The Right Stuff

Purports to be the story of the original 7 Mercury astronauts and events leading up to that program. Unfortunately all these highly skilled, and intelligent, if overly confident and rough hewn people with the "right stuff" are portrayed as nothing but coagulated silly quirks and anecdotes. It didn't have to be a documentary, but it's about 90% fluff to 10% history. If you want to watch people with this much of the "wrong stuff", the flight scenes in "Top Gun" are more exciting. The Pilots are all puffy inflatable stereotypes with no evidence of skill or brains beyond our being told it's true. The wives' story is a sappy soap opera of the most simplistic order. Interesting folks like Pancho Barnes are invisible. All government and NASA employees are bumbling idiots. It all just plain feels dumb and phony. Stuff as enormously complex and technical as faster than sound flight, and space travel could have provided a hefty dose of much needed interest for the non-brain-dead, but there's NO SCIENCE OR HISTORY ALLOWED HERE! Great cast. Some good scenes and performances. Dashes of amusing dialog. No explanations. Barely a skin-deep look into the characters. History dumbed down to anecdotes. If the people involved in the reality were as 2 dimensional and brainless as portrayed, we'd still be trying to break the sound barrier today. It just felt like an overlong comment about the space race being a publicity stunt with massive egoed pilots acting as public front men. A lot of reviews I've read refer a lot to the book, which I haven't read, and my 2 decade-apart viewings of this film don't incline me to read. My own research into some of the people and events portrayed made it highly evident that very little historical accuracy comes into this production. This entire 3 hour monstrosity equates to perhaps 20 minutes of the vastly superior "Apollo 13". Disappointing when I was young. Even more disappointing viewing it now.

The Right Stuff takes place during the Cold War when America was trying its hardest in technological advancements to beat the Russians. The movie first starts out with Chuck Yeager(Sam Shepard) attempting to break the sound barrier. The movie continues with other story lines as professional pilots desperately try to get into the NASA space program, become the first Americans into space, and try to break some kind of record that will beat what the Russians had. The other real life people that this movie follows are Alan Shepard(Scott Glenn), Gordon Cooper(Dennis Quaid), John Glenn(Ed Harris), Gus Grissom(Fred Ward), and of course, their families. The running time is very long at 3 hours plus, but it goes by very quickly. The first couple of hours go by as if they were 25 minutes, and the last hour is thrilling, as well as inspiring. There are several plot elements that really make this movie phenomenal. There is plenty of excitement as you see what the skilled pilots try to accomplish, there is plenty of humor, the cast is nearly perfect, and the score adds plenty of effect to the film. The result is a phenomenal, nearly perfect film, being one of the best films of the 1980's. The plot is very interesting, as you see the lives of the pilots, the status of the American Government desperately trying to overcome the Russians with advanced technology, and the difficulties in trying to accomplish these difficulties. This is well worth your time, and it is a great movie.

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source: The Right Stuff

Trailer—The Right Stuff

The Right Stuff

This picture was selected as Best Picture of its year by 2 of the best movie reviewers in recent memory, Siskel & Ebert. They both chose this film because "it showed how things get done in America." This is one of my favorite films. If you remember the space race (and not fantasize you do like some other reviewers on this page) and the Mercury astronauts were your heroes too, then watching this movie is like going home again. As for the younger crowd? Watching this true story will be a lot of fun, and there are a lot of laughs. But more importantly, it will give you a look into a time when your country actually tried to do important things: not b/c they were easy, as President Kennedy said, but b/c they were hard. A concept so sadly lacking these days. Watch everyone, and enjoy. It's quite a ride, and it all really happened.