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The Final Countdown

Where to watch.

Watch The Final Countdown with a subscription on Prime Video.

Critics Reviews

Audience reviews, cast & crew.

Kirk Douglas

Capt. Matthew Yelland

Martin Sheen

Warren Lasky

Katharine Ross

Laurel Scott

James Farentino

Cdr. Richard Owens

Ron O'Neal

Cdr. Dan Thurman

More Like This

The Final Countdown

Film details.

• Articles & Reviews

Brief Synopsis

Cast & crew, kirk douglas, martin sheen, katharine ross, james farentino, nick l anelli, technical specs.

Cold war era aircraft carrier is transported back to December 6, 1941 through a time warp.

Robert K. Lambert

David jones.

Richard Johnson

Lloyd kaufman, masayuki yamazuki.

Charles Durning

James r augustus, soon-tek oh, raymond m reynaud, aaron b wilson, charles f myers, david f young, ronald kissel, francis ross.

Edward Andrews

Emory w brown, david wanamaker, edward j deats, james bulick, david h signor, christopher v totis, robert l huffman, richard farrell, william s frost, randy m olin, frank diramio, peter douglas, dan fitzgerald, jake dennis, ronnie j ellis, john t davis, michael j kubat, george h strohsahl, harold bergman, andrey swystun, jeffrey l myers, william couch, brian tyndall, robert goodman, stephen g weaver, william h miller, sergei m kowalchik, mark thomas, jack mcdermott, ted richert, jerry d elliott, timothy w gersbacher, kenneth j jaskolski, mark trenor, eric lofquist, james w. houston, james c lawrence, david f person, sam p baldwin, jan p werson, wayne l flesher, george warren, james a dennis, alan mullen, victor mohica, michael k balint, trevor r sandison, gerry mountcastle, ronald r stoops, gary morgan, robert k miller, andris damberkaln.

Ron O'neal

Kermit l mccorble, frank r arko, richard liberty, gregory t swarney, michael a davis, daniel c rockwell, stephen g williams, andrew akerson, phil philbin, raymond r langley, scott michael wilson, bill mccluskey, david ambrose, richard l anderson, fredd baillie, cynthia bales, frank ballou, donah bassett, mike batzler, susan m becton, maurice binder, bruce bisenz, bob boettcher, steven bridges, benjamin bruce, irving buchman, david l butler, fernando carrere, robert cosby, gerry costello, george craig, gerry davis, leslie dennis, michael dobie, michael durant, garry elmendorf, pat elmendorf, stephen hunter flick, earl gilbert, anthony gittelson, william graves, romaine greene, rhio haessig, warren hamilton, orwin harvey, robert horne, alan howarth, thomas hunter, b j johnson, kent johnson, victor j kemper, douglas kenny, david j kimball, nikita knatz, robert j litt, milton lustig, william maldonado, mark mangini, mark mcgann, jim mcmahon, ed milkovich, richard milligan, bruce montgomery, pat moseman, florence nerlinger, dennis peebles, peter powell, tom pullinger, john richards, gaylin schultz, bernie schwartz, norman b schwartz, louis schwartzberg, colby smith, richard r st johns, ray summers, virgil tanner, tony tenreiro, robert c. thomas, timothy tobin, james w. tyson, mark winter, douglas e wise, howard wollman.

Ron O'Neal (1937-2003) - Ron O'Neal (1937-2003)

Ron o'neal (1937-2003) - ron o'neal (1937-2003), miscellaneous notes.

Released in United States Summer July 1980

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The Final Countdown – Movie Review

The Final Countdown  is a time-travel movie from 1980, starring Kirk Douglas and Martin Sheen. It’s often described as an alternative history movie, though technically it isn’t. Despite that, it has gathered a cult following over the years.

The Final Countdown: Title

The title uses a classic title archetype, the Problem, being a reference to the countdown to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

(For more on titles, see How to Choose a Title For Your Novel )

The Final Countdown: Logline

When a modern aircraft carrier arrives near Pearl Harbor in 1941 and discovers the Japanese ready to attack, the time-travellers must decide whether to change history by destroying the Japanese fleet.

(For more on loglines, see The Killogator Logline Formula )

The Final Countdown: Plot Summary

Warning: My plot summaries contain spoilers. Major spoilers are blacked out like this [blackout]secret[/blackout]. To view them, just select/highlight them.

It’s 1980. In the Pearl Harbor naval base, the USS  Nimitz is preparing to leave for a routine patrol of the Pacific. The aircraft carrier is under the command of Captain Matthew Yelland and his second in command, Richard Owens. A Department of Defence attaché, Warren Lasky, joins the ship to observe procedures.

While at sea, a vortex-like phenomenon of unknown origin engulfs the  Nimitz.  When it emerges from the vortex, the  Nimitz has lost contact with Pearl Harbor. Assuming a nuclear war must have broken out, the Captain orders his aircraft to reconnoitre. They return with bizarre photographs of Pearl Harbor—undamaged but full of WW2-era warships.

Shortly after this, the ship’s radar picks up a contact. Two fighter jets investigate and discover WW2 Japanese fighters attacking a civilian yacht. The jets shoot the Japanese fighters down and the  Nimitz  rescues the yacht’s survivors and one of the Japanese pilots. When the survivors board the  Nimitz, Owens recognises Senator Chapman—a politician who disappeared in 1941. Chapman was expected to become Vice President of the United States and so would have become President in 1945 when Franklin Roosevelt died.

Reluctantly, the Captain accepts that the vortex has somehow transported the Nimitz back to the sixth of December 1941: the day before the Japanese attack that started WW2.

Dilemmas and Paradoxes

Further reconnaissance flights reveal the Japanese fleet in position to attack Pearl Harbor. The Captain asks his senior officers their opinions. Owens says Nimitz can easily destroy the Japanese fleet but Lasky argues that tampering with history could be dangerous. Even saving Senator Chapman may mean he becomes President, with unpredictable consequences. Destroying the Japanese fleet could result in the Nimitz never being built, creating a time paradox. The Captain states he has a duty to defend the USA, whichever time he finds himself in.

The Japanese pilot grabs a weapon and takes Senator Chapman prisoner. He demands access to a radio so he can warn the Japanese Fleet about the  Nimitz,  but he’s shot by marines.

Senator Chapman demands a radio to warn Pearl Harbor but, when he contacts the navy base, they don’t believe him. He demands that the Captain allow him to go to Pearl Harbor to warn it in person.

Concerned that Senator Chapman will alter history by becoming President, the Captain orders Owens to drop Chapman on an isolated island, from which someone will eventually rescue him. Owens takes Chapman by helicopter but, realising they’ve tricked him, Chapman grabs a flare gun and fires it, destroying the helicopter. Owens ends up stranded on the island.

