It's been years, but the Right Stuff is one of my all time favorite movies. Sam Shepard was one of the best characters in the movie. He was determined, yet quiet. Every astronaut had his own personality and the movie exposed that in the best way. Ed Harris protected his wife from the Pressgalantly. The guys liked to have fun, but you felt their awareness that any second disaster could strike - and it did in 1967. Although this movie is longer than three hours, the time flies by. Phil Kaufman did a wonderful job of directing. Feels like an entertaining and informative documentary with all the delicious bits. You see the facade and what's behind the wall of NASA's program. Hope you enjoy it on DVD.

Going into this movie I had no idea what to expect. From my interest in aviation I've heard numerous references to having "the right stuff", and I knew it was a famous old movie about early astronauts, but that was about it.Oh boy was I pleasantly surprised. It was entertaining, thrilling, funny AND patriotic. And the patriotism is subtle and comes naturally, it is not preachy or crammed down your throat in any way. Ending of the movie leaves you cheering and wanting *more* -- which is shocking because you just sat through a very long movie -- 3 hours plus! But it sure doesn't feel that long. There is not one unnecessary scene in the whole movie, every scene serves a purpose and at no point are you bored or distracted. It's simply a masterpiece of pacing and editing.And on top of everything, this is about important real-life people and events, and is mostly true to history (some creative license is to be expected, it's a movie after all). I learned a lot about the Space Race and early jet aviators. The educational value is just cherry on top of a huge delicious cake.There are many classic movies that are well-made and tell a great story and are entertaining. But The Right Stuff is all that AND it teaches you historical events you didn't know before (in my case at least... and probably a majority of the public). I can't think of any movie that accomplishes all this, except maybe Lawrence of Arabia and Patton. But to be honest Lawrence and Patton are not as funny or entertaining as The Right Stuff.

Eclectic American filmmaker Phillip Kaufman's seventh feature, indisputably his most prominent and competent work, a staggering epic depicts the real-life astronauts who are selected for Project Mercury, aka. Mercury 7, in the early 60s, at the heat of space competition paranoia between USA and USSR, based on the titular popular novel of Tom Wolfe.Clocking around 192-minute, the film sets its point of departure in 1947, where the war hero and legendary test pilot Chuck Yeager (Shepard) successfully breaks the sound barrier, which stimulates more pushing-the-envelope competitions and attracts newbie pilots to the hallowed land, Edwards Air Force Base, among them are Gordo Cooper (Quaid), Gus Grissom (Ward) and Deke Slayton (Paulin), who in due time will be recruited as the members of the Mercury 7 in the wake of the launch of the Russian Sputnik satellite in 1957. The other four fellow pilots are John Glenn (Harris) from US Marine Corps, Alan Shepard (Glenn), Walter Schirra (Henriksen) and Scott Carpenter (Frank) from US Navy. The 7 chosen ones have to undergo a series of backbreaking training for their unprecedented expedition, instant fame and media attention duly ensue to the point of pestering, also, a more existential question subsequently emerges, in the eyes of the military top-dogs, are they merely some guinea pigs cherry-picked to a historic but also high risky mission as a passive passenger inside a capsule or as a consummate pilot who is sitting in the driving seat? Can their utility be demeaningly filled in by an unenlightened chimp sitting on the same seat? The answer will be pinpointed by Yeager in his offhand remark and their upcoming conduct during their space voyages.Kaufman's chronological account of this masculine vocation where egoism, sensational nationalism and military snobbery blend intelligently with peer pressure and fraternity among the seven astronauts, traverses through a vast scope of characters and factual events, emphasizes on three space-launches of Shepard, Grissom and Glenn, and their respective aftermath, does not mince word in military's victor/loser dichotomous attitudes (which is an abiding trait in the mindset of USA), in Grissom's case, the payoff is unsatisfactory, but at least he is alive and kicking after his trails and tribulations, and in Glenn's case, a brilliant grandeur of aboriginal occultism well countervails the overarching scientific materiality.In a paralleled subplot, Chuck Yeager, who is deemed as a maverick by the NASA recruiter, continues his dare-devil, limit-pushing enterprise which denotes another maniac obsession of human race - speed. Kaufman's script varnishes him with a more tacit, thousand-yard stare sophistication, to underpins his unsung hero station and to coyly suggest that even earthbound, there are also worthier heroes walking among us because of their significant contributions to the fatherland.A sidebar account of the ostensibly supportive astronaut wives' reserves and gripes towards the perilous nature of their hubbies' occupation and the injustice within the bureaucracy introduces a telling dissonance from the other sex, where Venorica Cartwright's Betty Grissom fulminates against the USA military for their backtracking and Mary Jo Deschanel's Annie Glenn, under her husband's undivided support, her stutter inadvertently leaves Lyndon Johnson (Moffat) look like a fuming knucklehead. However, a more pertinent story of the pioneer female aviator Pancho Barnes, played by Kim Stanley in her silver-screen final appearance, which has never gotten a proper platform to be even marginally tapped into.Sam Shepard receives a token Oscar nomination for the large ensemble, he is the ideal embodiment of a fearless pathfinder, reticent, inaccessible, mythic, only enriched with his ritualistic solicit of a gum before each death-defying stunt. To name-check other strong performances from the cast, Scott Glenn and Ed Harris both raise above the average bar with their respectively hot-headed and level-headed temperament; Fred Ward is less outstanding, but his heartfelt disheartenment actually well connects with the viewers, to show the downside of their valorous undertaking; whereas a perpetually smirky Dennis Quaid over-abuses his self- congratulating impertinence, which becomes a thorn in the audience's side.A big thumb-up to the film's Special Effect team, whose work has still remained resonant and awe- inspiring to watch 33 years later at a time where Digital VFX is jadedly awash. Undeniably, THE RIGHT STUFF is that kind of film requires immense teamwork and coordination to pull it through its lengthy production spell, it is a high watermark for Hollywood industry, as a doe-eyed audience who is not entire familiar with USA's history, the end result is both inspiring and coruscating, in other words, it is a rational ensemble piece with astonishingly constructed settings to imitate the authentic facts, and most importantly, it dares to inspect the patriotic sentiment with a discerning eye.

I caught this movie on one of the movie channels again the other night, and realized how much I love this movie. I am a flight/space buff so of course it appeals to me. But aside from that, the acting, special effects, story line, everything is good to the point of making it a good film. It has just the right mix of seriousness and comic relief to make it enjoyable to watch and entertaining as well. The movie shows how pitifully far behind the Russians we were in the space race, yet we somehow managed to catch up.The one issue I have with the movie is how it portrays Gus Grissom being at fault for blowing the hatch to his capsule, while in actuality NASA concluded that he was correct. The astronauts had to punch a large switch with the side of their closed fist to blow the hatch, leaving tell-tale bruising on their hands. Grissom never had any bruising on his hand so could not have blown the hatch himself.However, this is one of those movies which I've seen several times, but every time it comes on again I'll want to sit and watch the whole thing.