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This week, I finally solved a mystery. Back when I watched No Country for Old Men, I was rather impressed with the actor Josh Brolin. I couldn’t exactly place him but he looked familiar and the name rang a bell. I figured I’d seen him before in something I liked, possibly some time in the distant past (he looked considerably older than his, then, 39 years – at least I thought he did).

It is only this week that I realized that Josh Brolin is the son of James Brolin. James, the father, is probably best known to me as having played George Lutz in The Amityville Horror but I’m sure that I’ve seen him elsewhere. Until this week, I had not seen him star in Capricorn One, which happens to be (currently) free to watch if you have Amazon Prime and viewable with ads if you don’t. When I saw the name in the credits, I immediately got confused once again – figuring the star of a 1978 film (38 at the time) couldn’t also be a 39-year-old (although he did look older) lead character in 2007. And so it is.

Speaking of those credits. As the production title fades away, you are hit with screaming credits in a color red that only existing through about 1979. You can’t help but smell the Marlboro-smoke infused shag carpeting in somebody’s rec room as you watch. Names familiar, some all-but-forgotten, flash across the screen. Are you old enough to remember when O.J. Simpson was really popular? He’s one of the lead names as well, although the actual number of lines given to him is limited. I guess he was always more of a charismatic celebrity than an actor. Other familiar names include 70s-stand-bys like Telly Savalas, Elliot Gould, Hal Holbrook, and Karen Black.

The film itself is straight-up 70s formula. For a twist, the obligatory “car chase” scene takes place in the air with the heroes in a biplane trying to outrun two helicopter gunships. It’s the kind of film that makes a fella wonder why… If you’re going to put millions into a movie production, why not try to make it good? Capricorn One continues to receive attention (and, indeed, this is what prompted me to finally watch it) because its “faked Mars landing” theme has been tied to the actual conspiracy theories regarding a faked Moon landing.

Speaking of actors ages, the stock “congressman” is played by none other than the Big Lebowski himself. He does not look 22 years younger.