Now, the Captain must decide whether to destroy the Japanese fleet, risking a time-paradox, or to stand aside…

Eventually, [blackout]he orders a full-scale strike against the Japanese carriers.[/blackout]

However, [blackout]before the strike reaches the Japanese fleet, the vortex returns, sending the Nimitz and its crew back to 1980.[/blackout]

Back [blackout]in 1980, Lasky meets a much older Owens who, stranded in 1941, has lived through the intervening forty years.

(For more on summarising stories, see How to Write a Novel Synopsis )

The Final Countdown Ending Explained

At the end of the movie, the Nimitz is about to attack the Japanese Fleet. However, before the strike reaches the fleet, the vortex returns and sends the Nimitz and its crew back to 1980. Back in 1980, the Department of Defence attaché who was on the voyage, Lasky, meets a much older man.

The older man is the Nimitz’s second in command, Owens. Owens was last seen in 1941, stranded on the island he was trying to drop the senator on. Owens must have escaped from the island and lived in the USA for the intervening forty years.

It’s then hinted that Owens used his knowledge of future technology to create the  Nimitz and that Lasky knew about this and joined the crew in order to witness events.

So, the man who created the Nimitz was from the Nimitz , a time-travel paradox…

The Final Countdown: Analysis

Alternative History

Some people describe  The Final Countdown as an alternative history movie, but I disagree. I define it as a secret history movie.

In alternative history, a  Point of Departure  occurs: there’s an incident that’s not the same in the alternative world as it was in the real world. Because of that one alteration, more and more things change, creating the alternative history.

As the ‘time vortex’ moving the USS Nimitz to 1941 is a point of departure, The Final Countdown is potentially an alternative history movie. The difference, though, is the scope of the story.

If a time-traveller’s actions:

• Create a new history, then the story is an alternative history.
• Have small-scale or personal consequences only, then the story is a time travel story.
• Create the real world, then the story is a secret history.

If the Nimitz  had stopped the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, then  The Final Countdown would be an alternative history movie, but it doesn’t. This makes  The Final Countdown  a secret history story.

See What is Alternative History for more on alternative history, secret history and other similar story types.

Missed Opportunities

By modern standards,  The Final Countdown is quite a slow movie. There’s a lot of what looks almost like stock footage of aircraft, helicopters and US Navy crewmen just doing their jobs. One sequence of an aircraft making an emergency landing seems to have nothing to do with the rest of the movie.

I also thought that the screenplay didn’t make enough of the danger of a time paradox. It felt to me like the writers got a bit lost in the complexities of the scenario. For example, it makes no sense to isolate Senator Chapman to stop him from changing history, whilst at the same time radically changing history by attacking the Japanese fleet.

Finally, the ending of  The Final Countdown  is an anti-climax. The entire movie feels like it’s setting up a battle between the  Nimitz  and the Japanese fleet. Obviously, the budget didn’t allow for that, and so the movie doesn’t really deliver on the promise it made its audience.

“What would have happened if the Nimitz remained trapped in 1941?” is the alternative history scenario raised, but not entirely delivered, in  The Final Countdown movie . However, fan fiction on AlternateHistory.com has explored that scenario. The stories describe the battles the Nimitz would have fought and look at the issues it would face, such as keeping its reactor going and its aircraft flying with no access to spare parts or fuel.

Similarly, John Birmingham used a related scenario to  The Final Countdown in his alternative history novel  Weapons of Choice.  In  Weapons of Choice, he transports a multinational Task Force from 2021 to 1942, just before the Battle of Midway. The modern ships radically change history, with consequences explored in two further novels.

The manga and anime, Zipang , explores the reverse scenario, in which a modern Japanese destroyer, the JDS Mirai , arrives at the Battle of Midway. In  Zipang,  the Japanese crew attempt to avoid altering history, but find it impossible.

The Final Countdown: My Verdict on the Movie

Worth a watch. Enjoyable enough as it is, but begging for a reboot/reimagining.

Want to Watch It?

The Final Countdown movie is available on Amazon US here  and Amazon UK  here .

The Final Countdown: Sequel and Remake

There have been many rumours of sequels and remakes of the Final Countdown, but no actual movie has emerged so far.

Agree? Disagree?

If you’d like to discuss anything in my  The Final Countdown movie review, please email me.  Otherwise, please feel free to share it using the buttons below.

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The final countdown.

Directed by Don Taylor

Trapped outside the boundaries of time and space... 102 aircraft... 6,000 men... all missing.

During routine manoeuvres near Hawaii in 1980, the aircraft-carrier USS Nimitz is caught in a strange vortex-like storm, throwing the ship back in time to 1941—mere hours before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Kirk Douglas Martin Sheen Katharine Ross James Farentino Ron O'Neal Charles Durning Victor Mohica James Coleman Soon-Tek Oh Alvin Ing Lloyd Kaufman Dan Fitzgerald Peter Douglas Joe Lowry Ted Richert Mark Thomas Harold Bergman George Warren Richard Liberty Gary Morgan Phil Philbin Robert Goodman Neil Ronco Bill Couch Jack McDermott Masayuki Yamazuki George H. Strohsahl Jr. Ronald R. Stoops Kenneth J. Jaskolski Show All… Sergei M. Kowalchik Jake Dennis Jim Toone Edward J. Deats Robert L. Huffman James R. Augustus Sam P. Baldwin Ronnie J. Ellis Timothy W. Gersbacher Wayne L. Flesher William S. Frost David H. Signor Tommy Abel Andrew Akerson Edward Andrews Nick L. Anelli Frank R. Arko

Director Director

Producers producers.

Peter Douglas Lloyd Kaufman John W. Hyde

Writers Writers

Peter Powell David Ambrose Thomas Hunter Gerry Davis

Story Story

Thomas Hunter David Ambrose Peter Powell

Editor Editor

Robert K. Lambert

Cinematography Cinematography

Victor J. Kemper

Assistant Directors Asst. Directors

Pat Kehoe Ed Milkovich Douglas E. Wise

Additional Directing Add. Directing

J. David Jones Robert K. Lambert

Executive Producer Exec. Producer

Richard R. St. Johns

Lighting Lighting

Earl Gilbert

Camera Operator Camera Operator

Robert C. Thomas

Additional Photography Add. Photography

Stan Lazan David L. Butler

Production Design Production Design

Fernando Carrere

Art Direction Art Direction

Dale Koeppe

Set Decoration Set Decoration

Dennis Peebles

Special Effects Special Effects

Pat Elmendorf Joe Day Garry Elmendorf

Visual Effects Visual Effects

Maurice Binder

Stunts Stunts

Bill Couch Orwin C. Harvey J. David Jones Colby Smith

Composer Composer

Sound sound.

