"Hanger 18" is from Sunn Classic Pictures....a now-defunct studio that brought us some quirky, paranoid films such as "The Outer Space Connection" (a documentary that claimed ancient civilizations were in constant contact with aliens who, apparently, made their cool structures) and "In Search for Noah's Ark". I expected very, very little from a Sunn film...that's for sure. However, the longer I watched the film, the more I realized it wasn't bad at all. Paranoid...yes...bad....no.

The film begins with footage of the space shuttle that looks dated today...but was amazing stuff for 1980. Consider this...years before the creation of Pixar, the film shows a lot of high tech CGI effects of the shuttle. I didn't have any idea how Sunn could afford this. It was only in the end credits where the studio thanked both NASA and Rockwell International....and it's likely they got the footage from them, as studios of the day simply didn't have the money or HUGE computers needed for such graphics. Regardless, it was pretty good footage.

While on a routine mission to deploy a satellite, the satellite accidentally collides with a UFO...and the UFO crashes to the Earth. This portion and the scientific study of the ship...all this was very well done and interesting. But there's another plot...one which seemed too influenced by Watergate...where some presidential aids take control of how to tell...or NOT tell the public. This portion, while interesting in its own way, kept the film from being better...that is until the nice twist ending.

Overall, a solid sci-fi film masquerading as yet another lousy Sunn film. Well worth seeing and highly original.

In 1980 three astronauts in a space station attempt to launch a satellite from space itself. Wouldn't you know it crashes into a UFO and one of the astronauts is killed. And the UFO crashes into New Mexico famous of course as the home of crashed UFOs if you believe some folks.

It's two weeks until the president of the USA is running for re-election and his chief of staff Robert Vaughn decides to stonewall the inquiries as to what is going on. And for reasons I'm still not figuring out he decides that the two surviving astronauts Gary Collins and James Hampton are to be left in the dark.

Some speculative news reports convince Collins and Hampton that they're being set up as the fall guys for their colleague's death and whatever else comes out of this mess. They find out that the UFO is being kept on an abandoned Air Force base in Texas in Hangar 18.

This film was put together with some NASA newsreel footage and some other military films and it looks and is cheap. The players do their best, but the incredulous story line just defeats them.

I will say I liked the ending because it will leave you with all kinds speculative possibilities. My favorite is what would have happened had the UFO crashed in the then Soviet Union.

HANGAR 18 is a film that ties together the science fiction film with a government conspiracy thriller but the end result is middling at best. It doesn't help that it's saddled with dull characters, particularly the heroes who are very realistic and 'ordinary' for a couple of astronauts, but unfortunately that means they simply aren't very interesting or charismatic. The opening scenes copying STAR WARS so blatantly are problematic too. The government angle is better, with Robert Vaughn and Darren McGavin on form in support, but the handling of the flying saucer itself is rather dry and lacking in interest - it's handled in a more academic way. There are some requisite chases and explosions towards the end which are handled in a fun way, but this is a film that can be considered average at best.