''Capricorn One'' is a 1977
thriller film
Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...
in which a reporter discovers that a supposed
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...
landing by a crewed mission to the planet has been
faked via a
conspiracy
A conspiracy, also known as a plot, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...
involving the government and—under duress—the crew themselves. It was written and directed by
Peter Hyams
Peter Hyams (born July 26, 1943) is an American film director, screenwriter and cinematographer known for directing the 1977 conspiracy thriller film ''Capricorn One'' (which he also wrote), the 1981 science fiction-thriller ''Outland (film), Outl ...
and produced by
Lew Grade
Lew Grade, Baron Grade, (born Lev Winogradsky; 25 December 1906 – 13 December 1998) was a Ukrainian-born British media proprietor and impresario. Originally a dancer, and later a talent agent, Grade's interest in television production ...
's
ITC Entertainment
The Incorporated Television Company (ITC), or ITC Entertainment as it was referred to in the United States, was a British company involved in the production and distribution of television programmes.
History Incorporated Television Programme C ...
. It stars
Elliott Gould
Elliott Gould (; né Goldstein; born August 29, 1938) is an American actor.
Gould's breakthrough role was in the film ''Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice'' (1969), for which he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. The ...
as the reporter, and
James Brolin
Craig Kenneth Bruderlin (born July 18, 1940), known professionally as James Brolin, is an American actor. Brolin has won two Golden Globe Awards, Golden Globes and an Emmy Awards, Emmy. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on August ...
,
Sam Waterston
Samuel Atkinson Waterston (born November 15, 1940) is an American actor. Waterston is known for his work in theater, television, and film. He has received numerous accolades including a Primetime Emmy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actor ...
, and
O. J. Simpson
Orenthal James Simpson (July 9, 1947 – April 10, 2024), also known by his nickname "the Juice", was an American professional American football, football player, actor, and media personality who played in the National Football League (NFL) ...
as the astronauts.
Hal Holbrook
Harold Rowe Holbrook Jr. (February 17, 1925 – January 23, 2021) was an American actor. He first received critical acclaim in 1954 for a one-man stage show that he developed called ''Mark Twain Tonight!'' while studying at Denison University. H ...
plays a senior
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
official who goes along with governmental and corporate interests and helps to fake the mission. The music score was created by
Jerry Goldsmith
Jerrald King Goldsmith (February 10, 1929July 21, 2004) was an American composer, conductor and orchestrator with a career in film and television scoring that spanned nearly 50 years and over 200 productions, between 1954 and 2003. He was consid ...
.
Plot
Capricorn One—the first crewed mission to Mars—is on the launch pad. Just before liftoff, astronauts Charles Brubaker, Peter Willis, and John Walker are suddenly ordered out of the spacecraft by a
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
official. Bewildered, they are flown in secret to an abandoned military base in the desert. The launch proceeds on schedule, with the public unaware the spacecraft is empty.
At the base, Kelloway informs the astronauts that a faulty life-support system would have killed them in-flight. He says they must help counterfeit the televised footage during the flight to and from Mars. Another failed space mission would result in NASA's funding being cut and private contractors losing billions in profits. Kelloway threatens their families to force their cooperation.
The astronauts are held captive during the spaceflight and appear to be filmed after landing on Mars, although they are actually inside an elaborate
set
Set, The Set, SET or SETS may refer to:
Science, technology, and mathematics Mathematics
*Set (mathematics), a collection of elements
*Category of sets, the category whose objects and morphisms are sets and total functions, respectively
Electro ...
at the base made to look like the surface of Mars. At the command center, only a few officials know about the conspiracy until an alert technician, Elliot Whitter, notices that ground control receives the crew's televised transmissions before the spacecraft
telemetry
Telemetry is the in situ collection of measurements or other data at remote points and their automatic transmission to receiving equipment (telecommunication) for monitoring. The word is derived from the Greek roots ''tele'', 'far off', an ...
arrives. Whitter reports this to his supervisors, including Kelloway, but is told it is due to a faulty workstation. Whitter partially shares his concerns with a TV journalist friend, Robert Caulfield. Whitter suddenly vanishes, and when Caulfield goes to Whitter's apartment the next day, he discovers someone else living there and that all evidence of Whitter's recent life has been erased. As Caulfield leaves, he survives a car crash into a river after his car had been
tampered with.
