What was the fate of the 'astronauts'
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creatorof2002 — 13 years ago(September 19, 2012 11:31 PM)
No way they could get away with killing the final survivor, he was surrounded by way too many witnesses at the end. I am wondering this, what kind of SUING RIGHTS would this guy have? And the beans would be spilled by him, I wonder what would happen to the corrupt officials who murdered 2 astronauts and lied to the american people? Man I would love to see that!
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Trevor-5 — 13 years ago(March 30, 2013 01:06 PM)
While their rights to sue would likely be about the same as today, it is much less likely they would have aactually done so. Peolpe were FAR less litigious back then. I can't remember exactly when the law changed, but it was right around that time that it became legal for lawyers to advertise on TV. Prior to the 1970's they couldn't.
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madmanontheloose — 12 years ago(June 09, 2013 08:56 AM)
If the other astronauts were indeed not executed by the pilots, but just captured - where did they take them? They surely were not in one of the helicopters, for they were built for two people, do I remember that correctly? Besides - they definitely tried to kill Brolins and Savalas characters, not capture them. Why should they treat them differently than the other two astronauts?
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Trajanc — 12 years ago(January 16, 2014 09:52 AM)
Because they would likely only kill them once they had all three. Or if they had two they could then shoot to kill the third knowing they could then kill the other two. It would be foolish for the conspirators to add murder to their crimes without being as sure as possible it was necessary or they could get away with it.
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Trajanc — 11 years ago(August 02, 2014 11:56 PM)
Oh I don't think any moral compulsion would hold them back. It would be pure self interest; no reason to take on the risk of punishment for murder if murdering one or two of them was potentially pointless.
The Survivor Funny 115:
http://funny115.com/ -
rooprect — 11 years ago(August 16, 2014 04:15 PM)
Trajanc I think you nailed the most logical answer. My first impression was that they killed each one on sight, but you convinced me otherwise. Knowing that the bad guys aren't just vindictive criminals but rather people with political motivations, they wouldn't do anything rash.
Definitely their ultimate plan would be to kill all 3, but not until they rounded them all up. With the first 2 being captured, I'm sure that's when the order was given to shoot Bru if trying to escape. Then they would wax the other 2 at their leisure. -
BobGar-447-971598 — 10 years ago(June 02, 2015 06:13 PM)
Alive or dead the other two astronauts could've been in the back of the helicopters.
The Hughes 500 series helicopter, was normally equipped to carry four people. (Two in the front and two in the back!)
And 500 series helicopters made in and for Asian markets, (Where people are a bit smaller.)
We're often sold as a five place aircraft! (Two in the front and three in the back.)
{More than likely thay would have been put in the aircraft, as it would be the quickest and surest way to prevent anything, from being left behind, and later identified! Like; uniforms, dental work or serialized medical prosthetics! } -
petpad-41726 — 10 years ago(January 07, 2016 02:28 PM)
Holbrook's character was so meticulous that he would likely have held off the execution of Willis and Walker until Brubaker was secured sooooooo given that Brubaker made it to freedom due to Elliott Gould's charac
ter's persistence, then according to my logic, Willis and Walker were held healthy and well, so when the gig blew up at the funeral, then the two other astronauts were miraculously released. One of my top 10 movies all time. -
I_Guard_Tanelorn — 9 years ago(June 25, 2016 12:37 AM)
I doubt very much they were killed immediately. They would have all been jailed in a secret prison until all collected, and maybe not even killed then. There would have been debriefings and other crap, shake them down for details about their escape. And in the end, secret prisoners are useful for all sorts of things. After the cat was out of the bag, they were probably set free.
"I said no camels, that's five camels, can't you count?" -
gencoimpco — 9 years ago(June 23, 2016 06:30 AM)
I rewatched this recently and this question bugged me to the point that I ordered the two novelizations based upon this film.
The one written by Ken Follett (using the pen name of Bernard L. Ross) fleshed out the story a bit. The other book adds nothing to the film.
In Follett's version, one of helicopter pilots believes O.J. has died of thirst just after shooting his flare gun, but shoots him 4 times just to be sure. Willis (Sam Waterston) is pushed down the cliff after he fires his flare. So that answers that question.
After Brubaker is rescured, Caulfield drives him back to his home (there was no way they could have arrived at the funeral in time, based on the distance) where Judy (Karen Black) has a camera crew ready to expose the conspiracy. Brubaker refuses to go to the hospital right away so he can be reunited with his wife. Caulfield gets paid a over a million bucks to host a 90-minute special report on CBS that night, which the NSA fails to block. Kelloway attempts suicide but is arrested after his stomach is pumped out. -
ewallace978-60-765511 — 9 years ago(July 08, 2016 01:08 AM)
I have no doubt they were executed on site. We see one of the pilots take out a gun and fire at Brubaker when he's making his escape to the bi plane and then the Helicopters fires on the bi plane several times trying to kill all of them.
There would be no point in holding any of them until "all three" were captured, and the idea that they wouldn't want to add murder to the list of charges is laughable. -
iroquoisjoe — 9 years ago(August 12, 2016 10:56 PM)
Wellif, in theory, they were in such a hurry to kill them "on-sight" then there would have been no reason to capture either Willis or Walker alive at all. The OH-6's had 'machine guns' on their skids (but mysteriously no ammunition belts) and weren't shy about firing them. So they could have made sure of the kills from the air and not risk an escape (or return fire)boomand pick up the body when there is only bloody rags and no more running/movement. If these guys were ex-Viet Nam pilots I'm sure they've nailed soft targets on the ground before.
So they would've blown poor O.J. away before he could even fire off his warning flare and blown Astronaut Willis off the side of that mesa he was climbing before he could do the same. < as opposed to letting him finish his climb and his joke!
On November 6, 2012 god blessed Americaagain. -
hornacek — 9 years ago(September 20, 2016 06:44 AM)
The other two were killed by the helicopters as soon as they were found. When they found Brolin they tried to shoot the plane down. They weren't trying to capture the astronauts, they had to be killed for the conspiracy to work.
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MichaelMovieLoft — 13 years ago(April 16, 2012 03:00 PM)
It is never stated. It is left up the viewer. Some people believe that when Waterston and OJ's characters were kidnapped they were killed. It would make sense since: 1) Capricorn One burned up on reentry and 2) NASA could not afford to have them alive since there are people to answer to. If there were dead astronanuts roaming around, it would damage NASA's creditability and close them down since the public would have no confidence in them.
MM -
mungreluk — 13 years ago(October 01, 2012 05:04 PM)
I dont think its ever explained is it, the fate of the first two who were captured. For me, its just too easy to go along with the obvious idea that they were immediately shot and killed by the helicopter pilots.
I reckon they were (or should have been) taken as prisoners again and held until all three had definitely been captured. Killing one or two was too risky just in case they didnt manage to get all three of them. When Brolin's character survived and presumably told the truth about what happened, how could the baddies explain and cover-up the deaths of the first two astronauts ?