Richard L. Anderson Warren Hamilton Jr. Mark A. Mangini Robert Nichols II Bruce Bisenz

Costume Design Costume Design

Ray Summers

Makeup Makeup

Bob Mills Irving Buchman

Hairstyling Hairstyling

Romaine Greene

Bryna Productions United Artists

Primary Language

Spoken languages.

Russian English Japanese

Releases by Date

31 jan 1980, 05 jul 1980, 09 jul 1980, 01 aug 1980, 09 sep 1980, 14 oct 1980, 30 oct 1980, 15 dec 1980, 30 dec 1980, 05 may 1988, 05 apr 2007, releases by country.

• Theatrical PG
• Theatrical TP
• Theatrical 12

103 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by 📀 Cammmalot 📀 ★★★ 3

”Somebody, for some reason, wants us to believe that we’re back in 1941.”

This plays like a mid-level Twilight Zone that starts with a great cast and an interesting premise, but lacks the know how of what to do with it.

According to Wikipedia the filmmakers had the full cooperation of the United States Navy and U S. Defense Department, but this turns out to be a hindrance because the film spends way too much time showing extended shots of real ships and real planes rather than trying to tell a compelling story. Even the end credits are like, “Holy cow can you believe they let us use all these cool toys?!?!”

“I think I have something very interesting to show you”

Cinematic Time Capsule - 1980 Ranked

Review by Two Cineasts ★★★½ 2

What if...you change history?

Hi everybody, today I wanted to write a review to one of our announced reviews, but then I stumble over this funny film at Amazon Prime. I had read a lot of critics about it, but realized that I never watched it. I thought to myself “hey why not” and as a huge nerdy fan of science fiction, a story about an US Aircraftcarrier travelled back in time, just the day before Japan’s attack on USA in Pearl Harbor December the 7th 1941, it sounds like an amusing afternoon to me.

And it was. The movie captured the question of time travel Paradox, what if I travelled back in time an met my grandfather, accidentally I…

Review by Sean Baker

First time watch for me. What an oddity. Seems like no one was on the same page while making this film.

Watched the Blue Underground Blu-ray. It includes an interview with Lloyd Kaufman, who was an associate producer. It seems Kaufman was turned off to mainstream filmmaking by being involved with this film. He calls director Don Taylor a pot-bellied burnout and the crew as absolute shitheads.

Due to lack of time, I can't add much to these logs for now. :( Maybe in the future.

Review by Leighton Trent ★★½

December 7th 1980, a day that will live in infamy ...

A Pearl Harbor time travel war film starring Kirk Douglas and Martin Sheen has "good B-movie idea" written all over it, but the script really has no concept of how to execute this once its story gets going. Douglas and Sheen both do good work with basically nothing, and there is some terrific camerawork which shows claustrophobic carrier life well, but the film has that Television Look all over it and I can't help but feel it got lifted straight from the airwaves to the big screen somehow without anyone knowing.

Review by Blake Bergman "Various Spaghetti" ★★★★ 3

"The Final Countdown" is a 1980 science fiction military film directed by Don Taylor. The film takes a look at a typical routine Naval patrol in the Pacific Ocean waters for the U.S.S. Nimitz and throws the ship and its crew into an absurd time paradox scenario. What proceeds is an interdimensional time portal taking the ship back to December 6th, 1941, from the present day (which for the film is essentially somewhere 1979-1980). What is so prevalent about December 6th, 1941, in particular? It happens to be one day directly before the infamous December 7th attack on Pearl Harbor, the events that ushered the United States involvement in World War II.

Now I get it, go figure that is…

Review by Travis Lytle ★★★½

Though it is more setup than payoff, "The Final Countdown" is a solid and enjoyable time travel yarn. Focusing on a US Navy aircraft carrier that is transported from 1979 to 1941, the film poses a number of what-if questions and answers them to various degrees of satisfaction.

The films unfolds less as a time travel adventure than a salute to the machines and men of the US Navy, seemingly spending the bulk of its running time providing more footage of planes and ships than it does drama. Still, the core narrative is compelling and the film gets a lot of positive mileage from the ideas and scenes of modern military might toying with the war instruments of the 1940s.…

Review by chavel ★½ 2

Intriguing “Twilight Zone” esque premise, slow as molasses telling. USS Nimitz, an aircraft carrier, is caught in an out to sea vortex which time warps back to December 6, 1941. The crew has mere hours with their foresight knowledge to figure out how to thwart the Pearl Harbor attack. Acting is stolid (hardly anybody is appropriately aghast), but you have Kirk Douglas masculine and stubborn posturing as the Commander, and Martin Sheen doing what he can to lend gravitas in the part of a Systems Analyst for the U.S. Defense Department. Also, a few good lines for Charles Durning and Katharine Ross as a ’40’s era political team. Some terrific shots of planes, the highlight. Cop-out storytelling at the ending downgrades The Final Countdown though even further.

Review by 🇵🇱 Steve G 🇵🇸 ★★★ 5

The June-ar Module

Did Europe actually base the lyrics to The Final Countdown on The Final Countdown?

Because the first verse seems to mirror the film, at least fairly approximately.

We're leaving together But still it's farewell And maybe we'll come back To earth, who can tell? I guess there is no one to blame We're leaving ground (leaving ground) Will things ever be the same again?

The second verse doesn't really match though when they start going on about Venus or something. Of course, nobody gives a shit about anything in that song aside from the chorus anyway.

It's fair to say that the song has become far more famous than its namesake film - and that's fair enough,…

Review by 12drue 🎞️ ★★★½ 6

⏰LB Community Zeitreise – 17.-19.02.2023⏰ unter der Leitung von Zeitkapitän Maddin809

Der Flugzeugträger USS Nimitz gerät 1980 im Pazifik in einen geheimnisvollen Sturm, der sich als Zeittunnel entpuppt. Das Schiff findet sich mitsamt Besatzung und allen Flugzeugen am 6.12.1941, am Vortag des japanischen Angriffs auf Pearl Harbor, wieder. Ich habe den Film vor seeeehr langer Zeit mal in einer Wiederaufführung im Kino gesehen. Da ich damals noch keine 12 Jahre alt war, musste mein Bruder mich irgendwie reinschmuggeln. Als Kind fand ich den sehr beeindruckend. Daher hatte ich jetzt etwas Angst vor einem Rewatch, weil ich mit Kriegsfilmen heutzutage meist nicht mehr so viel anfangen kann. Ich war dann aber wirklich positiv überrascht. Die Kampfszenen beschränken sich auf ein Minimum.…

Review by andy levy ★★★★ 1

feel free to take my four-star rating with a grain of salt, since this is a pure nostalgia-fest for me. i loved this film when it came out, waaaay before most of y'all were born. i read the novelization of the film (by martin caidin, best known for the book 'cyborg,' which was the basis for 'the six million dollar man) countless times. and it was one of my favorite "movies to always watch when it pops up on cable on a rainy day" back when it seemed like tbs or some other network would air it every month or so.

so anyway, when i saw that blue underground was coming out with a limited edition 4k blu-ray, scanned from…

Review by gibson8 ★★★

I agree with Ebert that although the time travel plot device is not explored fully there is a tangential benefit from the US Navy granting access to the filmmakers:

Almost all of the background players are enlisted men who are tasked with delivering some basic exposition and reacting to the unfolding events.

