The Final Countdown (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 108.218.158.151 (talk) at 01:29, 2 August 2012 (→‎Plot). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The Final Countdown
Theatrical release poster
Directed byDon Taylor
Written byThomas Hunter
Peter Powell
David Ambrose
Gerry Davis
Produced byPeter Vincent Douglas
StarringKirk Douglas
Martin Sheen
Katharine Ross
James Farentino
Ron O'Neal
Charles Durning
Music byJohn Scott
Distributed byUnited Artists
Release date
August 1, 1980
Running time
103 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$12 million
Box office$16,647,800

The Final Countdown is a 1980 science fiction film about a modern aircraft carrier that travels through time to just before the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. Produced by Peter Vincent Douglas and directed by Don Taylor, the film stars Kirk Douglas, Martin Sheen, James Farentino, Katharine Ross and Charles Durning.

Produced with the full cooperation of the U.S. Navy and filmed on board the USS Nimitz supercarrier, The Final Countdown was a moderate success at the box office. In the years that followed, the film has developed a cult status among science fiction and military aviation fans.[1]

Plot

In 1980, the USS Nimitz takes on a civilian observer, Warren Lasky (Martin Sheen), at the orders of his reclusive and mysterious employer, Mr. Tideman (who helped design much of the ship), just before it departs Pearl Harbor for a training mission in the Pacific Ocean. Out in the Pacific, the ship encounters a strange storm-like vortex which disappears after the ship passes through it.

Initially unsure of what has happened and having lost radio contact with Pacific Fleet Command, Captain Matthew Yelland (Kirk Douglas) launches reconnaissance aircraft which discover an intact pre-World War II Pacific battleship fleet at Pearl Harbor.

File:1941 and 1980 meeting.jpg
A key scene in The Final Countdown involves Japanese Zero fighters in the vanguard of an attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, destroying a yacht when 1980s era fighters come to the rescue of the yacht's survivors.

A Grumman F-14 Tomcat patrol spots a civilian yacht being attacked by Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighters. The F-14s are ordered to "draw them off." The Zeros shoot at the F-14s and inadvertently head toward the Nimitz, forcing the captain to order them shot down. The Nimitz rescues the yacht's survivors, a man and a woman, as well as one of the Zero pilots. The Nimitz's CAG (Commander, Air Group), Commander Owens (James Farentino), an amateur historian, recognizes one survivor as Samuel Chapman (Charles Durning), a prominent United States senator who could have been Franklin Roosevelt's running mate during his final re-election bid and his eventual successor.

After a Grumman E-2 Hawkeye discovers the Japanese fleet poised to attack Pearl Harbor, they eventually realize that they have been transported back in time to December 6, one day before the infamous attack. Captain Yelland has to decide whether to destroy the Japanese fleet and alter the course of history, or to stand by and allow history to proceed as "normal." After some intense debates on board, the captain settles the dispute by "going by the book": to defend America "past, present, and future" if attacked, and otherwise, to obey the orders of the then-current Commander-in-Chief, Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The civilians and the pilot are kept isolated, but the Japanese pilot grabs a weapon, kills his guards and holds the other survivors hostage, threatening to kill them unless he is given access to a radio. The crisis is defused only after the CAG reveals enough of what he knows of history to distract the pilot long enough for Marines to kill him, but this also reveals the truth to the yacht survivors. The senator demands and is granted access to a radio to warn Pearl Harbor about the imminent attack. However, since he identifies himself as aboard the USS Nimitz, the radio operator assumes it is a prank call – as Admiral Nimitz was then on active duty in the U.S. Navy – and the senator's warning is not believed. Meanwhile, the female survivor, Laurel (Katharine Ross), and Commander Owens are attracted to each other.

Captain Yelland sends the civilians with sufficient supplies via helicopter to an isolated Hawaiian island. The CAG goes with them. Once there, however, the senator tries to hijack the helicopter with a flare gun, but ends up destroying the helicopter and losing his life, while stranding the CAG and Laurel on the island. She learns that he is from the future when she discovers the date imprint on one of the food containers.

The Nimitz launches a massive strike force against the incoming Japanese forces, but before they can reach the enemy squadrons, the time storm returns. After a futile attempt to outrun the storm, Yelland recalls the strike force, and the ship and the aircraft return to 1980 safely.

