401 - SPACE TRAVELERS
(public domain title; 1969; G; 134m)

a.k.a. MAROONED (original)

Ad: "The Saga of Ironman One."

Ad: "Three marooned astronauts. Only 55 minutes left to rescue them.
While the whole world watches and waits..."

Plot: Three astronauts are stuck on a rocket with no way to get back, so the guys in Houston try stuff while the astronauts' wives fret.

Prod: Michael J. Frankovich (Cactus Flower; The Shootist)
Assoc: Frank Capra Jr. (Escape from the Planet of the Apes)
Dir: John Sturges (Great Escape; Oscar nom/Bad Day at Black Rock)
Dir/2nd Unit: Ralph E. Black (pmgr/602-Invasion U.S.A.)
Asst Dir: Daniel McCauley (Vertigo; Soylent Green)
Asst Dir: Michael Daves (Mommie Dearest; The Two Jakes)
Scr: Mayo Simon (K09-Phase IV; I Could Go On Singing)
Sto/Tech Adv: Martin Caidin (sto/TV's Six Million Dollar Man)
Cin (Oscar nom): Daniel Fapp (won Oscar/West Side Story)
Cin/2nd Unit: W. Wallace Kelley (sfx/Oscar nom/Unconquered)
Cin/Aerial: Nelson Tyler (Caprice; Tobruk)
Ed: Walter Thompson (Oscar nom/The Nun's Story; This Above All)
SFX (Oscar winner): Robbie Robertson
SFX: Lawrence W. Butler (won Oscar/The Thief of Bagdad)
SFX: Donald C. Glouner (cin/The Comic)
Cos: Seth Banks (To Kill A Mockingbird)
Exec PMgr: William O'Sullivan (Cactus Flower)
PDes: Lyle R. Wheeler (won five Oscars: Gone With The Wind; etc.)
Set: Frank Tuttle (Oscar noms/King Rat, etc.)
Tech Adv: George Smith (also actor)
Sound (Oscar nom): Les Fresholtz
(won Oscars/Bird; All The President's Men)
Sound (Oscar nom): Arthur Piantadosi
(won Oscar/All The President's Men)

Charles Keith / Gregory Peck (won Oscar/To Kill A Mockingbird)
Jim Pruett / Richard Crenna (Rambo; TV's Real McCoys)
Ted Dougherty / David Janssen (K15-Superdome; TV's The Fugitive)
Clayton Stone / James Franciscus
(K16-City on Fire; TV's Mr. Novak)
Buzz Lloyd / Gene Hackman
(won Oscars/The French Connection; Unforgiven)
Celia Pruett / Lee Grant (The Swarm; won Oscar/Shampoo)
Teresa Stone / Nancy Kovack (Jason and the Argonauts)
Betty Lloyd / Mariette Hartley (Return of Count Yorga; Encino Man)
public affairs officer / Scott Brady (Satan's Sadists; Johnny Guitar)
flight director / Craig Huebing (The Comic)
space systems manager / Frank Marth (Telefon)
flight surgeon / John Carter (Cotton Comes to Harlem; Scarface)
journalist Cannon / Vincent Van Lynn (The Silencers; Fuzz)
mission director / George Gaynes (The Way We Were; Tootsie)
Houston Cape Commander / Tom Stewart (K13-SST: Death Flight)
Titan systems specialist / Duke Hobbie (Cat Ballou; In Cold Blood)
network commentator Radon / Walter Brooke*
launch director / Dennis Robertson (War Party; Madhouse)
cape weather officer / George Smith (also tech adv)
Hardy / Mauritz Hugo (The Old Man and the Sea; Alvarez Kelly)
Priscilla Keith / Mary-Linda Rapelye (In Cold Blood)
Russian cosmonaut / Bill Couch (The Silencers; Meteor)
computer technician / Bruce Rhodewalt (The Barefoot Executive)

Trivia: Basically a remake of director John Sturges' 1952 film Jeopardy, MAROONED had an uncannily similar plot to the real-life events of the near disastrous flight of Apollo 13 the very next year. It is the only MSTed movie to have won an Academy Award. It won for Special Visual Effects, and was also nominated for cinematography and sound. All three seem pretty lame today. Surprisingly, there was no nomination for Gene Hackman, who, as we know, is good in anything.

WALTER BROOKE, who plays the the network commentator here, plays Dean in 607-BLOODLUST and Clifford Foster in 614-SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL. He's best known as D.A. Frank Scanlan on the Green Hornet TV series. His films include 1955's Conquest of Space; 1967's The Graduate; and 1968's Sergeant Ryker.

Last Updated: 6/23/1999