I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

One of the most annoying aspects of this poorly produced "documentary" is its abysmal editing. Aside from the utter lack of chronological presentation (showing a shuttle orbiter test flight before the Apollo 11 splashdown is more than a bit confusing), there seems to be a lack of knowledge that the Apollo and Gemini programs were not the same, and that maybe they shouldn't intercut video of the slender black Gemini capsule with that of the much larger Apollo command module. The near total absence of narration does not help this problem in the least. Also, who decided that the only footage of astronauts to be shown would be people just dicking around on the surface of the moon, or playing catch and spinning around inside Skylab? What about science? The narrator mentions that we spent two billion dollars on the Skylab project, apparently because it was a neat idea. There is never any mention of the purpose of these various NASA programs, and never a mention of Gemini, despite the program's capsules appearing as stand-ins for the Apollo CM from time to time.As pointed out earlier they do mention the shuttle. However, they also include this line during it's brief segment. "While testing, it was launched from the back of a 747 to service Skylab and return safely to the earth." There are two major issues with that statement. Let's begin with the "launched from the back of a 747" part. While technically a launch, the orbiter pictured in the video is the 'Enterprise' "Approach and landing Test" vehicle. (i.e. it was never intended, or structurally capable of enduring the forces present in either a real launch or re-entry). That, and the orbiter cannot be launched into space from a 747, especially when it lacks the necessary rocket engines. The bit about servicing Skylab was apparently an idea at NASA, but due to Skylab's reentry and destruction in the upper atmosphere in July, 1979, this would be impossible. Considering this films release date, you would think they should have known this.The entire movie is just one huge example of how little the producers actually knew about NASA. It's as if they took a bunch of NASA stock footage, set it to an intrusively loud, overbearing, inappropriate soundtrack, added some inane comments about what food the Apollo-Soyuz astronauts/cosmonauts ate during their mission and released it to frolic with all the factually incorrect school textbooks floating around the country. There are really too many errors and omissions in the seemingly random mix of footage to note here, or probably for me to notice. But I assure you, if I did not know better I would be dumber for having seen this pathetic presentation about my country's space program.

It's clear that some liberties have been taken with authenticity in parts - e.g. near the end there's beautiful collage of space images which, from that time, could only have been highly informed artistic renderings. But with a 75 minute film possessing a title "The Space Movie" you get exactly what you would expect - an overview of some aspects of space. Tony Palmer gives us a romantic, informative and highly rewatchable account of the USA's 1969 Apollo 11 mission.It's full of passion and spectacle and the dramatic impact of Mike Oldfield's music is about the most complementary soundtrack work I've heard anywhere - including 2001 A Space Oddysey.I've watched my VHS of The Space Movie dozens of times in the last 20 years. And in the quarter century since it was made, this film has particular relevance in recording how we felt about the potential for space exploration - before NASA budget cuts, system failures and great tragedy made it quite clear that we're Earth-bound creatures.I also praise the excellent and uncredited narrator - whom I must assume to be Ed Bishop (of "UFO" fame as Cmmdr Straker).

This movie was really nicely done. It uses NASA footage in such a way, that has never been done again. Along with the soundtrack and brief audio bytes, it lets you travel all the way from the sewing of the space suites to the moon and back... WOW! The sequence with the crawler was fantastic! If you can get a hold of this one, WATCH IT!!! I am fortunate to have a third (maybe) fourth generation copy of it in my VHS library. It's time for a Re-Release!!!

The word, "supernal," is one of those very rare and specialwords that one saves up to use only for describing somethingtruly wondrous. This film, with its spectacular scenes and itshaunting music is one of life's greatest treats. If you everget the chance to see it, don't miss it! And if you ever learnhow a VHS video of it may be obtained... PLEASE tell ME!