The Final Countdown is a 1980 American science fiction war film about a modern, nuclear-powered aircraft carrier that travels through time to the day before the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor. It is directed by Don Taylor, his final theatrical film as director, and stars Kirk Douglas, Martin Sheen, James Farentino, Katharine Ross, Ron O'Neal, and Charles Durning.
The film was produced with the cooperation of the United States Navy's naval aviation branch and the United States Department of Defense. It was set and filmed on board , filming operations of the modern, nuclear warship, which had been launched in the early 1970s. Troma Entertainment founder Lloyd Kaufman was an associate producer of the film, and also has a minor acting role.
The Final Countdown was released by United Artists on August 1, 1980. It received mixed reviews from critics, but was a moderate success at the box office. It received Saturn Award nominations for Best Science Fiction Film and Best Actor (for Kirk Douglas).
Plot
In 1980, the aircraft carrier departs Naval Station Pearl Harbor for naval exercises in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The ship takes on a civilian observer, Warren Lasky — a systems analyst for Tideman Industries working as an efficiency expert for the U.S. Department of Defense — on the orders of his reclusive employer, Mr. Tideman, whose secretive major defense contractor company designed and built the nuclear-powered warship.
Once at sea, the Nimitz encounters a mysterious electrically-charged vortex. While the ship passes through it, radar and other equipment become unresponsive. Unsure of what happened to them and without radio contact with U.S. Pacific Fleet Command at Pearl Harbor, Captain Yelland, commander of the aircraft carrier, fears there may have been a nuclear strike on Hawaii or the continental United States. He orders general quarters and launches a RF-8 Crusader reconnaissance aircraft. The aircraft photographs Pearl Harbor, revealing an intact row of U.S. Pacific fleet battleships, of which several were destroyed during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
When a surface contact is spotted on radar, Yelland launches two ready alert Grumman F-14 Tomcat fighter jets from VF-84 to intercept. The patrol witnesses the sinking of a civilian yacht by two Imperial Japanese Navy Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" fighters. The F-14s are ordered to drive off the Zeros without firing, but when the Zeros inadvertently head towards the Nimitz, Yelland gives clearance to shoot them down. The Nimitz rescues survivors from the yacht: U.S. Senator Samuel Chapman, his aide Laurel Scott, her dog Charlie, and one of the two downed Zero pilots. Commander Owens, an amateur historian, recognizes Chapman as a politician who could have been Franklin D. Roosevelt's running mate (and potential successor) during his final re-election bid, had Chapman not disappeared shortly before the Pearl Harbor attack.
When a Grumman E-2 Hawkeye scouting aircraft discovers the Japanese fleet task force poised to launch its attack on Pearl Harbor, the Nimitz crew realizes they've been transported in time to the day before the attack. Yelland has to decide whether to destroy the Japanese fleet and alter the course of history or to stand by and allow history to proceed as they know it. The American civilians and the Zero pilot are kept isolated. While being questioned, the Japanese pilot takes an M-16 rifle from one of the guards, kills two U.S. Marine guards, and takes Scott, Owens, and Lasky hostage. He demands access to a radio to warn the Japanese fleet about the Nimitz. Lasky tells Commander Owens to recite the secret plans for the Japanese attack; the dumbfounded Japanese pilot is overcome, shot, and killed by the other U.S. Marines. In the aftermath, Scott and Owens develop an attraction for each other.
Chapman is outraged that Yelland hasn't told anyone about the impending Japanese attack, and rebuffs Yelland's claim that the Nimitz is capable of handling any attack. An attempt to warn Pearl Harbor by radio fails when the Navy considers it a prank. Chapman demands to be taken to Pearl Harbor to warn the naval authorities in person. Yelland agrees in front of Chapman, but then orders Owens to fly the civilians and sufficient supplies via helicopter to an isolated Hawaiian island (Puʻuwai, Hawaii), assuming they will eventually be rescued. When they arrive, Chapman realizes he has been tricked and uses a flare gun to force the pilot to fly to Pearl Harbor. During a struggle with another crew member, the flare gun discharges, destroying the craft and stranding Scott and Owens on the island. The Nimitz launches a strike force against the Japanese fleet, but the time vortex returns. After a futile attempt to outrun the storm, Yelland recalls the strike force, and the ship and its aircraft return to 1980, leaving the future relatively unchanged. Upon the return of the Nimitz to Pearl Harbor, Pacific Fleet admirals board the ship to investigate its unexplained disappearance. Lasky leaves the ship with Scott's dog, Charlie, and encounters the mysterious Mr. Tideman, whom he recognizes as a much older Owens. He and his wife, Laurel Scott, invite Lasky to join them as they have "a lot to talk about".
Cast
Production
thumb|Filming on the flight deck of the Nimitz
Peter Douglas was the driving force behind The Final Countdown. With a limited budget and a promising script, he was able to attract interest from the U.S. Navy. Officials from the Department of Defense offered full cooperation after seeing a script, but insisted that for safety and operational readiness, the film schedule would be dependent on the "on location" naval consultant, William Micklos. Principal photography took place at Naval Air Station Key West, Naval Station Norfolk, and off the Florida Keys, over two five-week periods in 1979. Scenes at Pearl Harbor consisted of mainly stock footage with most of The Final Countdown exteriors shot on the Nimitz while at sea, and at drydock for interiors. During operations, an emergency landing took place with the production crew allowed to film the recovery of the aircraft on the Nimitz; the sequence appeared in the final film. The difficulties in filming a modern jet fighter were soon apparent when the first setup to record an F-14 takeoff at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, resulted in both camera and operator being pitched down a runway. Taylor's direction was considered workmanlike, as he had a reputation for bringing projects in on time and on budget, but suggestions from U.S. naval aviators were ultimately incorporated into the shooting schedules with the "B" crew placed in charge of all the aerial sequences that became the primary focus of the film.
Troma Entertainment founder Lloyd Kaufman was the film's associate producer and unit production manager. He also appears in a minor acting role as an eponymous Lieutenant Commander. Two of the replicas were featured in a dogfight with F-14 Tomcats; it was the first time such a dissimilar engagement had appeared in film, with the "totally different speeds...environments and weaponry" of the aircraft causing extreme challenges for the jet pilots.
In one scene where an F-14 "thumps" a Zero by flying under and streaking upward in front of the slower aircraft, the resultant "jet blast" of turbulent air was so intense that the yokes of both of the Zeros in the scene were violently wrenched out of the pilots' hands and caused both aircraft to momentarily tumble out of control.