I have now seen "Hangar 18" three times, however, it is only now after my third viewing that I have fully discovered what an underrated movie we have in our midst. In this 1980 film, Gary Collins and James Hampton play astronauts who, while on a mission in space, witness an alien spacecraft being destroyed by one of the astronaut spacecraft's rockets. The alien spacecraft lands in far eastern Arizona. One of the residents of the small town in which it lands witnesses the landing and, of course, nobody believes him---except the two astronauts who witnessed the same spacecraft be fired upon.
The two astronauts travel across Arizona to try to find the spacecraft and anyone who has any information about it. Unfortunately, the astronauts are chased by government bad guys who do not want the nation to find out about an alien spacecraft landing on Earth. I guess they are afraid the astronauts will inform the media, but it is never discussed in the film whether they will or not. The motivation of the astronauts seems simply to make sure that their story about what happened in space is believed. They also want to be cleared of the death of the third member of their team who was beheaded while outside of the spacecraft and was hit by either rocket fire or flying debris.
So....3 astronauts in space, 1 is killed when a rocket hits an alien spacecraft, the same alien spacecraft lands in eastern Arizona, the 2 remaining astronauts want to clear their name and make sure their superiors do not think they are spacey....ha, ha? The government tries to silence the astronauts, random sex scene between astronaut and alien informant...wait, not this movie...it's....another one...don't worry about it...bad reception...I'm going through a tunnel....bru...and I...arth...vietime...cheese...
I enjoyed "Hangar 18." It was retitled "Invasion Force" when it first aired on network television around 1982, NBC to be specific. There isn't really an invasion or an invasion force in the movie, but, there is Robert Vaughn. I enjoyed the actors in the film, especially Gary Collins, known mostly for hosting various television events in the 70's and 80's, James Hampton as the other astronaut, and, as always, Robert Vaughn. Collins and Hampton have some occasional bits of humor as does Darren McGavin (The Night Stalker) as the astronauts' supervisor. Robert Vaughn plays a government official who wishes to keep the entire alien spacecraft landing a secret from the public so the man he works for will be elected president in the upcoming election. Vaughn, as mentioned, is always welcome.
"Hangar 18" does not have a whole lot of action or special effects. It is what you might refer to as "talky." The talkiness, however, moves the action of the film along very well and the acting in it does a lot to convey the emotions of the characters effected by events in the film. At times, it plays like a tv-movie, but that is not a bad thing. I found myself wishing that this could have been developed into a weekly series. For anyone interested, there was an NBC series during the 1977-78 season called "Project UFO" which followed two government officials investigating alien sightings around the country. It was produced by Jack Webb (Dragnet, Adam-12).
Seek out "Hangar 18." It is available for streaming on Netflix. Since I liked "Hangar 18," I am going to try to find the previous 17 Hangar movies. I will report on these as soon as I can.
No comments:
Post a Comment