Customer Reviews

Hangar 18 [VHS]

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The Utah-based Schick Sunn Pictures corporation, known for churning out highly speculative documentaries, turns to science fiction for this interesting conspiracy sci-fi drama. The question: What would the U.S. government do if it suddenly had an alien spacecraft in its possession?

Two shuttle astronauts (Gary Collins, James Hampton) are in the process of launching a military satellite from the shuttle, when they encounter a UFO in orbit. When the satellite is launched, it hits the UFO with explosive results, killing a third man who was inside the shuttle's cargo bay watching the satellite's progress. The UFO, however, makes a controlled landing in the Arizona desert.

When they get back on the ground, Collins and Hampton soon find themselves the target of charges that the incident in orbit was their fault, and are forced to clear their names by finding the right evidence, all the while being tracked by government agents. Meanwhile, a team of scientists, led by Darren McGavin, are ensconsed at Hangar 18, located on the grounds of an Air Force base in Texas, trying to learn everything possible about the UFO and its occupants...whose appearances bear an all-too-uncanny resemblance to humans.

Thought I dock this film one star because its special effects aren't exactly up to snuff (a lowered budget is the reason), HANGAR 18 is otherwise a very good film. In basic terms, it combines a Watergate-style political scenario with elements from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, and Steven Spielberg's CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND. This is not to say that HANGAR 18 is a masterpiece like those two films are. But the combination of such elements manages to work in a fairly narrow framework. The cast is also quite good, with McGavin giving one of his most memorable and stimulating performances. Robert Vaughn is equally good as the President's devious chief-of-staff, who concots the cover-up to get his boss re-elected.

To sum it up, HANGAR 18 is a somewhat imperfect movie, but it still holds up well despite its flaws.

I remember when this classic movie came out in 1980. I really enjoyed seeing the previews and what the film was all about. Surprisingly, my parents took me to see the film, and all of us really enjoyed this science fiction/conspiracy thriller classic. All of us even jumped when that alien environment suit popped out of the UFO's closet by accident. Nevertheless, the movie was in a way like an earlier version of The X-Files. Only just as better and more exciting than the series that would come some 13 years later.

Hanger 18 tells the story of how a satellite, launched by a NASA space shuttle/orbiter, collides with an Unidentified Flying Object, causing the death of an American astronaut in the process. When the UFO crashes on Earth, the U.S. Air Force and NASA recover it, and take it to a manned lunar receiving station in Texas. There, they uncover some hidden secrets that soon take the scientists by surprise. And makes the Government nervous. At the same time, two of the shuttle astronauts who witnessed the incident in space, are "blamed" for the other astronaut's death, and try to clear up the situation, by hunting for the UFO. The government tries to prevent the two from locating the UFO, but to little or no avail. That situation leads to something even more drastic made by the CIA and The Department Of Defense.

Like the classic film Capricorn One, Hanger 18 does a remarkable job of playing on the government conspiracy angle, and at the same time, deals with the ancient astronaut theory. The subplot involving the two astronauts trying to clear their names is also good, as is the storyline about the scientists trying to unlock whatever secrets are in the flying saucer.

And it also had a wonderful cats of veterans. Darren McGavin, Gary Collins, James Hampton, Pamela Bellwood, Robert Vaughn, William Schallert, Joseph Campenella, and Bill Zuckert among others. Though one wishes that James Brolin, Roy Thinnes, or Tom Berenger had been in the role played by Collins. Collins did a good job, however, if I had been the casting director, I would have picked one of those three.

Overall, a very good and entertaining film. One of the best in the hall of science fiction. If you enjoy watching the X-Files and other films about flying saucers, then you will definately enjoy this film.

this little thriller(from sunn classic studio) is a great little movie that can also be watched by your kids.
while on a mission to launch something into orbit,a space shuttle sees a ufo.when the object is launched it hits the ufo and sends it crashing to earth and kills the man outside the shuttle.
to cover up, the pilot,and co-pilot are blamed for the death and a team is sent to find and study the ship.
this is low-buget but the action and drama to come are all well handled and this is a fun and thought provokeing thriller.

