Watch The Final Countdown

The Final Countdown is a 1980 science fiction film starring Kirk Douglas, Martin Sheen, and James Farentino. The movie is about a an aircraft carrier that travels through a time portal and exits on Dec. 6, 1941, the day before the Pearl Harbor attack. The film was directed by Don Taylor and shot on the U.S.S. Nimitz super carrier. Businessman and civilian observer Warren Laskey (Martin Sheen) goes aboard the U.S.S. Nimitz just before it departs Pearl Harbor in 1980. Moments into the departure, a strange electrical storm appears, knocking out power and affecting the craft's instruments. After going through the storm, the officers and crew are dumbfounded. Captain Matthew Yelland (Kirk Douglas) launches reconnaissance due to the lack of radio communication. After a Japanese fighter plane shoots at two civilians on a small boat, it is shot down by the Nimitz. The two civilians on the boat, U.S. Senator Samuel Chapman (Charles Durning) and his friend, Laurel Scott (Katherine Ross) are taken aboard. Commander Richard T. Owens (James Farentino) realizes immediately that Chapman is a prominent senator who served during the Roosevelt administration. It is then realized to everyone's shock that the craft has somehow been transported back to 1941. Captain Yelland is now faced with the dilemma of wiping out the Japanese fleet, thus changing the course of history, or letting history go as it happened during the Pearl Harbor attacks. During the time on the ship, Owens and Scott develop a relationship. For the civilians' safety, Captain Yelland drops them and Commander Owens with supplies on a small deserted Hawaiian island. Scott is shocked to find that the ship did in fact come from the future after she sees the date stamped on a can of food. The Nimitz prepares to defend Pearl Harbor from the Japanese fleet. Before they reach their destination, the portal reappears, returning the ship to the future. After returning to Pearl Harbor, Lasky leaves the ship and runs into Commander Owens and his wife, Laurel Scott, who are now 40 years older. Owens invites Lasky for a ride and tell him they have a lot to talk about.