The Groundstar Conspiracy

Lamont Johnson worked a lot in television but he also directed some interesting films that should be better known; A Covenant with Death, The McKenzie Break, The Last American Hero, You'll Like My Mother and Lipstick. (Even Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone has its felicities!) The Groundstar Conspiracy is a low budget but fast moving thriller with a few twists and turns until the tense ending. All the elements of music, photography and dialogue are pulled together neatly to serve the narrative's momentum.

The plot may strain a little at the edges but the film is helped along by some good acting. Michael Sarrazin as the accused man is convincing. You can feel his terror and his bewilderment. Sarrazin's face helps, it looks beat about and haunted. George Peppard as the government man gives one of his best performances. A real hard case, driven almost by paranoia, single minded and ready to do anything to keep the state secure. Christine Belford and Cliff Potts are good too. It's a good little film.

...with stunning views of 70's Vancouver beaches,mountains and architecture, this drama has great actors with a suspenseful plot,yet kind of slow. Still a nostalgia treat to watch that is family friendly.

Just re-saw The Groundstar Conspiracy after some 20 something years. Always been a big fan of both George Peppard and Micheal Sarrazin, so I was looking forward to this flick. Somewhat out-dated today, but for 1972, it wasn't all that bad. There are twists and turns. Plots and subplots. Action, suspense, drama, and even a little romance thrown in. Humor, at least a few lines, would of helped a lot here. There is a nice surprise sort of ending. Clearly this is not a masterpiece of a cold war thriller like The Spy Who Can In From The Cold or The Ipcress File, but The Goundstar Conspiracy is a nice little entertaining film. George Peppard looked great here and Micheal Sarrazin was in his prime. It's not their best roles, but if you're a fan. it's a good way to spend a rainy night.

When "Welles" (Michael Sarazin) is caught after an audacious break in to sabotage a top secret government lab, he claims to have been so traumatised by the whole experience and explosive aftermath that he cannot remember anything about who he is, or why his was there. That deduction falls to "Tuxan" (George Peppard) who sets about trying to help his quarry "remember" just who sent him and what their objective was. On the face of it, this is just another one of these standard television conspiracy thrillers, but there is quite a degree of mystery established by an on-form Sarazin and Peppard does rather better than usual as his gritty and hard nosed character starts to make us wonder just who is pulling the strings. Neither lead character are particularly likeable here and but for the occasional gentle interventions of Christine Belford's "Nicole", the whole thing builds to quite a dry and far-fetched enterprise that ran out of steam after the initial curiosity of the amnesiac scenario started to wear thin. It's watchable, but equally forgettable with a title that does it no favours at all.

A top secret space research centre is blown up and only one of the scientists, Wells (Michael Sarrazin) surviving. In comes security chief Tuxon (George Peppard) who holds Wells responsible, to interrogate him, but Wells claims he has completely lost his memory.

Perfectly enjoyable and interesting seventies thriller with a sharp plot void of any padding, with decent turns from Sarrazin, Peppard, if a little bit too cold and two dimensional and particularly Christine Belford who takes runaway Wells in. It's an interesting idea - is Sarrazin lying?, is he an alien? And indeed the film has its fair share of decent twists and turns. No masterpiece, but solid fun and worth a look.