outland
Director: peter hyams
Actor: sean connery,frances sternhagen,peter boyle,james sikking
Data Published: Fri May 01 1981
Genres: Action,Crime,Sci-Fi,Thriller,Western
Key Words: shotgun,amphetamine,space western,law enforcement,locker room
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082869/
WIKI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outland_(film)
Description: Outland is a movie starring Sean Connery, Frances Sternhagen, and Peter Boyle. A federal marshal stationed at a mining colony on the Jupiter moon of Io uncovers a drug-smuggling conspiracy. He gets no help from the workers or...
Plot: Federal Marshal William O'Niel is assigned to a tour of duty at the titanium ore mining outpost Con-Am 27, operated by the company Conglomerates Amalgamated on the Jovian moon of Io. Conditions on Io are difficult: gravity is 1/6 that of Earth's with no breathable atmosphere, spacesuits are cumbersome and miners carry their own air supply. Shifts are long but significant bonuses are paid. The general manager, Mark Sheppard, boasts that productivity has broken all records since he took over. Carol, O'Niel's wife, feels she cannot raise their son Paul on Io, fleeing with the child to the Jupiter space station to await a shuttle back to Earth. Tarlow, a miner, suffers an attack of stimulant psychosis – he sees spiders and rips open his spacesuit – resulting in death by explosive decompression. Cane, another miner, enters an elevator without his spacesuit during another psychotic episode and dies from decompression. With the reluctant assistance of Dr. Lazarus, O'Niel investigates the deaths. Another incident involves a worker, Sagan, who takes a prostitute hostage and threatens to kill her with a knife. O'Niel attempts to calm the man while Montone, his sergeant, sneaks in via the air duct and kills Sagan with a shotgun. O'Niel and Lazarus discover that Sagan had traces of a powerful amphetamine-type drug in his bloodstream, which would allow the miners to work continuously for days at a time until they "burn out" and turn psychotic after approximately ten months of use. O'Niel uncovers a drug distribution ring run by a corrupt Sheppard and sanctioned by Montone. Using surveillance cameras, O'Niel finds and captures Nicholas Spota, one of Sheppard's dealers who is murdered before he can be questioned. Montone is found garrotted. O'Niel finds the latest shipment of drugs in a meat locker that was shipped from the space station but is then attacked by another dealer, Russell Yario. O'Niel knocks him out, then destroys the shipment of drugs. When Sheppard finds out, he threatens O'Niel and contacts his drug distributor, asking him to send in professional hitmen. O'Niel is prepared having been monitoring Sheppard's communications. O'Niel waits for the arrival of the hitmen on a supply shuttle from the other side of Jupiter. Realizing what is coming and with only Dr. Lazarus willing to help him, O'Niel sends a message to his family promising to return to Earth when his "job is done". O'Niel ambushes the hitmen one by one. Lazarus helps him kill the first by trapping him in a pressurized corridor; O'Niel activates a bomb, causing an explosive decompression that kills the hitman. The second is killed in a glass greenhouse structure of the outpost when O'Niel tricks him into shooting a window, causing it to break open and blow him out to his death in orbit. O'Niel is then confronted by Sheppard's "inside man" who is revealed to be one of his own deputies, Sgt. Ballard. The two fight outside the outpost near the satellite structure until O'Niel pulls Ballard's oxygen hose, suffocating him. O'Niel then confronts the surprised Sheppard inside the outpost's recreation bar, knocking him out with one punch. It is implied Sheppard will now be brought to justice or murdered by his own associates. O'Niel bids farewell to Lazarus and leaves on the shuttle to join his wife and son on the journey back to Earth.