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Dom Robinson reviews

Capricorn One

Distributed by
Artisan Home Entertainment

    Cover
  • 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 funding will be cut, so since not a lot has happened since Neil Armstrong first set foot on the moon, it's time to send three all-American heroes to the red planet to see what they can see - except they won't be going. It'll all be staged to look real, but the Mars surface they'll be walking along resides in a TV studio in a disused army base.

Everything goes to plan until the real spaceship comes in for re-entry, burns up and explodes, leaving the government no alternative but to bump off the astronauts which leads to a suspense film of the highest calibre as the three men take their lives into their own hands and search for a way out in separate directions.

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 away but somewhere much closer to home. If the truth gets out, the shit will hit the 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 antsy as it looks like Brubaker's about to give the game away while supposedly floating round his tin can; the time when he has to eat a rattlesnake and the car trouble Caulfield finds himself in when he discovers someone's tampered 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 lacking throughout the film. You start to get a bit used to it as time goes on but it'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 found a bit improvement was in Gould's "tampered car" scene. The DD5.1 mix is dropped in from time to time, so don't play the film late at night because you need to turn it up to hear the dialogue and then BANG! you race for the volume 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 teaser and one trailer), Cast and Crew info for the main stars and director Hyams and four measly pages of Production Notes. Yes, it's all stuff you'll read once and forget about.

The disc contains 36 chapters which is plenty through the two hour film, but menus are static and silent and there's far from the right number of subtitled languages with just ONE and it's Spanish(!)

FILM CONTENT
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS



OVERALL

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2001.

DVDfever.co.uk - Est. February 25th 2000

As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B 37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.

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