I first saw Hanger 18 when it played on network television years ago. I never forgot it and through the miracle of Amazon.com I was able to get it, at the time, on VHS. This is one of the best dramatic and seriously acted presentations of several reportedly real UFO stories: Roswell, Wright-Patterson AFB, etc. In this historical-fiction account, the true life stories have been somewhat conflated to produce a composite of all of them. The film shows its age in terms of the quality, the special effects, etc, but that notwithstanding, it is still an excellent production and well worth getting.

... what our government would do if it suddenly had possession of an alien spacecraft.

For a low budget film, this is actually a fairly good movie. No special effects here, just a mysterious craft which the politicians are trying to hide. The plot is captivating if somewhat, at times, trite.

Darren McGaven turns in a fine performance as NASA's Harry Forbes ... in charge of the research team exploring the craft. Ditto for Andrew Bloch as Neal Kelso and Steven Keats as Paul Bannister. The team unwinds the secrets of the space ship and the death of the aliens on board and makes a startling discovery.

Where the film falls short is with the two 'astronauts' Steve Bancroft and Lew Price. Their part in the story is to find out why they are being set up to take the fall for the death of a third astronaut, an Air Force colonel who is decapitated by wreakage from a satilite they launch inadvertently striking the alien ship. James Hampton is a little chubby and goofy for an astronaut (Lew Price) and Gary Collins (Steve Bancroft) a little too mechanical. The casting team might have done a somewhat better and vastly improved the film.

Still, in spite of its shortcomings, this is one of those 'sleeper films' which somehow captures the imagination of the viewer. Definately worth having in your film library if you like space yarns ... and you'll love the ending.

--Recommended--

~P~

I watched this movie long time ago when I was teen and at that time I really loved it. I am big fan of sci-fi movies. I was and I still and this is why I bought it now. I did not expect perfect quality. I doubt it is possible to find a copy of this movie with descent quality. But after watching it I realized I still love this movie. I am really surprised how it is possible to make such nice FX almost 30 years ago and I love main idea of this flick.

If you like sci-fi and watched this movie long time ago I would recommend to buy and watch it again. Otherwise you probably will not understand my excitement.

p.s. I still want to watch again Capricorn One movie.

There's not much I can say about the overall plot of this movie that hasn't already been said by other helpful reviewers - shuttle astronauts accidentally collide a launched satellite with a UFO, the UFO and its occupants land in the desert, are recovered and hidden, and the death of a fellow astronaut during the collision is blamed on the shuttle crew, who must clear their names and uncover the truth.

I do have to agree that the casting seems just a bit off in some cases - Gary Collins as an astronaut? Some casting decisions were spot-on, though, such as Robert Vaughn, who seems to have been born to play a politician/bad guy in one production after another. [Fans of Vaughn and semi-cheesy early 80's sci-fi should also check out his role as the mercenary assassin Gelt in "Battle Beyond The Stars."]

The effects in this film aren't the greatest, but they're generally secondary to the story anyway. They probably could have done without the "let's-blow-up-a-tanker-truck" chase scene, though, which doesn't seem to do much more than strain the credibility of the plot. Gary Collins is an astronaut AND an expert big-rig driver?

I also have some minor complaints about the design of the UFO - it looks like a flying industrial refrigeration unit and would have been about as aerodynamic as a brick wall - but that was just the production designer and the props department at work, and who can really say what a real alien spacecraft should look like anyway? Not me, but personally, I would have gone for a more classic "UFO" look. Instead of little green men, though, we have tall pale men who look surpringly human, and for good reason. Watch the movie and find out why.

One of the aspects of this movie that fascinates me the most is the aliens' language. Although we only hear it being synthesized by a computer aboard the UFO [and sounding very much like a Cylon from the original "Battlestar Galactica" series], it's still interesting, and the more you hear it, perhaps not all that alien after all.

