Countdown (1967)

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

Director:

Robert Altman

Writers:

Loring Mandel (screenplay), Hank Searls (novel)

Stars:

James Caan, Robert Duvall, Joanna Moore

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.)

Storyline

When the U.S. learns the Soviets are about to launch a manned mission to the moon, they feel it imperative that they get there first. The moon program isn't ready to launch yet so they decide to send one man in a modified Gemini capsule that will be able to land on the moon. The astronaut will have to stay there for up to a year - in a special built shelter that will be sent ahead of time - until an Apollo mission can rescue him. The obvious choice for the mission is Chiz, who knows the Gemini inside out but the Soviets are sending civilians, not military men, so geologist Lee Stegler is asked to go. He has only three weeks however to learn about the intricacies of the spacecraft and no one is sure if he will make it.

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Plot Keywords:

moon | astronaut | moon landing | nasa | gemini capsule | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

February 1968 (USA)

Also Known As:

Moonshot

Filming Locations:

Cocoa Beach, Florida, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

William Conrad Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Released eighteen months before the first manned mission to the moon.

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Goofs

The story takes place in Florida but there are hills and low mountains in the background of many exterior scenes (except for the ones actually showing launch pad at the NASA Space Center at Cape Canaveral). The highest elevation in Florida is only 345 feet and it is only 10 feet above sea level at Cape Canaveral.

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Quotes

Chiz: All right, now, listen. A week before Pilgrim goes, we send up a shelter stocked with food, oxygen, all life support systems on the same type of bird. Everything's in here. There's systems, communications, trajectories and Dunc is my backup. Now, the shelter has a flashing beacon and a radar signal. And Surveyor will probably spot it too. Now, if I don't locate it with all that, I complete a figure eight around the moon, swing back, and reenter behind a beefed up heat shield. Now, three days ...
[...]

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Connections

Featured in Altman (2014)

User Reviews

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-