Admirable film.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The acting in this movie is really good.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

I didn't see it when it first came out because the previews make it look like a crummy movie. I finally got around to watching it 40 years later, it was even worse than I had imagined. There are really no redreaming qualities to this film. The script is thin and silly, the acting was poor all around, with dimensionless characters. The special effects were weak, and the action sequences looked like the crappy TV shows of the 70s. On top of that the science and technology were completely wrong. It's really hard to believe that so much time, energy and money went into a move with such poor execution of what could have been an interesting concept.

I'll be entirely honest straight away and open with the blunt opinion/statement that "Capricorn One" isn't a very good movie. The script is often poorly written, with abysmal dialogues and unclear sub plots being the most noticeable painful shortcomings. There are also too many overlong and tedious sequences, underdeveloped characters and a downright ridicule climactic battle-sequence featuring an antique and ramshackle crop duster versus two hi-tech governmental helicopters! But guess what? All this doesn't really matter because "Capricorn One" also has one of THE most shockingly brilliant and uncomfortably disturbing premises of all times! I'll leave in the middle what came first: writer/director Peter Hyams' ideas for this film or the existing conspiracy theories around the 1969 Apollo moon landing. It's probably the latter, but fact remains that Hyams was the courageous man who turned the hypothesis into a big Hollywood story AND even managed to engage NASA as a sponsor and technical adviser for a tale that basically banters them.I tell you, the premise is truly amazing! The moment is finally there after years of preparation and hard work. A not-so-large crowd has gathered to witness the launch of the very first manned US space mission to Mars, but literally seconds before lift-off, the three "hero"-astronauts are instructed to leave their capsule and subsequently get escorted to a secretive desert location. First they receive a long and depressing speech from NASA director James Kelloway, about how the American public - including the President - isn't interested in expensive space programs anymore and how potential failures aren't tolerated. The three astronauts (Brubaker, Willis and Walker) silently listen to their superior and immediately understand what is expected from them. They are forced to comply with the simulation of the whole prestigious mission. For months and months, they stay at the hangar where the Martian landscapes and a replica of their rocket Capricorn One have been recreated to fool the TV- networks and their wives. However, pretending to be circling around in outer space is easy, but what'll happen when the mission is about to come to an end? Meanwhile, a freelance journalist (Elliot Gould) becomes suspicious after a tip from an inside NASA collaborator. "Capricorn One" is utmost powerful and compelling for as long as it remains a tense (and talkative) conspiracy thriller. Peter Hyams exploits the surreal but simultaneously plausible premise, but his film runs into trouble as soon as story-complexities arise or when the obligatory action/thriller footage has to be delivered. The second half of the film is quite boring, even though that is clearly supposed to be the exciting half, and the whole climax is a weak & desperate attempt to enforce a "happy/truth-will-come-out" ending. Or perhaps the ending of "Capricorn One" is dumb and goofy because NASA only wants us to believe that such a large-scaled conspiracy is impossible and unrealistic! After all, yours truly isn't 100% convinced that the landing on the moon ever take place. Ha :-)

To put it politely : this is not the most sophisticated and accomplished movie ever made about space exploration, just as it is not the most sophisticated and accomplished movie ever made about propaganda, conspiracy and deception.Strangely "Capricorn One" somehow succeeds in gripping the imagination and telling a rousing, suspenseful story. I suppose that at least part of the attraction lies in an almost archetypal sense of tragedy : here we've got three men of genuine courage and accomplishment, who are manipulated and betrayed by parasites, cheats and liars. It's like seeing lions surrounded by hyenas, or hunting hounds surrounded by sewer rats.There is also a cleverly devised atmosphere of claustrophobia and paranoia.It's strange how much our culture has changed since "Capricorn One". There have always been conspiracy theorists peddling themes like "The moon landings were faked". These people used to be members of a minuscule fringe movement, viewed with a mixture of pity and ridicule. Nowadays the madmen have taken over the asylum : look up "moon landings" on the internet and you can find reams and reams and reams of text explaining, for instance, how NASA is too incompetent to operate a coffee machine, how the earth is flat, how the earth is hexagonal, how Mr. Kubrick was paid a fortune in order to forge footage, how Mr. Kennedy struck a deal with aliens, how Apollo Thirteen was Apollo Four, Five, Six-and-a-half, Nineteen or Thirty, how it's impossible to take a picture of a celestial object, how Einstein correctly predicted that no human could leave earth, and so on (and on, and on, and on). These people have grown - not only in number but also in stridency, aggression, influence and arrogance.It worries the hell out of me.

I guess it must be me, but I found that this film was boring, filled with plot holes, and weakly executed. I love sci-fi movies and the way they described this one seemed to catch my eye. I read the review on the DVD, and I was misled completely. I thought there would be a bigger storyline especially with the Mars mission, not just one or two scenes that were faked. I was also disappointed because you never knew the fate of the astronauts. On the front of the DVD box it explains that the mission was a hoax, I get that; but the murders were real. When I watched it last night, I didn't see any murders. The only mysterious thing that happened was, one of the controllers disappeared. He knew too much and he had to go, there was no more on his disappearance except that someone moved into his apartment and claimed to be living there for a year. I didn't see anything exciting about this movie, I guess I was expecting something along the lines of Outland. Outland has a totally different plot but it doesn't lack the excitement.I bought this movie at Amazon because I read the review and thought I could not go wrong. I don't see what the praise is about it? When it started I thought it was going to be good, but it quickly changed due to the rushed plot. The mission was a go, but quickly the astronauts were quickly rushed out and on a plane to a desolate Air field in the middle of Arizona. The three of them were told the mission was going to be a sham, O.K. still has potential. Then you only see two fake Mars scenes like W.T.F.. The mission take a total of some 200 some days, with only 2 scenes once they land? This is where I lose interest; and the plot is really rushed. On their return home something goes wrong and they burn up on reentry. The astronauts know what is going on while this sham is taking place and decide to escape. Once the escape they each take off in different directions. They are hunted down by military helicopters, but you don't know their fate just that their flares go off.I am really disappointed now, because of the lack of excitement. The ending is also a poorly executed one. What happens after the memorial service. I have learned my lesson on this and won't get fooled again. I will rent it before I buy it.THX, Kris L. CocKayne