The Right Stuff

Starring: Charles Frank, Scott Glenn, Ed Harris, Lance Henriksen, Scott Paulin, Dennis Quaid, Sam Shepard, Fred Ward, Kim Stanley, Barbara Hershey, Veronica Cartwright, Pamela Reed, Jeff Goldblum
Directed by: Philip Kaufman
Rating: PG
Genre: Drama, Biography
1983

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Follows the first time breaking of the sound barrier by pilot Chuck Yeager (Sam Shepard) to the Mercury astronauts and America's first attempts to reach outer space.

Review:

Tim: The Right Stuff won four Academy Awards... all in technical categories, but hey, that is still pretty impressive. It was nominated for Best Picture, so you can imagine the quality of film here. I was actually surprised that I had never heard of this movie before. It is one of those films that are quite good yet slip under the mainstream movie goers' radar.

It is really an epic tale of th American attempts to travel into space. The film begins with Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier in the X-1 and follows the beginnings of the space program and the first American astronauts- Shepard, Grissom, Glenn, Carpenter, Schirra, Cooper, and Slayton. The film is so interesting because we see the achievements of Americans as they head out toward the stars. I had no idea how much trial and error was involved, especially when first trying to launch a rocket.

The best part of the film is that the movie treats the achievements not as merely events in history, but shows the human side to man's race for space. Shepard, Grissom, Glenn, and the others are all real and human people that we can identify with.

The cast is excellent. Ed Harris is superb as John Glenn. Scott Glenn is decent as Alan Shepard, and Dennis Quaid is perhaps most enjoyable to watch as Cooper. Fred Ward adds a good performance as "Gus" Grissom and Sam Shepard got an Academy Award nomination for playing Chuck Yeager.

The film is a bit long, but epic in its telling of the early American space program. It is a film that mixes educational facts with entertaining performances to make an interesting film to watch. It is definitely worth seeing.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: From the Earth to the Moon, Apollo 13