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Marooned (1969)

 
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 04, 2015 2:35 pm    Post subject: Marooned (1969) Reply with quote




Big-name stars in a big-budget movie about a manned orbiting capsule whose engines fail to fire when the astronauts try to make re-entry.





Richard Crenna, Gene Hackman, and James Franciscus are the three astronauts who face the fearful prospect of dying in space. Gregory Peck is the mission control commander forced to make the tough life-and-death decisions.





Nancy Kovack ("Jason and the Argonauts"), Lee Grant, and Mariette Hartley are the three attractive wives who might soon be widows.





The ending promotes American-Russian cooperation. The special effects won an Oscar. If you bear in mind that this is drama first and science fiction second, you'll enjoy it. Directed by John Sturges from a screenplay by Mayo Simmons.



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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
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Last edited by Bud Brewster on Wed Aug 03, 2022 4:01 pm; edited 8 times in total
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Robert (Butch) Day
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 04, 2015 4:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Marooned didn't do too well at the box office during its first week or so.

Then the Apollo XIII near disaster happened and the studio changed their marketing and Marooned became a blockbuster!

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 23, 2016 5:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

I've seen this movie a few times from time to time, and it and it has always impressed me. The FX run hot-and-cold, but the story does fine job of showing what NASA did when Apollo 13 radioed Houston that they had a problem.

The movie manages to praise the nobility of the American space program and rekindle my love for that golden age when this nation wanted to boldly go where no man had gone before.

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 24, 2016 1:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

What should be remembered is that this film showed at the same time as Apollo 13 was happening.

I remember seeing it and listening to the news about 13 on the car radio on the way home.

All and all though, I think this was a well done film for the genre and still holds up as an interesting artifact of it's time.
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Pow
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 26, 2016 2:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Cannot still believe that this movie won the Academy Award fir Best Special Effects over the superior Krakatoa, East of Java.

But I did enjoy Marooned.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2017 12:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Two interesting trivia items from IMDB.
________________________________

Final film of Nancy Kovack.

Note from me: That's unfortunate.






Frank Capra began work on the film. Inspired by his work on the Martin-Marietta Corp.-commissioned faux documentary, "Rendezvous in Space" for the 1964 World's Fair in New York, Capra (a chemical engineer by education) worked to make the picture for Columbia, but finally abandoned the project in preproduction in May 1966 when he couldn't bring the budget down to the $3-million required by Columbia worldwide production chief M.J. Frankovich.

The eventual budget for the finished film (directed by John Sturges) was $8 million. Capra never made another film.


Note from me: Here's the aforementioned documentary, but I recommend you dial down your expectations. Sad
________________________________


____________________ Rendezvous in Space


__________

_________________
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Bogmeister
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 10, 2019 12:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

____________


co-starring LEE GRANT - NANCY KOVACK - MARIETTE HARTLEY as the wives and SCOTT BRADY



I have a Laserdisc from the nineties on this one, in widescreen. From what I can tell, this one did strive to be accurate. It's been said that it has an almost documentary-style feel to it. Obviously, it came out in the same year as the actual moon landing (though this story takes place in Earth orbit).

At one point, at about the three-quarters mark, Peck's character makes a somewhat inspiring speech about how the moon is only the first step and mankind will continue in this direction, colonizing other planets. Back then, it seems everyone took for granted that Mars was next, probably to be stepped on by men in another decade or two. Crenna's character states he will be too old by then.

Things have not gone in that direction in the real world.



The film is a bit on the dull side. It's big budget and impressive for its time, with a great, first-rate cast, but I think the effort to be realistic and emulate some scenes from 2001: A Space Odyssey worked against it.

Many scenes lack a needed energy, as if the actors were all tired or something. And that fatigue figures into the plot. The 3 stranded astronauts are running out of air and spend much of the film slowly withering away.

Even the ground crew, led by Peck & Janssen (who pilots a special rescue ship later), comes across as worn out. Still, if you're a fan of watching astronauts doing their thing above the atmosphere (as many on this site are), you'll be enamored of at least a few scenes.



Some of the later scenes do have tension and drama. One of the astronauts decides to sort of attempt repairs outside the orbiting capsule, and then one of the wives has a tense talk on the phone with Peck.

Peck is something of an automaton in the first two-thirds of the film, all slide rules and equations, and Janssen gets royally annoyed with him at one point — that's the extent of the dramatics.

Things look really bleak as a hurricane hits just as a planned rescue ship is to take off and the launch is aborted. But, moments later, a possible ace in the hole is noted. The whole thing ends a bit abruptly after a ponderous two hours

BoG's Score: 6 out of 10





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Pow
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 07, 2019 3:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

James Franciscus would play another astronaut in "Beneath the Planet of the Apes, ''the sequel to "Planet of the Apes.''

He didn't make out too well in that one.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 23, 2021 6:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

IMDB has several interesting trivia items for this production. Very Happy
________________________________

~ At the launch of the rescue craft during a hurricane, the Cape Canaveral press corps is portrayed by the reporters themselves, though they are virtually unrecognizable in rain slickers and other gear. (As related by Sue Butler Hannifin then a space reporter at the Cape.)

Note from me: I like the idea that reporters were casts as the reports . . . but I'll bet they didn't enjoy shooting their scenes in the rain! Sad

~ In the original novel, it was the Jim Pruett character who is Marooned in a Mercury capsule who is rescued by the Ted Dougherty character in a modified Gemini capsule.

Note from me: I like the way the studio changed this to three astronauys marooned in space, and the Russians rescuing them.

~ According to Casey Kasem on the American Top 40 top 100 countdown for 1984 (aired the weekend of 12-29-1984), this movie provided the idea for the #97 song of the year, Peter Schilling's "Major Tom (Coming Home)".

Note from me: I kind of like that song, despite it being sort of gloomy and despressing. Rocket Man has gloomy lyrics too, but not quite like this one, and the orchestration is so good that it's actually an uplifting song. Very Happy

Here it is on YouTube, with a wonderful slide show of NASA images!


_______________ Ground Control to Major Tom


__________


I included Rocket Man below for anyone who'd like to enjoy both songs. Very Happy

____ Elton John - Rocket Man (Official Music Video


__________



~ Near the end of the second retro fire procedure, Buzz calls out "Ullage!".

Ullage is the empty space in a partially-full propellant tank, and in zero-g, that empty space could be anywhere within the tank. In order to move propellant "back" to the main engine inlet, slight forward acceleration must be applied before the main engine is fired.

The ullage command is a terse way of saying "fire the reaction control thrusters to give forward acceleration to push the main engine propellant back into position."


Note from me: Wow! This trivia item gave me a better appreciation for how tough it is for astronauts to complete their space missions!

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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