Marooned

Rating:
Summary: Painfully Slow
Review: The premise is a good one, and the special effects are very good for the pre-digital era, however, sometimes I felt as though I was suffocating and not the astronauts. I rate it as just OK....no more.

Rating:
Summary: MAROONED A great film with terrific plot! I loved it
Review: This is not your average CGI SFX eye dazzler. However the effects are competant and occaisonally very artistic. I love the title sequence culminating in a Saturn V launch. (Why a Saturn V just to Earth orbit) Great soundtrack of the rocket stages separating. I was looking down toilet roll tubes and letting them fall away to Earth for weeks after ???! I loved the dialogue too. "WE have a little green light here that says we have retro fire. We are going to decorate it for Christmas" Lots more like that. I liked the fact that the film was shot at Cape Kennedy (as it was then) and it all hangs together very well indeed. A thoroughly good film. Unless your a real nit picker.

Rating:
Summary: Unfairly bashed film!
Review: This represents a look into the inner workings of the space program. It's an insight into the types of decisions people must make under extraordinary circumstances. This is one of the best depictions of the Apollo program until Ron Howard's, Apollo 13. I too saw this film during its first release and it has influenced my support for our space program from a very early age to this day. I'm very pleased that a DVD is finally being released!!! I have not been "fortunate" enough to see the MST3K version of it but I hear it was harsh. Please don't let this be your only exposure to this good film. The technical accuracy and level of detail alone should be praised. Also the actors could not have been better suited for their roles.

Rating:
Summary: Unfairly bashed film!
Review: This represents a look into the inner workings of the space program. It's an insight into the types of decisions people must make under extraordinary circumstances. This is one of the best depictions of the Apollo program until Ron Howard's, Apollo 13. I too saw this film during its first release and it has influenced my support for our space program from a very early age to this day. I'm very pleased that a DVD is finally being released!!! I have not been "fortunate" enough to see the MST3K version of it but I hear it was harsh. Please don't let this be your only exposure to this good film. The technical accuracy and level of detail alone should be praised. Also the actors could not have been better suited for their roles.

Rating:
Summary: Finally -- this much-maligned classic is on DVD!
Review: Though not an unflawed work like Kubrick's 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY was, the 1969 sci-fi drama MAROONED manages to overcome its obvious flaws. The film concerns itself with the crew of Ironman One who, after having spent seven months in a converted Apollo capsule (a precursor to Skylab and the international space station) to test Man's endurance in space, find themselves trapped in their capsule some 300 miles above Earth when the craft's retro-rockets refuse to fire. This forces NASA to try and mount a last-ditch rescue effort before the oxygen inside Ironman gives out and the crew suffocate. Complications involve having to launch the rescue craft through the eye of a hurricane passing over the Florida launch site, but the rescue pilot (David Janssen) gets some unexpected help from a Russian cosmonaut orbiting in a nearby Voshkod spacecraft.

MAROONED is, as I've said, not an unflawed film. The dialogue that the fine cast, which includes Gregory Peck, Richard Crenna, and Gene Hackman, has to deal with is arguably quite banal. Another complication that arises is that the film's director, John Sturges, was better known for his work in the western genre (including THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN) and was thus not totally comfortable in the sci-fi genre. The third problem is that the special effects, which won a justly deserved Oscar in 1969, are obviously dated in ways in which those of "2001" aren't.

As a pre-cursor of things to come, however, MAROONED is unbelievably prescient. The film was released in December 1969. Four months later, in April 1970, the film's situation was echoed almost directly by the real-life saga of Apollo 13, whose three-man crew was almost stranded permanently in space when one of their oxygen tanks exploded on their way to the Moon. And like the 1995 film APOLLO 13, MAROONED shows NASA trying to come up with the right solutions to a very difficult situation. On that score alone, even though thirty years of cinematic advancements have rendered it dated to a certain degree, MAROONED still has considerable weight to it.

