Thanks for the memories!

Purely Joyful Movie!

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

This movie is based on the novel written by Martin Caidin who also wrote Cyborg, the basis of the 6 Million Dollar Man. It did receive an Oscar for special effects and the John Sturges film does have great special effects. At 2 hour and 15 minutes it does drag a bit.When you rate the cast, this was an A-List with Gregory Peck, David Janssen, Richard Crenna, James Franciscus, & Gene Hackman heading up the list. Even the limited role of weeping/tense wives is headed up by Lee Grant, Mariette Hartley,and Nancy Kovack. Grant now over 90, won an Oscar but not for this one.So with a cast like this and a decent sci-fi novel to base it on, why isn't this 2001? For some reason, it just does not come off too well as it did not capture the audience the way 2001 did a year prior. It is not that shabby a movie.The plot is a 5 month mission to the US space station ends and when the crew of 3 unhooks from the station their retro rocket burn to come back does not fire. David Janssen becomes the first to pilot a space shuttle, 12 years before the first US Shuttle actually launched in 1981.What seems flawed in this is instead of a lot of dead space, more attention should have been paid to the preparing of a rescue launch in 40 hours. A hurricane comes in to screw up the launch of the rescue as well. Still there is a nice gesture of détente here with the USSR getting a rescue vehicle there just before the US Shuttle flying without computers according to the script.While the film creates urgency, it fail to pull in the audience though the visual work is splendid. The film really makes the astronauts wives one dimensional which is a lost opportunity of such talented women.One thing that breaks out of the mold is one of the three dies just before any rescue folks show up. The lack of any home feeling and fleshing out of some of the men as well is why it does not pull anything in. Even a guest cameo by Hal the Computer could have helped. While it could have been better, at least the ending of the film is quick with just barely enough information to know who was rescued and the inside of Janssen's Space Shuttle is only an image of the pilots area. Think the budget must have been a little short there.

Gee, I'm really sorry this movie seemed "slow" to some viewers, who were probably holding a remote. This is NOT a "TV" movie; it is a theater movie, and a big screen theater at that. So all those who "commented" on it but only saw it on a TV in a pan-and-scan version, I have news for you - you didn't see the real movie. Sorry, dudes..As for MAROONED, it was a valiant and mostly factual attempt to tell the story about marooned astronauts back when they were world superstars and EVERYONE knew their names, unlike now. On top of that, there had not only been a successful moon landing just before the release of the film but after that there was an ACTUAL "Marooned" with Apollo 13 - and the studio rereleased the film to more acclaim. So not to beat up on anyone, but the second contextual point is "You had to be there." And a lot of you obviously weren't.The acting performances are uniformly excellent, from Gregory Peck giving a typically "I'm there" stint to the actresses who do more than just back up their husbands. There is even a glint of the kind of showboating we now take as normal during the event.Prescient, really. The striving for a solution to the problem is done first scientifically and then in the style of the Old America: we'll try the best way we can with the best person for the job, danger notwithstanding. And I would add that this is the very last movie I saw in a theater where when the solution to the problem was found, the audience (who had been dead silent for at least ten minutes) burst into spontaneous applause and cheering. Seen that lately in a theater or in your living room? Didn't think so.So, again, probably the finest fact-based movie on space faring in its time; unfortunately since then the notoriety of astronauts has disappeared, the romance and bravura of space travel as well, and as such a movie like this probably seems hokey to new viewers. Then again,some people think early Picassos are just scribbles..

This creepingly slow space drama was mainly conceived, I'd posit, as a showcase for the acting talents of the four leads: we're treated to Hackman, Crenna and Franciscus playing the astronaut trio trapped in space, and Peck as the no-nonsense controller back on the ground whose attempts to return them to Earth make up the bulk of the running time.Sadly, 'bulk' is right when it comes to this movie: it's way overlong, with much of the length consisting of repetitive dialogue sequences or scenes which add little to the narrative. In some cases, it actually feels quite stodgy, especially during the lengthy mid section. I was often looking at the clock and wondering how much more of this I could sit through.Invariably, the special effects are quite dated and often look laughable in this day and age. Yet despite these detractions, the film does have a special kind of timeliness to it (considering the year it was made) which adds significance to the production. And I'll admit that things do get quite thrilling in the last half hour, when we're treated to the kind of suspense that should have been present all the way through.The actors are the main reason to tune in these days: it's hard to fault any of them, but I think Crenna gives the best performance of the lot as a compassionate family man. Hackman is almost unrecognisable in comparison to the later tough, mannered character actor he became, and as always Franciscus seems to me to be underrated. Peck is very good too, but then that's a given.

for whatever reason,Marooned just didn't do a heck of a lot for me.i found it a b it too slow going,and too melodramatic at times.that's not to say it's a poorly made film.on the contrary,it's well done for the most part.the acting is believable from all involved.and the premise is one that should be gripping:three astronauts end up stuck in space,while their oxygen runs low.but for some reason it failed too engage me on a more than moderate level.the only thing i can think of is the dialogue,which was sometimes a bit hokey,in my opinion.still,this is just one person's opinion.but for me,Marooned is a 4/10