Upon returning to Earth, the empty spacecraft burns up during
atmospheric reentry
Atmospheric entry (sometimes listed as Vimpact or Ventry) is the movement of an object from outer space into and through the gases of an atmosphere of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite. Atmospheric entry may be ''uncontrolled entry ...
due to a faulty
heat shield
In engineering, a heat shield is a component designed to protect an object or a human operator from being burnt or overheated by dissipating, reflecting, and/or absorbing heat. The term is most often used in reference to exhaust heat management a ...
, which would have killed the astronauts had they been on board. The astronauts realize officials will need to kill them to keep the hoax a secret. They escape in a small jet which quickly runs out of fuel, forcing a crash-landing in the desert. They split up on foot to increase their chances of finding help and exposing the plot. Kelloway sends helicopters after them. Willis and Walker are found, while Brubaker evades capture.
Caulfield interviews Brubaker's "widow", Kay, after reviewing a televised conversation between the astronauts and their wives. Kay Brubaker had seemed confused when her husband mentioned their last family vacation. She explains that the family had actually gone to a different location, where a western movie was being filmed. Brubaker was intrigued by how special effects and technology made it seem real.
Caulfield believes Brubaker would never make such a mistake and may have been sending his wife a message. Caulfield goes to the deserted western movie set and is shot at. As he investigates further, federal agents break into his home, arresting him for possessing cocaine that they planted there. His exasperated boss bails Caulfield out, then fires him.
A reporter friend tells Caulfield about an abandoned military base located 300 miles (480 km) from Houston. The base is now deserted, but Caulfield finds a medallion belonging to Brubaker, confirming the astronauts were there. Caulfield hires a crop-dusting pilot named Albain to search the desert. They spot and follow two helicopters to a closed isolated gas station where Brubaker is hiding. They rescue him as he attempts to escape his pursuers. The helicopters chase their plane through a canyon but crash when Albain blinds them with
crop spray allowing the plane to get away.
Caulfield and Brubaker arrive halfway through a memorial service being held for the three astronauts; disrupting it, where Kelloway, Kay Brubaker, the whole service and live TV coverage sees them.
Cast
Production
Development
Peter Hyams began thinking about a film of a space hoax while working on broadcasts of the
Apollo program
The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program led by NASA, which Moon landing, landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969. Apollo followed Project Mercury that put the first Americans in sp ...
missions for
CBS. He later reflected regarding the
Apollo 11
Apollo 11 was a spaceflight conducted from July 16 to 24, 1969, by the United States and launched by NASA. It marked the first time that humans Moon landing, landed on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module pilot Buzz Aldrin l ...
Moon landing, "There was one event of really enormous importance that had almost no witnesses. And the only verification we have ... came from a TV camera."
[''Spacesuit: Fashioning Apollo'']
Nicholas de Monchaux, MIT Press, 2011. This book cites the ''New York Times'' as stating "Watergate may not have inspired 'Capricorn One,' but it made its thesis more acceptable, its plot more credible and some of its content strangely prophetic."
He later elaborated, in a 2014 interview with UK film magazine ''
Empire '':
Whenever there was something on the news about a pace flight they would cut to a studio in St. Louis where there was a simulation of what was going on. I grew up in the generation where my parents basically believed if it was in the newspaper it was true. That turned out to be bullshit. My generation was brought up to believe television was true, and that was bullshit too. So I was watching these simulations and I wondered what would happen if someone faked a whole story.
Hyams wrote the script in 1972 but no one wanted to make it. He says interest in the script was re-activated by the
Watergate Scandal
The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the Presidency of Richard Nixon, administration of President Richard Nixon. The scandal began in 1972 and ultimately led to Resignation of Richard Nixon, Nix ...
. He approached producer
Paul Lazarus. Hyams and Lazarus had a meeting with
Lew Grade
Lew Grade, Baron Grade, (born Lev Winogradsky; 25 December 1906 – 13 December 1998) was a Ukrainian-born British media proprietor and impresario. Originally a dancer, and later a talent agent, Grade's interest in television production ...
, head of production company
ITC Entertainment
The Incorporated Television Company (ITC), or ITC Entertainment as it was referred to in the United States, was a British company involved in the production and distribution of television programmes.
History Incorporated Television Programme C ...
who had recently moved into film production with ''
The Return of the Pink Panther''. Grade agreed to make the film after only five minutes.
