The Final Countdown (1980 film)

1980, Hawaii, Pearl Harbor. Before departure, Tideman Industries employee Warren Laski escorts the mysterious Mr. Tideman. Weasels arrived at the Nimitz aircraft carrier on instructions from the Ministry of Defense. Laski’s personal cabin is adjacent to the cabin of the commander of an air group (CAG), who writes a book on military history, Laski, examining the manuscripts, does not notice the commander who entered, a quarrel occurs between them and relations are strained.

After Laski arrives on the ship, strange things begin to happen. At first, the weather suddenly changes quickly, the wind rises and rain begins, while morning reports indicated clear weather. Then the radio communication worsens. The storm itself has strange properties that meteorologists have not encountered before. An emergency pilot is preparing to put a novice pilot on deck. At this moment, the ship falls into a storm, which quickly ends in calm and clear weather. A novice pilot is planted, but oddities do not end there. Escort destroyers are not detected and do not respond, nor does the fleet headquarters respond. The radar is empty, although there were marks before the storm. Reconnaissance planes and AWACS planes fly into the air. The captain gathers a meeting, but oddities are only added without explaining what is happening. The radio manages to catch an old-style broadcast featuring the famous comedian of the 1940s. Various options are put forward from a grand joke to the third world war.

At this time (in 1941), Senator Samuel Chapman takes a boat trip on a yacht, discussing politics with his friend. The yacht was discovered from the Nimitz aircraft carrier and an F-14 fighter link was sent for identification. But the yacht is bombarded by two Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighters and civilians are shot dead right in front of F-14 pilots. The captain orders the Zero to be shot down, and modern planes prevail in a quick battle, reporting that one of the Zero pilots and two people from the yacht survived. Those in distress are delivered to the ship.

Meanwhile, the ship is listening to the broadcast of a boxing match that ended 40 years ago, and news about the battles near Moscow. Captain Yeland openly declares Laski in disbelief and possible silence of information known only to Laski. As if to justify Laski asks to bring archival photographs from the KAG’s cabin, and compares them with photos taken by the RF-8 reconnaissance aircraft, the photos turn out to be absolutely identical. In one of the photographs, sailors are amazed to see the intact Arizona battleship sunk by the Japanese and turned into a memorial after the war. Rescue teams arrive with people raised from the water. The Japanese fighter turns out to be the pilot of the Zero fighter, and Senator Samuel Chapman and his secretary are recognized in the other two. The interrogation of the Japanese pilot and intelligence confirm the theory of time travel.

The team of officers is divided into two sides, one of them seems unacceptable to change history, the others are determined to strike and save Pearl Harbor by completing the mission of the ship. Captain Matthew Yeland has to make a choice: strike at the Japanese imperial fleet, changing the course of history, or leave everything as it is.

• Kirk Douglas - Captain Matthew Eland
• Martin Sheen - Warren Laski
• Katherine Ross - Laurel Scott
• James Farentino - Wing Commander Richard T. Owens / Richard Tideman
• Ron O'Neill - Commander Dan Thurman
• Charles Dörning - Senator Samuel Chapman
• Victor Mohika - Black Cloud
• Jim Coleman - Lieutenant Perry
• Sun-Tech Oh - Shimura
• Joe Lowry - Commander Damon
• Alvin Ing - Lieutenant Kajima
• Mark Thomas - Marine Corporal Cullman
• Harold Bergman - Bellman
• Dan Fitzgerald - Doctor
• Lloyd Kaufman - Lieutenant Commander Kaufman

Filming

The main shootings took place at Key West Air Base (Naval Air Station Key West) and the Norfolk Naval Base , as well as in the Florida Keys archipelago . The scenes at Pearl Harbor consist mainly of archival frames ^[2] .

The aircraft involved in the filming

• Aichi val replica
• Grumman F-14 Tomcat
• Grumman e-2 hawkeye
• Grumman A-6 Intruder
• LTV A-7 Corsair II
• Mitsubishi A6M Zero replica
• Nakajima kate replica
• Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King
• Vought RF-8G Crusader
• RA-5C Vigilante (in episode)

• 1981 Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Award, Saturn

Nomination (2) :

• Best science fiction movie.
• Best film actor.

• The film was attended by a real squadron link VF-84 Jolly Rogers.
• In some frames, the role of the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier was performed by the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier. Nimitz himself was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet, and it would be difficult for him to appear for filming at Pearl Harbor.

The latest countdown was released in US cinemas on August 1, 1980 ^[3] .

• Philadelphia experiment
• Axis of time
• Time failure
• Zipang
• Portals in fiction

• Caidin, Martin. The Final Countdown . New York: Bantam, 1980. ISBN 0-553-12155-3 .
• Dolan, Edward F. Jr. Hollywood Goes to War . London: Bison Books, 1985. ISBN 0-86124-229-7 .
• Frietas, Gary A. War Movies: The Belle & Blade Guide to Classic War Videos . Bandon, Oregon: Robert D. Reed Publishers, 2011. ISBN 978-1-931741-38-5 .
• Kaufman, Lloyd, Trent Haaga and Adam Jahnke. Make Your Own Damn Movie !: Secrets of a Renegade Director . Los Angeles: LA Weekly Books, 2003. ISBN 978-0-312-28864-8 .
• Suid, Lawrence H. Guts & Glory: The Making of the American Military Image in Film . Lexington, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky, 2002. ISBN 978-0-8131-9018-1 .
• Toland, John. Infamy: Pearl Harbor and its Aftermath . New York: Berkley, 1991. ISBN 978-0-425-09040-4 .

• " The Final Countdown ” on the Internet Movie Database
• http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/22726/Final-Countdown-The/
• Last countdown (English) on the site allmovie
• The latest countdown on the Rotten Tomatoes website
• Last Countdown on Box Office Mojo