The Final Countdown
Encyclopedia
The Final Countdown is a 1980
science fiction
film
about a modern aircraft carrier
that travels through time
to just before the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor
. It was directed by Don Taylor
, and stars Kirk Douglas
, Martin Sheen
, James Farentino
, Katharine Ross
and Charles Durning
.
USS Nimitz (CVN 68) takes on a civilian observer, Warren Lasky (Martin Sheen), at the orders of his reclusive and mysterious employer, Mr. Tideman (who helped design much of the ship), just before it departs Pearl Harbor
for a training mission in the Pacific Ocean. Out in the Pacific, the ship encounters a strange storm-like vortex which disappears after the ship passes through it.
Initially unsure of what has happened and having lost radio contact with the fleet, the ship launches numerous aircraft to determine their status. After a reconnaissance aircraft discovers an intact pre-World War II
Pacific battleship fleet at Pearl Harbor, an F-14 Tomcat
patrol discovers a 1940s era yacht, along with a patrol of Japanese Zeros.
When the Zeros destroy the civilian yacht, the F-14s shoot them down. The Nimitz rescues the survivors, a man and a woman from the yacht and one of the Zero pilots who survived being shot down. The Nimitz’s CAG (Commander, Air Group), Commander Owens (James Farentino), an amateur historian, recognizes the male survivor from the yacht as a prominent United States Senator who could have been Franklin Roosevelt’s running mate during his final re-election bid and his eventual successor.
After progressing through all possible scenarios, and after an E-2 Hawkeye
discovers the Japanese fleet that is poised to attack Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941, they eventually realize that they have been transported back in time to December 6, 1941, just one day before the Japanese attack.
The commander of the Nimitz, Captain Yelland (Kirk Douglas), has the dilemma of deciding whether to use the full power of Nimitz to destroy the Japanese fleet and alter the course of history, or to stand by and allow history to proceed as "normal." After some intense debates on-board, the captain settles the dispute by "going by the book": to defend America "past, present, and future" if attacked, and otherwise, to obey the orders of the then-current Commander-in-Chief, Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The survivors of the yacht and the Zero pilot are kept isolated until the Japanese pilot grabs a weapon, kills his guards and holds the other survivors hostage, threatening to kill them unless he is given access to a radio. The crisis is defused only after the CAG reveals enough of what he knows of history to the pilot to distract him long enough for him to be killed by shipboard Marines, but this also allows the yacht survivors to realize that Pearl Harbor is about to be attacked. The Senator demands and is granted access to a radio to warn Pearl Harbor about the imminent attack, but no one there believes him. Meanwhile, the female survivor of the yacht, Laurel (Katharine Ross), and Commander Owens develop an attraction to each other.
Captain Yelland sends the survivors of the yacht attack with sufficient supplies via helicopter to an isolated Hawaiian
island where they will be safe from the Japanese attack and cannot notify Pearl Harbor. The CAG goes with them. Once there, however, the Senator (Charles Durning) tries to hijack the helicopter with a flaregun, but ends up destroying the helicopter with him in it, stranding the CAG and Laurel on the island. She learns that the Nimitz is from the future when she discovers the date imprint on one of the food containers that was left behind.
The Nimitz launches a massive strike force to attack the incoming Japanese forces, but before they can reach the attacking Japanese squadrons, the time storm returns and begins to send the ship back to 1979. After a futile attempt to outrun the storm, Yelland reluctantly recalls the strike force and the ship and the planes return to 1979 safely.
Upon the Nimitz’s return to Pearl Harbor, the Pacific Fleet Commander boards the ship to investigate the disappearance of the Nimitz. Meanwhile, Mr. Lasky, upon leaving the ship, finally encounters "Mr. Tideman" face to face, who is revealed to be the much older Commander Owens, along with his wife, Laurel. The film ends with Owens telling Mr. Lasky "We have a lot to talk about".
on a two-DVD set on March 30, 2004. A high-definition Blu-ray 2-disk set was released November 4, 2008.
1980 in film
- Events :* May 21 - Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back is released and is the biggest grosser of the year ....
science fiction
Science fiction film
Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
about a modern aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
that travels through time
Time travel in fiction
Time travel is a common theme in science fiction and is depicted in a variety of media. It simply means either going forward in time or backward, to experience the future, or the past.-Literature:...
to just before the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
. It was directed by Don Taylor
Don Taylor (actor)
Don Taylor was an American movie actor and director best known for his performances in 1950s classics like Stalag 17 and Father of the Bride and the 1948 film noir The Naked City...
, and stars Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas is an American stage and film actor, film producer and author. His popular films include Out of the Past , Champion , Ace in the Hole , The Bad and the Beautiful , Lust for Life , Paths of Glory , Gunfight at the O.K...
, Martin Sheen
Martin Sheen
Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez , better known by his stage name Martin Sheen, is an American film actor best known for his performances in the films Badlands and Apocalypse Now , and in the television series The West Wing from 1999 to 2006.He is considered one of the best actors never to be...
, James Farentino
James Farentino
James Farentino is an American actor. He has appeared in almost one hundred roles, among them in The Final Countdown, Jesus of Nazareth, and Dynasty.-Career:...
