MAROONED (1969) **1/2 It's not a very enjoyable film, nor a great one. It develops painfully slowly, but eventually accumulates serious intensity. Between the hyper-realism of nearly terminally endless radio communications prior to lift-off, and Hollywood-style lapses of credibility to embarrass a third grader...there is a sense that there's a battle going on between those at the controls. If that's the case it's a dynamic that typically manifests in pictures more scattered-and worse-than this. John Sturges has a nice cast, but most everything good about the movie is external...ethereal, like space. There's Gregory Peck acting courageous and professional and dignified, but also somehow pedestrian, unable to generate his own typical aura. There's Gene Hackman, but there's nothing in this performance to suggest that he will become one of the great actors of his generation. In fact, only the women strike you as even above average: Lee Grant has some very good scenes, she's best, but even hers is an uneven performance. I guess stress does that to you, and even removed from reality, from the actors, through the protection of the screen...Sturges gets that point across very well.
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