The Big Mess (1971)

Space in 2034 is run by the greedy Suez Canal Company in a rundown universal bureaucracy. With such a monopoly in place, it is hard for individuals to find gainful employment outside their corporate-controlled planets. Ships of these free spirits seem unable to fly fast enough to outdistance the Suez Canal Company's ever-expanding empire. Anyone doing business without the proper permits is considered a pirate and hauled before the appropriate authorities. Two such cases are featured in the vicinity of the double-star system Rokür-60. An elderly couple, who identify themselves as accumulators, use theft, forgery and smuggling to try and make ends meet with spaceship salvage operations. Pilot Carl Douglas starts his own Intergalactic Transport Company. Both are caught without permits in place are discovered.