Marooned (1969)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

John Sturges

Writers:

Martin Caidin (novel)
Mayo Simon (writer)

Release Date:

11 December 1969 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Three marooned astronauts. Only 55 minutes left to rescue them. While the whole world watches and waits...

Plot:

Three American astronauts are stranded in space when their retros won't fire. Can they be rescued before their oxygen runs out?

Plot Keywords:

Astronaut | Oxygen | Space | NASA | Orbit

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 3 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Tue. July 21

1:30 AM

TCM

Cast

Gregory Peck	...	Charles Keith
Richard Crenna	...	Jim Pruett
David Janssen	...	Ted Dougherty
James Franciscus	...	Clayton Stone
Gene Hackman	...	Buzz Lloyd
Lee Grant	...	Celia Pruett
Nancy Kovack	...	Teresa Stone
Mariette Hartley	...	Betty Lloyd
Scott Brady	...	Public Affairs Officer
Craig Huebing	...	Flight Director
Frank Marth	...	Air Force System Director
John Carter	...	Flight Surgeon
Vincent Van Lynn	...	Aerospace journalist
George Gaynes	...	Mission Director
Tom Stewart	...	Houston Cap Com

Also Known As:

Space Travelers (USA) (reissue title)

Runtime:

134 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (35 mm prints) | 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints)

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Iceland:12 | USA:TV-PG | West Germany:12 (f) | Australia:G | Finland:K-8 | Norway:12 (original rating) | Sweden:11 | UK:U | USA:G

Filming Locations:

Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

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.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The Russian Soyuz spacecraft depicted only shows the orbital module. The launch/re-entry and service modules are missing.

Quotes:

Clayton Stone: Jesus, fifty-five minutes... We'll be pretty cold by then.
Buzz Lloyd: Well, one of us's gonna have to go. I mean uh... that's what we're talkin' about, isnt it? One of us goes and the... other two stay. What... what are we gonna do?
Clayton Stone: Alright look. Let's do this scientifically: two big guys throw the little guy out, okay?

Movie Connections:

Featured in "The Incredible Hulk: Married (#2.1)" (1978)

Franciscus steals the film from Hackman, Peck and Jansen!

OK, the film is plodding and the over caution and dourness of Gregory Peck's Dr. Keith gets irritating, but James Franciscus, stalwart of many a tv movie and dodgy international co-production, puts in a career best performance as the scientist-astronaut struggling to keep a grip on not only his faculties, but those of his fellow astronauts. Because he can work out scientifically what's going to happen, Clayton Stone (Franciscus) has the added burden. The scenes where he's trying to convince his wife back on Earth that they're going to make it, when the evidence is telling him in his mind of the opposite, the way he struggles with trying to convey how he feels when he's more a cerebral person and the end when its down to him to rescue himself and Buzz Lloyd (Hackman) are all excellently portrayed. It's a shame that he was seldom given another role that would have as much depth.