Richard Carlson
Well, this evening was another 50′s sci fi flick. 1954, to be exact, and it was Riders to the Stars directed by and starring Richard Carlson. He was in many sci fi’s and I like watching him because he reminds me of Phil Hartman. It also stars Herbert Marshall and William Lundgren.
Scientists are trying to figure out what meteors are made of so they decide to build some rockets and train a few men as astronauts (in a couple of weeks!!) to catch a meteor. They have a sort of cow catcher on the end of the rocket and they try to snag one. This is exactly what I would build to catch a meteor. AND apparently you steer a rocket just like a plane, bringing the nose up or down and you can fly loop de loops in space. Again, this is exactly how I would steer a rocket.
So … a woman pilot/scientist (Martha Hyer) is involved in this whole plot because she’s been told by the head guy that “anything is possible.” And she would give anything to be able to go up in a rocket. The head guy keeps looking for men to do the task, so I guess anything is possible except for the ridiculous idea that a woman could do a job made for a “man.” The 1950′s – let’s go back.
One poor slob that gets recruited asks his va va voom girlfriend (Dawn Addams) to marry him, but needs to go to California
Va Va Voom Indeed!
for a week. She’s tells him she’ll give him his answer via mail and by the way can she borrow his car while he’s gone? And then she turns him down!! Well she can probably do better and she looked really bored while he was talking to her.
I was a little bored by the movie, but at least they didn’t fly into space being strapped onto cots and wearing their street clothes. And believe me, I’ve seen plenty of that which is exactly how I would like to go into space.
