Marooned (1969 film)

Last updated
Marooned
Marooned (1969 film poster).jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by John Sturges
Screenplay by Mayo Simon
Based on Marooned
1964 novel
by Martin Caidin
Produced by M. J. Frankovich
Starring Gregory Peck
Richard Crenna
David Janssen
James Franciscus
Gene Hackman
Cinematography Daniel L. Fapp
Edited by Walter Thompson
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release dates
  • November 10, 1969 (1969-11-10)(Premiere)
  • December 11, 1969 (1969-12-11)(Los Angeles)
Running time
134 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$8–10 million [1]
Box office$4.1 million (USA/Canada rentals) [1] [2]

Marooned is a 1969 American science fiction film directed by John Sturges and starring Gregory Peck, Richard Crenna, David Janssen, James Franciscus and Gene Hackman about three astronauts who are trapped and slowly suffocating in space. [3] It was based on the 1964 novel Marooned by Martin Caidin. While the original novel was based on the single-pilot Project Mercury, the film depicted an Apollo command and service module with three astronauts and a space station resembling Skylab. Caidin acted as technical adviser and updated the novel, incorporating appropriate material from the original version.

Contents

The film was released less than four months after the Apollo 11 Moon landing, attracting enormous public attention. It won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects for Robie Robertson.

Plot

Three U.S. astronauts—commander Jim Pruett (Richard Crenna), "Buzz" Lloyd (Gene Hackman), and Clayton "Stoney" Stone (James Franciscus)—are the first crew of an experimental space station on an extended duration mission. Approximately five months into a planned seven-month mission, Lloyd begins exhibiting erratic and substandard performance, and NASA management elects to end the mission early. While oriented for retrofire, the main engine on the Apollo spacecraft, dubbed Ironman One, fails. Mission Control determines that Ironman does not have enough fuel remaining to use the reaction control system as a backup to initiate atmospheric entry, nor is there sufficient fuel to re-dock with the station and wait for rescue. The crew is effectively marooned in orbit.

NASA debates whether a rescue flight can reach the crew before their oxygen runs out in approximately two days. There are no backup launch vehicles or rescue systems available at Kennedy Space Center in Florida and NASA Director of Manned Spaceflight Charles Keith (Peck) opposes using an experimental U.S. Air Force lifting body, the X-RV, that would be launched on an Air Force Titan IIIC booster rocket; neither the spacecraft nor the booster is man-rated, and there is insufficient time to put a new crewed NASA mission together. Even though a Titan IIIC is already on the way to nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for an already-scheduled Air Force launch, many hundreds of hours of preparation, assembly, and testing would be necessary.

Ted Dougherty (David Janssen), NASA's Chief Astronaut, opposes Keith and demands that something be done, claiming most time-consuming preparation items can be dismissed. The President agrees with Dougherty and tells Keith that failing to try a rescue mission will kill public support for the crewed space program. The President tells Keith that money is no factor; "whatever you need, you've got it". Despite his initial opposition, Keith accepts the decision and works furiously on the rescue mission. Dougherty appoints himself as pilot.

While the astronauts' wives (Lee Grant, Mariette Hartley and Nancy Kovack) agonize over the fates of their husbands, all normal checklist procedures are bypassed to prepare the X-RV for launch. The wives are brought to the control room and allowed to speak to their husbands; however, this exacerbates Lloyd's already-agitated condition. As launch time approaches, a hurricane headed for the launch area threatens to cancel the mission. In the final minute before launch, high winds cause a scrub of the mission. Keith admits the rescue attempt now cannot be made. However, a weather technician informs Keith the eye of the storm will pass over the Cape 90 minutes later during a subsequent launch window, permitting a launch with Dougherty aboard in time to reach the ship while at least some of the crew may survive.

The eye of the hurricane does pass over the Cape as predicted, and the launch is made just as storm winds begin to rise. However, insufficient oxygen remains for all three astronauts to survive until Dougherty arrives. There is possibly enough for two, presenting a previously unthinkable decision. Pruett and his crew then debate what to do. Stone tries to reason that they can somehow survive by taking sleeping pills or otherwise reducing oxygen consumption; Pruett responds this is unlikely to conserve enough oxygen to be successful. An agitated Lloyd offers to leave since he is "using up most of the oxygen anyway", but Pruett overrules him. He orders everyone into their spacesuits then leaves the ship, ostensibly to attempt repairs, although this option has been repeatedly dismissed as futile and wasteful of oxygen.

