hyped garbage

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

This movie was awesome when it came out. I saw it and thought "wow what an awesome movie! I want to be an astronaut". However when I started to learn about the US Space Program and NASA I started to realize that the director and writers for this movie overstepped their rights for artistic license.So much of this movie is made up and bullshit that it is more fiction than it is truth. In fact, my research has led me to believe that 7/10 scenes in this movie are completely fabricated. Even character names, quotes and actions were changed for a variety of reasons, most common to make the movie fit a narrative of the director and writers.Listing all the problems with the movie would take too much time and effort for me. However I'll say that if you forget about all the real life facts and suspend your reality for a few hours, it isn't a bad movie.I did like this movie when it was released but over time it has lost the glimmer and shine. There are much better, more realistic, more historical movies out about the space race and NASA program.

(Flash Review)This 3hr+ movie, which won four Oscars, was about the original Mercury 7 astronauts and how they were cheery-picked from the cream of the crop pilots of the era. This was an exciting time for America and NASA as they kicked of the space program with manned flights and were neck and neck with the Russians in the space race. The movie shows how the nation's interest transitioned from upping the top speed records to launching rockets into space. This sort of felt like a documentary, which was good and bad. Lots of neat training scenes, top end planes and rocket failures to orbiting the Earth. Yet the overall pacing felt choppy and uneven. Key moments were done well, yet not knitted together smoothly. For being nominated for Best Cinematography, I felt it was sub-par. Overall a long and fascinating movie for plane and space fans.

In the opening scenes in "The Right Stuff", a cowboy perched on his horse, looks on as he observes a peculiar sight in the middle of the desert. This strange object is none other than a sound barrier breaker called a X-1 rocket plane. By the end of the film the seven astronauts that make up The Mercury Astronauts are getting a standing ovation at the Houston Astrodome as they're the hosts of Texas barbecue set on by then president Lyndon Johnson. The opposing scenes from "The Right Stuff" is a symbolic signs of sheer optimism and that Americans still have the right stuff, although it has been altered around a bit.The original American heroes were a humble bunch. Not caring for spotlight and just going about their business. The cowboy at the beginning is the first example. He rode around the premises with the confides of a partner and if the partner was there, they wouldn't be of much use except look on with superficial fondness. Today's heroes need to form factions and pry on getting noticed as a way to stretch their egos. That was the real reason why Westerns died out after the 1970's. Cowboys don't depend on sidekick or camaraderie. They work alone and ride off into the sunset.The cowboy at the early scenes in "The Right Stuff" is war hero pilot Captain Chuck Yeager (Sam Shepard), a taciturn test-pilot who overcame a deadly crush that has taken out several who have tested these planes before him (in one month 60 had succumbed to their deaths) which included the X-1 that could fly faster than an eye blink. The movie begins with that triumph, but then shifts to ten years later as the Soviets created the spacecraft Sputnik which led to the Eisenhower administration to get into the idea of space travel.The astronauts who traveled upon the Mercury capsules depicted in this film have a very similar mindset as Yeager, Gus Grissom (Fred Ward), Scott Carpenter (Charles Frank) and Gordon Cooper (Dennis Quaid) have a similar frame of mind like Yeager. But unlike Yeager, the Mercury Astronauts were symbolic staple in the eyes of public relations and the movie features Mercury Astronauts spokesperson John Glenn (Ed Harris) speaking out with his unquestionable charm. The X-1 flew without the needs of televised exposure, but the Mercury flights were heavily under the camera which became the dawning of a new kind of era where space travel and public exposures have clashed.A lot has transpired in the movie, similar to the events that the book by Tom Wolfe that this movie is based on. The film is a wild adventure saturated with dramatic and special effects, social commentary and a bit of satirical merit to its credit. With all these events going on at once, it's an amazing accomplishment that writer-director Philip Kaufman was able to cram all of into a three hour plus film. All this material sums up to being one of the greatest films that came out in the 1980's. The moods and styles just flow in a natural position as they satirically take down the corrupt government suits to Yeager's loner characterizations and Glenn's bid to think how these astronauts can get the adulation that they rightfully deserve."The Right Stuff" set a benchmark in the careers of several of these performers as well as solidified Kaufman among one of the top directors in the film industry. The performers were all top notch especially those who haven't been household names at the time. Such names like Ed Harris, Dennis Quaid, Fred Ward and Scott Glenn all turned in wonderful performances. But Sam Shepard is the real standout as he plays Yeager with the right amount of mysticism and strong presence. It also one of those very few films that could brag that it can be labeled as a real American epic film. It's an ambitious movie that can take its journey through time and its subject matter as it loosely flows through the locations and special effects that truly make this a definitive art film. It belongs strongly up there with "The Godfather", "Nashville", and "Apocalypse Now". It's a true classic film that made the 1980's all the more special.

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.