Capricorn One (1977)

A great sci-fi political thriller reflecting the increasingly prevalent cynicism of the 1970s through to the present day

Directed by Peter Hyams
Written by Peter Hyams
Produced by Paul N. Lazarus III
Cinematography: Bill Butler
Edited by James Mitchell
Music by Jerry Goldsmith
Production company: ITC Entertainment
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Running time: 124 minutes
Budget: $5 million (approx.)
Box office: $12 million (US and Canada rental)

Cast

Elliott Gould as Robert Caulfield
James Brolin as Charles Brubaker
Brenda Vaccaro as Kay Brubaker
Sam Waterston as Peter Willis
O. J. Simpson as John Walker
Hal Holbrook as Dr. James Kelloway
Karen Black as Judy Drinkwater
Telly Savalas as Albain
David Huddleston as Hollis Peaker
David Doyle as Walter Loughlin
Lee Bryant as Sharon Willis
Denise Nicholas as Betty Walker
Robert Walden as Elliot Whitter
Alan Fudge as Capsule Communicator

Trailer

“Capricorn One,” NASA's first manned mission to Mars.

Seconds before the launch, the crew is pulled from the capsule!

The rocket leaves earth unmanned!

The life support system is faulty!

NASA fears the publicity of a scratched mission!

An unthinkable plot is hatched!

An investigative reporter puts pieces together of an unthinkable mystery involving..

Humanity’s greatest achievement

OR

Its greatest....

Hoax?

Read on for more.....

The Andromeda Strain (1971)

This sci-fi thriller cleverly builds tension throughout a well-structured plot. It contains wonderful set designs and the actors deliver intelligent and credible performances. A film that stands the test of time.

Directed by Robert Wise
Screenplay by Nelson Gidding
Story by Nelson Gidding, Robert Wise
Based on The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton
Produced by Robert Wise
Cinematography: Richard H. Kline
Edited by Stuart Gilmore, John W. Holmes
Music by Gil Mellé
Production company: Universal Pictures
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Running time: 130 minutes
Budget: $6.5 million
Box office: $12.4 million

Cast

Arthur Hill as Dr. Jeremy Stone
James Olson as Dr. Mark Hall
David Wayne as Dr. Charles Dutton
Kate Reid as Dr. Ruth Leavitt
Paula Kelly as Karen Anson (nurse, laboratory technician)
George Mitchell as Mr. Peter Jackson (Piedmont)
Mark Jenkins as Lt. Shawn (Piedmont Team)
Peter Helm as Sgt. Crane (Piedmont Team)
Joe Di Reda as Sgt. Burk (Wildfire Computer Technician)
Ramon Bieri as Major Arthur Manchek (Scoop Mission Control)
Carl Reindel as Lt. Comroe (Scoop Mission Control)
Frances Reid as Clara Dutton
Peter Hobbs as General Sparks
Kermit Murdock as Dr. Robertson (White House Science Advisor)
Richard O'Brien (II) as Grimes
Eric Christmas as Senator Phillips (Vermont)
Ken Swofford as Toby (Technician)
John Carter as Capt. Morton (military police)
Richard Bull as Air Force Major
James W. Gavin as Dempsey (helicopter pilot)
Garry Walberg as a scientist
Emory Parnell as Pete "Old Doughboy" Arnold
Georgia Schmidt as Old Lady (Piedmont)
Victoria Paige Meyerink as Additional Character
Don Messick as Alarm Voice
Michael Crichton: non-speaking cameo appearance during the scene where Dr. Hall is told to break scrub, because he has to report to the Wildfire research facility.

Why have nearly all of the residents of Piedmont, New Mexico suddenly died?

What is ‘Project Scoop?’

What does it have to do with the deaths of Piedmont’s citizens?

Why have a team of scientists been recruited?

What is the role of the top secret sealed and secure ‘Wildfire’ facility?

What is….. ‘Andromeda?’

Trailer

Read on for more.....

12 to the Moon (1960)

A somewhat laughably entertaining sci-fi film with ordinary special effects, acting and direction while a variety of plot devices at least keeps the action going.