For that unusual detail - and the extended landings and taking-offs on the Nimitz- there is some fun to be had herein.

Review by Digital Press ★★★½

I’ve always felt that this had the same vibes as an episode of The Twilight Zone (any era). Now I can give you a direct reference: in season 2, episode 13 titled “Back There”, an engineer is swept inexplicably into the past, just before the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. In The Final Countdown , an aircraft carrier is swept inexplicably into the past, just before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. In both stories, the question “what happens to the future if you meddle in the past” is explored. I love it!

If I have one criticism, it’s that a little too much time is spent showing off the aircraft carrier, its aircraft and its armaments. Yes, they had to establish how overpowered a 1980 force would be in 1941, but jeez… were they looking to draft people watching the movie? Set up a little table outside the theater boys, these moviegoers are ready to join the US Navy!

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Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, the final countdown.

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Logic is a dangerous thing to apply to science fiction. I tried applying a little logic to " The Empire Strikes Back " (why could they always breathe the air everywhere they landed?), and got about 50 letters, fairly evenly divided between people logically explaining the movie to me, and people arguing that logic doesn't matter in a "Star Wars" movie.

It matters even less, I'd say, in "The Final Countdown," in which the aircraft carrier Nimitz sails through a whirlpool in time and is thrown back 40 years to the day before Pearl Harbor. It's an appealing idea: A nuclear-powered carrier with a full complement of jet warplanes, right off Pearl and knowing the Japanese attack plans. Unfortunately, the movie makes such a mess of it that the biggest element of interest is the aircraft carrier itself. The movie was shot on board, with Navy cooperation, and the operations of the carrier are shown in interesting detail.

Just try to forget the plot. It has the Nimitz sailing through clear waters when suddenly a gigantic whirlpool appears in the sky. This is apparently a gateway into the past, although it looks more like a rejected test run for Disney's " The Black Hole ." Thrown back to 1940, the ship is in a position to alter the course of history. Will it destroy the Japanese air fleet? Ha. We know it can't - because, in the future the Nimitz was thrown back from, it didn't, or hadn't. Anyway, just before the zero hour, the Nimitz is hurled back into 1980 by another whirlpool. But it leaves two people behind.

And that sets up this insoluble time-travel paradox: If a guy from 1980 travels 40 years back in time, and then lives for another 40 years, could he have a meeting with himself? It almost happens in this movie: A mysterious limousine arrives just as the Nimitz is sailing on its ill-fated 1980 cruise. Inside is an old man who, as a young man, sailed on the cruise, was thrown back in time, was stranded on a desert island, lived 40 years ... and arrived in the limousine to see the ship off.

But hold on a minute. Doesn't that mean that the same man, before and after, is on the same dock at the, same time? By my count, that makes two bodies for one person, which violates everything they taught us in high school physics.

So, ok, say I'll buy the paradox. That still leaves me with other problems. For example, Nimitz commander Kirk Douglas launches an air attack against the arriving Japanese Air Force . . . and then calls it off at the last minute, just as the Nimitz is sailing back into the second whirlpool. Why change his mind and call it off? Is he reluctant to play God? I dunno and he doesn't say. (I can think of one good reason for calling the planes back: When the Nimitz is snatched back to 1980, they'd be left flying around the Pacific with no place to land.) The movie dodges all sorts of fundamental questions like that, and it moves so slowly, alas, that we have lots of time to ponder them.

Still, the footage aboard the carrier is good. We got an interesting notion of life on ship, and we see lots of takeoffs and even an emergency landing. This is the kind of movie that some kids would probably enjoy - it's filled with technology, special effects and action. But it just doesn't make any sense. And It lacks the wit to have fun with its time travel paradoxes, as last year's wonderful "Time After Time" did. It just plows ahead. Or behind. Or somewhere.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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The Final Countdown (1980)

103 minutes

Kirk Douglas as Capt. Yelland

Martin Sheen as Warren Lasky

Katharine Ross as Laurel Scott

James Farentino as Cmdr. Owens

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http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/TheFinalCountdown

Film / The Final Countdown

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The Final Countdown is a 1980 Science Fiction film about Time Travel directed by Don Taylor.

Warren Lasky ( Martin Sheen ), a civilian analyst for a major defense contractor tasked with evaluating Navy procedures, is an unwelcome guest on the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz , which is departing Pearl Harbor for an otherwise routine cruise. A few days into the cruise, things change when the carrier is suddenly pursued and overtaken by a mysterious electromagnetic storm. Emerging from the storm, the sailors find themselves cut off from modern civilization — their communications don't work, their escorts have vanished, and there are no ships or planes on radar. However, they are able to pick up shortwave radio broadcasts that seem to date from World War II .

Further investigation reveals that it's no hoax; they have somehow been transported back in time — carrier, planes, and all — to December 6, 1941. Captain Matt Yelland ( Kirk Douglas ), not being an idiot, realizes the potential of a modern nuclear carrier to turn the tide of the forthcoming Pearl Harbor battle. Air Wing Commander "CAG" Richard Owens (James Farentino) is not so certain, believing that it's impossible to alter the past and that any attempt would be doomed to failure.

Meanwhile, the ship's aircraft have shot down two Japanese Zero fighters that attacked a yacht (part of the Japanese forces' attempts to ensure that nobody could warn the U.S. of the impending attack), and two survivors have been rescued, one of whom turns out to be U.S. Senator Samuel Chapman ( Charles Durning ). Commander Owens, an amateur World War II historian, recognizes the Senator as having disappeared around the time of the Pearl Harbor attack. More crucially, had he not disappeared, he would likely have been Franklin Delano Roosevelt's running mate in the 1944 election and on his subsequent death, President of the United States.

Now they have a dilemma. Return Senator Chapman to Pearl Harbor, and not only can he alter history by becoming President, but now he's seen Nimitz and thinks that it's part of a secret weapons program intended to trap the Japanese and make FDR a hero. Don't return him, and they've kidnapped or possibly murdered a public official of the United States. Amid the preparations for the upcoming battle, it's decided to compromise: drop the Senator and his beautiful assistant, Laurel Scott ( Katharine Ross ), off on a deserted island where they can ride out the war. Needless to say, Chapman isn't too happy when he finds out. Nor, it seems, is history changed so easily, as the time storm puts in one final appearance...

