Hangar 18 (film)

Last updated
Hangar 18
Hangar18poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by James L. Conway
Screenplay byKen Pettus
Story by
  • Thomas C. Chapman
  • James L. Conway
Produced by Charles E. Sellier, Jr.
Starring
CinematographyPaul Hipp
Edited byMichael Spence
Music by John Cacavas
Distributed by Sunn Classic Pictures
Release date
  • July 1980 (1980-07)
Running time
97 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$5.8 million [1] —$11 million [2]

Hangar 18 is a 1980 American science fiction action film directed by James L. Conway and written by Ken Pettus, from a story by Thomas C. Chapman and Conway. It stars Darren McGavin, Robert Vaughn, Gary Collins, James Hampton and Pamela Bellwood. [3]

Contents

Plot

Hangar 18 is about a cover-up following a UFO incident aboard the Space Shuttle. A satellite, just launched from the orbiter, collides with an unidentified object, which, after being spotted on radar moving at great speeds, had positioned itself just over the shuttle. The collision kills an astronaut in the launch bay. The events are witnessed by Bancroft and Price, the astronauts aboard. After returning to Earth, they are stonewalled when they try to discuss what happened. Harry Forbes, Deputy Director of NASA, simply tells them that "everything is going to be all right".

After it makes a controlled landing in the Arizona desert, the damaged alien spacecraft is taken to Wolf Air Force Base in Texas and installed in Hangar 18, where scientists and other technicians, headed by Harry Forbes, can study it. Due to an impending presidential election, government officials are anxious to prevent any public knowledge of the event.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Forbes, the Air Force puts out a news story blaming Bancroft and Price for the death of their colleague and for the destruction of the satellite. The men know that they can prove their innocence by viewing the telemetry tapes which recorded the UFO; but when they view them, all evidence of the object has been erased. Through a friend who works at a remote tracking station, they see the real telemetry and discover where the alien craft landed. They set out to expose the cover-up and clear their names.

In the hangar, investigators enter the ship and find its two crew members dead. They determine that, during the collision with the satellite, chemicals were released in the craft that produced a short-lived toxic gas. They find a human woman in a stasis chamber, who later wakes up, screaming. They realize that symbols on the control panels match those used by ancient Earth civilizations. Video on the ship's computer shows extensive surveillance of power plants, military bases, industrial plants and major cities worldwide. Autopsies performed on the aliens show that they and humans had similar evolutionary processes. A scientist deduces that the ship could not have reached Earth on its own, but must have been launched from a much larger, faster and more long-ranged mother ship.

In their pursuit of the truth, Bancroft and Price get closer to Hangar 18 but are targets of government agents. They elude one team, who are killed during a high-speed chase. Later, they find that the brakes on their rental car have stopped working, and after careening along roads, they come to rest on the grounds of a gas refinery. Agents begin shooting at them, so they drive off in an oil tanker. With the agents in pursuit, Price climbs onto the tanker, lets some gas out of the truck, lights an emergency flare, and tosses it. Their pursuers crash and are killed, but Price is fatally shot. When Forbes learns of Price's death, he demands the Air Force to take Bancroft to Hangar 18, or he will go to the press with the truth. Their cover-up and careers now threatened, government officials decide to remotely fly an explosives-filled plane into Hangar 18 to destroy all evidence of the event.

The researchers have determined that the aliens have been to Earth before and that human beings are, in fact, their descendants. Further examination of the video footage reveals that the industrial and military sites are "designated landing areas", suggesting that the aliens are preparing to return.

When Bancroft arrives at the base, he crashes through the base's security gate and, hiding in a warehouse, is discovered by Forbes, who takes him to Hangar 18 and the alien craft. Just as a researcher reveals that a translation of the aliens' language indicates that they are about to return, the plane crashes into Hangar 18, creating a huge explosion.

The next day, a news report says that Bancroft, Forbes and their group of technicians survived the blast, shielded inside an alien spacecraft. Forbes schedules a press conference for that afternoon.

