Capricorn One (1978)

NASA tries to pull off a fake landing on Mars in a TV studio, then sets out to kill the astronauts to keep the truth a secret.

Sam Waterston, James Brolin and O.J. Simpson are the astronauts, and Elliott Gould the journalist who comes to their aid.

Unfortunately, whenever the suspense and excitement start to build (which is often), the mood is broken by the wooden dialogue of director-writer Peter Hyams.

But the action (especially the chase scenes) is truly edge-of-the-seat stuff - Even if the chase sequence with two helicopters and a crop-dusting plane piloted by Savalas, is reminiscent of a similar encounter in Hitchcock's North By Northwest.