Upon the Nimitz's return to Pearl Harbor, the Pacific Fleet Commander boards the ship to investigate. Meanwhile, Lasky and Laurel's dog, upon leaving the ship, finally encounter "Mr. Tideman" face to face, who is revealed to be a much older Commander Owens, along with his wife, Laurel, whom the dog immediately recognizes despite her advanced age. The final encounter ends with Owens telling Lasky, "We have a lot to talk about".

Cast

As appearing in The Final Countdown, (main roles and screen credits identified):[2]

Production

Kirk Douglas's son, Peter, as producer, was the driving force behind The Final Countdown. With a limited budget but with a promising script, he was able to attract interest from the U.S. Navy. After seeing a script, officials from the Department of Defense offered full cooperation, but insisted that for safety and to maintain operational readiness, that film schedules would be dependent on the "on location" naval personnel's approval.[3] Principal photography took place at Naval Air Station Key West, Naval Station Norfolk and off the Florida Keys, over a set of two five-week periods in 1979. Scenes at Pearl Harbor consisted of mainly stock footage with most of The Final Countdown shot on the Nimitz while at sea and at drydock for interiors.[4]

Many of the crew members were used as extras, a few with speaking parts; a total of 48 of the Nimitz crew appear as "actors" in the final credits.[5] The difficulties in filming a modern jet fighter were soon apparent when the first setup to record a F-14 takeoff at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, resulted in both camera and operator being pitched down a runway.[6][N 1]

Dissension in the production crew led to major changes during location shooting, leading to a number of the crew being fired and replaced.[N 2]Taylor's direction was considered workmanlike as he had a reputation for bringing projects in on time and on budget, but suggestions from the U.S. naval aviators were ultimately incorporated into the shooting schedules with the "B" crew placed in charge of all the aerial sequences that became the primary focus of the film.[4]

In order to film the aerial sequences, Panavision cameras were mounted on naval aircraft while camera-equipped aircraft and helicopters were also employed, including a Bell 206 Jet Ranger helicopter, Learjet 35 and a B-25 bomber converted into a camera platform, and leased from Tallmantz Aviation. Three Mitsubishi A6M Zero replicas, originally built for the film, Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) were flown by pilots from the Confederate Air Force.[8] Two of the replicas were featured in a dogfight with F-14 Tomcats; a dissimilar engagement that was the first time that "the match-up of fighters with totally different speeds, totally different environments and weaponry had ever been done in film."[9]

An F-14A Tomcat from VF-84, "The Jolly Rogers"" on the USS Nimitz (CVN-68)

In one scene where a F-14 "thumps" a Zero by flying under and streaking upward in front of the slower aircraft, the resultant "jet blast" of turbulent air was so intense that the control columns of both of the Zeros in the scene were violently wrenched out of the pilots' hands and caused both aircraft to momentarily tumble out of control.[N 3] The pilot's headset along with his watch were ripped off and out of the open canopy of one of the Zeros.[9] During the engagement when a Zero fires on a F-14, in order to get on the "six" of the low and slow Zero, the jet fighter did a low pullup that ended just 100 ft above the ocean in a screaming recovery.[9][N 4]

During the climatic attack on Pearl Harbor, scenes reproduced in monochrome from Tora! Tora! Tora!, featured Aichi D3A Val dive bombers, Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighters and Nakajima B5N Kate torpedo bombers.[1][N 5]

North American T-6 Texan converted to resemble a Mitsubishi A6M Zero as flown by the Commemorative Air Force's Tora! Tora! Tora! flight demonstration team, c. 2005.

Aircraft appearing in the production

Reception

Although promoted as a summer blockbuster, The Final Countdown had mixed reviews from critics, but it did well with a public seeking an escapist movie. Vincent Canby from The New York Times considered it more of an interesting, behind-the-scenes tour of the Nimitz. "We see planes landing and taking off with beautiful precision and, just to let us know that things don't always run smoothly on the Nimitz, we also see one plane, which has lost its landing hook, landing safely anyway because of the ship's emergency gear."[12] Roger Ebert classified it as a "logic doesn't matter in a "Star Wars"(-like) movie." He went on to clarify, "Unfortunately, the movie makes such a mess of it that the biggest element of interest is the aircraft carrier itself."[13] Later reviews concentrated on the intriguing aspect of the time travel story, again stressing the military hardware was the real star.[14][15] The U.S. Navy sponsored the film premiere and exploited the film as a recruiting tool to the extent that the film poster appeared in U.S. Navy recruiting offices shortly after the film's release.[12]