Cast

Production

Principal photography took place in Midland and Big Spring, Texas, and at the former Pyote Air Force Base, as well as the former Webb Air Force Base.[ citation needed ] Filming also took place in Salt Lake City, Utah. [4]

The title is believed to stem from hoaxer Robert Spencer Carr, who, in 1974, named Hangar 18 as the storage location of bodies from the 1948 Aztec UFO hoax. [5] [6] [7]

Release

Hangar 18 was released in the United States in July 1980, and in Ireland on March 13, 1981.[ citation needed ] It was one of the very few American films to be shown theatrically in the Soviet Union, and was also broadcast on the Soviet television channel Programme One, premiering on January 1, 1982.[ citation needed ] Due to the limited number of science fiction and action films available to the Soviet public, Hangar 18 became quite popular with the youth of the country.[ citation needed ]

The film was released by Sunn Classic Pictures, an independent, American film distributor notable for presenting what TV Guide called "awful big-screen 'documentaries' [such as] In Search of Noah's Ark and In Search of Historic Jesus ". [8] Sunn Classic's library is now owned by Paramount Pictures.

A version with a different ending was televised under the title Invasion Force. [9]

Hangar 18 was released on Blu-ray on June 25, 2013. [10]

Reception

When the film was released, The New York Times film critic Vincent Canby dismissed it: "Hangar 18 is the sort of melodrama that pretends to be skeptical, but requires that everyone watching it be profoundly gullible ... It stars ... Robert Vaughn as the ruthless and fatally unimaginative White House Chief of Staff  ... In the supporting cast is Debra MacFarlane, who plays a beautiful female specimen found aboard the saucer, a young woman who looks amazingly like a Hollywood starlet. But then, I guess, she is. The flying saucer itself looks like an oversized toy that might have been made in Taiwan." [11]

Christopher John reviewed the film in Ares Magazine #8, writing, "Hanger 18[ sic ] is the perfect Sunday evening movie for television. If you watch closely, you can even see the spaces they planned for the commercials." [12]

In his review of Hangar 18 for his 2015 Movie Guide , Leonard Maltin opined that the alternate conclusion used in Invasion Force, the television version of the film, undermines the entire movie. [13]

Legacy

Director Conway would revisit the subject matter of Hangar 18 in "Little Green Men", an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in which characters accidentally travel back in time to 1947 and crash near Roswell, New Mexico. The building in which their ship is subsequently stored is designated Hangar 18. [14]

Hangar 18 was featured in an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 in 1989, while it was still a local show. [15]

See also

Related Research Articles

UFO conspiracy theories are a subset of conspiracy theories which argue that various governments and politicians globally, in particular the United States government, are suppressing evidence that unidentified flying objects are controlled by a non-human intelligence or built using alien technology. Such conspiracy theories usually argue that Earth governments are in communication or cooperation with extraterrestrial visitors despite public disclaimers, and further that some of these theories claim that the governments are explicitly allowing alien abduction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Adamski</span> Polish-American ufologist (1891-1965)

George Adamski was a Polish-American author who became widely known in ufology circles, and to some degree in popular culture, after he displayed numerous photographs in the 1940s and 1950s that he said were of alien spacecraft, claimed to have met with friendly Nordic alien Space Brothers, and claimed to have taken flights with them to the Moon and other planets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roswell incident</span> UFO legend caused by 1947 balloon crash

The Roswell incident is a conspiracy theory which alleges that the 1947 crash of a United States Army Air Forces balloon near Roswell, New Mexico was actually caused by an extraterrestrial spacecraft. Operated from the nearby Alamogordo Army Air Field and part of the top secret Project Mogul, the balloon was intended to detect Soviet nuclear tests. After metallic and rubber debris was recovered by Roswell Army Air Field personnel, the United States Army announced their possession of a "flying disc". This announcement made international headlines but was retracted within a day. Obscuring the true purpose and source of the crashed balloon, the Army subsequently stated that it was a conventional weather balloon.

The extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH) proposes that some unidentified flying objects (UFOs) are best explained as being physical spacecraft occupied by extraterrestrial intelligence or non-human aliens, or non-occupied alien probes from other planets visiting Earth.

