IMDb > The Final Countdown (1980)
The Final Countdown
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The Final Countdown (1980) More at IMDbPro »

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The Final Countdown (1980) -- Trailerfan.com - Trailer (Flash)

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Overview

User Rating:
6.6/10   6,249 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
No change in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writers:
Thomas Hunter (story) &
Peter Powell (story) ...
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Contact:
View company contact information for The Final Countdown on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
1 August 1980 (USA) more
Genre:
Tagline:
"...This is the USS Nimitz. Where The Hell Are We...?" - Trapped inside the boundaries of time and space... 102 aircraft... 6,000 men... all missing. more
Plot:
A modern aircraft carrier is thrown back in time to 1941 near Hawaii, just hours before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour. full summary | add synopsis
Awards:
1 win & 2 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(9 articles)
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User Comments:
When the Propmaster is the Chief of Naval Operations more (109 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Kirk Douglas ... Capt. Matthew Yelland

Martin Sheen ... Warren Lasky

Katharine Ross ... Laurel Scott
James Farentino ... Wing Commander Richard T. Owens / Richard Tideman
Ron O'Neal ... Cmdr. Dan Thurman
Charles Durning ... Sen. Samuel Chapman
Victor Mohica ... Black Cloud
James C. Lawrence ... Lt. Perry
Soon-Tek Oh ... Simura (as Soon-Teck Oh)
Joe Lowry ... Cmdr. Damon
Alvin Ing ... Lt. Kajima
Mark Thomas ... Marine Cpl. Kullman
Harold Bergman ... Bellman

Dan Fitzgerald ... Navy Doctor

Lloyd Kaufman ... Lt. Cmdr. Kaufman
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
U.S.S. Nimitz: Lost in the Pacific (Europe: English title) (DVD box title)
more
Runtime:
103 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Color (TVC)
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Certification:
Australia:PG | Finland:K-12 | Norway:12 (re-rating) (1982) (cut) | Norway:15 (DVD rating) | Norway:16 (original rating) | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:PG | West Germany:12 | Singapore:PG

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
First theatrical trailer from the Blue Underground DVD includes more dialogue between Yelland and Lasky about the consequences of turning back the planes. more
Goofs:
Continuity: When Mr. Lasky's helicopter lands, Corsair 412 (the one that later lands in the barricade) can be seen parked on the deck behind the helicopter, even though it's supposedly still in the air waiting to land. more
Quotes:
[first lines]
F-14 Pilot: [voice over radio] Pearl Tower, Tomcat two-zero-zero. requesting clearance for departure runway zero-nine. Over.
Pearl Harbor Tower: [voice over radio] Two-zero-zero, Pearl Harbor Tower. You are cleared runway oh-niner. Winds zero-four-five at eight. SH-three approaching from the right. Have a nice day.
more
Movie Connections:
Featured in Tomcat Angels (1991) more

FAQ

What is the point of this film exactly?
more
27 out of 30 people found the following comment useful.
When the Propmaster is the Chief of Naval Operations, 15 April 2004
8/10

Making a military movie without official cooperation can be difficult. If the story doesn't require major air or naval assets, a script disapproved of by the top brass can be convincingly brought to the screen. Two examples - both true stories that the Pentagon didn't want to support - are "Men of Honor" reflecting the epidemic racism of the not-that-long-ago Navy and "Sgt. Bilko," a film portraying what some noncoms do to earn extra income (trust me, it's a true story: a real Sgt. Bilko worked (officially but not actually) for me when I was an Army officer.

But when you need lots of planes and ships, you gotta have official help. And few movies have gotten more assistance than the producer, director and cast of "The Final Countdown," now available on DVD,a sci-fi recruiting spectacular that features - on loan at taxpayer expense - the huge carrier U.S.S. Nimitz complete with crew. Now that's cooperation!

Kirk Douglas skippers the supercarrier which is on Pacific Fleet maneuvers. On board as some sort of efficiency consultant is a young Martin Sheen, not yet ready for the West Wing. A mysterious and never explained weather phenomenon grips the mighty floating air base and to the unfolding amazement of captain, officers and crew dawns the realization that the Nimitz in sailing not that far from Pearl Harbor on 6 December 1941.

Meanwhile a U.S. senator, played by one of Hollywood's deservedly decorated war heroes, Charles Durning, is enjoying his yacht, also near Pearl, while dictating to his lovely secretary, Katharine Ross. A brace of Japanese Zeroes sink the yacht, killing two passengers which then prompts the carrier C.O. to order trailing F-14 Tomcats to "splash" the "enemy." Durning and Ross are rescued. Without a word, this talented actor's face does a comical double-take when introduced to the ship's executive officer who just happens to be black (in 1941 a black navy man could only serve as a steward in the officers mess. That was it. Period.)

The dilemma facing Douglas, of course, is a classic time-travel conundrum. To interfere with the course of history (the carrier's air wing can make instant teriyaki of the six Japanese carriers) or to let events take their known and disastrous course.

A chaste incipient romance between the nearly drowned damsel and the carrier's Commander Air Group competes with the white knuckle decision-making struggle of the C.O.

So much for the plot. What is on offer here is a demonstration of every aircraft type, fixed-wing and rotary, deployed on the vessel as well as demonstrations of shipboard activities ranging from retrieving a damaged jet to going to General Quarters to...you name it. The technical advisers knew they had a film crew pliant to every suggestion. The result is a genuinely exciting show- a great warship going through its paces. And, unlike "Tora Tora Tora" it doesn't appear that any genuine sailors were harmed in the making of the movie.

There's one big problem. A science fiction story is usually utterly improbable, indeed impossible, but its internal logic is vital: it must be consistent. Spielberg understands that very well. Watch the first couple of minutes when Sheen is greeted by his employer's lackey and the last minutes when he debarks from the Nimitz. Something is very, very off-kilter. Could the CEO of a great military-industrial conglomerate have used top secret technology to send the carrier back to 1941 for...

So what. This is a beautifully filmed adventure story, not a great film. The cast probably relished taking over the carrier for a while and the real captain, never shown, surely wished that the Navy hadn't banned hard spirits from our ships in World War I. But all emerge unscathed in a genuinely entertaining romp through time.

8/10

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for The Final Countdown (1980)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
So who fired the 1st shot of WWII? Jonhny
There is no climax! JPizzle1122
Using old footage, why?? (possibility from Tora!, Tora!, Tora!) winbert
the aircraft that was left behind before the time warp norberte-1
Owens / Laskey / Tideman - Spoiler ?? paule-rooney
Who has the Current Rights for a Remake? betorlando35
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