Capricorn One (1977): When O.J. Simpson Played an Astronaut

Read this review to find out if Capricorn One (1977) is worth watching. NFL player O.J. Simpson, whose murder trial captivated the country, passed away at age 76 from cancer last week.  While he had a long career in sports he also had a career as a pitchman for Hertz and appeared in many movies and television shows. So I thought this would be a good time to watch the 1970s science fiction movie Capricorn One. 

I watched it as a kid and enjoyed it. Would it hold up to the test of time? Let’s find out.

About Capricorn One (1977)

• Written and Directed by Peter Hyams
• Synopsis: It was supposed to be the crowning moment in the history of space travel. But when the first manned flight to Mars is deemed unsafe and scrubbed on the launch pad, anxious authorities must scramble to save face and retain their funding – and so an unthinkable plot to fake the mission is hatched. Only an intrepid journalist stands in the way of the cover-up, but the powers that be will stop at nothing to keep their secret from going public
• Release date: December 07, 1979
• Starring: Elliott Gould, James Brolin, Brenda Vaccaro, Sam Waterston, O.J. Simpson, Hal Holbrook, Karen Black, Telly Savalas, David Huddleston, David Doyle, Lee Bryant,
  Denise Nicholas

If you want to avoid spoilers for this movie skip to the overall section at the end.

Warning: Spoilers for Capricorn One 

Recap Capricorn One (1977)

The movie opens on the launch pad of Capricorn One, the first manned expedition to Mars. Astronauts John Walker (O.J. Simpson), Peter Willis (Sam Waterston), and Charles Brubaker (James Brolin) are abruptly taken out of the spaceship right before takeoff. No one notices the astronauts being rushed in a van and flown by helicopter off the base. They are sent to a deserted military facility, where they become confused. Meanwhile, the television audience is not informed that the spaceship is empty while the launch goes according to plan.

Dr. James Kelloway (Hal Holbrook), a NASA representative at the facility, tells the astronauts that they would have been killed in flight due to a malfunctioning life support system. He tells them they need to help fabricate the television footage of the journey to and from Mars. Otherwise, NASA would lose millions of dollars in funding and commercial companies would lose millions on another botched space mission. It makes sense until you realize the smarter option would have been to call out the bad contractor, find another one, and move on.

In an attempt to coerce their cooperation, he threatens their families. At this point, the movie hinges on the belief that NASA is an all-powerful federal organization with vast resources. It’s a stretch but let’s go with it.

The astronauts are kept inside a temporary TV studio at the base and held captive during the voyage giving the impression that they are being filmed live after landing on Mars. Few authorities at the command center are aware of the plot until a watchful technician, notices that ground control hears the crew’s television communications before the arrival of spacecraft telemetry. He estimates it’s coming from 300 miles away instead of 190 million miles from Mars. Whitter informs Kelloway and his other bosses about this, but they tell him the problem is with the workstation. Whitter discusses his worries with his buddy Robert Caulfield (Elliott Gould), a newspaper journalist.  Whitter abruptly disappears, and the next day, when Caulfield visits Whitter’s apartment, he finds that Whitter’s life has been completely erased and that someone else is living there. While Caulfield is driving back he realizes his brakes have been cut and there’s a dramatic scene as he drives off a bridge.

After months of successful space missions, the astronauts return to Earth. However, due to a malfunctioning heat shield, their spaceship burns up during atmospheric reentry and crashes, apparently killing any astronauts that were inside. The surviving astronauts realize the truth about what happened. They fear that officials will have to kill them to keep the accident under wraps. To escape, they flee on a small plane that runs out of fuel quickly, forcing them to make a crash landing in the desert. To increase their chances of survival and uncovering the conspiracy, they decide to separate and go on foot. This is the best moment in the film as each has to deal with the heat, thirst, and hunger of the desert. Brubaker has the most dramatic scene as he runs into a snake and a scorpion. He’s forced to eat the rattlesnake “Fear Factor” style and he sells it. Willis climbs a huge mountain passing the time telling jokes to himself but he’s caught and killed. Walker is also dying of thirst but gets found and killed.