Overall... An entertaining and thought-provoking film marred a bit by some weak casting and a few rather unlikely plot twists. Fans of "The X-Files" should indeed like this film, and it may even have served as a bit of an inspiration for that series. Just remember that it's an old film and the art of special effects has advanced quite a bit in the past 25 years. Even its contemporaries such as "Star Wars" and "Close Encounters Of The Third Kind" had better effects, but then they were also made on much larger budgets.

I have an old VHS copy at the moment; I can't comment on the DVD release yet.

I love this movie its a must see. the starteling truth behind this could be so scary. I was a little girl when this movie was made in my home town. I remember getting to stay up and watch them film this movie. my father was an extra in this movie too. I always loved this movie and now that i am an adult i still love this movie

UFOs, ancient astronauts, government conspiracies - this movie has it all. Who knew a film starring Gary Collins could be so darn entertaining? Actually, there are a lot of familiar faces in this underrated 1980 science fiction thriller, including Robert Vaughn, Darren McGavin, Joseph Campanella, and Dynasty's Pamela Bellwood. They are all working with a fantastic script that weaves science fiction, politics, and conspiracy together into a seamless and surprisingly compelling story. Unless there was absolutely no marketing for this film, it is hard to see how Hangar 18 flopped so badly at the box office, especially since it seems tailor-made for its 1980 audience.

The film opens in space, where we witness the space shuttle launch a new defense satellite that is destroyed in a collision with a UFO. One astronaut is killed, but the shuttle lands safely - while the UFO crashes to Earth. Astronauts Steve Bancroft (Gary Collins) and Lew Price (James Hampton) are in for a nasty surprise, though, when they find themselves blamed for the death of their crewmate. With their NASA boss nowhere to be found and the exculpatory telemetry from the space mission doctored to remove any evidence of the UFO, they head out on a quest to prove their innocence - and that means finding proof of the crashed UFO. That's complicated by the fact that the military and NASA jumped on the downed UFO like white on rice and secreted it away in a top-secret military hangar. Unfortunately for Bancroft and Price, the closer they get to the truth, the more they are seen as liabilities by those running the show. Why would the feds turn on two American heroes and hide the truth of the crashed saucer? We all know how the government likes to keep its secrets, particularly those of the black ops variety, but something even more insidious than that is going on here. The next election is just two weeks away, and the President is running neck-and-neck with his challenger. The last thing the President's team wants is for rumors of a UFO to start surfacing. The White House, with the complicity of the Department of Defense, will do anything to keep the story under wraps until after the election - and I do mean anything.

Hangar 18 plays well on no less than three fronts. Along with the escalating government conspiracy and our astronaut heroes' desperate fight to survive long enough to prove their innocence, there is the scientific investigation of the mysterious craft and its alien inhabitants. The filmmakers tie this in with the idea of ancient astronauts beautifully, in a manner which allows them to quickly uncover some mind-blowing secrets of both the past and the future. Clearly, though, it's the conspiracy that forges the strongest connection between the film and its audience. In the wake of the assassinations of the 1960s, the Vietnam Conflict, and Watergate, a majority of Americans no longer trusted the federal government and its leaders. Those with an interest in the burgeoning UFO movement had even less reason to believe the government's stories. Thus, a conspiracy that might have been seen as outlandish just two decades earlier should have played wonderfully to a 1980 audience, especially with the likes of Robert Vaughn running the politically tainted show.

Of course, the idea of a government conspiracy to hide the truth is far from shocking to an audience of today. The only thing that would surprise most of us is for the government to actually tell the truth about something for once. That doesn't make Hangar 18 any less compelling, though. In the same vein, the primitive nature of the computers and scientific tools used to penetrate the mystery of the film's UFO takes nothing away from the scientific and science-fiction aspects of the film. Thanks to a masterful script and plenty of really good acting, this film is a science fiction/government conspiracy gem that should continue impressing audiences well into the future.

This is on my family's top 10 list of movies that are so bad that their good. The low rent actors, acting, and particularly the cheesy effects make it a fun ride every time. The scene where the two aliens are first revealed never fails to have one of the family break out in a loud "NYUK NYUK NYUK!" (if you have seen the film you know what I mean...:)