The late Gene Siskel praised 1983's “The Right Stuff” as “the best film of the 1980's.” Directed by Phillip Kaufman (“Quills”), this epic spans the 16 years from the breaking of the sound barrier, through the six manned Mercury space flights of the early ‘60s.
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“The Right Stuff” begins where it should – above the clouds as Levon Helm (former drummer for “The Band”) narrates, “There was a demon that lived in the sky; and anyone that challenged him would die! They called it the Sound Barrier.”
The movie's first hour emphasizes the arrogance and camaraderie of an elite fraternity who earned assignments at Edwards Air Force Base through historic flights or combat. When the sound barrier topic arises, the “rightest” of the right stuff, 24-year-old ace Chuck Yeager (Sam Shepard) volunteers, “how ‘bout tomorrow,” then shows up concealing some broken ribs.
As Yeager accelerates the bullet-shaped X-1 into the “thin air,” where no man has flown before, the era of supersonic rockets and the space race begin.
By 1957, Russia has an earth-orbiting satellite. To catch up, President Eisenhower insists on recruiting as astronauts (“star voyagers”) the cream of the test pilots. As "The First Seven” begin intensive training, dozens of unmanned U.S. rocket fail. But in 1961, Commander Alan Shepard safely pilots a sub-orbital flight, becoming the “first free man in space. Gus Grissom duplicates the flight but nearly drowns on splasdown.
Clean-Marine John Glenn (Ed Harris) is selected for the first earth orbits. When he survives the potential inferno of a suspect heat shield, the space race is evened and Glenn becomes the most admired man in America.
“The Right Stuff” concludes with "Gordo” Cooper, the youngest astronaut, paying-off his arrogance in which, throughout the film, he'd ask anyone who'd listen, “Who's the greatest pilot you've ever seen?” As Gordo's Faith 7 lifts off to begin 22 Earth orbits, narrator Helm informs us, “the Mercury Program was over...but for a brief moment, Gordo Cooper was truly the best pilot anyone had ever seen.”
The review of this Movie prepared by Angry Jim Magin
