Altman's loss was compounded by the fact that Petulia ended up on most critics' top ten lists for 1968 with Richard Lester basking in the acclaim. Unfortunately, the network cancelled Nightwatch after pressure from Lucille Ball who demanded the same time slot for her company's new series, Mission Impossible.
#COUNTDOWN MOVIE SERIES#
He had recently given up his rights to produce and direct Petulia (1968) in exchange for his involvement in a prime-time television series entitled Nightwatch. Prior to being assigned Countdown Altman was at a low point in his career. The intense preparations pay off, however, once the Pilgrim I is launched and Lee encounters genuine life-threatening problems during his flight to Mars. Bitterly disappointed at the turn of events, Chiz, acting as Lee's trainer, pushes his protégé to the limits of his endurance in training, putting his life at risk in one situation. The President, however, feels that the mission should not appear to be a military endeavor and requests that Lee, a civilian, guide the expedition.
At first, Chiz, an Air Force colonel, is selected to pilot the Pilgrim I to the moon. When it is learned that the Soviet Union already has a mission orbiting the moon with plans to land on the surface, NASA officials race against time to land their own man on the lunar surface first. In Countdown, a trio of astronauts - Chiz, Rick and Lee - are subjected to rigorous training and simulated space flights in preparation for a future Moon expedition. were competing to land the first expedition on the Moon, Countdown (1968) is not only prescient in its storyline (the Apollo 11 would make a historic landing on the Moon the very next year - July 1969) but it also marks the feature film debut of Robert Altman, who would go on to become one of the most original and uncompromising American directors of his generation. Made during the space race of the late sixties when Russia and the U.S. He finds the Russian crew dead and plants the flags of both countries he finally spots the blinking of the shelter's beacon and walks toward what will be his home for the next year. Lee makes a successful landing on the moon but is unable to find the shelter. When word comes that the Russians are definitely going to land on the moon, Chiz overcomes his animosity and wholeheartedly backs up Lee in a hastily-scheduled launching. Chiz bitterly agrees to help Lee in his final series of rigorous tests even so, Lee nearly loses his life in one of them but is saved by his best friend, flight surgeon Gus. Because of his experience, Chiz is the front-runner for the job, but he loses out to Lee when the President decides that the man making the moon shot should be a civilian. There he will exist in a shelter for approximately a year until the more up-to-date Apollo can be sent to bring him back. As a consequence, an American astronaut must be selected, trained, and sent to the moon as soon as possible. Astronauts Chiz, Rick, and Lee are ordered to halt their simulated space flight by NASA executive Ross when it is learned that the Russians are already circling the moon and may shortly attempt a landing.
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