, Katharine Ross
Katharine Ross
Katharine Juliet Ross is an American film and stage actress. Trained at the San Francisco Workshop, she is perhaps best known for her role as Elaine Robinson in the 1967 film The Graduate, opposite Dustin Hoffman, which won her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, and her role...
and Charles Durning
Charles Durning
Charles Durning is an American actor. With appearances in over 100 films, Durning's memorable roles include police officers in the Oscar-winning The Sting and crime drama Dog Day Afternoon , along with the comedies Tootsie, To Be Or Not To Be and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, the last two...
.
Plot
In 1979, the supercarrierSupercarrier
Supercarrier is an unofficial descriptive term for the largest type of aircraft carrier, usually displacing over 70,000 long tons.Supercarrier is an unofficial descriptive term for the largest type of aircraft carrier, usually displacing over 70,000 long tons.Supercarrier is an unofficial...
USS Nimitz (CVN 68) takes on a civilian observer, Warren Lasky (Martin Sheen), at the orders of his reclusive and mysterious employer, Mr. Tideman (who helped design much of the ship), just before it departs Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
for a training mission in the Pacific Ocean. Out in the Pacific, the ship encounters a strange storm-like vortex which disappears after the ship passes through it.
Initially unsure of what has happened and having lost radio contact with the fleet, the ship launches numerous aircraft to determine their status. After a reconnaissance aircraft discovers an intact pre-World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Pacific battleship fleet at Pearl Harbor, an F-14 Tomcat
F-14 Tomcat
The Grumman F-14 Tomcat is a supersonic, twin-engine, two-seat, variable-sweep wing fighter aircraft. The Tomcat was developed for the United States Navy's Naval Fighter Experimental program following the collapse of the F-111B project...
patrol discovers a 1940s era yacht, along with a patrol of Japanese Zeros.
When the Zeros destroy the civilian yacht, the F-14s shoot them down. The Nimitz rescues the survivors, a man and a woman from the yacht and one of the Zero pilots who survived being shot down. The Nimitz’s CAG (Commander, Air Group), Commander Owens (James Farentino), an amateur historian, recognizes the male survivor from the yacht as a prominent United States Senator who could have been Franklin Roosevelt’s running mate during his final re-election bid and his eventual successor.
After progressing through all possible scenarios, and after an E-2 Hawkeye
E-2 Hawkeye
The Grumman E-2 Hawkeye is an American all-weather, aircraft carrier-capable tactical airborne early warning aircraft. This twin-turboprop aircraft was designed and developed during the late 1950s and early 1960s by the Grumman Aircraft Company for the United States Navy as a replacement for the...
discovers the Japanese fleet that is poised to attack Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941, they eventually realize that they have been transported back in time to December 6, 1941, just one day before the Japanese attack.
The commander of the Nimitz, Captain Yelland (Kirk Douglas), has the dilemma of deciding whether to use the full power of Nimitz to destroy the Japanese fleet and alter the course of history, or to stand by and allow history to proceed as "normal." After some intense debates on-board, the captain settles the dispute by "going by the book": to defend America "past, present, and future" if attacked, and otherwise, to obey the orders of the then-current Commander-in-Chief, Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The survivors of the yacht and the Zero pilot are kept isolated until the Japanese pilot grabs a weapon, kills his guards and holds the other survivors hostage, threatening to kill them unless he is given access to a radio. The crisis is defused only after the CAG reveals enough of what he knows of history to the pilot to distract him long enough for him to be killed by shipboard Marines, but this also allows the yacht survivors to realize that Pearl Harbor is about to be attacked. The Senator demands and is granted access to a radio to warn Pearl Harbor about the imminent attack, but no one there believes him. Meanwhile, the female survivor of the yacht, Laurel (Katharine Ross), and Commander Owens develop an attraction to each other.
Captain Yelland sends the survivors of the yacht attack with sufficient supplies via helicopter to an isolated Hawaiian
Hawaiian
Hawaiian may refer to:* People from Hawaii* Hawaiian language* Native Hawaiians* The Hawaiians, a football team in the World Football League from 1974 to 1975* Hawaiian Airlines, a commercial airline* Hawaiian music...
island where they will be safe from the Japanese attack and cannot notify Pearl Harbor. The CAG goes with them. Once there, however, the Senator (Charles Durning) tries to hijack the helicopter with a flaregun, but ends up destroying the helicopter with him in it, stranding the CAG and Laurel on the island. She learns that the Nimitz is from the future when she discovers the date imprint on one of the food containers that was left behind.
The Nimitz launches a massive strike force to attack the incoming Japanese forces, but before they can reach the attacking Japanese squadrons, the time storm returns and begins to send the ship back to 1979. After a futile attempt to outrun the storm, Yelland reluctantly recalls the strike force and the ship and the planes return to 1979 safely.
Upon the Nimitz’s return to Pearl Harbor, the Pacific Fleet Commander boards the ship to investigate the disappearance of the Nimitz. Meanwhile, Mr. Lasky, upon leaving the ship, finally encounters "Mr. Tideman" face to face, who is revealed to be the much older Commander Owens, along with his wife, Laurel. The film ends with Owens telling Mr. Lasky "We have a lot to talk about".
Production
Most of the film was shot on the Nimitz with full cooperation from the Navy. Many of the crew members were used as extras, a few with speaking parts.Release
The Final Countdown was released to theatres in the United States on August 1, 1980. The Final Countdown was released by Blue UndergroundBlue Underground
Blue Underground is an American company specializing in releasing authoritative editions of cult and exploitation movies on Blu-ray Disc and DVD....
on a two-DVD set on March 30, 2004. A high-definition Blu-ray 2-disk set was released November 4, 2008.