This Forgotten '70s Sci-fi Movie Explored The Public's Growing Skepticism Toward Nasa

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The premise of Peter Hyams' 1977 sci-fi thriller film "Capricorn One" is pretty wild. It's about the titular spacecraft, manned by Charles Brubaker (James Brolin), Peter Willis (Sam Waterston), and John Walker (O.J. Simpson), that is gearing up to take the first manned mission to Mars. They are on the shuttle, all ready to go, when they are suddenly ordered off the craft and driven away at top speed. The shuttle launches without them. What is happening? 

One of the heads of NASA (Hal Holbrook) informs them that the shuttle had a faulty life-support system, and the mission had to be aborted. Rather than face the embarrassment of a failed mission, though, NASA informs the three astronauts that they will be faking the Mars mission from a private film studio miles out in the desert. NASA has already built a set and brought over prop planetary landers to capture on film. If the astronauts refuse to take part in the cover-up, NASA will send assassins after their families. 

The NASA goons keep the astronauts hostage while they film footage and send it to the local TV stations, making it look like a live transmission. When a nosy reporter begins snooping around, he is seemingly killed. The reporter's boss, played by Elliott Gould, continues snooping, only to find that his life is under threat. 

Back in 1977, a Los Angeles Times article (via AFI) quoted Hyams on the making of the movie, and he noted that "Capricorn One" was perfectly timed. In 1977, there were many popular conspiracy theories declaring that NASA was faking its space missions, so "Capricorn One" merely dramatized them. 

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According to the AFI write-up, Peter Hyams wrote the screenplay for "Capricorn One" back in 1972, thinking that a story of a NASA hoax would be intriguing. Studios didn't like the idea at first, but when the many scandals of Richard Nixon's presidential administration began leaking to the public, interest in a film about a NASA cover-up skyrocketed. Hyams noted that the Watergate scandal wasn't a direct inspiration, but it sure seems like the timing was right.

In 1976, the Los Angeles Times printed a Gallup poll that reported 28% of U.S. citizens thought that NASA was faking its space missions. Combine that with all of the post-Nixon paranoia, and "Capricorn One" seems like the most timely movie imaginable. It's worth noting that this was a period when conspiracy thrillers were exploding in popularity. Paranoid movies like "The Conversation" and "The Parallax View" were both released in 1974. "Three Days of the Condor" hit in 1975. The Watergate scandal thriller "All the President's Men" opened in theaters in 1976. Hyams and "Capricorn One" producer Paul Lazarus both hoped that their film would tap into popular fears and conspiracies and become a hit.

Though not a runaway hit, "Capricorn One" certainly did respectable business in theaters. And even though NASA was depicted as a villainous organization in the movie, it still cooperated with Hyams and his crew, helping to create a landing module that was accurate to the real deal. The fake Mars lander from "Capricorn One" was even donated to the Smithsonian Institute after production wrapped.

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And, yes, we are well aware that O.J. Simpson is one of the stars of "Capricorn One," and many might not want to watch the movie as a result. Peter Hyams did go on the record about Simpson in the acclaimed documentary "O.J.: Made in America." 1977 was a time in Simpson's career when he had already accrued multiple credits, having already starred in "The Klansman," "The Towering Inferno," "Killer Force," and "Roots." Weirdly, his appearance in "Capricorn One" has aged poorly, while the conspiracy elements still feel understandable, at least when looked at in historical context. It's also fun to watch. It's a silly film full of chases, escapes, and other conventional elements. Yet, despite their absurdity, these scenes are a blast. 

"Capricorn One" is hardly plausible, though. Some find its broad conspiracy theory to be good fun, even though it certainly dates the film. The movie even has a decent 61% critical score on Rotten Tomatoes, and the general consensus seems to be that it's a good airport thriller with a nonsensical conspiracy premise, but it's too ridiculous to take seriously. It's also unlikely that real-life conspiracy theorists will watch something like "Capricorn One" and point to it as proof that NASA has been faking its space missions for real.

Meanwhile, Hyams' career continued apace in the decades after "Capricorn One." He helmed well-known flicks like "Outland," "2010: The Year We Make Contact," "Narrow Margin," "Stay Tuned," "Timecop," and "The Relic," along with the somewhat notorious Arnold Schwarzenegger-led Satanic thriller "End of Days." His most recent directorial effort was "Enemies Closer," a 2013 thriller starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. Hyams is still kicking at age 82, but he's not working anymore.