The Groundstar Conspiracy is your average spy thriller with George Peppard as the ruthless investigator from an unnamed government agency and Michael Sarrazin as a scientist who is the only survivor of a lab explosion at a top secret US space program called Groundstar. Peppard knows that Sarrazin is not who he says he is. But how did he get clearance in the place, what may or may not have been taken from the lab that the explosion covered up are the questions Peppard has answers for. Because Sarrazin's memory has been wiped clean.The key character in The Groundstar Conspiracy is Peppard as a ruthless government investigator, a man who could be J. Edgar Hoover if given half a chance. That title phrase comes from Peppard's mouth who would like to bug every bedroom in the country for security's sake, better to ferret out would be subversives.Of course Peppard plugs up his security leak, but Sarrazin, freedom, and Sarrazin's freedom pay a price.The Groundstar Conspiracy has some interesting notions to put forth, but the productions values are pretty skimpy. Christine Belford as a woman that Peppard's using to keep tabs on Sarrazin has her role very poorly defined. The players do their best, but the film's general mediocrity weighs heavily on their work.

Just re-saw The Groundstar Conspiracy after some 20 something years. Always been a big fan of both George Peppard and Micheal Sarrazin, so I was looking forward to this flick. Somewhat out-dated today, but for 1972, it wasn't all that bad. There are twists and turns. Plots and subplots. Action, suspense, drama, and even a little romance thrown in. Humor, at least a few lines, would of helped a lot here. There is a nice surprise sort of ending. Clearly this is not a masterpiece of a cold war thriller like The Spy Who Can In From The Cold or The Ipcress File, but The Goundstar Conspiracy is a nice little entertaining film. George Peppard looked great here and Micheal Sarrazin was in his prime. It's not their best roles, but if you're a fan. it's a good way to spend a rainy night.

This is a great movie to watch especially if you love a good, hard twist in the end. Just when you think you know what the truth is and who the evil bad guys are, the last five minutes takes you in another direction you did not see coming. George Pappard's character's is fantastic as the government troubleshooter willing to go to any lengths to ferret out traitors and moles among top secret government operations. There are a lot of great lines in the film too that helps the viewer to appreciate just how much power the troubleshooter has to protect the country, and scary when you realize he actually needs that much authority to do the job. There is no way they could remake a better movie now unless they filled it with a lot of thrilling action scene or sex scenes. Even if they did, it would not match the psychological thrill of this original.

When George Peppard is the major ‘name' of a movie – especially one made in the 70's – you may suspect you're on dodgy ground from the off. When his co-stars are Michael Sarrazin – a one-trick pony whose career spiralled downwards sometime around 1975 when the trick had been seen too many times – and Christine Belford – a brief escapee from TV movie hell – you know it for a fact.THE GROUNDSTAR CONSPIRACY is a far-fetched thriller with sci-fi undertones that moves far too slowly, telegraphs most of it's ‘twists' far too early (apart from the big twist at the end, which, believe me, sends this sad effort way off the credibility meter) and suffers from some horribly clunky dialogue. Perhaps a director at the very top of his game may have been able to salvage something, but, unfortunately Lamont Johnson – another journeyman whose labours have mostly been in television – was never that good a director. Peppard, as a tough, no-nonsense agent, seems to be rehearsing his Hannibal role in THE A-TEAM without the humour, while Sarrazin flashes puppy-dog eyes and tries to look puzzled. Lucky Christine Belford, then: her role calls for her to look bewildered much of the time, and, when she does, she looks completely natural. Approach THE GROUNDSTAR CONSPIRACY as a mediocre B-movie, ignore its obvious – and woefully unrealised – ambitions, and you may just wring some drops of entertainment from this old flannel.