The budget was $4.8 million.
[Szebin, 2000][Lew Grade, ''Still Dancing: My Story'', William Collins & Sons 1987 p 247][
Grade announced the film in October 1975 as a part of a slate of ten films he intended to make over the next 12 months, including '' The Domino Principle'', ''Action - Clear the Fast Lanes'' and ''Juarez''. The last two were ultimately not made.
To stay within the budget, NASA's co-operation was needed. Lazarus had a good relationship with the space agency from '']Futureworld
''Futureworld'' is a 1976 American science fiction thriller film directed by Richard T. Heffron and written by Mayo Simon and George Schenck. It is a sequel to the 1973 Michael Crichton film '' Westworld'', and is the second installment in ...
''. The filmmakers were thus able to obtain government equipment as props, including a prototype Apollo Lunar Module
The Apollo Lunar Module (LM ), originally designated the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), was the lunar lander spacecraft that was flown between lunar orbit and the Moon's surface during the United States' Apollo program. It was the first crewed sp ...
, despite the story's negative portrayal of the space agency.
In September 1976, it was announced the cast would include Elliott Gould
Elliott Gould (; né Goldstein; born August 29, 1938) is an American actor.
Gould's breakthrough role was in the film ''Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice'' (1969), for which he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. The ...
, O. J. Simpson
Orenthal James Simpson (July 9, 1947 – April 10, 2024), also known by his nickname "the Juice", was an American professional American football, football player, actor, and media personality who played in the National Football League (NFL) ...
, James Brolin
Craig Kenneth Bruderlin (born July 18, 1940), known professionally as James Brolin, is an American actor. Brolin has won two Golden Globe Awards, Golden Globes and an Emmy Awards, Emmy. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on August ...
, Brenda Vaccaro, and Candice Bergen. The presence of Brolin and Simpson in the cast helped secure a presale to NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
. Ultimately Bergen pulled out and was replaced by Karen Black
Karen Blanche Black (née Ziegler; July 1, 1939 – August 8, 2013) was an American actress, screenwriter, singer, and songwriter. She rose to prominence for her work in various studio and independent films in the 1970s, frequently portr ...
.
Shooting
Filming started in January 1977. Shooting locations included Cinema Center Films in Studio City, and Red Rock Canyon State Park.[The Film That Watergate Got Off the Ground. Warga, Wayne. ''Los Angeles Times'' 30 Jan 1977: s36.]
Hyams later joked, "O. J. Simpson
Orenthal James Simpson (July 9, 1947 – April 10, 2024), also known by his nickname "the Juice", was an American professional American football, football player, actor, and media personality who played in the National Football League (NFL) ...
was in it, and Robert Blake was in '' Busting'' yams' first feature I've said many times: Some people have AFI Lifetime Achievement awards; some people have multiple Oscars; my bit of trivia is that I've made films with two leading men who were subsequently tried for the first-degree murder of their wives."
Release
The film originally was scheduled to debut in the United States in February 1978, but good preview screening
A test screening, or test audience, is a preview screening of a film or television series before its general release to gauge audience reaction. Preview audiences are selected from a cross-section of the population and are usually asked to complet ...
s and delays in ''Superman
Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...
'' caused it to move to May. ''Capricorn One'' became the year's most-successful independent film
An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is film production, produced outside the Major film studios, major film studio system in addition to being produced and distributed by independ ...
.
Hyams later said:
In Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
and the UK, a version with a running time of 129 minutes was released theatrically, with additional scenes such as the docking of the spacecraft during the Mars landing, and with different cuts of detail. However, the rights company (ITC Entertainment) has since taken the position that the final version of ''Capricorn One'' is the 123-minute version currently in circulation, and that the 129-minute version no longer exists. Therefore, only the 123-minute version is currently distributed in Japan and the UK. However, in 2019, film material from the 129-minute version was discovered at the National Film Archive of Japan
The is an independent administrative institution and one of Japan's seven national museums of art which specializes in preserving and exhibiting the film heritage of Japan. In its previous incarnation, it was the National Film Center, which was pa ...
, so remaster
A remaster is a change in the sound or image quality of previously created forms of media, whether Mastering (audio), audiophonic, Cinematography, cinematic, or Videography, videographic. The resulting product is said to be remastered. The term ...
ed material was created based on this film and released as "bonus content" only on Japanese Blu-ray
Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...
