Countdown (1968)

Director:

Robert Altman

Writers:

Loring Mandel (writer)
Hank Searls (novel)

Release Date:

February 1968 (USA)

Genre:

Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

The motion picture that puts a man on the moon ... and you will follow him every terrifying second of the way ...

Plot:

Desperate to reach the moon first, NASA sends a man and shelter separately, one-way. He must find it to survive; he can't return until Apollo is ready.

Plot Keywords:

Moon | Moon Landing | Astronaut | Training | NASA

Cast

James Caan	...	Lee Stegler
Joanna Moore	...	Mickey Stegler
Robert Duvall	...	Chiz
Barbara Baxley	...	Jean
Charles Aidman	...	Gus
Steve Ihnat	...	Ross Duellan
Michael Murphy	...	Rick
Ted Knight	...	Walter Larson
Stephen Coit	...	Ehrman
John Rayner	...	Dunc
Charles Irving	...	Seidel
Bobby Riha	...	Stevie Stegler (as Bobby Riha Jr.)

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | Australia:G | Argentina:Atp | USA:Unrated

Company:

Warner Brothers/Seven Arts

Trivia:

This film centers on a flight to the Moon in a Gemini spacecraft modified for a lunar landing. In fact, there were several proposals in the mid-1960s to use modified Gemini craft for lunar orbital and even lunar landings, in lieu of or complementing the Apollo flights. They were rejected for various technical, budgetary, and political reasons.

Goofs:

Factual errors: When explaining the medical telemetry to Mickey Stegler, the doctor says one plot is respiration and another is breathing, even though both words mean the same thing. Also, several of the plots have completely different shapes from what they should.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Directors: The Films of Robert Altman (#2.9)" (2001)

Altman's First Time at Bat

"Countdown," Robert Altman's first theatrical release, is the only film I've seen by the prolific director that feels nothing like an Altman project. A bit of history surrounding it reveals that Altman battled the studios over creative control, and that the final version of the film exists more as a product of the studio than of the auteur. Never again, for better or worse, would Altman relinquish control of his films, a tenacity that won him an instantly recognizable style not afforded to many other directors.

So "Countdown" isn't terribly interesting formally and feels like it could have been directed by anybody, but that's not to say it isn't an interesting movie. Released a year before man actually landed on the moon, it provides a remarkably accurate guess at what such a feat would look like, and the film is played with conviction by a strong cast of actors led by James Caan, Robert Duvall and Michael Murphy. Duvall and Murphy would appear again in "MASH," and Murphy would go on to become an Altman regular. Barbara Baxley, known to Altman devotees as Haven Hamilton's wife in "Nashville," fulfills wifely duties in this film as well, though women may as well not even exist for all the attention the screenplay affords them.

As a studio film, "Countdown" isn't half bad. As an Altman film, it's one of his weakest. But nevertheless, it's well worth seeking out, especially for fans of the iconoclastic director.

Grade: B-