Capricorn One (1977) Like many film buffs, we more or less think kindly of the up and down career of writer-director-cinematographer Peter Hyams.....(Yes, he frequently functioned as D.P. on some of his films....)
Hyams specialized in popcorn crowd-pleasers and while he rarely ever knocked one out of the park, he showed you a good enough time for a few hours.....
He had a talent for snappy, snarky dialogue, the ability to stage and edit kickass action sequences and kept his nose to the zeitgeist for plot hooks that sucked you right in to the story.
"Capricorn One" may stand as the penultimate Hyams movie, combining all his strengths welded to a hot button storyline that you can't take your eyes off of.
It's even more up-to-date and current amid today's toxic madness, since it deals with a massive, outrageous government conspiracy put across to the public with.......wait for it......drum roll, please......
.......FAKE NEWS!
This move's a QANON wet dream: A diabolic NASA director (Hall Halbrook) orchestrates a fake Mars landing to hold on to his government funding......with the unwilling help of three astronauts (James Brolin, Sam Waterston, O.J. Simpson) whose families he threatens to wipe out if they spill the beans.
Halbrook pulls off this scam-of-scams with such ruthless efficiency, he deludes the world into thinking we landed on Mars......(if this guy had been around last year, he'd have filmed fake voting machines to prove Trump won the election.....)
But hold on, in true Woodward-Bernstein style, a suspicious reporter (Elliott Gould) sniffs out the ruse, manages to avoid multiple attempts on his life and saves the day........with the unlikely help of an irascible crop dusting pilot (Telly Savalas, in a funny scene stealing third act appearance)
A little far-fetched, you say? You bet, but it won't stop you from enjoying the hell out of it. Hyams knows how to make slick nonsense move like lightning. And for icing on the cake he throws in a superb Jerry Goldsmith score to amp up the orchestral dread.
Our one and only quibble with Hyams is the same one we had with his 1981 High-Noon-In-Outer-Space thriller "Outland"....(see our post on 11/11/20 )
He blows the final moment by forgetting to give his villain the proper comeuppance.
By the time this movie reaches its final minutes, you really, really, really want to see the odious Hal Halbrook character suffer some well deserved fate........if not death, then at least give us the satisfaction of seeing this officious turd led away in handcuffs......
Hyams, unfortunately, barely remembers to even show a glimpse of Halbrook at the climax and the film ends with a sappy slo-mo shot ending in a TV show-style freeze frame. Lame in the extreme.
Frustrating indeed, but that shouldn't stop anyone from loving the other 99 & 9/10th of the film's thrills, chills, suspense and one of the most breathtaking aerial chase sequences ever committed to film.
If you haven't seen it, of thought of revisited it, BQ says it's still a fun ride,
3 & 1/2 stars (***1/2)
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