IMDb > Countdown (1968)

Countdown (1968) More at IMDbPro »

Overview

User Rating:
6.2/10   532 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
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Director:
Robert Altman
Writers:
Loring Mandel (writer)
Hank Searls (novel)
Contact:
View company contact information for Countdown on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
February 1968 (USA) more
Genre:
Sci-Fi | Thriller more
Tagline:
The motion picture that puts a man on the moon ... and you will follow him every terrifying second of the way ... more
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. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
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User Comments:
Luna on the Cheap aka "Rent, don't Buy" more (15 total)

Cast

  (Complete credited 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.)
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Additional Details

Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parents
Runtime:
101 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono
Certification:
Iceland:L | Australia:G | Argentina:Atp | USA:Unrated
Company:
Warner Brothers/Seven Arts more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Executive Producer William Conrad supplied the TV announcer's voice. more
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. more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in "The Directors: The Films of Robert Altman (#2.9)" (2001) more

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User Comments

   (Comment on this title)
4 out of 6 people found the following comment useful.
Luna on the Cheap aka "Rent, don't Buy", 13 January 2000
4/10
Author: Dr. Jack

This film is not particularly noteworthy in itself, but as a benchmark in the development of science-fiction on the big screen. It marks one of the last gasps of the low-budget, hardware-driven (Rockets and Rayguns, if you like) school of sci-fi and falls well short of its contemporary "Marooned", much less merit any comparison with "2001" and other later high concept films. Altman's direction is sufficient to keep the picture moving along and the overlapping dialogue is a refreshingly sophisticated stuff. The ego clashes of the two pilot candidates for the moon flight seems a bit stilted (Duvall seems at home in the role, but Caan's not up to it), the anti-Soviet rhetoric is a bit grating at times and the female roles are essentially throw-aways. When it's time to put together a retrospective on the sci-fi genre (as has been done for war films) this one might get 15 seconds during the moonshot segment; it hardly deserves more. This film's biggest problem was (apparently) budget -- it's rare to see a film depict the props and procedures of its own era so poorly.

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DVD? MrFist
DVD now available directly from Warner's webpage! simonhowson
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