<i>Taken</i> (miniseries) American science-fiction television miniseries by Steven Spielberg

Taken, also known as Steven Spielberg Presents Taken, is an American science fiction television miniseries that first aired on the Sci-Fi Channel from December 2 to 13, 2002. Filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, it was written by Leslie Bohem, and directed by Breck Eisner, Félix Enríquez Alcalá, John Fawcett, Tobe Hooper, Jeremy Paul Kagan, Michael Katleman, Sergio Mimica-Gezzan, Bryan Spicer, Jeff Woolnough, and Thomas J. Wright. The executive producers were Leslie Bohem and Steven Spielberg.

<i>The Flying Saucers Are Real</i> Book by Donald Keyhoe

The Flying Saucers Are Real, by Donald Keyhoe, was a book that investigated reports of UFOs by United States Air Force fighters, personnel, and other aircraft, between 1947 and 1950.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little green men</span> Stock character; little humanoid extraterrestrials with green skin and antennae on their heads

Little green men is the stereotypical portrayal of extraterrestrials as little humanoid creatures with green skin and sometimes with antennae on their heads. The term is also sometimes used to describe gremlins, mythical creatures known for causing problems in airplanes and mechanical devices.

<i>Earth vs. the Flying Saucers</i> 1956 science fiction film directed by Fred F. Sears

Earth vs. the Flying Saucers is a 1956 American science fiction film from Columbia Pictures. It was produced by Charles H. Schneer, directed by Fred F. Sears, and stars Hugh Marlowe and Joan Taylor. The stop-motion animation special effects were created by Ray Harryhausen. The storyline was suggested by the bestselling 1953 non-fiction book Flying Saucers from Outer Space by Maj. Donald Keyhoe. The film was released as a double feature with The Werewolf.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mutual UFO Network</span> Organization centered around UFOs

The Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) is a US-based non-profit organization composed of civilian volunteers who study reported UFO sightings. It is one of the oldest and largest organizations of its kind, claiming more than 4,000 members worldwide with chapters and representatives in more than 43 countries and all 50 United States. The organization has been criticized for its focus on pseudoscience, and critics say its investigators fail to use the scientific method.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UFOs in fiction</span>

Many works of fiction have featured UFOs. In most cases, as the fictional story progresses, the Earth is being invaded by hostile alien forces from outer space, usually from Mars, as depicted in early science fiction, or the people are being destroyed by alien forces, as depicted in the film Independence Day. Some fictional UFO encounters may be based on real UFO reports, such as Night Skies. Night Skies is based on the 1997 Phoenix UFO Incident.

John Grant Fuller, Jr. was a New England–based American author of several nonfiction books and newspaper articles, mainly focusing on the theme of extraterrestrials and the supernatural. For many years he wrote a regular column for the Saturday Review magazine, called "Trade Winds". His books include We Almost Lost Detroit, The Ghost of Flight 401, Incident at Exeter, and The Interrupted Journey. He also served as writer, producer, and director on a number of TV shows and documentary films.

"Little Green Men" is the 80th episode of the American syndicated science fiction television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the eighth episode of the fourth season.

<i>The Atomic Submarine</i> 1959 film

The Atomic Submarine is a 1959 independently made, American black-and-white science-fiction film directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet and starring Arthur Franz, Dick Foran, Brett Halsey, Joi Lansing and Jean Moorhead, with John Hilliard as the voice of the alien. The film was produced by Alex Gordon and distributed by Allied Artists Pictures Corporation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flying saucer</span> Purported disk-shaped aircraft

A flying saucer, or flying disc, is a purported disc-shaped UFO. In science fiction, reported UFO sightings, and UFO conspiracy theories, they are typically piloted by nonhuman beings. The terms flying saucer and flying disc can be used generically for a mysterious flying object. The term was coined in 1947 but has gradually been supplanted since 1952 by the United States Air Force term unidentified flying object (UFO), the downside of which being that, according to the term, absolutely anything can be a UFO. Early reported sightings of flying saucers usually described them as silver or metallic, sometimes reported as covered with navigation lights or surrounded with a glowing light, hovering or moving rapidly, either alone or in tight formations with other similar craft, and exhibiting high maneuverability.