For the same initial premise with the sides reversed, see Zipang where a modern Japanese Aegis destroyer named the JDS Mirai gets inexplicably teleported back to the Battle of Midway. And for a similar premise with much more wide-reaching effects, see John Birmingham's Axis of Time novels. Author Peter Albano would reverse the premise with the first book of his The Seventh Carrier series, where a Japanese ship attacking Pearl Harbor is trapped in the arctic, but after getting out several decades later still charges ahead to finish its original mission and attack Pearl Harbor all over again.

The Final Countdown provides examples of:

• Alien Space Bats : How the time storm comes to exist, how it works, and why it's targeting Nimitz is left completely unexplained. The Martin Caidin novelization implies that it would be explained in a sequel, which never happened.
• But, Mr. Tideman is Commander Owens with 40 years of foreknowledge. He's become extremely wealthy and extremely powerful. He can pull strings in a godlike manner and could have somehow arranged these unlikely events, with the absolute knowledge that they will occur . Though, that doesn't explain why nobody seems terribly bothered by the situation.
• Mostly averted due to Navy backing, but the final scene substituted the USS Kitty Hawk , as at the time the movie was filmed Nimitz was part of the Atlantic fleet, which would've made sailing into Pearl Harbor somewhat difficult.
• When Nimitz goes to General Quarters, there is a dramatic scene of Marines jumping over the ship's anchor chains. The trouble is, this room (the forecastle) is at the very front of the ship where Marines are not quartered, and the men are simply running from port to starboard.
• The yacht, despite supposedly being in the open ocean, is quite clearly tethered at both ends.
• The finale shows the real dock of Nimitz : trouble is, in the final scene the limousine is going to drive off the end of it and into the ocean.
• Audience Surrogate : Lasky is the " The Everyman " stand-in for the audience.
• Bang, Bang, BANG : During the hostage crisis in Nimitz 's sickbay, the people seem more shaken by the bloodshed than by the effects of multiple assault rifles being fired on full auto in a small room.
• In the beginning, a limousine stops near Lasky on the quay. Mr. Tideman, Lasky's employer, is in the limousine, but Lasky cannot meet him directly. In the end, Lasky encounters the same limousine on the same quay, but this time, he is allowed to meet Mr. Tideman, who is actually Commander Owens .
• In the beginning, the USS Nimitz is overtaken by a mysterious electromagnetic storm, while one of its fighters is not on board. After the storm, the fighter appears in the sky and lands on the carrier. In the end, the USS Nimitz is overtaken by the same electromagnetic storm, while all of its fighters are not on board. After the storm, all the fighters appear in the sky and land on the carrier.
• Born in the Wrong Century : Commander Owens.
• Bullet Time : The explosion of one of the Zeroes when hit by a Sidewinder missile from an F-14 is slowed down for several moments.
• Buzz Job : A pair of Tomcats start "playing with" a pair of Zeros, starting with speeding by them so close the Japanese planes are thrown around by their wakes.
• The Coconut Effect : Averted with the dogfight scene. Many people don't seem to know what a minigun really sounds like, and might mistake the realistic sound in the movie, given most other movies greatly slow down the firing of such guns to make them sound more dramatic.
• Coming in Hot : A fighter pilot incapacitated by the time storm makes a crash landing on the carrier.
• Cool Boat : USS Nimitz , first ship of her class, and the largest warship in the world at the time. As can be seen from the poster, the Nimitz and her aircraft are the real stars of the movie.
• Cool Plane : The Grumman F-14 Tomcat, the most advanced fighter in the American arsenal at the time. Showcased on film for the first time, six years before a more popular film made it more famous. Extra points for the "Jolly Rogers" of VF-84 being the F-14 squadron most prominently featured (with their iconic skull & crossbones tail flash). Every aircraft of Carrier Air Wing 8 makes an appearance in the movie, including the RF-8 Crusader.
• Curb-Stomp Battle : Two F-14 Tomcats (Victory note  VF-84's tactical callsign is "Victory," so any VF-84 Tomcat would be identified as "Victory [side number]. Since VF-84 was deactivated in 1995, VFA-103 has inherited the Jolly Rogers' history, colors, and tactical callsign. CVW-8's other F-14 squadron aboard Nimitz , VF-41 "Black Aces", uses the callsign "Fast Eagle" 202 and 203 of VF-84) versus two A6M Zeros. Heavily lampshaded . Nimitz 's air wing would have similarly shredded the Japanese attack force, but never gets a chance.
• Explosive Instrumentation : Control panels can be seen shorting out and throwing showers of sparks during the time travel sequences. Thankfully not many of the crew seem to be injured by these malfunctions.
• Fighter-Launching Sequence : The film is replete with these; the very first shot of the film starts off with an F-14 taking off from (the modern-day) Pearl Harbor airfield. There are also numerous shots of Navy warplanes taking off and landing on Nimitz , including one scene where the strike group sent to attack the Japanese fleet is launched, which takes several minutes to play out.
• Senator Chapman, dumbfounded by the Nimitz , jet fighters and helicopters.
• Commander Owen , who probably used his future knowledge to become head of a Department of Defense supplier.
• Gatling Good : One of the Zeroes is brought down by a burst from a Tomcat's M61 Vulcan; a 6-barreled, 20mm rotary cannon which has been the go-to gun armament for almost every US fighter jet since Vietnam.
• The Gloves Come Off : Yelland is content to let his F-14's harass and distract the two Zeros in order to prevent them from strafing people in the water, but he specifically tells them not to fire on the planes. Until, that is, he's informed that the Zeros are on a intercept course with the Nimitz , whose flight deck is packed with aircraft. He promptly orders his pilots to eliminate the planes.
• Grandfather Paradox : Discussed and a reason not to use Nimitz to win World War II in a matter of weeks. Besides the issue of changing the fates of millions of people and possibly preventing some of the crew's parents from meeting, Nimitz itself is in danger. A swift end to World War II means no Manhattan Project, which in turn means Hyman Rickover never gets the chance to start the Navy Nuclear Propulsion Program, which means no nuclear powered USS Nimitz .
• Gratuitous Japanese : Commander Owen does this when revealing his knowledge of the impending Pearl Harbor attack to the Japanese pilot. Owen: Your code is: climb mount Niitaka. Niitaka-yama nobore!
• Guns Akimbo : A Japanese pilot does this during the hostage situation mentioned below; brandishing both an M1911A1 pistol and an M16A1 rifle.
• Hollywood Tactics : At the end, Yelland orders the entire carrier air fleet to intercept the Japanese aircraft, intending to prevent them from ever reaching Pearl Harbor. Impressive and formidable... but also completely unnecessary and even stupid from a tactical perspective. As far as he knows, the Nimitz is trapped in the past. The modern-day carrier is a formidable weapon... only as long as it remains operational. While the nuclear engines can last years, the carrier only has a very limited amount of jet fuel, spare parts, munitions, etc. Once they're consumed, there aren't any replacements. The smart thing for him to do is use the absolute minimum amount of force necessary to get the job done, and make his limited resources last as long as possible. Instead of launching all his aircraft, a couple of A-6 Intruders armed with Harpoon anti-ship missiles could have destroyed all the Japanese carriers. He already knows where they are and what their schedule is, and the Intruders could have caught them when they were ready to launch all the aircraft and their flight decks were packed with planes and fuel. Not only would they have not known what hit them, they would never have even known it was there in the first place...
• Yelland plans to use Nimitz to turn the tide of Pearl Harbor because he's a U.S. Navy captain and obligated to defend his country, never mind the paradoxes it would create.
• Inverted when Yelland allows two Japanese Zeros to attack and sink a civilian ship flying a US flag, then strafe the survivors in the water.
• Hostage Situation : Happens when a surviving Japanese pilot overpowers a guard and grabs not one, but two guns.
• Improbable Infant Survival : Played with; the Japanese pilot points one of his commandeered guns at Laurel's dog as it runs out of the sickbay, but the only reason he doesn't shoot it is because he's distracted by Laurel shouting at him not to. The dog also survived the yacht getting blown up, while several other people were killed during the Zero attack.
