Product Details

• Actors: Elliott Gould, James Brolin, Brenda Vaccaro, Sam Waterston, O.J. Simpson
• Directors: Peter Hyams
• Writers: Peter Hyams
• Producers: Michael I. Rachmil, Paul Lazarus III
• Format: Color, Dolby, Original recording reissued, NTSC
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Live / Artisan
• VHS Release Date: October 23, 2001
• Run Time: 123 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (103 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304126352
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #277,419 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Thanks to repeated showings on cable television and home video, this speculative thriller has built quite a loyal following since its release in 1978. The provocative "what if?" scenario still packs a punch, even if it is not always believable. James Brolin, Sam Waterston, and O.J. Simpson star as three astronauts who agree to spare the government embarrassment by faking their historic landing on Mars after their spacecraft is determined to be unsafe for blastoff. When a scheming mission controller (Hal Holbrook) plots to kill the astronauts in a staged capsule fire, the trio embarks on a dangerous mission to expose the truth. Elliott Gould costars as the journalist determined to crack the conspiracy, and director Peter Hyams turns up the tension with an exciting chase sequence involving Telly Savalas as an eccentric barnstormer who comes to Gould's aid in his attempt rescue the hoax mission's sole survivor. --Jeff Shannon

Product Description

Item Name: Capricorn One; Studio: Lions Gate

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful forgotten movie - Lousy transfer, December 3, 2003

By 

Yarby "yarby" (Medina, OH United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Capricorn One (DVD)

What a joy to see this movie again. I had forgotten how suspenseful it was, not having seen it since its theater release. Even O.J. Simpson can't ruin it. Of course, it pushes the limits of believability from time to time...but never far enough to make it unenjoyable.

Now for the bad part....this movie definitely deserves a better DVD than this. It is widescreen, but not enhanced as it should be. But worse...the picture has areas where it almost appears as if it is being projected against a dirty screen. Other areas of the movie are blurred...amplified when viewed in a large format.

I can't NOT recommend this DVD...only because it is the only one available of this film. But I sure wish someone would do the movie justice.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great trivia question to go along with escapist fun, September 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Capricorn One [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Quick, what 1970s B-movie co-stars Barbra Streisand's former and current husbands? That would be the extremely enjoyable Capricorn One. The husbands? Ex-hubby Elliot Gould and current spouse James Brolin of course.Ironically, the film centers around these two characters with journalist Gould trying to find fugitive astronaut Brolin before the government kills both of them. Hal Holbrook is up to his usual evil shenanigans as the bad guy and the always-underrated Brenda Vaccaro has some poignant scenes as Brolin's "widow" who is told her husband and two other astronauts -- O.J. Simpson and Sam Waterston -- have been killed upon re-entry to earth on a mission from Mars. It seems they never got there though because the government found a glitch in the well-publicized mission that made the trip impossible. Capricorn One is amazingly suspenseful, funny and features an enjoyable cast. The ending is appropriately uplifting and you have to love any movie where normally intense Waterston provides the comic relief as the cutup astronaut!!!!

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Yarn, July 8, 2000

By 

Winthrop J. Quiggy - See all my reviews

This review is from: Capricorn One [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Suprisingly, I saw this movie for the first time just a few short days ago, even though I was old enough to have seen it when it hit the theaters. A shame I let it go so long.

At the beginning of this movie, three astronauts (played by James Brolin, Sam Waterston, and O.J. Simpson) are pulled from a space flight destined for Mars. There was something wrong with the life-support system. The director of the space program (Hal Holbrook) says that they can't afford for the flight to be cancelled, so the three astronauts are coerced through threats to go through with a fake landing filmed on a closed base.

A reporter (Elliot Gould) talks with a friend (Robert Walden) who claims there is something mysterious going on with the flight. Immediately after this revelation, the friend disappears with no trace of him having ever existed. The reorter begins a quest to find out what is going on.

Meanwhile, the now unmanned spaceship burns up on re-entry. This means that except for the three astronauts and few head people in the space program, everyone else thinks they're all dead. This leads to the exciting last half of the movie.

A similar conspiracy theory (held mostly by extreme nutcases) revolves around our own moon shots, but this movie makes the plot an extremely good way to pass a couple of hours.