Caulfield watches a broadcast exchange between the astronauts and their wives before interviewing Brubaker’s “widow”. Mrs. Kay Brubaker (Brenda Vaccaro) appeared perplexed when her spouse brought up their most recent family getaway. She tells Caulfield that her husband found it fascinating how technology and special effects gave the Western they watched a realistic appearance. Here’s where the movie starts piling up plot holes. 

For some reason Caulfield figures out this is a clue that the Mars landing is fake. As he gets home Federal agents break into his home and they arrest him for having cocaine. Of course, they planted the drug there. After saving Caulfield, his irate boss fires him.

Caulfield learns of an abandoned military outpost 300 miles (480 km) from Houston from a friend who works as a reporter. This is supposed to be a top-secret military base but there’s not a single guard to keep the reporter from walking right onto the Mars set. Brubaker’s medallion and necklace are found by the intrepid reporter, who deduces the astronauts were present even though the base is abandoned. Albain (Telly Savalas), a pilot for a crop-dusting company, is hired by Caulfield to search the desert. Savalas’ cameo is beyond hilarious. They could have made an Odd Couple-style spin-off of him with Caufield and it would have been even funnier. The two locate and pursue two helicopters to Brubaker’s hiding place, a secluded, remote gas station. When Bru tries to flee his assailants, the cropduster comes to his aid just in time. After Albain uses crop spray to blind them, the helicopters crash while pursuing their plane across a gorge.

Here’s where the biggest problem comes in as they imply the dogfight in the desert is minutes from the cemetery. After Caulfield and Brubaker finally make it to the astronauts’ memorial service, Kelloway and Brubaker’s wife witness them, and the truth is revealed via live network TV coverage. The two go running towards the camera in slow-motion and the movie ends.

Overall: Watch Capricorn One (1979)

The movie was heavily influenced by the political climate in the United States. In 1972, the Watergate scandal had significantly eroded trust in the government. Fast forward to May 14, 1973, the first space station built in the United States, called Skylab, which was also the first crewed research laboratory in orbit, was launched.

However, in 1970, Apollo 13- a spacecraft carrying three crew members- was launched from Kennedy Space Center to land on the moon. Unfortunately, Apollo 13 was severely damaged by an explosion in an oxygen tank. It never reached the moon and barely made it back to Earth. Then, in 1976, Bill Kaysing self-published the book We Never Went to the Moon: America’s Thirty Billion Dollar Swindle. This book helped push the Moon-landing conspiracy into the mainstream. By this time a movie about a fake Mars landing and a government conspiracy is ready for US audiences.

Overall, the movie is fun. While the conspiracy is silly, it takes itself seriously and builds tension. Mainly this is thanks to the wonderful score by Jerry Goldsmith (Logan’s Run, Planet of the Apes, Total Recall) and cinematographer Bill Butler’s (Jaws, Rocky, Child’s Play) stunning camera work. Peter Hyams (Outland, 2010: The Year We Make Contact, TimeCop) does a decent job directing although the dialogue and plot could be better.

By the way, many say the movie opened in 1977. But the US release was in December of 1979.

One of my biggest complaints is that the three leads have no chemistry. It’s hard to believe they’re all good friends. But the plot moves quickly and builds to a dramatic conclusion. The third act is full of action even though the final act is anti-climactic. It’s not Citizen Kane but it delivers. O.J. Simpson is in the movie but he does nothing. He has a few lines and a “dramatic” scene in the desert but a floor lamp could have played Walker. The director wanted Robert Hooks or Bernie Casey but the studio insisted on casting Simpson. The 31-year-old actor had just cameoed in the Roots mini-series and starred in the police drama TV movie A Killing Affair. So I guess this seemed like a good time to capitalize on his rising fame.

It was the successful independent film of that year and deserves to be remembered as a fun, silly goofy movie. Plus, it has O.J. Simpson.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Overall: Buy Capricorn One (1979) written and directed by Peter Hyams at Amazon and all fine retailers

What do you think of the movie? How do think O.J. Simpson was as an actor?

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