History Film / CapricornOne

''Capricorn One'' is a [[TheSeventies 1978 film]] directed by [[Film/2010TheYearWeMakeContact Peter]] [[Film/{{Outland}} Hyams]], [[InspiredBy inspired by]] the [[ConspiracyTheories Moon landing conspiracy theories]]. Astronauts Charles Brubaker, Peter Willis, and John Walker are the crew for the first manned mission to UsefulNotes/{{Mars}}, [[TitleDrop Capricorn One]]. Except they're not. A poorly made life-support system that would have killed the astronauts three weeks into their trip means they'll have to fake it, as [[ObstructiveBureaucrat Congress can't afford another screw-up]]. The spacecraft is launched empty, and the crew are taken to a remote Air Force base, where they [[IHaveYourWife are forced]] to act out the Mars landing in a studio for the benefit of television cameras.

''Capricorn One'' is a [[TheSeventies 1978 film]] InspiredBy the [[ConspiracyTheories Moon landing conspiracy theories]]. Astronauts Charles Brubaker, Peter Willis, and John Walker are the crew for the first manned mission to UsefulNotes/{{Mars}}, [[TitleDrop Capricorn One]]. Except they're not. A poorly made life-support system that would have killed the astronauts three weeks into their trip means they'll have to fake it, as [[ObstructiveBureaucrat Congress can't afford another screw-up]]. The spacecraft is launched empty, and the crew are taken to a remote Air Force base, where they [[IHaveYourWife are forced]] to act out the Mars landing in a studio for the benefit of television cameras.

* IHaveYourWife: When the astronauts are first told about the set up, it's pointed out to them that their families are all on the same plane back from the launch and a "device" has been planted on the plane.
* IntrepidReporter: Caulfield wants to be one of these (and gets his chance in the end). However his history of trying to find hot scoops lend to a long list of embarrassments which prevent his editor from taking him seriously.

* OutOfCharacterAlert: Brubaker makes possibly the subtlest one in film history by getting the previous year's family holiday mixed up. This is just enough to draw attention to it and Caulfield spots that it has happened from the expression on Mrs. Brukbaker's face but when he finds out what it is, he at first thinks nothing of it then leaves. Later he comes back and finds out the key point-on the previous year's holiday, they had visited a film set.
* StealthParody: Of moon landing hoax theories-the film quietly showcases how incredibly unlikely it is that the truth of "astronauts never left the Earth" would remain secret even with the best cover-up in the business.

* VicePresidentWho: Instead of the President, the Vice President attends the historic launch. Doctor Kelloway notes this, and regards it as a sleight by the White House, a symbolic vote of no confidence in Kelloway's leadership at NASA.

* BlackHelicopter: A matched set of Army Loaches(LOH-6 Cayuses). OK, they're actually olive drab, but still, they're used to highly ominous effect when the astronaut crew are trying to escape through the desert. You don't actually see much of the search other than the helicopters so they end up being an abstract representation of the conspiracy. They fly and maneuver in a way that makes them seem alive and predatorial (pointing and looking with their "noses") and at one point a delirious astronaut sees them as CirclingVultures.

-->'''Caulfield:''' Look, when a reporter tells his assignment editor that he thinks he may be on to something that could be really big, the assignment editor is supposed to say: "You've got forty eight hours, kids, and you better come up with something good or it's going to be your neck!" That's what he's supposed to say, I saw it in a movie.
-->'''Loughlin:''' You're not crazy, I'm crazy. I'm crazy for listening and I'm crazy for saying what I'm about to say. I'll give you twenty four hours to come up with something. Not forty eight. I saw the movie too, it was twenty four.

''Capricorn One'' is a [[TheSeventies 1978 film]] InspiredBy the [[ConspiracyTheories moon landing conspiracy theories]]. Astronauts Charles Brubaker, Peter Willis and John Walker are the crew for the first manned mission to UsefulNotes/{{Mars}}, [[TitleDrop Capricorn One]]. Except they're not. A poorly-made life-support system that would have killed the astronauts three weeks into their trip means they'll have to fake it, as [[ObstructiveBureaucrat Congress can't afford another screw up]]. The spacecraft is launched empty and the crew are taken to a remote Air Force base where they [[IHaveYourWife are forced]] to act out the Mars landing in a studio for the benefit of television cameras.

Elliot Whitter, one of the technicians at mission control, notices something strange-that the television signals are being transmitted ahead of the telemetry-and tells his reporter friend [[IntrepidReporter Robert Caulfield]]. But Elliot [[KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade is killed]], and he's been made an {{Unperson}}. Then when Caulfield interviews Brubaker's wife, her reaction to something strange Brubaker said helps him realize there's some sort of GovernmentConspiracy at work.

Then, when the empty space craft burns up on re-entry due to a defective heat shield -- so NASA says -- the astronauts realize they [[HeKnowsTooMuch know too much]] and decide to make a run for it.

* AttendingYourOwnFuneral: [[spoiler: The last surviving astronaut makes it to a memorial service for the crew, exposing the conspiracy.]]

* BlackHelicopter: A matched set of Army Loaches([=LOH-6=] Cayuses). OK, they're actually olive drab, but still they're used to highly ominous effect when the astronaut crew are trying to escape through the desert. You don't actually see much of the search other than the helicopters so they end up being an abstract representation of the conspiracy. They fly and maneuver in a way that makes them seem alive and predatorial (pointing and looking with their "noses") and at one point a delirious astronaut sees them as CirclingVultures.

* CirclingVultures: {{Subverted}}. One of the astronauts being hunted by government agents in the desert, delirious from heat and thirst, thinks he sees "birds" circling above him-and in the camera shot depicting his blurred vision, it does look like vultures circling. Turns out to be those {{Black Helicopter}}s though.

-->'''Caulfield''': Look, when a reporter tells his assignment editor that he thinks he may be on to something that could be really big, the assignment editor is supposed to say: "You've got forty eight hours, kids, and you better come up with something good or it's going to be your neck!" That's what he's supposed to say, I saw it in a movie.
-->'''Loughlin''': You're not crazy, I'm crazy. I'm crazy for listening and I'm crazy for saying what I'm about to say. I'll give you twenty four hours to come up with something. Not forty eight. I saw the movie too, it was twenty four.

* GovernmentConspiracy

* HeKnowsTooMuch

Elliot Whitter, one of the technicians at mission control notices something strange, that the television signals are being transmitted ahead of the telemetry and tells his reporter friend [[IntrepidReporter Robert Caulfield]]. But Elliot [[KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade is killed]] and he's been made an {{Unperson}}. Then when Caulfield interviews Brubaker's wife, her reaction to something strange Brubaker said helps him realize there's some sort of GovernmentConspiracy at work.

Then, when the empty space craft burns up on re-entry due to a defective heat shield -- so NASA says -- the astronauts realise they [[HeKnowsTooMuch know too much]] and decide to make a run for it.

* AerialCanyonChase: A chase over Sierras, rather distinctly using numerous shots from behind the plane in a chasing camera.

* BlackDudeDiesFirst: a variation. Of the three astronauts on the run, it's the black dude who gets recaptured first. (Although the audience may rightly assume that they subsequently killed him -- he was supposed to have died during "re-entry", after all.)

* CirclingVultures: Subverted. One of the astronauts being hunted by government agents in the desert, delirious from heat and thirst, thinks he sees "birds" circling above him--and in the camera shot depicting his blurred vision, it does look like vultures circling. Turns out to be those {{Black Helicopter}}s though.

* DeadpanSnarker: Willis

-->'''Loughlin''':You're not crazy, I'm crazy. I'm crazy for listening and I'm crazy for saying what I'm about to say. I'll give you twenty four hours to come up with something. Not forty eight. I saw the movie too, it was twenty four.

* OutOfCharacterAlert: Brubaker makes possibly the subtlest one in film history by getting the previous year's family holiday mixed up. This is just enough to draw attention to it and Caulfield spots that it has happened from the expression on Mrs. Brukbaker's face but when he finds out what it is, he at first thinks nothing of it then leaves. Later he comes back and finds out the key point- on the previous year's holiday, they had visited a film set.

