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6.8In order to protect the reputation of the American space program, a team of NASA administrators turn the first Mars mission into a phony Mars landing. Under threat of harm to their families the astronauts play their part in the deception on a staged set in a deserted military base. But once the real ship returns to Earth and burns up on re-entry, the astronauts become liabilities. Now, with the help of a crusading reporter, they must battle a sinister conspiracy that will stop at nothing to keep the truth hidden.
Cast
- Elliott Gould as Robert Caulfield
- James Brolin as Col. Charles Brubaker
- Brenda Vaccaro as Kay Brubaker
- Sam Waterston as Lt. Col. Peter Willis
- O. J. Simpson as Cmdr. John Walker
- Hal Holbrook as Dr. James Kelloway
Themes
- spacecraft
- helicopter
- planet mars
- escape
- nasa
- beguilement
- texas
- crop duster
- conspiracy
- astronaut
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Key facts
- Directed by
- Peter Hyams
- Written by
- Peter Hyams
- Produced by
- Paul N. Lazarus III
- Starring
- Elliott Gould James Brolin Brenda Vaccaro Sam Waterston O. J. Simpson Hal Holbrook David Huddleston David Doyle Karen Black Telly Savalas
- Cinematography
- Bill Butler
- Edited by
- James Mitchell
- Music by
- Jerry Goldsmith
- Production companies
- ITC Entertainment , Associated General Films
- Distributed by
- Warner Bros. Pictures (United States), ITC Film Distributors (United Kingdom)
- Release dates
- December 10, 1977 ( 1977-12-10 ) (Japan) May 5, 1978 ( 1978-05-05 ) (United States) January 11, 1979 ( 1979-01-11 ) (United Kingdom)
- Running time
- 129 minutes (Original) 123 minutes (Worldwide)
- Countries
- United States, United Kingdom
- Language
- English
- Budget
- $5 million (estimated)
- Box office
- $12 million (US and Canada rental)
via Wikipedia infobox
~15 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Capricorn One is a 1977 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. It was written and directed by Peter Hyams and produced by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment. It stars Elliott Gould as the reporter and James Brolin, Sam Waterston, and O. J. Simpson as the astronauts. Hal Holbrook plays a senior NASA official who goes along with governmental and corporate interests and helps to fake the mission. The music score was created by Jerry Goldsmith.
Plot
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Capricorn One” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.