Capricorn one

The world waits for the first manned space flight to Mars. Before the countdown ends, the three astronauts become part of an elaborate hoax designed to fool the American public. A journalist (Elliot Gould) uncovers the plot and the astronauts are plunged into a battle of wits in order to survive. Hal Holbrook plays the director of NASA who engineers the hoax, while Sam Waterston, James Brolin and O.J. Simpson play the doomed spacemen. Closer to a thriller in genre than science fiction, the film’s ingenious plot concept does not compensate for its obvious flaws such as the complete character turnaround by Holbrook, who goes from a man acting on his beliefs, to an evil genius who will stop at nothing to carry out his plot.