone. So as not to lose face in front of the pen pushers in Congress by postponing the mission, Dr Kelloway (played to perfection by Hal Holbrook) decides to fake the mission. The motive for faking the mission comes after an oversight by NASA boffins leaves the shuttle’s life-support system ill-equipped to, well, support any life. Set in a kind of 70’s alternate reality where the US is engaged in a space race to get a man (or men) on Mars, we’re drawn into a world of subterfuge and conspiracy as they attempt to fake the landing and subsequently prevent anyone from finding out. ![]() Such was the case when I sat through 70’s conspiracy thriller Capricorn One (1978), recently. A wise man once said that sometimes the expectation of seeing a helicopter explode in a film is just as rewarding as the moment itself. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |