Marooned | | Cast : | Gregory Peck, Richard Crenna | | Director : | John Sturges | | Studio : | Columbia Tristar Hom | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen | | Released Date : | December 11, 1969 | | DVD Released Date : | November 18, 2003 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | G (General Audience) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 07, 2005 | | Summary | best example of early sci-fi! | Content
 | I have Apollo 13, The Right Stuff, and Space Cowboys on DVD. Marooned is just as good as each of them, and it was made in 1969. I think it's pure coincidence that the Apollo 13 incident happened about a year later. The commander of Apollo 13 (Jim Lovell, Gemini 7, Gemini 12, Apollo 8, Apollo 13) has the same first name as the commander in the movie (Jim Pruett). The movie has great special effects and is an ACADEMY AWARD WINNER: SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS 1969. Here's what the cover says:
GREGORY PECK
GENE HACKMAN
MAROONED
THE SAGA OF IRONMAN ONE
THEY ARE TRAPPED IN A SPACESHIP WITH NO POWER.
OUTSIDE THERE IS NO AIR AND NO HEAT.
EARTH SPINS 200 MILES BELOW.
Three astronauts face a desperate situation in this spellbinding science fiction cliffhanger. After completing a daring mission in space, the three-man spaceship Ironman One orbits Earth preparing for re-entry. But a retro-rocket misfires, and the crew commander Jim Pruett (Richard Crenna), scientist/astrounat Clayton Stone (James Franciscus) and pilot Buzz Lloyd (Academy Award Winner Gene Hackman - Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Unforgiven, 1992; and Best Actor in a Leading Role, The French Connection, 1971) are marooned in space. Back on Earth, Charles Keith (Academy Award Winner Gregory Peck - Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, 1968; and Best Actor in a Leading Role, To Kill a Mocking Bird, 1962), chief of the manned space program, and senior astronaut Ted Dougherty (David Janssen) plan an incredible rescue - while the whole world anxiously awaits.
Columbia Pictures Presents A
FRANKOVICH-STURGES
Production
GREGORY PECK
RICHARD CRENNA
And
DAVID JANSSEN
As Ted Dougherty
JAMES FRANCISCUS
GENE HACKMAN
In
"MAROONED"
Co-Starring
LEE GRANT
Screenplay By
MAYO SIMON
Based On The Novel By
MARTIN CAIDIN
Produced By
M.J. FRANKOVICH
Directed By
JOHN STURGES
I definetely reccomend buying this suspenseful sci-fi movie! |
| Rating | | | Date | August 27, 2004 | | Summary | Great suspense. | Content
| If you liked Apollo 13, you should love this space suspense film that came out at the height of the space program. The special effects are good, the acting great, the story and screenplay (concerning a rescue attempt of stranded astronauts) suspenseful and dramatic. It's hard to find many serious science fiction films that will satisfy a space enthusiast - this is one of the few, along with Destination Moon and Mission to Mars. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 09, 2004 | | Summary | Just how bad is it? | Content
| 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 | | | Date | July 05, 2004 | | Summary | "we have negative retrofire" | Content
| 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 | | | Date | June 14, 2004 | | Summary | That Gene Hackman sure uses a lot of oxygen... | Content
| 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 |
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