Courtesy of Netflix, I finished watching those nine movies with 1969's Marooned which reading the plot outline and cast sounded promising to me. But in its execution, something is missing with the result a heartless story with a wasted cast that could have been a much better movie.
The premise is a good one, and even a bit eerie considering the movie was released a year before the Apollo 13 disaster. Three astronauts, Commander Jim Pruett (Richard Crenna), young scientist Clayton Stone (James Franciscus) and Buzz Lloyd (Gene Hackman), are sent on a dangerous mission that is much of a scientific experiment as anything else. The trio is sent to live in orbit in a space station for seven months, being observed the whole time to see the toll it takes on them. The experiment goes surprisingly well, even if NASA headman Charles Keith (Gregory Peck) pulls the plug early, sending the order to bring the men back after five months in space.
But as they board Ironman One to reenter Earth's atmosphere, they discover something's wrong, and the engine won't ignite. They're trapped with no way to seemingly get back. With only 42 hours or so of oxygen left in the shuttle, Keith and fellow astronaut Ted Dougherty (David Janssen) and all of NASA must decide what to do to save them; figure out what's malfunctioning on the ship or put together a desperate rescue mission that typically would take weeks to organize. They opt for the rescue mission, but with time drifting by realize there's only enough oxygen for two of the three men. Can the rescue still make it in time?
Even reading the description now having already seen the movie, I can't help but think 'hey, that sounds interesting.' But from the start, this movie doesn't have a pulse. Filmed almost like a documentary dealing with the subject, the story never comes alive. We're expected to feel for these astronauts and the men trying to save them, but we're never given a reason. The story is developed and unfolded before we even learn anything about the men. The one truly effective scene that comes to mind has the astronauts talking to their wives as NASA begins to think time is running out. It's an emotional scene, especially between Crenna's Pruett and his wife Celia (Lee Grant), but it's too late.
The special effects have taken a beating since its release, but I thought that was one of the better aspects of the movie. At times it looked like models, but most of the movie appeared somewhat realistic. That's another problem. Sooooooo much of the dialogue is technical jargon that means nothing to the average moviegoer. There are far too many discussions between Houston and Ironman One that did nothing for me other than throw me for a loop. Maybe Sturges and Co. were going for an ultra-realistic look at a possible situation for NASA and its astronauts, but they might have gone too far.
As for the cast, I can't say it's their fault. Because there is little to no background until well over halfway into the movie, we know nothing about them. Sure, I was rooting for them to get back to Earth safely, I'm no sadist, but it wasn't like Ron Howard's much better Apollo 13 where I had a vested interest in the characters. The same goes for Peck and Janssen on the ground in Houston. Peck mumbles and grimaces through conversations with officials and reporters while Janssen disappears here and there to mount the rescue effort. It all builds to an ending that's just too perfect, too coincindental, all too ludicrous.
Not that I'd recommend running out and buying the DVD, but it's good packaging. The disc offers the movie in widescreen presentation with trailers for 4 other movies, but oddly enough, not Marooned. No other special features are included. A big disappointment here all around, and a movie I definitely won't be revisiting anytime soon.
Marooned (1969): */****
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