After Pruett goes out of the hatch, Lloyd realizes what he is really planning and attempts to follow, even though he is bound to the ship by his umbilicals. Stone restrains Lloyd, and they both watch Pruett from the hatch. There is a hiss of air as a large gash is torn in Pruett's space suit on a metal protrusion. Helpless to stop the leak and quickly losing consciousness, Pruett drifts away from the ship as Lloyd and Stone look on. With Pruett gone, Stone takes command and sedates Lloyd to near unconsciousness.

A Soviet Voskhod spacecraft suddenly appears and its cosmonaut tries to make contact. He can do nothing but deliver oxygen, since the Soviet ship is too small to carry additional passengers and lacks equipment to dock with the Apollo. Stone and Lloyd, suffering oxygen deprivation and lapsing into semiconsciousness, cannot understand the cosmonaut's gestures or obey Keith's instructions from Houston. Lloyd drifts out of the hatch and away from the ship.

Dougherty arrives in the X-RV and begins a spacewalk to retrieve the astronauts. The Soviet cosmonaut shines a light on Lloyd, drifting slowly away from the Apollo; Dougherty retrieves him using a maneuvering pack. The cosmonaut moves into the Apollo and slaps an ill-fitting oxygen tank onto Stone's suit fittings. As Dougherty returns with Lloyd in tow, Stone begins to regain consciousness with the renewed oxygen flow. Dougherty transfers the two surviving and still dazed Ironman astronauts into the rescue ship, where they exchange "thumbs up" gestures. Dougherty reports the crew transfer to Houston, where the NASA crew erupts in applause.

After separating, both the Soviet ship and the X-RV execute retrofire to return to Earth, and the final scene fades out with a view of the abandoned Ironman One adrift in orbit.

Cast

Cast notes:

Production

An earlier version of the film (based on the 1964 version of the novel) was in pre-production in 1965, with Frank Capra producing and directing, from a screenplay by Walter Newman; Capra heavily revised the script while seeking funding from investors, in order to reduce the budget. Amid concerns about the size of the project, Columbia Pictures' M. J. Frankovich offered Capra $3 million to make the film, prompting him to abandon development. When Marooned was eventually produced with John Sturges as director and Mayo Simon as screenwriter, the budget was $8 million.

Given that Apollo missions were being watched regularly by television audiences, it was very important to the producers that the look of the film be as authentic as possible. NASA, and its primary contractors such as North American Aviation and Philco-Ford, helped with the design of the film's hardware, including the crew's chairs inside the capsule, the orbiting laboratory—which used an early mock-up of the Skylab concept—the service module, [4] the actual Plantronics headsets worn by the actors in the spacecraft, as well as authentic replicas of actual facilities, such as the Mission Operations Control Room (MOCR) at Johnson Space Center in Houston and the Air Force Launch Control Center (AFLCC) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Contractors' technicians also worked on the film.

The Apollo Command Module used in making the film was an actual "boilerplate" version of the "Block I" Apollo spacecraft; no Block I ever flew with a crew aboard, mainly due to the Apollo 1 fire exposing over a thousand defects. While the Block II series had a means of rapidly opening the hatch, the Block I did not (a major factor in the Apollo 1 fire), and the interior set was constructed using the boilerplate as a model. To blow the hatch in the movie, Buzz pulls on a handle attached to a hinge.

Astronaut Jim Lovell and his wife Marilyn Lovell referred to the film years later in a special interview. Their recollection is shared as a feature on the DVD release of Apollo 13 , a 1995 film directed by Ron Howard. The couple describes a 1969 film—never specifically named—in which an astronaut in an Apollo spacecraft "named Jim" faces mortal peril. The couple says the film gave Lovell's wife nightmares. Her experience inspired a dream sequence in Apollo 13.

There were some discrepancies between real-life procedures and what is shown in the film. For instance, several scenes show various people communicating directly with the astronauts in space. In actuality, only CAPCOM (an astronaut) and astronauts' wives would have been permitted to communicate with the spacecraft, all others in MOCR and AFLCC would only be able to communicate on the internal network or to their respective backroom teams. [5] Conspicuously absent from the film is any person resembling a flight director. In real life, "Flight" is in charge of a space mission during that director's shift. The filmmakers felt that adding a flight director would distract from the interpersonal dynamic between Keith and Dougherty.[ citation needed ]

Release

Marooned had its premiere on November 10, 1969 in Washington, D.C. during the National Association of Theatre Owners convention. [6] The film opened at the Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles on December 11, 1969. [7] [8] Its New York premiere on December 17, 1969 at the new Ziegfeld Theatre was the first film shown at the new theatre. [9]

The film was still on release in some US cities during the Apollo 13 mission in April 1970 and exhibitors considered pulling the film from release depending on the outcome of the mission. However, the distributors used the interest in the subject to expand its distribution, putting it back on release in New York theaters. [10]

Reception

The film grossed $43,500 in its first week at the Egyptian theater on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, CA. [11]

In a review for The New York Times , Howard Thompson, applauded the movie as "[l]eanly structured, crisply performed," "beautifully directed," and "admirably intelligent all the way," bemoaning only an intermission that "severs the tension and cripples the dramatic crescendo" and a climax that "seems curiously antiseptic" and lacks "a vital, culminative wallop." [12]

Legacy

During the preliminary discussions for the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project, the film was discussed as a means of alleviating Soviet suspicion. [13] One purpose of the mission was to develop and test capabilities for international space rescue.

Mystery Science Theater 3000

The Space Travelers cut of the film was featured in the fourth-season premiere of Mystery Science Theater 3000 . The episode debuted June 6, 1992, on Comedy Central, becoming the only Academy Award-winning film ever to receive the MST3K treatment. [15] Kevin Murphy, a writer and performer on MST3K, called the film the "first MST3K film with a budget," but neither the budget nor its Oscar-winning credibility makes it interesting: Marooned "moves along slower than a grandma at the mall." [16]

The Space Travelers episode did not make the Top 100 list of episodes as voted upon by MST3K Season 11 Kickstarter backers. [17] Writer Jim Vogel was similarly unimpressed, ranking the episode #176 (out of 191 total MST3K episodes). Vogel calls the movie "quite dry" and "pretty boring" in its original or edited forms. "The behind-the-scenes history of how this movie ended up on MST3k is ultimately more interesting than the episode it received," Vogel wrote. [18]

The MST3K version of Space Travelers was included as part of the Mystery Science Theater 3000, Volume XXXII DVD collection, released by Shout! Factory on March 24, 2015. The other episodes in the four-disc set include Hercules (episode #502), Radar Secret Service (episode #520), and San Francisco International (episode #614). [19]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apollo 8</span> First crewed space mission to orbit the Moon

Apollo 8 was the first crewed spacecraft to leave low Earth orbit and the first human spaceflight to reach the Moon. The crew orbited the Moon ten times without landing, and then departed safely back to Earth. These three astronauts—Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders—were the first humans to witness and photograph the far side of the Moon and an Earthrise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apollo program</span> 1961–1972 American crewed lunar exploration program

The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program carried out by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which succeeded in preparing and landing the first men on the Moon from 1968 to 1972. It was first conceived in 1960 during President Dwight D. Eisenhower's administration as a three-person spacecraft to follow the one-person Project Mercury, which put the first Americans in space. Apollo was later dedicated to President John F. Kennedy's national goal for the 1960s of "landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth" in an address to Congress on May 25, 1961. It was the third US human spaceflight program to fly, preceded by the two-person Project Gemini conceived in 1961 to extend spaceflight capability in support of Apollo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apollo 13</span> Failed Moon landing mission in the Apollo program

Apollo 13 was the seventh crewed mission in the Apollo space program and the third meant to land on the Moon. The craft was launched from Kennedy Space Center on April 11, 1970, but the lunar landing was aborted after an oxygen tank in the service module (SM) ruptured two days into the mission, disabling its electrical and life-support system. The crew, supported by backup systems on the lunar module (LM), instead looped around the Moon in a circumlunar trajectory and returned safely to Earth on April 17. The mission was commanded by Jim Lovell, with Jack Swigert as command module (CM) pilot and Fred Haise as lunar module (LM) pilot. Swigert was a late replacement for Ken Mattingly, who was grounded after exposure to rubella.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apollo 7</span> First crewed flight of the Apollo space program

Apollo 7 was the first crewed flight in NASA's Apollo program, and saw the resumption of human spaceflight by the agency after the fire that had killed the three Apollo 1 astronauts during a launch rehearsal test on January 27, 1967. The Apollo 7 crew was commanded by Walter M. Schirra, with command module pilot Donn F. Eisele and lunar module pilot R. Walter Cunningham.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apollo 9</span> 3rd crewed mission of the Apollo space program

