Directed by: Peter Hyams
Starring: James Brolin, Elliott Gould, Sam Waterston, Brenda Vaccaro
Revealing mistake: Just after the helicopters crash during the chase with the crop duster keep a close eye and one of the helos is still in the shots flying.
Revealing mistake: When the Lear jet is getting ready to make the emergency landing in the desert, James Brolin calls for full flaps. As we see the jet land, we can see that the flaps are indeed down. When the dust clears we see that the jet has made a wheels up landing since they lost the left gear on take off. However, the flaps are up.
Plot hole: When the three astronauts escape and steal the Learjet, they could get on the aircraft's radio and announce themselves, at least on the Mayday frequency if not to a control tower somewhere.
Robert Caulfield: You wouldn't know sincerity if it ran over you.
Judy Drinkwater: Not if you were driving it.
Trivia: When Hal Holbrook talks to the press after the heat shield separation we see a model Saturn V in the background. An extra stage has been inserted above the S-II second stage and the mission payload appears to have been augmented too.
Question: Okay, so the three astronauts are on the run but only James Brolin makes good his escape. What happened to the other two? They're shown as being caught, but what happened after? Anybody know?
Answer: How were they able to fire their flares, then?
Answer: O.J. Simpson would have had time to shoot his flare to show he was caught. With Waterson harder to believe, he had climbed the side of the mountain and was just coming to the top with the planes coming into view. Either he would have been dropped and died on way down, not getting the chance to shoot the flare, or he was grabbed from the edge. Unlikely to have time also to shoot the flare before being intercepted.
It's likely he would have had time. He was no threat and not going anywhere, so the helicopter pilots would have been in no rush to grab him. They were just sat patiently waiting for him. By the time they'd got out and reached him, he'd have plenty of time to grab and release his flare.
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Chosen answer: It's never stated in the film, however, as the astronauts have been declared officially dead and therefore cannot ever be allowed to contact anybody, they were most likely executed as soon as they were captured.
Tailkinker ★