Barnes & Noble

Space-age flyboys with nerves of steel and swagger to spare are the subjects of Philip Kaufman's larger-than-life adaptation of Tom Wolfe's nonfiction classic. Opening at Edwards Air Force Base in the California desert in the late 1940s, The Right Stuff follows a fraternity of the world's greatest test pilots as they break through the sound barrier on their way to becoming America's first astronauts. All of them possess the requisite test-pilot mystique, that elusive combination of confidence, fearlessness, and talent that constitutes "the right stuff." Their story is brought to life on the screen by a great cast that includes Scott Glenn, Ed Harris, Dennis Quaid, and Fred Ward as Mercury astronauts Alan Shepard, John Glenn, Gordon Cooper, and Gus Grissom. The Right Stuff brilliantly portrays those heady early days of the space race, humorously shattering the astronaut's Life magazine profile as clean-cut, all-American types to reveal the irreverent individuals underneath (with the exception of John Glenn, who turns out to be a Boy Scout through and through). Chuck Yeager (Sam Shepard), the greatest test pilot of them all, stands at the heart of the story -- a brooding, enigmatic, unsung hero who never joined the space program nor enjoyed the recognition and ticker-tape parades afforded the astronauts. The result is a thrilling saga of a group of American icons who boldly went where no man had gone before. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

Hopes ran high that The Right Stuff, the 1981 film version of Tom Wolfe's best-selling book, would be the Numero Uno hit of the year. Covering some 15 years, the film recounts the formation of America's space program, concentrating on the original Mercury astronauts. Scott Glenn plays Alan Shepherd, the first American in space; Fred Ward is Gus Grissom, the benighted astronaut for whom nothing works out as planned; and Ed Harris is John Glenn, the straight-arrow "boy scout" of the bunch who was the first American to orbit the earth. The remaining four Mercury boys are Deke Slayton (Scott Paulin), Scott Carpenter (Charles Frank), Leroy Gordon Cooper (Dennis Quaid), and Wally Schirra (Lance Henriksen). Wolfe's original book related in straightforward fashion the dangers and frustrations facing the astronauts (including Glenn's oft-repeated complaint that it's hard to be confident when you know that the missile you're sitting on has been built by the lowest bidder), the various personal crises involving their families (Glenn's wife Annie, a stutterer, dreads being interviewed on television, while Grissom's wife Betty, angered that her husband is not regarded as a hero because his mission was a failure, bitterly declares "I want my parade!"), and the schism between the squeaky-clean public image of the Mercury pilots and their sometimes raunchy earthbound shenanigans. While the book struck a responsive chord with the public, the film struck out on several levels. For one thing, writer/director Philip Kaufman insisted upon going for easy laughs by relying on broad caricatures, depicting Lyndon Johnson (Donald Moffat) as a tantrum-throwing buffoon and the German rocket scientists as unreconstructed Nazis. For another, the film was perceived (not without reason) as an extended campaign advertisement for John Glenn, who was about to embark upon his 1984 presidential campaign. Finally, by contriving to depict test pilot Chuck Yeager (Sam Shepherd) as the true, unsung hero of The Right Stuff (it was his risk-taking in the early 1950s that helped pave the way for the Mercury program), the film tends to minimize the very real contributions of the astronauts who benefited from Yeager's expertise. Though The Right Stuff earned several Oscar nominations, the public was cool to the film. It would take another 12 years for Ron Howard's Apollo 13 to prove that astronauts can be good box-office--provided the filmmakers don't attempt to impose their own agenda on the proceedings. Hal Erickson

Product Details

• UPC: 883929076093
• Source: WARNER HOME VIDEO
• Region Code: 1
• Sound: Dolby AC-3 Surround Sound
• Editions: Subtitled
• Time: 3:13:00
• Sales Rank: 18,425

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