CAPRICORN ONE

USA | 1978 | DCP | 124 min.
Director: Peter Hyams
Cast: Elliott Gould, James Brolin, Hal Holbrook
A manned mission to Mars runs into technical difficulties at takeoff, launching a conspiracy that could endanger the lives of the three astronauts involved. Muckraking reporter Robert Caufield (a grubby, hangdog Gould) tries to uncover the truth before it’s too late. Stocked with a murderer’s row of 70s character actors (Holbrook has never been flintier), Hyams’ ridiculously entertaining B-movie is a suspense thriller that expertly threads the needle between Alan Pakula-esque 70s paranoia and Hitchcock’s grand-scale entertainments (Telly Savalas in a crop-dusting biplane, anyone?). (BR)