'Capricorn One'
A movie review by Walter Frith
The details are sketchy but I seem to recall watching an interview on television news a couple of years back where a Hubble telescope analyst was asked when we'll see pictures of what American astronauts left on the moon. The astronauts left the American flag, a space cart and a plaque to commemorate the historic event which is visible at the beginning of 1996's 'Independence Day' as the menacing mother ship from an alien world makes its way towards Earth. The analyst mentioned something to the effect that because of the curvature of the moon and the angle of the telescope's placement that seeing pictures of the American souvenirs left behind would not be possible. Many have speculated without evidence that the moon landing in 1969 was a hoax, a mission carried out on a sound stage much like the ones prepared for motion pictures using a pressure chamber to simulate the lack of gravity that comes with a moon walk but the evidence in support of the moon landing appears to be overwhelming but after seeing the effects of the 'Apollo 13' mission in reality and in Ron Howard's 1995 film and the constant glitches experienced by NASA which remain to this day, it is a question that lurks in the back of many minds.
Major conspiracies in movies have been present long before Oliver Stone made 1991's 'JFK' and frankly I'm sick of all the criticism Stone takes every time he puts a movie out where conspiracy jokes ran wild in view of his selected subject matter. Director Peter Hyams ('The Star Chamber', '2010', 'The Relic') displays a major conspiracy by the American space program in which some will kill to protect their sinister secret of a faked mission to Mars. I'm talking about his 1978 film, 'Capricorn One'.
Three astronauts (James Brolin, Sam Waterston and O.J.Simpson) are hand picked to lead America's next venture into outer space. They are informed by a bureaucrat and conspiracy participant (Hal Holbrook) before the mission to Mars takes off that it won't work. The trio are threatened if they don't go along with the cover-up and their lives, their futures and the future of their families is indirectly threatened. They are expected to present a false senses of hope that the space program can reach unlimited success even if it means creating lies that will sell.
The three astronauts decide at the last minute that they will pull the plug and expose the entire thing and their efforts take a turn for the worst when they end up in the desert chased by government assassins who intend to kill them. The entire story is picked up and followed by an investigative reporter (Elliott Gould) who also becomes a target for elimination when he gets too close to the truth.
'Capricorn One' moves like an infectious and hypnotizing thriller as it develops a somewhat familiar path into Hitchcock territory but although its characteristics are heightened by movie making choosing to enhance the theory of suspension of disbelief to a maximum effect, it still is an entertaining ride with a great final sequence that you've never seen before.
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