David Huddleston's Congressman Peaker Character
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Capricorn One
Eric-62-2 — 1 year ago(August 04, 2024 06:54 AM)
It's never clear in the final cut of the film whether David Huddleston's Congressman Hollis Peaker is part of the conspiracy. It's obvious he's desperately tied in with the program (likely because he represents a district full of space program jobs) and maybe the veiled reference Kelloway makes to forces who are above him calling the shots (which we know does not include the President or Vice-President) refers to him, but nothing specific.
However, the extended first cut of the film which was released in Japan and is available on the Japanese Blu-Ray release has one key scene that makes it clear Peaker is in on the plot. One deleted scene at the base where the fake mission is directed from shows the general who was at the launch with Peaker (and later seen in his office when he gets the call from the VP) standing behind James B. Sikking. That means Peaker was definitely in on the plot and thus his reaction to the sight of Brubaker showing up at the end can be more properly interpreted as an, "Oh shxx!" reaction than one of stunned surprise like we see with Kay, the President and the VP.