The Right Stuff (Two-Disc Special Edition)

Buy This Item The Right Stuff (Two-Disc Special Edition) by Warner Home Video  Available from Amazon  $19.99  on 8-27-2008     Philip Kaufman's intimate epic about the <i>Mercury</i> astronauts (based on Tom Wolfe's book) was one of the most ambitious and spectacularly exciting movies of the 1980s. It surprised almost everybody by not becoming a smash hit. By all rights, the film should have been every bit the success that <i>Apollo 13</i> would later become; <i>The Right Stuff</i> is not only just as thrilling, but it is also a bigger and better movie. Combining history (both established and revisionist), grand mythmaking (and myth puncturing), adventure, melodrama, behind-the-scenes dish, spectacular visuals, and a down-to-earth sense of humor, <i>The Right Stuff</i> chronicles NASA's efforts to put a man in orbit. Such an achievement would be the first step toward President Kennedy's goal of reaching the moon, and, perhaps most important of all, would win a crucial public relations/morale victory over the Soviets, who had delivered a stunning blow to American pride by launching <i>Sputnik</i>, the first satellite. The movie contrasts the daring feats of the unsung test pilots--one of whom, Chuck Yeager, embodied more than anyone else the skill and spirit of Wolfe's title--against the heavily publicized (and sanitized) accomplishments of the <i>Mercury</i> astronauts. Through no fault of their own, the spacemen became prisoners of the heroic images the government created for them in order to capture the public's imagination. The casting is inspired; the film features Sam Shepard as the legendary Yeager, Ed Harris as John Glenn, Dennis Quaid as "Gordo" Cooper, Scott Glenn as Alan Shepard, Fred Ward as Gus Grissom, Scott Wilson as Scott Crossfield, and Pamela Reed and Veronica Cartwright are superb in their thankless roles as astronauts' wives. <i>--Jim Emerson</i> Reader Reviews How much do you really know about the beginnings of the space program and how it all came about? This movie sets the scene and gives an insight into the brave men who took the Western World into the space age. Chuck Jaeger, the first man to break the sound barrier and survive, makes a cameo appearance while all actors put a human face to those brave Mercury Pilots who not only risked all but gave us the names of the sons in Thunderbirds. Great performances by each of the stars and well worth a look.

The Right Stuff (Two-Disc Special Edition) Available from Amazon Price: $19.99 Updated on 8-27-2008.

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