Fantastic film about a weird , powerful storm winds up throwing USS Nimitz into past world during WW2 . Caught outside the boundaries of time and space, all mission , 102 aircraft, 6,000 men , are transported back to 1941. On December 7, 1980 the nuclear carrier USS Nimitz disappeared in the Pacific and reappeared December 7, 1941 ,the day the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour . The events go wrong , causing an USS naval battleship to disappear in Pacific Ocean by means of a warp time. The motley crew as Wing Commander Richard Owens (James Farentino) , Lasky (Martin Sheen), Cmdr. Dan (Ron O'Neal) commanded by Captain Matthew Yelland (Kirk Douglas) find themselves thrown into a temporary hole . Then they find in the past world of 1941 and they can change the course of history but also to generate a cataclysm that threatens to destroy it.
This is a far-fetching but acceptable story about an U.S nuclear-powered aircraft carrier traveling forward in time to just to discover famous incidents and change the world. It is developed with intrigue, suspense , thrills and noisy action with interesting screenplay by Thomas Hunter. Familiar but satisfying and agreeable Sci-Fi yarn , including a surprisingly final . Just amusement enough to cover production gaps and some flaws. Fine special effects by the time and liking acting by the leads manage to keep this one afloat. Nice performance of Kirk Douglas as Captain Matthew who must face the ultimate decision , leave history intact or stop the known events . Good support cast as Charles Durning as the Senator, Soon-Tek Oh as a Japanese pilot , Ron O'Neal , among others and early appearance of Lloyd Kaufman , subsequently producer of B films with Troma Productions. Colorful cinematography by Victor J. Kemper and atmospheric , spectacular musical score by John Scott. The picture achieved big success at Box office and had ripoffs and imitations , being followed by ¨Philadelphia experiment¨ and inferior sequel titled ¨Philadelphia experiment II . The motion picture is professionally directed by Don Taylor. He was an actor and director as TV as cinema and an expert on adventures genre as ¨Adventures of Tom Sawyer¨ , Terror as ¨Damien : Omen 2¨ and science fiction as ¨Island of Dr. Moreau¨, ¨Escape from Planet of Apes¨, and of course ¨The final of countdown¨. Rating : 6,5 . Acceptable and passable fantasy fare although better viewed in big screen .
This is a far-fetching but acceptable story about an U.S nuclear-powered aircraft carrier traveling forward in time to just to discover famous incidents and change the world. It is developed with intrigue, suspense , thrills and noisy action with interesting screenplay by Thomas Hunter. Familiar but satisfying and agreeable Sci-Fi yarn , including a surprisingly final . Just amusement enough to cover production gaps and some flaws. Fine special effects by the time and liking acting by the leads manage to keep this one afloat. Nice performance of Kirk Douglas as Captain Matthew who must face the ultimate decision , leave history intact or stop the known events . Good support cast as Charles Durning as the Senator, Soon-Tek Oh as a Japanese pilot , Ron O'Neal , among others and early appearance of Lloyd Kaufman , subsequently producer of B films with Troma Productions. Colorful cinematography by Victor J. Kemper and atmospheric , spectacular musical score by John Scott. The picture achieved big success at Box office and had ripoffs and imitations , being followed by ¨Philadelphia experiment¨ and inferior sequel titled ¨Philadelphia experiment II . The motion picture is professionally directed by Don Taylor. He was an actor and director as TV as cinema and an expert on adventures genre as ¨Adventures of Tom Sawyer¨ , Terror as ¨Damien : Omen 2¨ and science fiction as ¨Island of Dr. Moreau¨, ¨Escape from Planet of Apes¨, and of course ¨The final of countdown¨. Rating : 6,5 . Acceptable and passable fantasy fare although better viewed in big screen .