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Capricorn One (1978)

Rate: 8
Viewed: 7/25

Capricorn1
7/25: I've never been a fan of Peter Hyams, having dismissed just about all of his movies as nothing, but he did a very good job with Capricorn One.

There's a big difference in quality this time due to the goldmine premise that was fully conceived and written by the director. It's easy to be reminded of Wag the Dog and the conspiracy theories surrounding the JFK assassination. There's a pretty good dogfighting scene tacked on at the end. When Hal Halbrook was taking so long with his big speech, I was like, "Get on with it already," but he did impress me for setting the tone of the film.

As a result, Capricorn One feels more like a neo-noir than a sci-fi thriller, thanks to Elliott Gould who makes up for the failure of The Long Goodbye. In fact, it could've been a Philip Marlowe mystery that's along the lines of Kiss Me Deadly. I also like this one much more than The Parallax View given the same angle when it comes to a reporter sniffing around for a story. I'm surprised at the willingness of NASA to provide anything because it's true: the space program is largely a waste of money.

I love the star-studded cast which includes Elliott Gould, Sam Waterston, James Brolin, Hal Holbrook, Brenda Vaccaro, Karen Black, and Telly Savalas. One moment that I agreed with is when James Brolin's character ate a dead rattlesnake, which was actually stuffed with raw fish, because he's supposed to be extremely hungry. By the way, don't worry about O.J. Simpson. He doesn't have a large part, and his character dies alone in the middle of the desert without water or food, and nobody cares. If there are negatives, the movie looks slightly dated and can be talky at times.

All in all, no matter how deftly the NASA has pulled off the hoax in Capricorn One, it still doesn't mean that the six ever manned moon landings, all by the United States with twelve men walking on the surface, didn't happen for real.