There are not too many spy films which can conjure up a team of excellent actors for a movie. This however is one. "The Groundstar Conspiracy" is a dramatic thriller of sorts, except that in this movie, the private company is the target not the country. An explosion in a top secret installation causes a great deal of damage and sets off an investigation to find out who was behind the espionage. Enormous amount of destruction to be sure, but what the chief investigator (George Peppard) Tuxan wants to know is who is behind the sabotage. His only clue is in the form of a single survivor named John Welles (Michael Sarrazin) AKA Peter Bellamy, a man who has no memory of what happened. This is an excellent vehicle for the Cat and Mouse game which follows. The survivor is having tremendous difficulty trying to remember who he is or was and Tuxan is allowing him to struggle while he watches out for any of his friends to come and help him recover. It's an excellent film and one which gives the audience just enough information to follow the hero to the surprising ending. A good film and one which is enhanced by Nicole Devon as Christine Belford and Cliff Potts who plays Carl Mosely. ****

A super secret government space program laboratory known as Groundstar gets blown up while a woman, (Christine Belford) whose parents have recently died and is also recently divorced tries to find some solace for her shattered life in the summer house she was left in the will which just happens to be in the direct vicinity of the above mentioned lab. The lone "survivor" of the explosion stumbles to her house with a disfigured face followed by government security guru George Peppard and his crew who take him away to a high security hospital. Was he responsible for the explosion? The next time we see him, he turns out to be Michael Sarrazin. And what follows is a moderately intriguing story that delves into some of then, today's, and for all times big issues, such as unchecked government surveillance, brutal interrogation techniques, and brainwashing. The deft intermingling of personal elements with the government security apparatus and some political and public relations angles makes for a fairly sophisticated and complex movie.

This is the best Peppard performance. Is that saying much? Probably not, but he's fairly mesmerizing as an incredibly ruthless investigator whose superiors "only talk to God." Think "Banacek" without one shred of charm and you'll be about halfway there. The film shows its cheapjack TV movie origins in many ways, but the script is tight and the supporting cast (especially Belford doing a nice Rita Hayworth impression) is way above average. It's always been fashionable to hate Sarrazin, but today he'd be Keanu Reeves. Think about it.