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The Final Countdown
U.S.S. Nimitz: Lost in the Pacific
USA 1980
produced by Peter Douglas, Richard R. St. Johns (executive), Kirk Douglas (executive), Lloyd Kaufman (associate) for Bryna Productions
directed by Don Taylor
starring Kirk Douglas, Martin Sheen, Katharine Ross, James Farentino, Ron O'Neal, Charles Durning, Victor Mohica, James Coleman, Soon-Tek Oh, Joe Lowry, Alvin Ing, Mark Thomas, Harold Bergman, Dan Fitzgerald, Lloyd Kaufman, Peter Douglas, Ted Richert, George Warren, Gary Morgan, Phil Philbin, Robert Goodman, Richard Liberty, Neil Ronco, Bill Couch, Jack McDermott, Masayuki Yamazuki, George H. Strohsahl jr, Ronald R. Stoops, Kenneth J. Jaskolski, Sergei M. Kowalchik, Jake Dennis, Jim Toone, Edward J. Deats, Robert L. Huffman, James R. Augustus, Sam P. Baldwin, Ronnie J. Ellis
story by Thomas Hunter, Peter Powell, David Ambrose, screenplay by David Ambrose, Gerry Davis, Thomas Hunter, Peter Powell, music by John Scott, special effects by Joe Day, Garry Elmendorf, Pat Elmendorf, visual effects by Maurice Binder
review by Mike Haberfelner
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The U.S.S. Nimitz is one of the largest and most modern US aircraft
carriers, but at the moment just doing a routine patrol through the
pacific, which is to be observed by system analyst Lasky (Martin Sheen)
for the company that designed and built the ship. However the patrol soon
turns out to be anything but routine when the Nimitz gets into a freak
storm and is spat out what ultimately turns out to be the same general
area but in 1941, only days before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. As
the captain of the Nimitz, Yelland (Kirk Douglas) observes two Japanese
fighter planes viciously attack and sink a yacht, he orders the planes
destroyed, but the survivors of the yacht, Senator Chapman (Charles
Durning) and his secretary Laurel (Kathatine Ross) and the one surviving
Japanese pilot (Soon-Tek Oh) rescued. The Japanese pilot soon gets hold of
a gun and tries to shoot his way out of captivity but is shot for it,
while the senator makes all sorts of demands while denying himself the
obvious, that he's on a aircraft carrier from the future, while Laurel
falls in love with Commander Owens (James Farentino), the ship's history
expert. Being in the 1940s with their futuristic weaponry, it would be an
easy thing for the Nimitz to prevent the attack on Pearl Harbour,
something Yelland discusses with his second in command Thurman (Ron
O'Neal) as well as Lasky and Owens, and apart from Owens all are for it,
more or less, but first, Yelland needs the senator and Laurel out of the
way and orders them abandoned on a desert island with enough food and
water to ensure their survival - but when the senator finds out about
this, he grabs hold of a flare gun and blows up the helicopter that has
been carrying them, also killing himself in the process, with only Laurel
and Owens, who has been accompanying them, surviving. Yelland readies his
war machinery and has his bomber jets take to the air when another time
storm shows up on the horizon ... Now the concept of The
Final Countdown, even if it was somewhat recycled from the previous
year's G.I. Samurai, is of
course an interesting one, as it asks many questions both from an ethical
and philosophical point of view. Unfortunately, the film doesn't try to
live up to this and seems to be more a commercial for the US Navy's strike
power - and the shoot has been unsurprisingly heavily been supported by
the Navy, by not only letting the film crew film on the actual U.S.S.
Nimitz and give them access to Navy gear, also many supporting players and
extras were rectuited from the Nimitz's actual crew. As a consequence,
many of the more important questions about the nature of war as such are
simply ignored in favour for some good old patriotism, and in that light
then, the Japanese are collectively portrayed as nothing but bloodthirsty
monsters, something pretty much out of date even in 1980. So taken by its
original merits, The Final Countdown is just not a very good movie
- but if you factor in the nostalgia effect, it just makes a perfect time
capsule as it shows a world view that feels terribly outdated today but
also oddly endearing, making this a very interesting watch - interesting
for all the wrong reasons, but interesting still.
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