Rating of
3.5/4
Mars, assassins, and crop dusters. Oh my!
Indyfreak - wrote on 11/24/21
A hugely entertaining speculative thriller about a reporter who stumbles into a conspiracy involving a fake NASA mission to Mars. And the perpetrators (led by Hal Holbrook) are willing to kill for it.
Elliot Gould is funny as the wannabe sleuth who finds the scoop of the century. James Brolin is very good as the lead astronaut uncomfortable going along with the charade. Hal Holbrook is his darker half as a NASA scientist in charge of the conspiracy.
There’s amusing side performances by familiar seventies actors like Karen Black, Telly Savalas, and David Huddleston. Brolin’s costars includes Sam Waterston and of all people…O. J. Simpson!
The setup for the conspiracy is plausible enough for the 1970s. There’s a really exciting chase scene between army helicopters and a crop duster plane.