• Jerkass : Senator Samuel S. Chapman. Being a Strawman Pacifist also doesn't help his case. He does have several Jerkass Has a Point moments though. He isn't wrong to be frustrated about why he's being Locked Out of the Loop by the ship's crew about who they are and what's happening, and does want to warn Pearl Harbor about the impending attack as soon as he hears about it.
• Although the US aircraft are, indeed, correct (see above, about Pentagon backing and filming aboard the actual USS Nimitz ), the A6Ms were really T-6 "Texan" trainers (to be exact, Navy SNJ models). T-6 "Texans" being rather easier to come by than intact and flyable A6M Zeros. They actually do look just about perfect from the side, but the T-6's distinctive wing profile can be seen when they try to maneuver against the Tomcats.
• While the Tomcat vs. Zero dogfight looks awesome, it was also massively impractical : The T-6 Texans mocked up as Zeroes were flying at full speed, while the Tomcats were nearly stalling. It's worth noting that the Zero's top speed was about 150mph faster than the T-6, not that it would've done them any good against 4th-Generation jet fighters.
• The Last Title : The title.
• Law of Time Travel Coincidences : The nuclear aircraft carrier U.S.S. Nimitz is near Hawaii when it's transported through time by an electromagnetic storm. It ends up a short time before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941.
• Let's Get Dangerous! : At first the F-14s just fly circles around the pair of Zeros, until they get the order to "splash the Zeros," and then they stop fooling around, leading to the Curb-Stomp Battle mentioned above.
• Lock-and-Load Montage : Right before the Japanese are about to attack Pearl Harbor, Captain Yelland orders all fighter aircraft armed and fueled. The crew works furiously to get all the planes loaded with missiles and launched into the air.
• The helicopter near the end explodes in a hilariously huge fireball because a flare gun is accidentally discharged near the doors.
• Inverted with the second Zero during the dogfight scene; the real-life A6M Zero was a notorious Fragile Speedster , yet when hit by a burst of 20mm shells from the F-14's cannon note  Which we might add shoots at 6 thousand rounds per minute , it suffers little more than a knocked-out engine and crashes into the ocean largely intact. note  Ironically, in real life, the Sidewinder would've been the one most likely to disable a Zero, while the M61 Cannon would've just shredded one.
• Mass Teleportation : It's a very convenient Mass Teleportation as well, taking Nimitz and her nearby aircraft in each case, but not her escort ships or anybody else.
• Mile-Long Ship : Nimitz is introduced by the camera traversing the length of the ship. While not actually a mile long (just shy of 1,100 feet bow to stern), it’s a real vessel, and all the more impressive for it.
• Just look at the faces of the Japanese pilots when the F-14s scream past them, it's priceless .
• Also the reaction of the surviving Japanese pilot after Commander Owen reveals in explicit detail that they know the Japanese plans for the attack on Pearl Harbor.
• Our Time Travel Is Different : The wormhole version.
• Senator Chapman yelling for Harvey, the waiter from the yacht to ditch his life jacket and dive in order to avoid the Japanese strafing run before doing so himself. Unfortunately, Harvey is unable to follow this advice due to not knowing how to swim.
• The second time the Nimitz goes through the time vortex, Lassky can be seen holding his hands over the dog's ears to try to help the dog.
• Pistol Whip : Happens twice; first when the Japanese pilot hits a Marine in the gut with the butt of his own rifle, then later on when Senator Chapman cold-cocks a helicopter crewman with a flare pistol.
• Poor Communication Kills : Had they told the civvies the plan, it might have avoided at least four deaths.
• Reasonable Authority Figure : Captain Yelland is pretty accommodating to Lasky, and doesn't get into heated debates with others as they try to figure out what was going on. He even surprisingly agrees to let the Japanese pilot use their radio to contact his fleet, and later orders a helicopter to take Senator Chapman and Laurel back to Pearl Harbor, even if it was just to get them off his ship and in a relatively safe area on a remote Hawaiian island.
• Red Alert : There are two General Quarters scramble scenes; following the first time storm, and again when arming up the strike group to engage the Japanese fleet. Only the first one includes the blaring klaxon though.
• Semper Fi : US Marines can be seen acting as security personnel onboard Nimitz , as per their traditional role aboard Navy ships.
• Set Right What Once Went Wrong : Does Nimitz cause the Stable Time Loop by rescuing Senator Chapman? Commander Owens certainly thinks so.
• Shown Their Work : Despite being a science fiction/fantasy film, this movie has one of the most accurate portrayals of aircraft carrier flight operations that you are likely to find, complete with correct radio callsigns for the squadrons that appear.
• The Slow Path : Commander Owens, after being stranded on the island, takes the long way back to the present, resulting in The Reveal that he parlayed his knowledge of the future to set up the Stable Time Loop — in part, by getting Lasky aboard for that particular voyage.
• Spy Ship : The USS Nimitz task force is shadowed by a Soviet-flagged "fishing trawler" that isn't doing much fishing.
• Stable Time Loop : Perfectly wrapped up by The Reveal at the end, making this one of the "stabler" time loops in filmmaking.
• Many of the aircraft scenes. Of course, many were actually shot on the real life Nimitz , making this only a partial example. During the second Time Travel sequence, stock footage of the Pearl Harbor attack is shown.
• Some of the scenes glimpsed there are taken from Tora! Tora! Tora! rather than the actual Pearl Harbor attack.
• Supporting Protagonist : Lasky is the primary point of view character, but his role is passive — he is, after all, an "observer". The heroic actions are mainly taken by Yellen and Owens. It turns out that Lasky's purpose is to be the key to the Stable Time Loop .
• Swirly Energy Thingy : The time warp.
• Temporal Sickness : Passage through the time storm is extremely disorienting to everyone on Nimitz , with everyone covering their ears and screaming as if being blasted by a deafening noise. It's also hell on the ship's electronics, but they don't seem too badly damaged afterwards.
• Time Travel
• Time-Travel Tense Trouble : Owens: I'm not half the theorist you are, Mr. Lasky. But I still have a gut instinct that things only happen once. And if they have happened, then there's nothing we can do to change them. Nor should we try. Lasky: Well, how are you going to avoid it? It's already happening, and we're already involved! Thurman: For Christ's sake! What is this, some half-assed Princeton debating society? We are in a war situation! This is a United States warship! Or, at least, it used to be. Or will be. Or what the hell ever! Oh, Goddammit, you can drive yourself crazy just trying to think about this stuff! Jesus, I must be dreaming!
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill : One of the Mitsubishi A6M Zeros is shot down with a short burst of gun fire from a Grumman F-14 Tomcat. The other is blown clear out of the sky by the other F-14 using an AIM -9 Sidewinder missile.
• The Unfought : The Japanese task force (with the exception of the two Zeroes). Even lampshaded by a couple of US pilots. Pilot 1: Mission aborted? But we can see 'em! Pilot 2: Ah they're gonna let the Japs do it again!"
• What Happened to the Mouse? : The pilot who makes the emergency barricade landing on the carrier after the first time storm is never seen or mentioned again, leaving the viewer to wonder what becomes of him.
• You Already Changed the Past : All their worrying about changing the future is for naught because... they're doing exactly what happened in the first place. Nimitz was always there at the time of Pearl Harbor.
• You Can't Fight Fate : The time storm sure is persistent. It's lampshaded by Captain Yelland, who immediately guesses that the storm has reappeared to take them home and recalls the carrier's aircraft so they won't be stranded. Senator Chapman also still dies mysteriously when he fires off the flare gun he stole which causes the helicopter he was on to explode.
• You Wouldn't Believe Me If I Told You : Not the precise words, but occurs twice - once when Commander Owens is trying to avoid explaining their presence in 1941 to Laurel and Sen. Chapman; and again after Nimitz has returned to Pearl, as admirals are storming aboard to demand to know how an entire aircraft carrier got lost in the Pacific Ocean.
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How the Navy Stole the Show In a Movie About the USS Nimitz Going Back in Time to 1941

