The final countdown
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The final countdown |
| Original title | The final countdown |
 | |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1980 |
| length | 103 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Don Taylor |
| script |
David Ambrose Gerry Davis Thomas Hunter Peter Powell |
| production | Peter Douglas |
| music |
Alan Howarth , John Scott |
| camera | Victor J. Kemper |
| cut | Robert K. Lambert |
| occupation | |
| |
The Final Countdown (Original Title: The Final Countdown ) is a science fiction film that was shot in 1980 under the direction of Don Taylor . The main actors include Kirk Douglas and Martin Sheen . A journey through time triggered by a mysterious storm in 1979 transports the American aircraft carrier Nimitz to 1941, exactly the day before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor , which marked the entry of the USA into the Second World War . The captain decides to intervene with the ship's modern fighter planes and thus change history, but shortly before the battle the time vortex reappears and the ship is returned to the original time.
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Systems analyst Warren Lasky works for Richard Tideman, whom he has never met and whose company was instrumental in the development and construction of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz . The Nimitz , commanded by Captain Matthew Yelland, is west of Pearl Harbor with a fleet of escort ships on its way to a maneuver. Lasky is supposed to observe on board the Nimitz how the crew is doing their job and then prepare a report for the Ministry of Defense with suggestions for improvement. Suddenly the ship gets caught in a mysterious storm. This is over after a short time, but the escort fleet has disappeared and cannot be reached by radio. Yelland raises a battle alarm because they can't explain what happened and they even consider nuclear war . The radios then receive old radio broadcasts and messages encrypted with outdated codes. A reconnaissance plane photographs the completely intact American Pacific fleet over Pearl Harbor, which was destroyed by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II . The Japanese attack fleet is later located in a north-westerly direction on the way to Hawaii .
It is therefore certain that the aircraft carrier was moved in time by the mysterious storm and is now in the middle of World War II on December 6, 1941, one day before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Yelland and his officers become aware that their actions are interfering with current events in the past and that a time paradox would result. In doing so, they are divided as to whether they should use the chance to fight the Japanese with their superior weapons.
A yacht on which Senator Samuel Chapman is among others is located near the Nimitz . The yacht is shelled and sunk by two Japanese reconnaissance planes before it can send a radio message to Pearl Harbor. Yelland has the Japanese planes shot down by two F-14 interceptors and the survivors, Chapman and his assistant Laurel Scott and his dog Charlie, are rescued with a rescue helicopter. One of the Japanese pilots also survived and was held as a prisoner on the Nimitz . Chapman is just as outraged about his treatment on board the Nimitz as he is about the fact that the aircraft carrier was built in strictest secrecy, apparently without his knowledge, and was also named after an admiral on active duty. The history-savvy Commander Owens, CAG of the Nimitz , finds in his files evidence that Chapman was classified as a promising presidential candidate after Roosevelt's death, but has been missing since December 7, 1941 and was probably killed in the Japanese attack.
During an interrogation, the Japanese pilot seizes a weapon, shoots two guards and holds Chapman, his assistant and Lasky and Owens hostage in order to force access to the radio station and to warn his commander about the Nimitz . Owens makes it clear to him that the Nimitz has been informed about the Japanese attack plans. Another firefight ensues, in which the Japanese pilot and another soldier are killed. Chapman demands access to the radio station to inform Pearl Harbor of the impending attack, but Yelland believes that the Nimitz can fight off the attack on their own. He lets Chapman do it anyway, but when he mentions the names of the aircraft carrier and the commander, which did not yet exist in 1941, his counterpart gruffly ends the radio conversation.
Chapman then demands to be flown to Pearl Harbor immediately. Yelland instructs Owens to drop Chapman and his assistant, along with food and equipment, by helicopter on a desert island. Dog Charlie cannot be found and remains on board. When the helicopter arrives on the island and Owens speaks to Scott on the beach, Chapman brings the helicopter crew into his power with a flare gun and forces the pilots to take off and fly to Pearl Harbor. A scuffle ensues in which the shot from the flare gun is released. The helicopter explodes, killing Chapman and the crew. Owens and Scott stay on the island with food and equipment. In the meantime, Yelland has given the crew of the Nimitz the opportunity to correct the course of history and has the fighter planes ready for action. These rise to repel the threatening Japanese attack. Then the mysterious storm approaches again and brings the Nimitz and the task force back to the present.
When Lasky disembarked with Charlie in Pearl Harbor, Charlie struck and ran to a limousine on the pier. Lasky asks their chauffeur to join Richard Tideman and his wife in the car. Lasky is surprised to discover that the two are Commander Owens and Laurel Scott. Both are now very old, and Owens greets Lasky by saying that there is a lot to talk about.
Premieres
- USA: August 1, 1980
- Germany: October 30, 1980
Reviews
"Technically impressive, largely exciting film."
“With the wooden staging of the action veteran Don Taylor, the possibilities of the topic are largely wasted. What remains of this utopian fantasy of revenge is an elaborate, silly demonstration of American omnipotence allure, which only has a certain charm because of its involuntarily parodistic traits. "
Awards
- The film was nominated for the Saturn Award in 1981 in the categories of Best Science Fiction Film and Best Actor (Kirk Douglas) ( The Empire Strikes Back won both categories ).
- The film won the German Golden Screen in 1982 .
Production background
- At the time of the filming, the Nimitz was not in the Pacific , but in the Atlantic . The recordings were made off Florida .
- The Japanese " Zeros " are converted AT-6 Texans , whose flight performance does not come close to that of the real Zero.
- The Defense Committee , mentioned in German in the film, was actually the Committee on Naval Affairs. The United States Senate Committee on Armed Services was not established until 1947. Chairman in 1941 was David I. Walsh . On this topic, see: United States Senate Committee on Armed Services (with dates and chairperson).
Others
The time jump sequence, which shows the USS Nimitz in a kind of tunnel, was created by Maurice Binder . Binder's best-known work are the title sequences of all James Bond films between fireball and license to kill .
Adaptations
In the Japanese anime / manga film Zipang , the modern Japanese cruiser Mirai is relocated to the time of the attack on Midway, similar to the Nimitz scenario, through an unexplained phenomenon, whereby the subject is treated from the perspective of modern Japan.
Web links
- The Final Countdown in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The Final Countdown atRotten Tomatoes(English)
- The last countdown in the online film database
Individual evidence
- ↑ The final countdown. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ^ The time of November 14, 1980
- ↑ IMDB
- ↑ IMDB
- ↑ Film info on: The last countdown
- ↑ TVdirekt 13/2011 p. 44
- ↑ Zipang. Internet Movie Database , accessed June 10, 2015 .