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The Right Stuff (1983)

 
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 8:23 pm    Post subject: The Right Stuff (1983) Reply with quote



On the old board, Phantom (formerly known as sher-24) posted a message about The Right Stuff. Here it is.
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Over long and over rated film version of Tom Wolfe's best seller about the first years of the space race, from Yeager's cracking of the sound barrier to Glen's triumphant circumnavigation of the earth.

Wolfe's book has enough material for a dozen movies, and that is part of the problem with adapting the work. What do you leave out? Apparently director Philip Kaufman wanted to shoot the works and did.

Eric Von Stroheim tried it in 1924, faithfully filming every scene of Frank Norris's brutal novel, "McTeague," page by page. The studio eventually took it away from him and cut his opus from some ten hours down to less than two. It is the stuff of legend.

Unfortunately, no one scissored Kaufman's 193m finished product to a decent two and a half hours, or so. The result is so many side trips to family and friends that you begin to lose track of who is related to who. Bad enough, but Kaufman doesn't know when to end each episode, they go on far longer than they are worth and most are simply redundant of the family situation you just left.

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And here's my reply.
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First, let me say that your post was extremely well written, and the opinions you presented are very interesting.

Second, I respect your opinion of this film, and anything I say that disagrees with it is — by definition — just another opinion.

That said, I was actually surprised to learn that The Right Stuff was three hours long! Damn, I own the DVD, and I didn't realize it was that long!

Obviously I enjoyed it more than you. I didn't feel it had unnecessary scenes at all. I felt like it did a great job of covering a long and important part of American history, and it did with style and panache.

Okay, sure, I had to get up and go to the bathroom fairly often during the movie — but heck, I figured that was because of the Heinekens which watched this movie with me. And frankly we both love it just the way it is.

Consider this idea. What if you were to watched the movie in sections, like the miniseries you mentioned, "From the Earth to the Moon"? I starting watching the miniseries once and felt like it was an overlong version of "The Right Stuff".

Weird how people react differently, huh?

Maybe we should just agree to disagree, then sit down some afternoon and watch "Apollo 13" together as a Synchro-Cinema.

What do you think?

Astronaut Brewster, mission commander

_________________
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Tue Mar 10, 2020 12:47 pm; edited 7 times in total
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Bongopete
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Joined: 17 Dec 2013
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 1:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hey Bud, I think I would like to hear more about the argument!!!!!

For the most part I liked 'The Right Stuff', some of it is downright poetic.

What I didn't care for were the attempts at humor (mostly in regards to Eisenhower and politicos starting to look for astronauts). It just feels out of place (though admittedly some of it IS funny).

Some of the casting seems spot on (Ed Harris as Glenn for example), some really off (Sam Shephard as Yeager and Hersey as his wife . . . not that they are bad . . . just not accurate).

Still, it is a good movie to pair up with Apollo 13 or the HBO moon series.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 25, 2016 12:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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The last time I heard from Phantom (a phone call to say he was having trouble getting into the chat room one Friday night) he said he was having lots of internet problems and he was thinking of giving up his computer.

Hard to believe, but I haven't heard from him since then. If he gets back to All Sci-Fi, maybe he'll give The Right Stuff another shot.
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________The Right Stuff (1983) Official Trailer


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 10, 2020 4:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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IMDB has 88 trivia items for this movie. Here’s a few of the ones I found the most interesting, in the blue text. Very Happy
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~ The mysterious "fireflies" observed by John Glenn on his first orbital flight were actually tiny flakes of frost illuminated by sunlight. As the spacecraft orbited into darkness behind the Earth, the sub-zero temperatures caused condensation on its skin to freeze. When warmed by the sun on the other side of the orbit, the temperature change caused some of this frost layer to break free and to be illuminated by the sun. This was confirmed by astronaut Scott Carpenter on the next Mercury flight when he banged on the craft's side, causing more of the flakes to break free and become visible.

Note from me: In the History Channel's wonderful documentary, Moon Shot (1994), based on book by Alan Shepard, we're told that the "fireflies" were caused by John Glen's urine being expelled from the capsule. Narrator Barry Corbin states the the fireflies were "astronaut pee-pee".

There are also scenes of several elderly Mercury astronauts sitting around a cafeteria table while they chat about their NASA memories. They joke about the glowing sparks, and one of the guys laughingly called it "the constellation Uri-ine." Very Happy

~ While several of the lead actors chose to meet their real-life counterparts, Scott Glenn elected not to meet with Alan Shepard. Scott said he wanted to get down Shepard's character and nuances by observation and by hearing others' points of view. After filming, the real Alan Shepard wrote writer and director Philip Kaufman and commented on Scott Glenn's "spot-on" performance — except for "not being nearly as good-looking as he was."

Note from me: It's good to know that this movie had the respect of the men who were portrayed in it.

