Marooned Review, Part 2

Marooned is really the first big-budget disaster film that was successful, this came out the year before Airport came out (although I don't consider Airport a disaster film, especially when you compare them with The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno and the Airport sequels). Maybe that might be its fault. The movie goes for a overly melodramatic feel, almost as if they think that relieving the tension a little bit might hurt the movie. Humor always loosens the tension and lets the audience breathe a little. This movie isn't Schindler's List, it may be life or death, but it's not an atrocity. So it would've been a good idea to loosen things up.

My biggest problem with this film it that this film was supposed to be a factually realistic movie. In my previous review on Amazon, I listed several problems, and I've found a couple more in the two years since then (including once after reading that response).

1.  If Keith (Gregory Peck) is Chief of Manned Space, why does he need to drive from Houston to Cape Canaveral? I'm pretty sure he has a plane that could fly him there in a much quicker time than in a car. This may be the one attempt to add humor to this dry film. It really doesn't work.

2.  The producers decided to not include a Flight Director, who would be in charge of Mission Control. They apparently thought that adding a third person would ruin the dynamic between Keith and Dougherty. Or more realistically, adding a third actor (preferably a popular TV actor or veteran character actor) would've added more to the already high budget.

3.  I get that this is the Space Station's first mission, but I'm sure they had each astronaut go through a tough regiment in long duration survival. They should have caught Buzz's (Gene Hackman) problems with long duration space flight.

On a personal level, I find that because this movie was featured on Season 4 of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (Under the name Space Travelers) and I think this is why some people take offense with me and others criticizing this film. Let me say that, yes, it was the first time I saw this film, but I've seen in about 10 times in the 20 years since then and my opinions are based on the original film, but the MST3K version (that scene with Keith being pulled over on the way to Florida wasn't in the MST version).

This movie is a very stiff, boring, and slow film that never reaches the level of average space travel films like Robert Altman's Countdown or Capricorn One, let alone The Right Stuff, Apollo 13, 2001: A Space Odyssey, or 2010.

Grade: C-