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Countdown

1968, Movie, NR, 101 mins

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Directed by an unknown Robert Altman, this sci-fi suspenser top-lined James Caan in his seventh movie. A good script by Loring Mandel depicts Caan as a civilian scientist chosen to replace Duvall in a space capsule that will land on the moon. Moore, Caan's wife, suffers from being in the fishbowl of publicity and has difficulty with her newfound celebrity status. Duvall's wife, Baxley, reaches for the booze when Duvall's dedication to his work takes him away from home for long stretches of time. The idea is to get a man on the moon before the Russians, but project manager Ihnat and flight medico Aidman carry on a running battle over safety precautions versus the need to be first on Earth's satellite. Caan gets to the moon in a well-photographed sequence with lots of suspense and finds a crew of dead Russians. This was a precursor to THE RIGHT STUFF and, in its own small way, is a very good film. The lives of astronauts and the support team are explored quickly but with enough depth to give us more than a passing glance at their existence. leave a comment
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Case Closed: Countdown to Heaven Movie
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The Vinyl Countdown: The Album from LP to iPod and Back Again
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