Directed by David Bradley
Written by Fred Gebhardt, DeWitt Boden
Produced by Fred Gebhardt
Cinematography: John Alton
Edited by Edward Mann
Music by Michael Andersen
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Running time: 74 minutes
Budget: $150,000

Cast

Ken Clark as Capt. John Anderson
Michi Kobi as Dr. Hideko Murata
Tom Conway as Dr. Feodor Orloff
Anthony Dexter as Dr. Luis Vargas
John Wengraf as Dr. Erich Heinrich
Robert Montgomery Jr. as Dr. Rod Murdock
Phillip Baird as Dr. William Rochester
Richard Weber as Dr. David Ruskin
Muzaffer Tema as Dr. Selim Hamid (as Tema Bey)
Roger Til as Dr. Etienne Martel
Cory Devlin as Dr. Asmara Markonen
Anna-Lisa as Dr. Sigrid Bomark
Francis X. Bushman as Secretary General of the International Space Order

Trailer

(Spoilers follow below.....)

“Hello the world”

12 To The Moon opens with shots of the launch of a rocket and rocket plane missiles from different cities around the world. Suddenly a gavel bangs down before we cut to the title and credits.

Any self-respecting science fiction movie from that era and beyond would as expected begin with a serious and authoritative-sounding narration either admonishing humankind for its careless disregard of itself and its planet or extolling the virtues of human technological progress and the necessity of exploring the unknown. In the film, the Secretary General of the International Space Order delivers the latter type of narration as he begins to explain that a program to launch a rocket to the moon is presently underway:

“I am speaking for the International Space Order in the first worldwide radio and telecast in history. At this moment over two billion people in every part of the world are focusing their attention on this program. Every nation of the earth in a magnificent effort is contributing of its people and resources in an attempt to reach the moon and proclaim it international territory. The rocket ship Lunar Eagle Number One represents the culminating achievement of the world's leading scientists. The men and women who will fly her have been hand-picked from the world's leading specialists.”

Read on for more......

Queen of Blood (1966)

A rather cheap hybrid sci-fi / horror film with capable performances, strikingly eerie and vibrant visuals and haunting atmosphere.

Directed by Curtis Harrington
Screenplay by Curtis Harrington
Based on story “A Dream Come True” by Mikhail Karyukov, Otar Koberidze
Produced by George Edwards, Samuel Z. Arkoff
Cinematography: Vilis Lapenieks
Edited by Leo H. Shreve
Music by Leonard Moran
Production company: Cinema West Productions
Distributed by American International Pictures
Running time: 81 minutes
Budget: $65,000
Box office: $17.3 million (as at 1 Oct 1966)

Cast

John Saxon as Allan Brenner
Basil Rathbone as Dr. Farraday
Judi Meredith as Laura James
Dennis Hopper as Paul Grant
Florence Marly as Alien Queen
Robert Boon as Anders Brockman
Don Eitner as Tony Barrata
Forrest J. Ackerman as Farraday's aide

Trailer

An alien species from another planet signals Earth to make formal contact with humanity.

The alien spaceship crashes on Mars.

A distress transmission is sent to Earth.

Earth dispatches a ship to attempt a rescue.

On Mars, the alien spacecraft is located.

Only a single dead alien humanoid is found aboard the ship.

An alien rescue shuttle had left Mars but crashed on the moon, Phobos.

A green-skinned alien female is found alive aboard the wrecked shuttle.

For the rescue mission’s crew, their troubles are only just about to begin!

(Read on for more.....)

Village of the Damned (1960)

A sinister horror picture with superb believable performances, an excellent mix of horror and science fiction genres as well as taut and suspenseful direction from Wolf Rilla. 

Directed by Wolf Rilla
Screenplay by Stirling Silliphant, Wolf Rilla, Ronald Kinnoch
Based on “The Midwich Cuckoos” 1957 novel by John Wyndham
Produced by Ronald Kinnoch
Cinematography: Geoffrey Faithfull
Edited by Gordon Hales
Music by Ron Goodwin
Production company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Distributed by Loew's
Running time: 77-78 minutes
Budget: $320,000
Box office: $2,175,000

Cast

George Sanders as Gordon Zellaby
Barbara Shelley as Anthea Zellaby
Martin Stephens as David Zellaby
Michael Gwynn as Alan Bernard
Laurence Naismith as Doctor Willers
Richard Warner as Mr. Harrington
Jenny Laird as Mrs. Harrington
Sarah Long as Evelyn Harrington
Thomas Heathcote as James Pawle
Charlotte Mitchell as Janet Pawle
Denis Gilmore as Keith Harrington
Pamela Buck as Milly Hughes
Rosamund Greenwood as Miss Ogle
Susan Richards as Mrs. Plumpton
Bernard Archard as Vicar
Peter Vaughan as P.C. Gobby
John Phillips as General Leighton
Richard Vernon as Sir Edgar Hargraves
John Stuart as Professor Smith
Keith Pyott as Dr. Carlisle

Trailer

BBC “History's Mysteries – Fact & Fiction” TV Program

Good evening, I’m your host Denis Vaughan. In tonight’s episode we’ll be examining the so-called “Midwich Time-out Incident” that reportedly occurred back in 1960 when it is said that the inhabitants of the British village of Midwich suddenly and inexplicably fell unconscious one day for several hours. Anyone entering the village also apparently succumbed to the same malady.

