Too much of everything

Don't listen to the negative reviews

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Unfortunately, what could have been a good movie is turned into a major disappointment by a decision to take all the aerial photography done in 4:3 format and stretch it to fit the 2.35:1 format used for the rest of the movie. This makes the aircraft look strange and unreal. It ruins the experience.This should have been a "must see" movie for aviation buffs since it shows an important period in the development of aviation. But stretching the film to fit a widescreen format makes the scenes of the X-15, the B-52 mother-ship and the F-104 and F-100 chase planes look distorted and unrealistic. It is a real waste and a shame that the film producers were more concerned with using a widescreen than with a usable presentation.

As a teenager I don't see myself falling into the average 6 voting. Even though the 60s is not my decade, I still love this movie. It should be appreciated for the simply its existence. Besides the Right Stuff, we don't really see much of them depict the space race so specifically. Starring MTM and Bronson is better than random actors anyways. At least we see how fine MTM use to be.Inviting popular movie stars showed how important this project is. The power of how much people cares during that decade is amazing compare to the significance of it today. Usually, how much public cares indicates how well the technological advancement is going to turn out.Unfortunately that enthusastism is long gone... You won't see another movie over space exploration anymore.

The recent success of the SpaceShipOne spacecraft brought back to mind the early attempt at sub-orbital flights. Its designer, told us that he based his design on the X-15. Growing up in the 60's and 70's, the space race was part of our lives and the X-15 program was one more step towards space supremacy between the USA and the Soviet Union. Although this beautiful bird was finally shelved, the courage and vision of its designers merits that we take a second look at it. This movie, presented almost like a NASA -US AIR Force documentary, stayed in my mind although I was just a kid when I saw it on TV, some 30 odd years ago. Filmed in the early sixties, this story introduces the viewer to the team of 3 pilots that relay each other in the seat of the X-15 experimental rocket plane. The family life of these test pilots is also interesting as it is explained that these men need emotional stability to do their job. We are introduced to a young Mary Tyler Moore as one of the pilots fiancée. A young Charles Bronson plays one of these family men / test pilots with great presence .The flying scenes footage is of relative good quality but the sub-orbital scenes are poorly crafted animations that look terribly amateurish as we are now used to Computer Generated Images and other new special effects techniques. All in all, this is a good movie for any space race fan, and the DVD fits nicely in the library next to others such as The Right Stuff, From the Earth to the Moon and Apollo 13. I gave it a 7 for historical and documentary value.

OK, so X-15 isn't the best of Hollywood, but it IS the 2nd best X-Planes movie ever (second to Right Stuff, but better than Space Cowboys).Call it a docu-drama, call it campy, call it naive, whatever. This is a great Saturday afternoon movie. It's a blast to see MTM and Charlie Bronson together. Those of us with a fascination with historic aircraft love the authentic footage. Hey, the movie even got a mention in Milt Thompson's Book "At the Edge of Space: The X-15 Flight Program".So, do your best to find a copy, forget Soviet comparisons, check your mind at the door and enjoy X-15!