<i>Starship Invasions</i> 1977 Canadian film

Starship Invasions is a 1977 Canadian science fiction film directed, produced and written by Ed Hunt and filmed in Toronto, Ontario. It was re-released in the United Kingdom as Project Genocide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karl T. Pflock</span> American novelist

Karl Tomlinson Pflock was a CIA intelligence officer, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense in the Reagan Administration, strategic planner, UFO researcher, and author of both fiction and non-fiction. He was best known for his book Roswell: Inconvenient Facts and the Will to Believe.

The Aztec, New Mexico, UFO hoax was a flying saucer crash alleged to have happened in 1948 in Aztec, New Mexico. The story was first published in 1949 by author Frank Scully in his Variety magazine columns, and later in his 1950 book Behind the Flying Saucers. In the mid-1950s, the story was exposed as a hoax fabricated by two con men, Silas M. Newton and Leo A. Gebauer, as part of a fraudulent scheme to sell supposed alien technology. Beginning in the 1970s, some ufologists resurrected the story in books claiming the purported crash was real. In 2013, an FBI memo claimed by some ufologists to substantiate the crash story was dismissed by the bureau as "a second- or third-hand claim that we never investigated".

<i>The Bamboo Saucer</i> 1968 film

The Bamboo Saucer is an independently made 1968 Cold War science fiction film drama about competing American and Russian teams that discover a flying saucer in Communist China. The film was re-released in 1969 under the title Collision Course with an edited down runtime of 90 minutes.

<i>The Fortec Conspiracy</i> 1968 book

The Fortec Conspiracy is a 1968 science-fiction novel by Richard M. Garvin and Edmond G. Addeo about alien materials and bodies being studied at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

In UFO conspiracy theories, "Hangar 18" is the name given to a building that allegedly contained UFO debris or alien bodies. The name was popularized by conspiracy theorist Robert Spencer Carr in 1974, who claimed the hangar was located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio; in actuality, it isn't named Hanger 18, it is Area B, Building 23.

References

  1. Donahue, Suzanne Mary (1987). American film distribution : the changing marketplace. UMI Research Press. p. 292. Please note figures are for rentals in US and Canada
  2. "Hangar 18". The Number . United States. Retrieved December 4, 2016.
  3. "Hangar 18". Turner Classic Movies . Atlanta: Turner Broadcasting System (Time Warner). Retrieved December 4, 2016.
  4. D'Arc, James V. (2010). When Hollywood came to town: a history of moviemaking in Utah (1st ed.). Layton, Utah: Gibbs Smith. ISBN   9781423605874.
  5. Carey, Thomas J.; Schmitt, Donald R. (2019). UFO Secrets Inside Wright-Patterson: Eyewitness Accounts from the Real Area 51. ISBN   9781938875182.
  6. "The Saucers That Time Forgot: Robert Spencer Carr and Hangar 18". 29 May 2018.
  7. "Does Hangar 18, Legendary Alien Warehouse, Exist?".
  8. "Hangar 18 film review". TV Guide . United States. Archived from the original on May 31, 2012. Retrieved February 19, 2011.
  9. DVD Talk , June 25, 2013 - Hangar 18 (Blu-ray), Video & Audio
  10. "Hangar 18". Olive Films. June 25, 2013. ASIN   B00CFHEEVM . Retrieved December 4, 2016.
  11. Canby, Vincent (January 10, 1981). "Hangar 18 film review". The New York Times . Retrieved February 19, 2011.
  12. John, Christopher (May 1981). "Film & Television". Ares Magazine (8). Simulations Publications, Inc.: 31–32.
  13. Leonard Maltin's 2015 Movie Guide, By Leonard Maltin - Hangar 18 (1980)
  14. STARTREK.COM STAFF (February 16, 2012). "Catching Up With Director James L. Conway, Part 1". StarTrek.com.
  15. "Hangar 18". IMDb. 13 March 1981. Retrieved December 4, 2016.[ unreliable source? ]