In order to protect the reputation of the American space program, a team of NASA administrators turn the first Mars mission into a phony Mars landing. Under threat of harm to their families the astronauts play their part in the deception on a staged set in a deserted military base. But once the real ship returns to Earth and burns up on re-entry, the astronauts become liabilities. Now, with the help of a crusading reporter, they must battle a sinister conspiracy that will stop at nothing to keep the truth hidden.
Practical Effects
That crop duster chase is pure practical madness
Acting
Elliott Gould's sweaty desperation carries the third act
Direction
Hyams squeezes tension from empty desert and phone booths
Director
Peter Hyams
Elliott Gould
Robert Caulfield
James Brolin
Col. Charles Brubaker
Brenda Vaccaro
Kay Brubaker
Sam Waterston
Lt. Col. Peter Willis
O. J. Simpson
Cmdr. John Walker
Hal Holbrook
Dr. James Kelloway
Karen Black
Judy Drinkwater
Telly Savalas
Albain
David Huddleston
Hollis Peaker
David Doyle
Walter Loughlin
Lee Bryant
Sharon Willis
Denise Nicholas
Betty Walker
Robert Walden
Elliot Whitter
James B. Sikking
Control Room Man
Alan Fudge
Capsule Communicator
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Released four years after Watergate and eight years after the actual moon landing, this film fed every suspicion Americans already had about their government. The casting of O.J. Simpson as an astronaut fleeing unjust persecution has become unintentionally prophetic.
Peter Hyams later directed 2010 and Outland—he had a whole career asking 'what if space exploration was actually horrifying?' The desert set was an abandoned military base, which saved budget and added authentic government creepiness.
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