~ While filming the lung-capacity sequence - in which the seven original Mercury astronauts need to blow into individual tubes to keep toy balls suspended in a beaker and end up in a competition of physical stamina - the seven actors portraying the astronauts actually competed with each other for the same reason. Gordon Cooper was third, John Glenn was second and Scott Carpenter won (in the movie). In reality, Cooper — the astronaut portrayed by Dennis Quaid — was the only non-smoker among the seven original astronauts, and therefore possessed a far-greater lung capacity than any of the others.

Note from me: I have no idea why the producers changed the way the real events took place! Dennis Quaid's cocky portray of Gordon Cooper is entirely consistent with the idea that he would gleefully win the competition.

So . . . why did the movie present an inaccurate version? Confused

~ It is generally believed that Gus Grissom was not at-fault in the real-life hatch-blowing incident on the Liberty Bell 7 capsule.

Kickback from the manual activation switch caused a tell-tale bruise to form on the hand activating it, and Grissom never developed the bruise. Wally Schirra, at the end of his Mercury 8 space flight, deliberately activated his own hatch to demonstrate how the bruise formed and exonerate his comrade.

The most likely explanation for Grissom's hatch blowing is that the external release lanyard came loose, as it was only held in place with a single screw — a design that was changed to be more secure for subsequent flights.

N.A.S.A. apparently believed in Grissom's innocence as well, as he remained in a prime rotation spot for subsequent Gemini and Apollo flights. There is also significant belief among astronauts of the time that, had he not been killed in the Apollo 1 fire, Grissom would have been the first man to walk on the moon.


Note from me: And that, ladies and gentlemen, settles the question concerning the hatch that blew. It was NOT Gus' fault! Very Happy

~ According to Chuck Yeager, in his autobiography, it was not known that he broke the sound barrier until after they checked the Bell X-1 recording panel, and not when they heard the sonic boom, as shown in the movie. He still got his steak dinner for being the first to break the sound barrier though.

Note from me: A steak dinner after a sonic boom taste just as good as one you get when the telemetry confirms it! Very Happy

~ When Ed Harris appeared in Apollo 13 (1995), as N.A.S.A. Flight Director Gene Kranz, it gave him the unique distinction of appearing with some of the same characters from The Right Stuff (1983) but played by different actors, like Deke Slayton (played by Chris Ellis in Apollo 13 (1995)). Others are mentioned but never seen like Alan Shepard and the late Gus Grissom. Harris also provided the voice of Mission Control in the space thriller Gravity (2013).

Note from me: Seeing Ed Harris in those roles from both The Right Stuff and Apollo 13 is a real treat.

~Some were concerned that when this film was released it would help propel John Glenn, then a U.S. Senator from Ohio, into the Presidency. Newsweek Magazine had a cover story about it. Although Glenn ran for President in 1984, he lost the Democratic nomination to Walter Mondale.

Note from me: Who the heck remembers Walter Mondale? I can't help but wonder if John Glenn would have been a good president. Confused

~ Tom Wolfe was unhappy with the film, because he felt it made too many changes to the book.

Note from me: Based on some of the departures from the known facts — as listed above — I'm not surprised by this. Rolling Eyes

~ The film eschewed the use of visual effects done in the lab. The decision was made to use methods pioneered by the Republic Pictures special effects team of Howard Lydecker and Theodore Lydecker, and used in such Republic theatrical serials as Radar Men from the Moon (1952) and Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe (1953).

The shots of the Bell X-1 were accomplished using a model "flown" on a long wire rapidly passing by the camera utilizing a natural sky background enhanced by clouds created using special chemicals. The use of the model can be seen when the plane banks and turns as the ailerons never move.


Note from me: This was probably a good idea for most of the film . . . but the FX of John Glenn's capsule in orbit are just plain terrible! Those scenes always bother me.

They look like some kind of avant-garde version of reality, and they certainly aren't as impressive as the way a more realistic presentation would have looked. Sad

~ Although the producers discouraged the cast from contacting the real people they were portraying, Dennis Quaid reached out to Gordo Cooper after learning they lived just a few miles from each other. The two became friends, and Cooper encouraged Quaid to get his pilot's license.

Note from me: If that doesn't make you like Dennis Quaid a bit more . . . well, it certainly should. Very Happy

_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 08, 2020 10:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Chuck Yeager passed away today at 97. A true American hero. I think I'll watch The Right Stuff . . .


Chuck Yeager, Air Force Officer Who Broke Speed Of Sound, Dies At 97 | Morning Joe | MSNBC


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Fri May 27, 2022 4:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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This is a semi-documentary which qualifies as science fiction, because it's a marvelous account of historical events which combines imaginative fiction with hard facts and pure science to inspire mankind to reach from the stars!

It portrays the heart and soul of the space program in a manners which inspired the world.

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____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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