Stowaway to the Moon

I remembered this as a kid like some others. IF this movie was an after school special catering to kids, my perspective would be different, but it was not when released in 1975.

1. Even pre-terrorist days, launch sites were locked down tight. Especially then with a war still in its wake. No kid is going to sneak aboard.

2. There is not as much space as depicted in the capsule. They are tight, just as the capsule the kid is shown in at the beginning of the movie.

3. The guard entrances when the dad cam in would not have been so lax.

I could go on all evening on this flick since it is clueless and lazy with effort. Based on the insanely rushed ending, they somebody must have gotten how bad this was and cut the budget- hence the abrupt and nonsense ending. Even as a kid all those years ago I thought the kid was dreaming, up until the end. Due to the odd demeanor of the adults and the lack of logic, I thought the movie was intended to be the kid dreaming and it then would have made sense. Reason being, the movie literally seems like a dream of an eleven year old.

From a kids perspective, the movie would be a 7/10, since THEN it would make sense.

It's absolutely 70s made for tv shlock but so great. I still remember the stowaway kid vacuuming the astronaut vomit scene. And i read this year that astronauts left vomit and poop on the moon as a weight exchange to bring home moon rocks. Scientists plan to retrieve the 50+ old vomit and poop for study. So there is some validity to this story I guess. No one thinks about the stomach churning life of an astronaut. Anyway, this is a great movie to watch, filmed shortly after the space race era. Who says you can't stowaway on a US Apollo mission? This was the 1970's man, almost any absurdity was possible.

"Stowaway to the Moon" was broadcast 5 1/2 years after the first lunar landing in 1969 (only two years after the last), and no doubt symbolized the fascination with space in the hearts of young viewers. Based on a 1973 novel by William R. Shelton, and apparently quite faithful to its fictitious source, about 11 year old E.J. Mackernutt (Michael Link) successfully sneaking past NASA security at Cape Kennedy to hide in the trash compartment of the Camelot rocket due to take off in a few hours. Inspired by the fishing and honey making expertise of old Jacob Avril (John Carradine), whose home adjoins the launch site, the already incisive boy uses his knowledge and acumen to assist the trio of astronauts once they're on their way to the moon for rock samples. As one might expect, unexpected mishaps always play out to a satisfactory conclusion, predictable yet never less than entertaining. The passage of time can't help but make this well played adventure a bit naïve, kind of a child's version of the 1950 "Destination Moon," itself passe after just two decades. The presence of top billed Lloyd Bridges, from the rival production that beat the original moon film to theaters in 1950, "Rocketship X-M" (forced to use Mars as their destination), is a welcome bonus, fretting over things at Houston while an 11 year old boy earns plaudits out in space. The rushed climax makes everything look like it may have been a dream all along, but for viewers of any age it's a relic of a bygone era when the familiar lunar stock footage was still relatively new, with real life astronaut Charles 'Pete' Conrad doing the commentary.

It's been so many years since I last saw this. Sort of a children's version of "Marooned" or an earlier, better version of "Spacecamp."

Young EJ is an intelligent, young boy with an obsessive interest in the space program. So he hatches a plan to sneak past the launch support crew and surveillance cameras during the launch preparations for the "Camelot" moon mission, managing to get himself into the Apollo space capsule. Once they're en route to the Moon, he's discovered. His presence causes problems and strains the resources of a spacecraft meticulously designed to hold only three men, but he also helps solve other problems that arise and so gains the respect, friendship and admiration of the astronauts.

Child actor Michael Link did a fine job in the titular role. EJ was written as highly intelligent but not a precocious smart aleck like so many child characters today. A young nerd, as it were. Most of the adults were fine as well, including veterans Lloyd Bridges and John Carradine.

For all the haters who harp about how implausible this movie is, it was a family-oriented TV movie, not a documentary or even a big-budget theatrical feature film. NASA itself had no problems with it and lent their full support. They supplied genuine footage from the Apollo missions to be interspersed in the movie. They even allowed all the scenes at "Mission Control" to be filmed in one of the actual Kennedy Space Center firing rooms (launch control center) in Florida. Apollo astronaut Pete Conrad played himself as a TV commentator. None of this would have happened if they had thought this movie was garbage.

It was the daydream of many a young boy and certainly some young girls (paging Dr. Sally Ride) in the years immediately following the Apollo missions to be an astronaut. "Stowaway" took that a step further with a dream of going into space without having to grow up (and grow old) first. But show this movie to most kids today and they would be likely to not only find the special effects lacking (which is not all that important) but the space program dull and uninspiring.. How times have changed. No longer does the nation cluster around TVs, holding its collective breath throughout each mission People have become jaded to space, even though the shuttle only goes up every few months at most -- no more often than the Moon missions did. If JFK could see the level of disinterest today, he would cry. Shows and movies about the space program (as opposed to space operas, alien invasions and the like) are rarities today. Only a few come to mind from the last two decades. The Right Stuff, Apollo 13, From the Earth to the Moon, Spacecamp, Space Cowboys. Alas, the last two were targeted at diametrically opposite age groups. All of us would benefit if some of the early wonder were instilled in generations now and yet to come.

Sure I can remember seeing this on TV when I was 9, the kid weighed about 87 lbs, and if I remember right, nearly freezes to death while they are circling the moon(?)-there was some suspense and all that. I had never heard what this was called but I remembered parts of it all these years.

Yes this is worth seeing if you can find it; not a bad rainy Saturday afternooner thing for your kids at the least. And hey, it has John Carradine AND Lloyd Bridges. Not bad.

**1/2 outta **** at least.