The Groundstar Conspiracy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1968 novel
by L. P. Davies
Earl A. Glick
Hal Roach Jr.
Trevor Wallace
| The Groundstar Conspiracy | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover | |
| Directed by | Lamont Johnson |
| Written by | Douglas Heyes |
| Based on | The Alien 1968 novel by L. P. Davies |
| Produced by | Frank Arrigo Earl A. Glick Hal Roach Jr. Trevor Wallace |
| Starring | George Peppard Michael Sarrazin Christine Belford |
| Cinematography | Michael Reed |
| Edited by | Edward M. Abroms |
| Music by | Paul Hoffert |
| Color process | Technicolor |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 95 minutes |
| Countries | Canada United States |
| Language | English |
The Groundstar Conspiracy is a 1972 American neo-noir crime film directed by Lamont Johnson. It stars George Peppard and Michael Sarrazin.[1][2][3]
Douglas Heyes' screenplay (written under his frequent pseudonym, Matthew Howard) was adapted very freely from L. P. Davies' 1968 novel, The Alien. It was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, and produced by Hal Roach Productions[4] in Canada.
Groundstar space project technician John Welles attempts to steal miniaturized rocket fuel system plans from the project's computer facility. His attempt goes awry and he is badly disfigured in an explosion he set and barely escapes. He stumbles to the nearby vacation home of Nicole Devon, and collapses. She calls an ambulance, the authorities are alerted, and soon Welles is operated on, given plastic surgery and interrogated by a hard-boiled government official named Tuxan, but Welles claims to have no memory of his crime. In fact, he claims no memory of his life at all, though he has brief dreams of children playing near the ruins of a Greek temple and a woman struggling in water.
Despite Tuxan's brutal interrogation techniques (consisting of electro-shock, water submersion, and execution threats) Welles still maintains his story of total amnesia. Tuxan allows Welles to escape, hoping he will draw the people behind the attempted theft to him. Welles goes to Nicole's apartment—he learned the address in Tuxan's interrogations—and begs her to help him remember, but she knows nothing. They fall in love as Tuxan keeps them under surveillance.
Eventually Tuxan's plan succeeds: the conspirators behind the attempted theft expose themselves and are arrested. Tuxan then reveals the truth to Welles, who still cannot remember any details of the crime. John Welles actually died following surgery the day after the Groundstar explosion. The man we have come to know as Welles is really Peter Bellamy, a government employee whose girlfriend recently drowned in Greece. Bellamy, feeling that life was no longer worth living or remembering, volunteered to have his memory wiped via surgery and to play Welles. Welles, a.k.a. Bellamy, then seeks to kill Tuxan for his ruthlessness, but Tuxan persuades him to not exact revenge by telling him he is the only person alive who can start life over without the burdens of the past.
Cast
- George Peppard as Tuxan
- Michael Sarrazin as John David Welles / Peter Bellamy
- Christine Belford as Nicole Devon
- Cliff Potts as Carl Mosely
- James Olson as Senator Douglas Bell Stanton
- Tim O'Connor as Frank Gossage
- James McEachin as Bender
- Alan Oppenheimer as General Hackett
- Hagan Beggs as Dr. Hager
- Barry Cahill as a reporter