* BlackDudeDiesFirst: a variation. Of the three astronauts on the run, it's the black dude who gets recaptured first.

* FacelessGoons: The relentless Army aviators.

* BlackHelicopter: A matched set of Army Loaches. OK, they're actually olive drab, but still they're used to highly ominous effect when the astronaut crew are trying to escape through the desert. You don't actually see much of the search other than the helicopters so they end up being an abstract representation of the conspiracy. They fly and maneuver in a way that makes them seem alive and predatorial (pointing and looking with their "noses") and at one point a delirious astronaut sees them as CirclingVultures.

''Capricorn One'' is a [[TheSeventies 1978 film]] InspiredBy the [[ConspiracyTheories moon landing conspiracy theories]]. Astronauts Charles Brubaker, Peter Willis and John Walker are the crew for the first manned mission to [[TheRedPlanet Mars]], [[TitleDrop Capricorn One]]. Except they're not. A poorly-made life-support system that would have killed the astronauts three weeks into their trip means they'll have to fake it, as [[ObstructiveBureaucrat Congress can't afford another screw up]]. The spacecraft is launched empty and the crew are taken to a remote Air Force base where they [[IHaveYourWife are forced]] to act out the Mars landing in a studio for the benefit of television cameras.

* ConspiracyThriller: Though it's also partly a DeconstructiveParody/StealthParody [[TakeThat of theories about the supposed Apollo Moon landing hoax]].

* ConspiracyThriller: Though it's also partly a DeconstructiveParody [[TakeThat towards]] theories about the supposed Apollo Moon landing hoax.

* OutOfCharacterAlert: Brubaker makes possible the subtlest one in film history by getting the previous year's family holiday mixed up. This is just enough to draw attention to it and Caulfield spots that it has happened from the expression on Mrs. Brukbaker's face but when he finds out what it is, he at first thinks nothing of it then leaves. Later he comes back and finds out the key point- on the previous year's holiday, they had visited a film set.

!!Tropes featured in the movie :

* BlackHelicopter: A matched set of Army Loaches. OK, they're actually olive drab, but still they're used to highly ominous effect when the astronaut crew are trying to escape through the desert. You don't actually see much of the search other than the helicopters so they end up being an abstract representation of the conspiracy. They fly and manoeuvre in a way that makes them seem alive and predatorial (pointing and looking with their "noses") and at one point a delirious astronaut sees them as CirclingVultures.

Elliot Whitter, one of the technicians at mission control notices something strange, that the television signals are being transmitted ahead of the telemetry and tells his reporter friend [[IntrepidReporter Robert Caulfield]]. But Elliot [[KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade is killed]] and he's been made an {{Unperson}}. Then when Caulfield interviews Brubaker's wife, her reaction to [[SomethingTheyWouldNeverSay something strange Brubaker said]] helps him realize there's some sort of GovernmentConspiracy at work.

''Capricorn One'' is a [[TheSeventies 1978 film]] InspiredBy the [[ConspiracyTheories moon landing conspiracy theories]]. Astronauts Charles Brubaker, Peter Willis and John Walker are the crew for the first manned mission to [[TheRedPlanet Mars]], [[TitleDrop Capricorn One]]. Except they're not. A poorly-made life-support system that would have killed the astronauts three weeks into their trip means they'll have to fake it, as [[ObstructiveBureaucrat Congress can't afford another screw up]]. The crew are taken to a remote Air Force base where they [[IHaveYourWife are forced]] to act out the Mars landing in a studio for the benefit of television cameras.

Then, when the space craft burns up on re-entry due to a defective heat shield -- so NASA says -- the astronauts realise they [[HeKnowsTooMuch know too much]] and decide to make a run for it.

* BlackHelicopter: A matched set of Army Loaches. OK, they're actually olive drab, but still they're used to highly ominous effect when the astronaut crew are trying to escape through the desert. You don't actually see much of the search other than the helicopters so they end up being an abstract representation of the conspiracy. They fly and manoeuvre in a way that makes them seem alive and predatorial (pointing and looking with their "noses") and at one point a delirious astronaut sees them as vultures circling over head.