A geologist(James Caan)working for NASA gets the opportunity of a lifetime. Since US government will not allow perhaps a better candidate(Robert Duvall), an "air-force guy", to pilot the PILGRIM capsule to the moon, a civilian is needed and Caan is their boy. It's all about beating the Russians to the moon and first-time feature film director Robert Altman takes the helm fashioning it into a matter-of-fact documentary type deal where we see how everything takes place prior to launch. The media swarm, the rivalries(Duvall's Chiz is indeed screwed out of an opportunity), how the families cope, the spent time before that fateful trip, the planning, the testing, the debating on who should be piloting the capsule..everything is shown to us so that we get a clear picture of what it is like in not only the pilot's life, but also those that worry about the mission themselves.
I must say this film is exceptionally well made, with an intelligent approach which tries to explain to us the hullabaloo that surfaces at such a historic event and how that effects Caan and his family along the way. It all comes down to that trip, though, that really provides some suspense. It's a curio piece also considering it features Duvall and Caan in the early stages of their careers as well as seeing the beginning of Altman's reign as an unusual artist with his camera placements and how the characters speak to one another(there is some moments where people talk over each other during discussions mainly in the sequences where Caan is in the capsule nearing the orbit of the moon).
I must say this film is exceptionally well made, with an intelligent approach which tries to explain to us the hullabaloo that surfaces at such a historic event and how that effects Caan and his family along the way. It all comes down to that trip, though, that really provides some suspense. It's a curio piece also considering it features Duvall and Caan in the early stages of their careers as well as seeing the beginning of Altman's reign as an unusual artist with his camera placements and how the characters speak to one another(there is some moments where people talk over each other during discussions mainly in the sequences where Caan is in the capsule nearing the orbit of the moon).