Capricorn One (1977)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1977
	Director: Peter Hyams (2010, Timecop, The Relic)
	Actors: Elliott Gould (Friends, Ocean 11), James Brolin, Brenda Vaccaro, O. J. Simpson (The Naked Gun)
	Country: USA
	Genre: SF, Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 28.07.2020, VOD, 14" computer screen.
Synopsis: About to be launched on the first flight to Mars, the team of astronauts is discreetly evacuated and led to a hidden location in the desert while the mission goes on without them.
Review: I had heard about this movie in the past, but now that I stumbled on it again while watching YouTube videos and reading Wikipedia entries about the conspiracy theory around the 1969 Moon landing, I had to see it. Released eight years only after Apollo 11, the movie is indeed quoted as it "might have given a boost to the hoax theory's popularity". Regardless, I found it a great and original topic for a Space Exploration movie, like I found with the vaguely similar twist in the 2014 mini-series Ascension. In the Cold War times where failure was not an option, it is interesting to see a movie exploring the question of faking success. And I found that the political and scientific context are well represented in the movie. The secret being kept by very few people is also more credible than a NASA-wide conspiracy which would be impossible to keep under wraps. What I found not so well done in the movie is the lack of excitement by the people on Earth for the first step on Mars. The tension of getting there and the culmination of the trip are not very well shown. The action on Earth is also not very exciting, the helicopter chases too choreographed and the music too present. And I found the image quality to be poor, not from the movie transfer to digital format, but apparently from the camera optics themselves (like I noted in The Final Countdown for example). But this is balanced by the more thrilling investigation by the journalist played by Elliott Gould, even though his near assassinations are strangely downplayed. An imperfect movie, but one I had to see.
Rating: 5 /10