Ever wonder how history might have been different if the U.S. Navy had a modern supercarrier when the Japanese were attacking Pearl Harbor? You (apparently) aren’t alone. The 1980 film “The Final Countdown” (almost) shows us how it might have gone down.

Today, the USS Nimitz is the oldest-serving aircraft carrier in the world, first being launched in 1972. Even today, it is one of the largest warships afloat. In 1979, when “The Final Countdown” was filmed, it was something the Navy was excited to show off, so it agreed to fully support the movie.

The plot of “The Final Countdown” is pretty simple, especially for a movie about time travel. While on a routine cruise, the carrier and its F-14 Tomcats experience an electrical storm and somehow find themselves transported back to Dec. 6, 1941, but aren’t immediately aware of that fact.

The ship loses radio contact with its command at Pearl Harbor, and Capt. Matthew Yelland (Kirk Douglas) is led to believe that the installation was destroyed by a nuclear first strike from the Soviet Union -- because whose first thought would be that they accidentally went back in time?

Yelland starts to suspect when aerial reconnaissance images come back showing the U.S. Navy’s Battleship Row at Pearl Harbor. The suspicion intensifies when two F-14 Tomcats are dispatched to intercept a surface contact and instead watch a civilian yacht get strafed by Japanese Zeros.

The Zeros make their way toward the Nimitz, and we finally get to see the anachronistic Hollywood portrayal of F-14s taking down 1940s-era Japanese fighter aircraft. Sadly, this is as close as we get to watching the Nimitz litter the ocean floor with the Japanese fleet. Spoiler alert: Yelland decides to attack, but the time-travel storm returns and sends the ship back to 1980.

Not only is there a lot of sexy shots of the Nimitz in this movie, but other Navy aircraft, especially the F-14 Tomcat, get shown off as well. Admittedly, the F-14 sequences are more inspirational than anything you’ll see in “Top Gun” (fight me). It was practically the Navy’s movie, highlighting everything that is Forged by the Sea.

Sailors from the carrier (some sporting totally legal 1979-era beards) were used as extras and received acting credits. Apart from the F-14, nine other aircraft were used or featured in the film in some way.

But the filming wasn’t completely free from incidents. At least one film crew was tossed down the Nimitz runway by the sheer power of being too close to a Tomcat takeoff. The Zeros used in the film were replicas whose lives were nearly cut short when the propeller planes got caught in the wake of an F-14’s jet wash.

The movie didn’t get great reviews, but the Navy sure did. Even famed film critic Roger Ebert noticed that “the biggest element of interest is the aircraft carrier itself” and liked the depiction of Navy life aboard the Nimitz more than the story itself.

After the reel-life production of “The Final Countdown,” the USS Nimitz had to get back to real life, cruising to the Persian Gulf. Its next assignment was an attempt to rescue the staff of the U.S. embassy in Tehran during the Iran Hostage Crisis.

-- Blake Stilwell can be reached at [email protected] . He can also be found on Twitter @blakestilwell or on Facebook .

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Movie Review

The final countdown.

US Release Date: 08-01-1980

Directed by: Don Taylor

Starring ▸ ▾

• Kirk Douglas ,  as
• Capt. Matthew Yelland
• Martin Sheen ,  as
• Warren Lasky
• Katharine Ross ,  as
• Laurel Scott
• James Farentino ,  as
• Cdr. Richard Owens
• Ron O'Neal ,  as
• Cdr. Dan Thurman
• Charles Durning ,  as
• Senator Samuel Chapman
• Victor Mohica ,  as
• Black Cloud
• James Coleman ,  as
• Soon-Tek Oh as

Martin Sheen, James Farentino and Kirk Douglas in The Final Countdown

There are two key questions to any time travel film where someone travels back in time. The first is, will the person's actions affect the future. The second is, how will the person use their knowledge of history. Even if those questions never get answered, they must at least be posed in any good time travel film.

The Final Countdown asks both of these questions. It also has the addition of (then) modern technology going back in time as well. If you are a history or military buff this film is for you. Shortly after leaving port in Hawaii, the U.S.S. Nimitz runs into a strange electrical storm that sends the entire nuclear aircraft carrier back in time to the day before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.