Apollo 9 was the third human spaceflight in NASA's Apollo program. Flown in low Earth orbit, it was the second crewed Apollo mission that the United States launched via a Saturn V rocket, and was the first flight of the full Apollo spacecraft: the command and service module (CSM) with the Lunar Module (LM). The mission was flown to qualify the LM for lunar orbit operations in preparation for the first Moon landing by demonstrating its descent and ascent propulsion systems, showing that its crew could fly it independently, then rendezvous and dock with the CSM again, as would be required for the first crewed lunar landing. Other objectives of the flight included firing the LM descent engine to propel the spacecraft stack as a backup mode, and use of the portable life support system backpack outside the LM cabin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apollo 1</span> Planned United States spaceflight destroyed by accidental fire (1967)

Apollo 1, initially designated AS-204, was planned to be the first crewed mission of the Apollo program, the American undertaking to land the first man on the Moon. It was planned to launch on February 21, 1967, as the first low Earth orbital test of the Apollo command and service module. The mission never flew; a cabin fire during a launch rehearsal test at Cape Kennedy Air Force Station Launch Complex 34 on January 27 killed all three crew members—Command Pilot Gus Grissom, Senior Pilot Ed White, and Pilot Roger B. Chaffee—and destroyed the command module (CM). The name Apollo 1, chosen by the crew, was made official by NASA in their honor after the fire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Extravehicular activity</span> Activity done by an astronaut or cosmonaut outside a spacecraft

Extravehicular activity (EVA) is any activity done by an astronaut in outer space outside a spacecraft. In the absence of a breathable Earthlike atmosphere, the astronaut is completely reliant on a space suit for environmental support. EVA includes spacewalks and lunar or planetary surface exploration. In a stand-up EVA (SEVA), an astronaut stands through an open hatch but does not fully leave the spacecraft. EVAs have been conducted by the Soviet Union/Russia, the United States, Canada, the European Space Agency and China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human spaceflight</span> Spaceflight with a crew or passengers

Human spaceflight is spaceflight with a crew or passengers aboard a spacecraft, often with the spacecraft being operated directly by the onboard human crew. Spacecraft can also be remotely operated from ground stations on Earth, or autonomously, without any direct human involvement. People trained for spaceflight are called astronauts, cosmonauts (Russian), or taikonauts (Chinese); and non-professionals are referred to as spaceflight participants or spacefarers.

<i>Apollo 13</i> (film) 1995 film by Ron Howard

Apollo 13 is a 1995 American space docudrama film directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Ed Harris, and Gary Sinise.

Human spaceflight programs have been conducted, started, or planned by multiple countries and companies. Until the 21st century, human spaceflight programs were sponsored exclusively by governments, through either the military or civilian space agencies. With the launch of the privately funded SpaceShipOne in 2004, a new category of human spaceflight programs – commercial human spaceflight – arrived. By the end of 2022, three countries and one private company (SpaceX) had successfully launched humans to Earth orbit, and two private companies had launched humans on a suborbital trajectory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apollo–Soyuz</span> First joint U.S.–Soviet space flight

Apollo–Soyuz was the first crewed international space mission, carried out jointly by the United States and the Soviet Union in July 1975. Millions of people around the world watched on television as an American Apollo spacecraft docked with a Soviet Soyuz capsule. The project, and its handshake in space, was a symbol of détente between the two superpowers during the Cold War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skylab Rescue</span> Unflown spaceflight contingency plan

The Skylab Rescue Mission was an unflown rescue mission, planned as a contingency in the event of astronauts being stranded aboard the American Skylab space station. If flown, it would have used a modified Apollo Command Module that could be launched with a crew of two and return a crew of five.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Project Gemini</span> 1961–1966 US human spaceflight program

Project Gemini was the second United States human spaceflight program to fly. Conducted after the first American manned space program, Project Mercury, while the Apollo program was still in early development, Gemini was conceived in 1961 and concluded in 1966. The Gemini spacecraft carried a two-astronaut crew. Ten Gemini crews and 16 individual astronauts flew low Earth orbit (LEO) missions during 1965 and 1966.

