oragex A true UFO conspiracy film. The film is well made, with a solid setup. Actors play is what is average in this film, unfortunately, because with better acting it would have been a very enjoyable UFO movie.It's called Hangar 18, but it's name should have been rather Area 51.The film doesn't have much that 80's feeling, but it's script is alert, the action keeps going, and we don't get bored. It has aged fairly well, as well. The script is rather light, don't expect intense politic/military games, just basic stuff.It shows the UFO in and out, which I believe Spielberg movies were limited to the exterior of the space ships.The movie starts with a Shuttle space ship scene, where the Shuttle is poorly represented, but don't get mislead, the rest of the movie has better setups.To resume, a good film to watch for the 80's nostalgic, as well as Area 51 conspiracy believers.

AaronCapenBanner A Schick Sunn films production, only this takes a different approach; rather than a docudrama style plot, this is more straightforward action thriller, starring Gary Collins and James Hampton as two returning astronauts forced to go on the run after the government decides to cover up a crashed UFO, and the astronauts find that they are expendable...If the story sounds familiar, it's because it was done already(except that was a hoaxed Mars landing) in "Capricorn One", a far superior film, with better writing and pacing, though director James L. Conway does what he can with the material.Darren McGavin plays their good friend at NASA who investigates the alien spacecraft, though is not involved in the murder plot, which is idiotic. Some camp value, but still silly.

udar55 A three man space shuttle crew (including Gary Collins and James Hampton) encounter a UFO in space while launching a satellite. The odd man out gets decapitated when the satellite and UFO collide, sending the alien ship down to Earth where the US government snags it. They place it in Hangar 18 so the head of NASA (Darren McGavin) and his team can study it. Things get complicated when the President's Chief of Staff (Robert Vaughn) goes overboard on covering the story up ("The election is just two weeks away") and creates a fake story about the two astronauts being responsible for their colleague's death (this makes things easier how?). Of course, our two heroes have seen CAPRICORN ONE and aren't going to stand for this cover-up. This is pretty standard stuff but an enjoyable 97 minutes thanks to the lead performances. Well, Collins does have one screeching bit. Vaughn probably did only a couple of days work as they always cut away to him orchestrating things in his office. The leaps the filmmakers take with him are hilarious (his team has a file on the town layabout who saw the UFO land) and the plot holes are plenty (if silence is necessary for these two weeks pre-election, why not lock up the two astronauts you already have detained). The film opens with a "this is a true story about our government" scroll so the audiences knew the real deal.

lost-in-limbo Low-grade, but slightly riveting slow-going conspiracy-laced government cover-up thriller that sees an UFO colliding with an American satellite being launched in space and then crash-landing in the Arizona desert. To hide the truth because of an election campaign, the astronauts are blamed for the incident which saw one of their colleagues killed. So the two men go about trying to find out the truth which the government officials would do anything to keep it a secret, while studying what they have just found.The clunky story goes about three separate parts; that of the astronauts trying to clear their names (this is when the action kicks into gear --- "Come on we got to get that rock."), the political big-heads villainously scheming (doing things behind closed doors) and then you got the NASA scientists trying to learn from their alien discovery. While ambitious in context, it just seems too simple and cautious in its presentation (a telemovie of the week feel) but it does stick to its strengths. The whole novelty of the discovery of the flying saucer and its occupants is interesting (theories are chucked around), if at times a little disappointing. A good cast is assembled. Gary Collins and James Hampton are sturdy as the two astronauts. Darrin McGavin chips in with a bright performance as the NASA official in charge of the project in investigating their new spacecraft toy and Robert Vaughn in a weasel performance heads the dirty tactics.