It is only recently that we have been able to piece together the events surrounding this inexplicable incident through numerous Freedom of Information requests. Much information has been denied to us and a great deal of the documentation (official government, scientific, military and medical sources, along with minutes from various meetings) is in some instances heavily redacted.

Surprisingly, but probably largely as a consequence of the application of the Official Secrets Act, no-one from the village in all the intervening time has come forward to give an open and public account of what transpired all those decades ago. That is apart from one individual now well into his seventies who we’ll refer back to later on. It is as if a cordon of silence has surrounded and encased Midwich and that as far as the residents of the village past and present are concerned, it is none of the outside world’s business what took place there.

To begin with though, we do know that the military established a cordon around Midwich. This was then followed by the establishment of a five-mile exclusion zone around the village for all aircraft. After a few hours, the villagers suddenly regained consciousness, and appeared to be unaffected. Or so it was believed…..

What followed these initial events with the passage of time will have the quality of a work of pure science fiction, so much so that many in government, the military and the scientific establishment scoff at the very idea of any such incident as ever having taken place.

We now take you to Midwich village in rural England where our investigative reporter, Barbara Long will try from whatever evidence is available to reconstruct the mysterious events of what has come to be called the “Midwich Time-out Incident.”

Read on for more.....

THX 1138 (1971)

A somewhat slow-paced, thought-provoking, atmospheric and artistic ground-breaking dystopian sci-fi film

Directed by George Lucas
Screenplay by George Lucas, Walter Murch
Story by George Lucas
Based on "Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB" by George Lucas
Produced by Lawrence Sturhahn
Cinematography: David Myers, Albert Kihn
Edited by George Lucas
Music by Lalo Schifrin
Production company: American Zoetrope
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Running time: 86 minutes
Budget: $777,777
Box office: $2.4 million

Cast

Robert Duvall as THX 1138
Donald Pleasence as SEN 5241
Maggie McOmie as LUH 3417
Don Pedro Colley as the hologram actor SRT 5752
Ian Wolfe as the old prisoner PTO
Marshall Efron as prisoner TWA
Sid Haig as prisoner NCH
John Pearce as prisoner DWY

James Wheaton as the voice of OMM 0000

A dystopian future in which people are controlled through the use of android police and mandated use of drugs to suppress emotions.

A uniform and homogeneous world that suppresses

individuality and love.

A sterile bleak future where unquestioning conformity is the rule.

THX 1138 is a citizen of that future society living the reality imposed by the State until the time arrives when his perception of that reality begins to change.

Trailer

Read on for more.....

Planet of the Apes (1968)

An imaginative ground breaking sci-fi film with biting cultural commentary

Happy New Year to everyone! I thought that I might begin the year with another Charlton Heston post-apocalypse sci-fi film, The Planet of the Apes (1968), the first of the three films that also features, The Omega Man and Soylent Green.

Trailer

Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner
Screenplay by Michael Wilson, Rod Serling
Based on “Planet of the Apes" by Pierre Boulle
Produced by Arthur P. Jacobs
Cinematography: Leon Shamroy
Edited by Hugh S. Fowler
Music by Jerry Goldsmith
Production company: APJAC Productions
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Running time: 112 minutes
Budget: $5.8 million[2]
Box office: $33.4 million

Cast

Charlton Heston as George Taylor
Roddy McDowall as Cornelius
Kim Hunter as Zira
Maurice Evans as Dr. Zaius
James Whitmore as President of the Assembly
James Daly as Honorious
Linda Harrison as Nova
Robert Gunner as Landon
Lou Wagner as Lucius
Woodrow Parfrey as Maximus
Jeff Burton as Dodge
Buck Kartalian as Julius
Norman Burton as Hunt Leader
Wright King as Dr. Galen
Paul Lambert as Minister
Dianne Stanley as Stewart

Thrust into the year A.D. 3978!

Three astronauts emerge from deep hibernation…

Their vessel crash-lands on a mysterious planet!!

One of the crew has accidentally died in space!

The space craft sinks under the waters of a lake.

The three survivors head off to explore their new home:

With limited rations

&

A hostile arid desert plain,

They trek in search of food, water and evidence of life,

Only to discover that they are not alone,

and that their troubles have only just begun…….

Read on for more......