Shuttle–<i>Mir</i> program 1993–1998 collaborative Russia–US space program

The Shuttle–Mir program was a collaborative 11-mission space program between Russia and the United States that involved American Space Shuttles visiting the Russian space station Mir, Russian cosmonauts flying on the Shuttle, and an American astronaut flying aboard a Soyuz spacecraft to engage in long-duration expeditions aboard Mir.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Space capsule</span> Type of spacecraft

A space capsule is a spacecraft designed to transport cargo, scientific experiments, and/or astronauts to and from space. Capsules are distinguished from other spacecraft by the ability to survive reentry and return a payload to the Earth's surface from orbit or sub-orbit, and are distinguished from other types of recoverable spacecraft by their blunt shape, not having wings and often containing little fuel other than what is necessary for a safe return. Capsule-based crewed spacecraft such as Soyuz or Orion are often supported by a service or adapter module, and sometimes augmented with an extra module for extended space operations. Capsules make up the majority of crewed spacecraft designs, although one crewed spaceplane, the Space Shuttle, has flown in orbit.

<i>Marooned</i> (novel) 1964 novel by Martin Caidin

Marooned is a 1964 science fiction thriller novel by American writer Martin Caidin, about a crewed spacecraft stranded in Earth orbit, oxygen running out, and only an experimental craft available to attempt a rescue. A film based on the novel led Caidin to prepare a revised version of it in 1968. The film was released in 1969, four months after the Apollo 11 mission, with the revised novel sold by book stores a few weeks earlier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Lunar Resources Exploration Concept</span> Lunar exploration concept

The International Lunar Resources Exploration Concept (ILREC) was a proposed mission architecture under President George H. W. Bush's Space Exploration Initiative (SEI) by Kent Joosten, an engineer at Johnson Space Center. The plan would have used the help of international partners, mainly the Soviet Union, to assemble a lunar base and sustainable lunar transportation service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SpaceX Crew-5</span> 2022 American crewed spaceflight to the ISS

SpaceX Crew-5 was the fifth operational NASA Commercial Crew Program flight of a Crew Dragon spacecraft, and the eighth overall crewed orbital flight. The mission was successfully launched on 5 October 2022 with the aim of transporting four crew members to the International Space Station (ISS). The Crew Dragon spacecraft docked at the ISS on 6 October 2022 at 21:01 UTC.

References

  1. 1 2 Lovell, Glenn (2008). Escape Artist: The Life and Films of John Sturges. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 268–273.
  2. ↑ "Big Rental Films of 1970", Variety (January 6, 1971), p. 11.
  3. ↑ Thompson, Howard (December 16, 1969). "Marooned (1969)". The New York Times .
  4. ↑ Mateas, Lisa. "Marooned (1969)" (article) Turner Classic Movies
  5. ↑ Hutchinson, Lee (October 31, 2012). "Going boldly: Behind the scenes at NASA's hallowed Mission Control Center". Arstechnica.com.
  6. ↑ "Columbia's Soiree For 'Marooned'; A Captive Audience". Variety . November 12, 1969. p. 7.
  7. ↑ Marooned at the American Film Institute Catalog
  8. ↑ "'Marooned' Preems Dec. 12". Variety . September 17, 1969. p. 6.
  9. ↑ "Reade Does Ziegfeld Proud in Décor and Memorabilia; Unique House Opens". Variety . December 17, 1969. p. 9.
  10. ↑ "Would Have Yanked 'Marooned'?". Variety . April 22, 1970. p. 7. Retrieved April 1, 2024– via Internet Archive.
  11. ↑ "LA Perks Sharply; 'Dolly' Smash $45,000; 'Service' Zingy 174G For Sites; 'Topaz' 23G, 'Cactus' 20G". Variety . December 24, 1969. p. 9.
  12. ↑ Thompson, Howard (December 19, 1969). "The Screen: 'Marooned,' Space Film, Opens the New Ziegfeld:Story Built on Perils of Planetary Trips". The New York Times . Retrieved 11 February 2022.
  13. ↑ Edward Clinton Ezell & Linda Neuman Ezell, The Partnership: A History of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project
  14. ↑ Roper, Caitlin. "Why Gravity Director Alfonso Cuarón Will Never Make a Space Movie Again". Wired (October 1, 2013)
  15. ↑ Episode Guide: 401- Space Travelers. Satellite News. Retrieved on 2018-07-17.
  16. ↑ Beaulieu, Trace; et al. (1996). The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Amazing Colossal Episode Guide (1st ed.). New York: Bantam Books. p. 64. ISBN   9780553377835.
  17. ↑ Bring Back Mystery Science Theater 3000 Update #41. Kickstarter. Retrieved on 2018-07-17.
  18. ↑ Ranking Every MST3K Episode, From Worst to Best. Vorel, Jim. Paste Magazine. December 4, 2018. Retrieved on 2023-11-29.
  19. ↑ MST3K: Volume XXXII. Shout! Factory. Retrieved on 2018-07-11.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.