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Dom Robinson reviews
Artisan Home Entertainment
- Cert: PG
- Cat.no: 60475
- Running time: 123 minutes
- Year: 1978
- Pressing: 1999
- Region(s): 1, NTSC
- Chapters: 36 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: Spanish
- Widescreen: 2.35:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: No
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: $10
- Extras: Trailers, Cast and Crew info, Production Notes
Director:
- Peter Hyams
(2010, Capricorn One, Hanover Street, Narrow Margin, Outland, The Presidio, The Relic, Running Scared, The Star Chamber, Stay Tuned, Sudden Death, Timecop)
Producer:
- Paul N. Lazarus III
Screenplay:
- Peter Hyams
Music:
- Jerry Goldsmith
Cast:
- Robert Caulfield: Elliot Gould
Commander Charles Brubaker: James Brolin
Kay Brubaker: Brenda Vaccaro
Lt. Col. Peter Willis: Sam Waterston
Commander John Walker: O.J. Simpson
Dr. James Kelloway: Hal Holbrook
Judy Drinkwater: Karen Black
Albain: Telly Savalas
Hollis Peaker: David Huddleston
Elliot Whiter: Robert Walden
Walter Loughlin: David Doyle
One of my favourite conspiracy movies, Capricorn One,is a film about a mission to Mars that never happened for Commander Charles Brubaker (James Brolin), Lt. Col. Peter Willis(Sam Waterston) and Commander John Walker (O.J. Simpson).
The U.S. space programme has hit rock bottom. One more cock-up and all fundingwill be cut, so since not a lot has happened since Neil Armstrong first setfoot on the moon, it’s time to send three all-American heroes to the red planetto see what they can see – except they won’t be going. It’ll all be stagedto look real, but the Mars surface they’ll be walking along resides in aTV studio in a disused army base.
Everything goes to plan until the real spaceship comes in for re-entry, burnsup and explodes, leaving the government no alternative but to bump off theastronauts which leads to a suspense film of the highest calibre as the threemen take their lives into their own hands and search for a way out in separatedirections.
On the trail of the conspiracy is journalist Robert Caulfield (Elliot Gould),who gets a tip-off from NASA technician Elliot Whiter (Robert Walden)who thinks the TV transmissions aren’t coming from a transmitter 300 miles awaybut somewhere much closer to home. If the truth gets out, the shit will hitthe fan big time for man in control, Hollis Peaker (David Huddleston).Telly Savalas also pops up in a great cameo towards the end as Albain,a crop-dusting farmer.
There’s so many classic moments in this film, be it when Peaker gets antsyas it looks like Brubaker’s about to give the game away while supposedlyfloating round his tin can; the time when he has to eat a rattlesnake andthe car trouble Caulfield finds himself in when he discovers someone’stampered with his car and taken out the brakes.
While the film is one of my favourites, the bad news comes in the presentation.A non-anamorphic print is presented in the original 2.35:1 widescreen ratio -despite the 1.85:1 claim on the back cover – and definition is sorely lackingthroughout the film. You start to get a bit used to it as time goes on butit’s never perfect at all.The average bitrate is 3.16Mb/s, occasionally peaking over 5Mb/s.
The sound has been remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1, but the only time I founda bit improvement was in Gould’s “tampered car” scene. The DD5.1 mix isdropped in from time to time, so don’t play the film late at night becauseyou need to turn it up to hear the dialogue and then BANG! you race for thevolume control to reduce it when something is dropped in way too loud.
In the extras dept. it’s a rather meagre affair. Two Trailers (one teaserand one trailer), Cast and Crew info for the main stars and directorHyams and four measly pages of Production Notes. Yes, it’s all stuffyou’ll read once and forget about.
The disc contains 36 chapters which is plenty through the two hour film, butmenus are static and silent and there’s far from the right number of subtitledlanguages with just ONE and it’s Spanish(!)
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALL
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.