The Final Countdown (1980)

Director:

Don Taylor

Writers:

Thomas Hunter (story) &
Peter Powell (story) ...

Release Date:

1 August 1980 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Adventure | Sci-Fi | War

Tagline:

"...This is the USS Nimitz. Where The Hell Are We...?" - Trapped inside the boundaries of time and space... 102 aircraft... 6,000 men... all missing.

Plot:

A modern aircraft carrier is thrown back in time to 1941 near Hawaii, just hours before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour.

Plot Keywords:

Japanese | Pearl Harbor | Aircraft Carrier | Uss Nimitz | Harbor

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Kirk Douglas	...	Capt. Matthew Yelland
Martin Sheen	...	Warren Lasky
Katharine Ross	...	Laurel Scott
James Farentino	...	Wing Commander Richard T. Owens / Richard Tideman
Ron O'Neal	...	Cmdr. Dan Thurman
Charles Durning	...	Sen. Samuel Chapman
Victor Mohica	...	Black Cloud
James C. Lawrence	...	Lt. Perry
Soon-Tek Oh	...	Simura (as Soon-Teck Oh)
Joe Lowry	...	Cmdr. Damon
Alvin Ing	...	Lt. Kajima
Mark Thomas	...	Marine Cpl. Kullman
Harold Bergman	...	Bellman
Dan Fitzgerald	...	Navy Doctor
Lloyd Kaufman	...	Lt. Cmdr. Kaufman

Also Known As:

U.S.S. Nimitz: Lost in the Pacific (Europe: English title) (DVD box title)

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Japanese

Color:

Color (TVC)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:K-12 | Norway:12 (re-rating) (1982) (cut) | Norway:15 (DVD rating) | Norway:16 (original rating) | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:PG | West Germany:12 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Naval Air Station, Key West, Florida Keys, Florida, USA

Company:

Bryna Productions

Trivia:

When an F-14 does a steep dive and pulls out just before crashing into the ocean while "playing" with one of the Zeroes, the "scream" the F-14 made was created by mixing the sound of the jet engines with the actual scream of the pilot's wife when she saw that clip for the first time.

Goofs:

Continuity: One of the jets takes off to fight for Pearl Harbor, taking off from the right hand side, whilst a jet waits for it's turn on the left. A few seconds later the camera angle switches, showing the first jet taking off "again".

Quotes:

[first lines]
F-14 Pilot: [voice over radio] Pearl Tower, Tomcat two-zero-zero. requesting clearance for departure runway zero-nine. Over.
Pearl Harbor Tower: [voice over radio] Two-zero-zero, Pearl Harbor Tower. You are cleared runway oh-niner. Winds zero-four-five at eight. SH-three approaching from the right. Have a nice day.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Starring the Jolly Rogers (2004) (V)

A armed nuke warship transcends time and space to go along with historical events or be their salvation!

THE FINAL COUNTDOWN at times presents a doctoral thesis of sorts on the perils of time and space and alterations with events supposedly set in stone. Armed with a all star cast, COUNTDOWN gives audiences a family tale of time and space and adventure. The film fails to give the audience what it is promised in trailers and posters, a conflict between a lone united states nuclear carrier and the entire japanese pearl harbor attack force. Yet, this is a fine picture with some fine acting moments unusual to this genre. During the film the carrier swept to DEC. 6, 1941 takes a evasive stance while the crew and commander try to decide whether to alter history..yet, if they alter history will their ship even be made? Will they die once the paradox begins? Will the abortive theme FROM HERE TO ETERNITY love story work out? These questions and more are answered in a award winning PG film from the director of ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES, the star of SPARTACUS, a effects team behind the 007 opening montages and the producer of THE TOXIC AVENGER. The film may suprise you. Recommended for fans of THE PHILADELPHIA EXPERIMENT and THE TIME MACHINE. Limited distribution, and poor advertising hindered this film which found a audience on tv and on video.