, after obtaining permission from the rights company.
Reception
Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who was the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in 2000. ...
of ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' called the film "an expensive, stylistically bankrupt suspense melodrama" while describing much of its screenplay as "humorless comic-strip stuff." Conversely, Gene Siskel
Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune'' who co-hosted a movie review television series alongside colleague Roger Ebert.
Siskel started writing for the '' ...
of the ''Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...
'' gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four and called it "a surprisingly good thriller" with a runaway car sequence "that provides some of the best action footage I've seen in a long time." '' Variety'' faulted the film's "underdeveloped script" and "scattershot casting", calling the duo of Savalas and Gould "a bullseye" but Waterston and Simpson lacking in "group chemistry".
Kevin Thomas of the ''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' thought the beginning of the film was the best part, and what follows "is wildly uneven, veering between the serious and the merely silly, and ending up likely to please only the least demanding." Gary Arnold of ''The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' wrote, "''Capricorn One'' harks back to the old adventure serials, but Hyams doesn't have remotely enough wit or technique to achieve a fresh stylization of vintage formulas."
Richard Combs of ''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' stated "Somewhere within this flabby, overproduced fantasy about space-age double-dealing and Watergate-type sleuthing lives a smaller, tighter film—and a much wittier satire on the space program and technologies, like Hollywood, designed to deceive and manipulate. The trouble is that this more ideal version is not really struggling to get out but wallowing complacently in the limitless excess that has become the Lew Grade trademark."
In a retrospective review, AllMovie critic Donald Guarisco wrote: "This agreeable high-concept effort is one of Peter Hyams' most accomplished films. The script's conspiracy-theory premise requires a major suspension of disbelief, but Hyams makes it worthwhile for those willing to make that leap."
''Capricorn One'' holds a 65% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
based on 23 reviews, with an average rating of 6.2/10. The site's consensus states: "A string of questionable plot contrivances threaten to bury its story, but ''Capricorn One'' manages to unfurl an amusing, sharply cynical conspiracy yarn."
Other media
Two novelizations of the film were written and published by separate authors. The first was written by Ken Follett (under the pseudonym
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...
Bernard L. Ross) and published in the United Kingdom; the other was written by Ron Goulart and published in the United States.[Allison, 2007.]
The Follett novel is notable for giving Robert Caulfield more development than the movie does, including giving him something of a relationship with CBS reporter Judy Drinkwater (who has more time in the book than in the movie) and ending the book with him and Judy. The story saves his career and results in his being employed by CBS.
Clips from the faked Mars landing scenes have been used for illustration purposes in various Moon landing hoax conspiracy documentaries, notably the Fox TV show ''Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land on the Moon'' and Bart Sibrel's film '' A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon'' (2001). The latter also features a still shot from the hoax scene on the DVD's front cover.
In 2020–2021, ''Capricorn One'' was used as part of an internet prank. A viral video purported to be released by WikiLeaks
WikiLeaks () is a non-profit media organisation and publisher of leaked documents. It is funded by donations and media partnerships. It has published classified documents and other media provided by anonymous sources. It was founded in 2006 by ...
was uploaded to BitChute, Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
, Facebook
Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
and other social media platforms and blogs with a title: "Wikileaks releases - Moon landing cut scene - filmed in Nevada desert". In fact, WikiLeaks released no such video. Close inspection revealed this prank video to be made using clips from ''Capricorn One'' and even various film reels shot on the set of ''Capricorn One'', which were then cut and spliced with stock footage from the Apollo missions and training sessions.
See also
* Moon landing conspiracy theories
* ''Diamonds Are Forever'' (film) - "Moon buggy" scene
References
Sources
*
*
*
External links
*
*
*
*
{{Peter Hyams
1977 films
1977 thriller films
American thriller films
American space adventure films
British thriller films
British space adventure films
1970s English-language films
Films about astronauts
Films about conspiracy theories
Films about journalists
Films about NASA
Films directed by Peter Hyams
Films produced by Paul N. Lazarus III
Films with screenplays by Peter Hyams
Films scored by Jerry Goldsmith
ITC Entertainment films
Warner Bros. films
Mars in film
Moon landing conspiracy theories
Films about hoaxes
American neo-noir films
British neo-noir films
1970s American films
1970s British films
English-language thriller films