Countdown ( Count down )

Countdown (DVD) (*)

~~$20.99~~ $14.97

Original Title: Count down
Language Selections:
English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )
Spanish ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )
Spanish ( Subtitles )

Product Origin/Format:
Spain ( PAL/Region 0 )

Running Time:
98 min

Aspect Ratio:
Fullscreen

Special Features:
Interactive Menu
Scene Access

Movie filmed in 1967 and produced in:
United States ( USA, Canada )

Directed By:
Robert Altman

Written By:
Loring Mandel
Hank Searls

Actors:
James Caan ..... Lee Stegler
Joanna Moore ..... Mickey Stegler
Robert Duvall ..... Chiz
Barbara Baxley ..... Jean
Charles Aidman ..... Gus
Steve Ihnat ..... Ross Duellan
Michael Murphy ..... Rick
Ted Knight ..... Walter Larson
Stephen Coit ..... Ehrman
John Rayner ..... Dunc
Charles Irving ..... Seidel
Bobby Riha ..... Stevie Stegler

Synopsis:

The Apollo 3 crew are training when it is discovered that the Russians plan a moon landing. The Americans enact a makeshift plan to land a man on the moon first, using an older style Gemini spacecraft. Lee is chosen as the astronaut instead of Chiz, who was trained for the mission, because Lee has no military connection. Lee has three weeks to train before take-off, and will have to stay on the moon in a shelter for about a year, until an Apollo is ready to pick him up. However the Russians take off two days earlier than expected.

Astronauts training in an Apollo simulator have their session ended early. They grumble about it later, but their leader, Chiz (Duvall), knows why. The Pilgrim Program. The Russians will be sending a moon landing mission up in four weeks. The Americans had a secret alternate plan to the Apollo program (Pilgrim) in case this happened. One man would be sent to the moon in a one-way rocket. He would stay on the moon for a few months in a shelter pod launched and landed before him. Later, a manned Apollo mission would come to retrieve him. The equipment is all ready, but the Russians complicated matters by sending up a civilian. Even though Chiz is trained and qualified, he's an Air Force colonel. NASA and the White House insist that an American civilian be their first man. Lee, one of Chiz's crew, is tapped. Chiz is outraged, but agrees to train Lee in the few days they have. Chiz pushes Lee's training hard, half to get him ready, half hoping he'll drop out and Chiz can step in. Lee persists, driven by the same astronaut dream. After a press leak about Pilgrim, the Russians launch a week early. Deflated at not being first, everyone carries on. The shelter pod (a LEM lander) is launched and landed successfully. Lee is launched on schedule. He encounters a power drain malfunction en route which tests his character and hinders radio contact. The Russians have lost contact with their team too. As Lee orbits the moon, he does not see the beacon of the shelter. With only seconds left before he must abort and return to earth he lies about seeing it. Mission control okays his retro burn and he lands. Now all radio contact is lost. Lee gets out of the Gemini lander and walks around. He has just three hours of oxygen in his suit. He finds the crashed Russian lander on its side. The three dead cosmonauts are sprawled around. Everyone on earth is nervously awaiting some news, but get none. Lee takes the Soviet flag from a dead cosmonaut and lays it out on a nearby rock with his own American flag. With little air left and nowhere to go, Lee spins the toy mouse his son gave him. It points stage-right, so he walks that direction. People on earth are losing hope as his time has run out. Lee looks at his watch to see that he has just minutes of air left. A red glow on his arm catches his attention. It is the locator beacon atop the shelter. Lee is last seen walking towards the shelter as the movie closes.

Desperate to reach the moon first, NASA sends a man and shelter separately, one-way. He must find it to survive; he can't return until Apollo is ready.

This product was added to our catalog on Monday 09 April, 2012.