Rating:
Summary: Good Film, But An Even Better Prognosticator
Review: Though not an unflawed work like Kubrick's 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY was, the 1969 sci-fi drama MAROONED manages to overcome its obvious flaws. The film concerns itself with the crew of Ironman One who, after having spent seven months in a converted Apollo capsule (a precursor to Skylab and the international space station) to test Man's endurance in space, find themselves trapped in their capsule some 300 miles above Earth when the craft's retro-rockets refuse to fire. This forces NASA to try and mount a last-ditch rescue effort before the oxygen inside Ironman gives out and the crew suffocate. Complications involve having to launch the rescue craft through the eye of a hurricane passing over the Florida launch site, but the rescue pilot (David Janssen) gets some unexpected help from a Russian cosmonaut orbiting in a nearby Voshkod spacecraft.

MAROONED is, as I've said, not an unflawed film. The dialogue that the fine cast, which includes Gregory Peck, Richard Crenna, and Gene Hackman, has to deal with is arguably quite banal. Another complication that arises is that the film's director, John Sturges, was better known for his work in the western genre (including THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN) and was thus not totally comfortable in the sci-fi genre. The third problem is that the special effects, which won a justly deserved Oscar in 1969, are obviously dated in ways in which those of "2001" aren't.

As a pre-cursor of things to come, however, MAROONED is unbelievably prescient. The film was released in December 1969. Four months later, in April 1970, the film's situation was echoed almost directly by the real-life saga of Apollo 13, whose three-man crew was almost stranded permanently in space when one of their oxygen tanks exploded on their way to the Moon. And like the 1995 film APOLLO 13, MAROONED shows NASA trying to come up with the right solutions to a very difficult situation. On that score alone, even though thirty years of cinematic advancements have rendered it dated to a certain degree, MAROONED still has considerable weight to it.

Rating:
Summary: "we have negative retrofire"
Review: Three astronauts, already debilitated after five months in the Saturn Orbital Laboratory space station, are stranded in their return vehicle, when the engines fail to fire up. The film consists of the efforts to rescue them, the air that is measured out by the minute, the tensions that arise between the astronauts in the small capsule, and their wives, who bravely try to cope. The plot could get predictable were it not for the taut, plausible script, the well-paced direction by John Sturges, the marvelous acting, and the sound. This is the only film I can remember seeing that has no musical soundtrack, just gripping sound effects that add so much to the tension. Even after repeated viewings, this film has an edginess, and it owes much of it to its imaginative use of sound.

Gregory Peck puts in another stellar performance as Chief of Manned Space Charles Keith, who is strong, decisive, and thoughtful; the conversation he has with the stranded crew about oxygen is memorable, and as the commander, Richard Crenna is terrific, and Gene Hackman, an astronaut with a high strung temperament, and James Franciscus are also excellent, as are their wives, Lee Grant, Mariette Hartley and Nancy Kovak, and David Janssen, as a fourth astronaut.

Four months and 2 days after this film was released, Apollo 13 was plagued with its problems, and went through a similar scenario; for those who believe in the powers of the mind, some could argue it was predictive, and others say life imitated art...at any rate, the coincidence is interesting, and one imagines that either the Apollo 13 crew or their families might have seen this film before their mission, and pondered the possibilities.
This film is classified as "sci-fi", though in spirit it is perhaps closer to the disaster films that would become so popular in the '70s. Panned by many critics, it is still alive and breathing well after all these years and the special effects, which won the film an Oscar, retain their freshness and are excellent. It received nominations for Best Cinematography (Daniel Fapp) and Best Sound.
Total running time is 134 minutes.

Rating:
Summary: Just how bad is it?
Review: Well, it's very slow. The movie actually has no real music. Just a electric hum. The special effects are very weak compared to 2001. Hard to believe both won Oscars for special effects. In widescreen, the special effects actually get worse. The story seems to take forever. And now lets start on the acting. Gregory Peck is featureless, Richard Crenna is dry and don't get me started on Gene Hackman. I love astronaut films like 2001, The Right Stuff and Apollo 13, but this movie left me bored. Are we sure that this was directed by John Sturges, director of the Great Escape, Magnificent Seven and Bad Day at Black Rock?

Kudos to MST3K for lampooning this movie (shown as Space Travelers). Now I'll watch it that way.

Rating:
Summary: That Gene Hackman sure uses a lot of oxygen...
Review: While watching Marooned (1969), one can't help but make comparisons to Ron Howard's much more successful and popular Apollo 13 (1995), but, as the latter was based on real life events, Marooned supposes a very likely scenario, one that asks what would happen if astronauts were stranded in space, unable to return to Earth. Oddly enough, similar events did occur in 1970, a year after Maroon's release, events that eventually became incorporated into the film Apollo 13...sweet irony...

