Hangar 18 (1980)

User Rating:

5.0/10   

Director:

James L. Conway

Writers:

Thomas C. Chapman (story) &
James L. Conway (story) ...

Release Date:

6 May 1982 (Australia)

Genre:

Action | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

It started with an accident in space . . . and led to the terrifying secret in . . . HANGAR 18

Plot:

Shortly after the launch of a satellite from a space shuttle the satellite collides with an UFO in front of the crew's eyes...

Plot Keywords:

UFO | Space | Alien Space Craft | Conspiracy | Decapitation

Cast

Gary Collins	...	Steve Bancroft
Robert Vaughn	...	Gordon Cain
James Hampton	...	Lew Price
Philip Abbott	...	Lt. General Frank Morrison
Joseph Campanella	...	Frank Lafferty
Pamela Bellwood	...	Dr. Sarah Michaels
Tom Hallick	...	Phil Cameron
Steven Keats	...	Dr. Paul Bannister
William Schallert	...	Professor Mills
Darren McGavin	...	NASA Deputy Director Harry Forbes
Cliff Osmond	...	Sheriff Duane Barlow
Andrew Bloch	...	Neal Kelso
Stuart Pankin	...	Sam Tate
Betty Ann Carr	...	Flo Mattson
H.M. Wynant	...	Flight Director

Also Known As:

Invasion Force

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Australia:PG | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:PG | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba)

Filming Locations:

Big Spring, Texas, USA

Company:

Sunn Classic Pictures

Trivia:

This film was produced by Sunn Classic Pictures, the leading "four-wall" distributor of documentaries. Although this was a straight science fiction film, Sunn's TV spots promoted it as if it were another of their documentaries that would "reveal the truth about UFOs" even though the space shuttle which was used in the film had not yet had its first launch.

Goofs:

Factual errors: It is difficult to believe that a linguist, however skillful, could give a detailed, one-to-one translation of an alien language, programming a computer to give instant interpretations, all in the space of a few days.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Dead End (1985)

Righteous but lame effort.

Let me start out by saying I like this movie. That being said, it would probably be best for me to mention the good points of this movie first because all two of them don't make up for the rest of the things that are wrong with it. Someone went to a lot of effort to design (or borrow?) the language and symbols of the aliens. The ship is covered with them inside. And there's a nice segue into actual ancient, mysterious landmarks on Earth.

It gets you thinking a little, which earns it an extra 1/2 point in my book. There are a couple of decent stunts, but sadly, the rest of the movie is lame. The soundtrack is that awful 70's transition stuff from television and the premise of the story is beyond far-fetched. The cinematography is lack-luster and nothing will effect your senses or emotions. They don't even attempt to comment on the details of how to move a large alien object without being seen. But at least they didn't parade it through town on the back of a truck under a tarp like in Flight of the Navigator. Security and contamination protocols were poorly researched if at all. Not one military security guard held a flashlight properly (like a club folks!) And the UFO was deemed safe before they even determined why it crashed or landed. Government agents in "covert" surveillance were painfully obvious and they wee somehow amazed that a couple of astronauts would know where the nearest appropriate facility would be located to store an alien ship! I give it a 2 1/2 out of 5. A Righteous but lame effort.