Martin Sheen plays Lasky, a civilian aboard the ship of nearly 6,000 servicemen. He and the captain, played by Kirk Douglas, along with a couple of other officers, must figure out what has happened to them after the carrier passed through the storm. All communication from Hawaii has stopped. The radio is only picking up golden oldies from 1941. Some reconnaissance jets witness a private yacht get strafed by some Japanese fighters. The jets engage them in one of the most lopsided aerial dogfights ever put on film. The two yacht survivors and a downed Japanese pilot are picked up by helicopter and brought aboard the Nimitz.

Meanwhile, other recon has been done and they discover the huge approaching Japanese fleet. Although the prisoner of war causes some trouble when he is on board. The real meat of the story is the question it proposes. If you are the captain, do you utilize the power you control, 80-90 aircraft, to help change the outcome of one of the greatest defeats in U.S. history, or do you leave it alone? You could save thousands of lives but at what future cost?

The Final Countdown was produced by Peter Douglas. It was intended as a family project with his father and brother starring. Michael was however, still obligated to The China Syndrome when filming began. The most interesting casting for me was that real sailors aboard The Nimitz were used in small roles and as extras. I was stationed with a sailor who appears in this film. He even has a line of dialogue.

Although I found myself enjoying The Final Countdown , it works better as a conversation than it actually does as a film. The movie is book ended by the presence of a mysterious person who is revealed at the last moment. It is not hard to guess who it is, but it does present a better scenario. Had the film been told entirely from his perspective, the movie could have had a much better narrative. As it is, The Final Countdown is little more than a strip show. We get excited by the possibilities, but in the end have to find satisfaction somewhere else.

Kirk Douglas in The Final Countdown .

The Final Countdown plays like a recruitment tool for the U.S. Navy. In fact it was used as such. The maritime force sponsored the premiere and displayed the movie's poster in branch recruitment offices. As Eric mentioned, many of the extras seen in the movie were actual sailors and pilots. Unfortunately too much time is spent showing these various fighter jets taking off and landing on the aircraft carrier. Military buffs may find this fascinating but for the average viewer it gets a bit monotonous.

Kirk Douglas was nearing the end of his run as a leading man. He was 63 years old at the time and had been making movies in Hollywood since 1946, the year after WWII ended. Incredibly enough he is still living as of this writing. He turns 97 in December and last appeared in a movie in 2008. It's worth noting that both he and Martin Sheen have famous acting offspring. In fact, Michael Douglas and Charlie Sheen would work together in Oliver Stone's Wall Street in 1987.

The time travel aspect is fairly intriguing but like all time travel movies the logic doesn't add up. You just have to accept the idea that each of us has an infinite number of selves that can coexist at any given point in time. The mysterious benefactor's identity is one example. SPOILER ALERT: At the beginning of the movie, in 1980, he is an old man but is also, at the same time, aboard the ship as a younger man.

Also there is never any attempt to explain the phenomenon of the bizarre storm that sends them through time in the first place. And why does it conveniently show back up just as the battle is about to begin? And how does it know to deposit them back at the right date in 1980? Again, these are all details it's best not to think about.

The most entertaining aspect of the movie is the juxtaposition of technology and weaponry as it existed in 1980 against WWII era technology and weaponry. Since this film was made with the complete cooperation of the United States Military it includes dozens of actual aircraft. Military geeks can probably name them all. Today they would use CGI to recreate all these airplanes. Personally I prefer the days when they used the real thing. It is the most noteworthy aspect of The Final Countdown as it captured the state of the art of war in 1980.

Photos © Copyright The Bryna Company (1980)

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The 10 Best Movies About Aircraft Carriers

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Standing as steel behemoths that effortlessly slice through the ocean's vast expanse, aircraft carriers have long captivated the imagination with their imposing presence and indispensable strategic military role. When it comes to movies about aircraft carriers, these monumental vessels not only serve as a fascinating setting but also become central characters in their own right. From tales of valiant warfare to high-stakes dramas on the high seas, aircraft carrier movies span a variety of genres, appealing to a broad audience.

In these films, the aircraft carrier is more than just a backdrop—it's the heart of the action, a floating microcosm of courage, discipline, and ingenuity. Whether fictional narratives that take us into the heat of battle or historical epics that recount pivotal moments in time, the synergy between storytelling and this naval icon makes for a riveting cinematic experience. Here we compile an arsenal of films that showcase these giants of the seas in all their cinematic glory—some speak to the human spirit in times of conflict, while others indulge our appetite for adrenaline and adventure. Explore the heart-pounding world within these maritime marvels with our list of the best movies about aircraft carriers - and be sure to vote on the list to help it become a crowdranked list.

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The Hunt for Red October

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Pearl Harbor

The Final Countdown

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Top Gun: Maverick

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Behind Enemy Lines

Under Siege

Flight of the Intruder

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The Final Countdown

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The final countdown - 'this is the u.s.s. nimitz where the hell are we', product description.

Farewell, My Queen marks the return of acclaimed director Benoît Jacquot (A Single Girl, Seventh Heaven, Sade, Deep in the Woods) and brilliantly captures the passions, debauchery, occasional glimpses of nobility and ultimately the chaos that engulfed the court of Marie Antoinette in the final days before the full-scale outbreak of the Revolution. Based on the best-selling novel by Chantal Thomas, the film stars Léa Seydoux as one of Marie’s ladies-in-waiting, seemingly innocent but quietly working her way into her mistress’s special favors, until history tosses her fate onto a decidedly different path. With the action moving effortlessly from the gilded drawing rooms of the nobles to the back quarters of those who serve them, this is a period film at once accurate and sumptuous in its visual details and modern in its emotions. Diane Kruger gives her best performance to date as the ill-fated Queen and Virginie Ledoyen is the Queen's special friend Gabrielle de Polignac.

"A FANTASTIC TALE... Intelligent And Entertaining!" -- Time Magazine "HIGHLY RECOMMENDED... One Of The Coolest Movies I've Seen In Quite Some Time!" -- DVD Verdict "Truly Spectacular!" -- The New York Post

Product details

• Aspect Ratio ‏ : ‎ 2.35:1
• Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
• MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 5.92 ounces
• Item model number ‏ : ‎ 827058700191
• Director ‏ : ‎ Don Taylor
• Media Format ‏ : ‎ Blu-ray, Dolby, Widescreen, Surround Sound, DTS Surround Sound, Subtitled
• Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour and 42 minutes
• Release date ‏ : ‎ November 4, 2008
• Actors ‏ : ‎ Kirk Douglas, Martin Sheen, James Farentino, Katharine Ross, Ron O'Neal
• Subtitles: ‏ : ‎ Spanish
• Studio ‏ : ‎ Blue Underground
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B001BTKP8G
• Country of Origin ‏ : ‎ USA
• Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
• #59 in Romance (Movies & TV)
• #144 in Science Fiction Blu-ray Discs
• #553 in Drama Blu-ray Discs

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Time Travel to WW2

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