Release

The Final Countdown was released to theaters in the United States on August 1, 1980.[16] A novelization by Martin Caidin, based on the screenplay was released in the same month.[17]The Final Countdown was released by Blue Underground on a two-DVD set on March 30, 2004.[18] A high-definition Blu-ray 2-disc set was released November 4, 2008.[19]

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ The first attempt to film a takeoff on the USS Nimitz resulted in an repeat of the earlier incident as the camera and operator were pitched off the deck, caught in a restraining net below decks.[6]
  2. ^ Kaufman as unit production manager was upset that unnecessary costs and unreasonable demands were hampering progress.[4] After problems experienced on The Final Countdown , Kaufman set out as independent producer, head of the Troma Entertainment film studio.[7]
  3. ^ At the conclusion of the dogfight scene, by sheer chance, the two Zeros spun away from each other, avoiding a midair collision.[9]
  4. ^ In the final edit, the sound of the F-14 was actually punctuated by the scream of the pilot's wife when she saw the daily rushes, interspersed by the sound editor into the high-pitched afterburner whine. This scene has now become part of the urban legend of the film, described as a pilot's "death plunge".[9]
  5. ^ Several later films and TV series relating to World War II in the Pacific have used footage from Tora! Tora! Tora! due to the film's "almost perfect documentary accuracy." These productions include Midway, Pearl (TV mini-series 1978), From Here to Eternity (TV mini-series 1979), Magnum P. I. episode, "Lest We Forget" aired February 12, 1981 and Australia.[10][11]

Citations

  1. ^ a b Muir, John Kenneth. "Cult Movie Review: The Final Countdown (1980)." John Kenneth Muir's Reflections on Film/TV, August 28, 2008 . Retrieved: May 18, 2012.
  2. ^ "Credits: The Final Countdown (1980)." IMDb. Retrieved: May 7, 2012.
  3. ^ Suid 2002, pp. 421–423.
  4. ^ a b c Gregory, David. "Interview with Lloyd Kaufman" (documentary featurette that accompanies 'The Final Countdown' DVD." Blue Underground, 2004.
  5. ^ The Final Countdown end credits.
  6. ^ a b Gregory, David. "The Final Countdown DVD (overlaid commentary)." Blue Underground, 2004.
  7. ^ Kaufman et al. 2003, p. 62.
  8. ^ Cooper, Gregory. "Zero Pilot Journal." CAF Dispatch, 1979.
  9. ^ a b c d e Gregory, David. "Starring the Jolly Rogers- Interviews with the Jolly Rogers F-14 Fighter Squadron (documentary featurette that accompanies 'The Final Countdown' DVD." Blue Underground, 2004.
  10. ^ Dolan 1985, p. 87.
  11. ^ Frietas 2011, p. 333.
  12. ^ a b Canby, Vincent. " 'The Final Countdown' (1980) - Carrier Nimitz stars in 'Countdown'." The New York Times, August 1, 1980.
  13. ^ Ebert, Roger. "The Final Countdown." Chicago Sun Times, August 5, 1980. Retrieved: May 7, 2012.
  14. ^ "The Final Countdown (1980, USA)." blackholereviews, April 2, 2009. Retrieved: May 7, 2012.
  15. ^ Carrazzoa, Vince. "The Final Countdown (1980)." DVDnet. Retrieved: May 7, 2012.
  16. ^ The Final Countdown at IMDb Edit this at Wikidata
  17. ^ Caidin 1980, p. versa.
  18. ^ The Final Countdown DVD. Blue Underground.
  19. ^ The Final Countdown Blu-ray. Blue Underground.

Bibliography

  • Caidin, Martin. The Final Countdown. New York: Bantam, 1980. ISBN 0-553-12155-3.
  • Dolan, Edward F. Jr. Hollywood Goes to War. London: Bison Books, 1985. ISBN 0-86124-229-7
  • Frietas, Gary A. War Movies: The Belle & Blade Guide to Classic War Videos. Bandon, Oregon: Robert D. Reed Publishers, 2011. ISBN 978-1-931741-38-5.
  • Kaufman, Lloyd, Trent Haaga and Adam Jahnke. Make Your Own Damn Movie!: Secrets of a Renegade Director. Los Angeles: L.A. Weekly Books, 2003. ISBN 978-0-312288-648.
  • Suid, Lawrence H. Guts & Glory: The Making of the American Military Image in Film. Lexington, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky, 2002. ISBN 978-0-8131-9018-1.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Final_Countdown_(film)&oldid=505355876"