Marooned: John Sturges

Released less than 4 months after the Apollo 11 moon landing, John Sturges' Marooned attempted to cash-in on the space exploration craze that was sweeping America. It boasted a star-studded cast including the likes of Gregory Peck, Richard Crenna, and Gene Hackman. It even went on the win the Academy Award for Visual Effects. The film follows three astronauts who find themselves trapped in a tiny spacecraft that is unable to dock at a space station or re-enter earth's atmosphere. As Mission Control scrambles to try and coordinate a rescue mission, the astronauts have to find ways to conserve oxygen and stave off fears of their imminent death. Despite the plot and an admittedly great performance by Hackman as one of the astronauts who can't take the stress, Marooned falls flat. The pacing is tedious and laborious. Part of this has to do with the fact that long sections of the film are devoted to depicting standard operating procedures of space travel. Back in the late 60s, audiences were so enamored with the space program that they could tolerate such spectacles. But they don't hold up by today's standards. Considering how well earlier sci-fi films about space travel like 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and Forbidden Planet (1956) still hold up against the test of time, Marooned is little more than an historical oddity with a great cast.

5/10