Written by Martin Caidin, who also created the Bionic Man, and directed by John Sturges, who did films like Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), The Magnificent Seven (1960), The Great Escape (1963), and Ice Station Zebra (1968), Marooned enlists a highly capable and talented group of actors including Gregory Peck, Richard Crenna, David Janssen, James Franciscus, Gene Hackman (with hair even), and Lee Grant.

The film starts off with a seemingly routine launch of Ironman One and three astronauts, Jim Pruett (Crenna), Clayton Stone, or Stoney (Franciscus), and Buzz Lloyd (Hackman) into space. Their mission is to dock with an orbiting station, remain there for about seven months, and then return. The basic goal is to evaluate the effect of keeping men in space for long periods of time, with an eye towards manned space missions to other planets within our system. After about five months (in movie time, of course), the men begin to show fatigue, getting a bit careless with some of the non-vital equipment, and the decision is made to have them return a bit early. They return to the capsule, begin their preparations to return to Earth. Everything seems to be going alright, that is, until the computer fails to fire rockets meant to push them into their descent. Nothing appears to be malfunctioning, but the rocket won't fire. Well now this is a pickle...returning to the space station isn't an option as it's too far away. What to do? Charles Keith (Peck), head of manned space missions at NASA, comes to the conclusion that the situation is what it is...the men, having limited oxygen (we learn that the capsule will probably return to Earth under the natural pull of gravity in about five to seven years), that they are pretty much doomed, as there isn't time sufficient to launch a rescue operation. You see, all these scenarios have been developed, and the men who go into space are 'professionals' as Keith put it, and full on knew the inherit risks in their particular occupation. Ted Dougherty (Janssen), second in command behind Keith, is a bit more emotional about the situation, pushing for a rescue operation, despite all the data supporting the fact that it can't be done. So the fate of these three men is sealed? It would seem so, until Keith gets a call from The President...that's right, the big cheese, the head honcho, the main man...who tells Keith that it's all of their best interests to attempt a rescue operation. Not doing so would not only be the equivalent of political suicide for the president, but also it would effectively curtail, maybe even end, any future manned space missions. Given his orders, Keith gives the order to go ahead with the manned rescue mission, piloted by Doughtery. Will he succeed? Unlikely, as the amount of time involved in prepping a manned launch into space is extraordinary, and given the amount of oxygen the three men have left, it seems futile at best. Oh yeah, on top of everything else, a hurricane is approaching the launch site at the very time the rescue ship is to be launched...when it rains, it pours...

The film is a bit dry at times, given to so much technical information related throughout the film, but it really seemed the makers of the film focused on trying to make everything as realistic as possible. I wouldn't have thought a manned space mission could be put together so quickly, but it was made to seem almost possible here. Crenna, Franciscus, and Hackman are great as the three marooned astronauts, each reacting in their own particular ways to not only the claustrophobia of the tiny capsule, but also the knowledge that they are basically dead men floating, and their time extremely limited. I did feel Hackman's character, especially when he started losing it, seemed a bit out of character, as I would have thought dispositions to that kind of thing would have been screened out in the selection program, but who knows? Even the hardest egg can crack, given the right amount of pressures. Peck was great as the calm, cool, logical, seemingly detached from humanity man in charge, making the difficult decisions, keeping everything on track. He played the role of the pragmatic perfectly, appearing to be the 'bad guy' at times, but ultimately coming through as the perfect man to be in charge, especially at a time like this. This comes through the most when Keith informs the three man crew of a particularly difficult decision that they have to make, one you wouldn't wish on anyone. Janssen was also very good, but again, another character that seemed out of character, especially when he went off on Peck's character in their dispute over mounting a rescue operation. Flying off the handle doesn't seem like a characteristic I would want in someone in such a position, especially given the nature of the circumstances, but hey, I'm only along for the ride...

Anyway, is this movie any good? I thought so, despite it's over two hour run time (I think it ended up being like 130 minutes). I did feel a slight lack of chemistry between some of the characters, especially the astronauts, compared to those in the film Apollo 13, and there was less character development, too, but I still enjoyed the film.

The wide screen print is really sharp, along with the audio. No special features except a few trailers for other science fiction films.

Cookieman108