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Synopsis:

In the middle of the 20th century, America pondered its future - and looked to the skies. Based on Tom Wolfe's book, The Right Stuff is the tale of how that future began, a thrilling epic of intrepid test pilot Chuck Yeager and the seven pioneering astronauts of the Project Mercury space program. Philip Kaufman scripts and directs, pushing the envelope with a filmmaking bravado that matches this soaring story of training and heroism?and of sudden fame for which there is no training. Ed Harris, Barbara Hershey, Sam Shepard, Dennis Quaid and Fred Ward are among the perfect cast of this winner of 4 Academy AwardsO* that in a pristine 20th-anniversary digital transfer remains the stuff of must-see entertainment. Let's light this candle, flyboys!

Special Features:

- Three soaring new 20th anniversary documentaries featuring the movie’s stars, creators and the real-life heroes, including three of the original Mercury Seven astronauts: Commander Scott Carpenter, USN (Ret.), Colonel L. Gordon Cooper, Jr., (Ret.), and Captain Walter M. Schirra, Jr., USN (Ret.); author Thomas Wolfe, and the film's consulting representative and first man to break the sound barrier, General Chuck Yeager (Ret.).
- PBS’ feature length documentary - John Glenn: American Hero.
- Selected scene commentaries with separate cast and filmmaker tracks.
- Fifteen minutes of never-before-seen footage.
- Interactive space exploration timeline complete with archival NASA footage and events highlighting mankind’s leap to the stars.

In addition, the DVD will be offered in widescreen format [16x9 1.85:1] and Dolby Digital sound. It will also include English and French languages and subtitles in English, French and Spanish.

I'm sure I'll get some arguement here but for me, The Right Stuff stands as the best American film of the 1980's. Epic in it's scope but intimate in execution, the movie sums up an era of American history where the impossible became attainable. Great performances from all the leads through the smaller supporting parts like Donald Moffat as LBJ and especially Harry Shearer & Jeff Goldblum. Bill Conti's music may rip-off several well known sources but it gets the job done. I still get goosebumps every time I think of the image of Sam Sheppard walking out of the destruction and the dialogue, "Is that a man I see?", "You damn right it is." Great, great film and a very good disc from Warner.

Harold Gervais wrote:I'm sure I'll get some arguement here but for me, The Right Stuff stands as the best American film of the 1980's. Epic in it's scope but intimate in execution, the movie sums up an era of American history where the impossible became attainable. Great performances from all the leads through the smaller supporting parts like Donald Moffat as LBJ and especially Harry Shearer & Jeff Goldblum. Bill Conti's music may rip-off several well known sources but it gets the job done. I still get goosebumps every time I think of the image of Sam Sheppard walking out of the destruction and the dialogue, "Is that a man I see?", "You damn right it is." Great, great film and a very good disc from Warner.

I don't know if I'd say it is the best US film of the '80s but it definitely is one of the most underrated. You should check out the BFI book on the movie which is excellent. The author talks about how the film is funky mix of mainstream and experimental filmmaking that produced this hybrid movie that simultaneously celebrates and parodies patriotism. Think about all the scenes of the astronauts training for outer space... and then juxtaposes the almost farcical nature of those scenes with the solemn, almost reverential way Chuck Yeager's exploits are depicted. Interesting film indeed.

It's been awhile since I've seen it, but I loved it. I don't think it's the best American film of the 1980's, either, but it definitely makes the short list of runner-ups.

If not my favorite American movie of the 80s, definitely in my top five. The back-and-forth between the astronauts watching the dancer at the Houston gala and Yeager making his illicit record-breaking attempt is about the most sublime cross-cutting I've ever seen.

btw- what the hell happened to Philip Kaufman?

Phil the Great:

The Great Northfield, Minnesota Raid (1972)
The White Dawn (1974)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
The Wanderers (1979)
The Right Stuff (1983)
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988)

And Phil the Crap:

Henry & June (1990)
Rising Sun (1993)
Quills (2000)
Twisted (2004)

Didn't he have a hand in writing Raiders of the Lost Ark? He gets a writing credit, but considering how much Lucas, Spielberg, and Kasdan threw in there, I'm not sure what he did.

What's wrong with Quills?

There's a nice mini-appreciation of Kaufman's film here and it got me to thinking about it again, esp. in regards to Ron Howard's take on Apollo 13, which is pretty decent but superficial when you compare it to Kaufman's film. There's a lot more going on in his film which alternates between reverential hero worship and taking the astronauts down a peg. Only Sam Shepard's take on Chuck Yeager seems exempt from satire but it is refreshing to see the astronauts portrayed as guys with flaws but still got the job done. This is one of those films that I find myself revisiting every so often. Man, it still holds up after all this time.

It's a fantastic film, I think.

Howard's Apollo 13 is pretty shallow, simplistic stuff -- rahrah, teamwork, go America, typical suspense, etc. and of course directed with all the panache of a TV Movie.

Kaufman's film on the other hand really captures both the reality of the era and circumstances, the absurdity and genuine daring of what these men were doing, as well as the poetic symbolism of what the space race meant to several generations of observers. And it's beautifully made. I find it very moving.

skuhn8 wrote:What's wrong with Quills?

Nothing at all. I also like "Henry and June", but I might be alone there.

You'd be hard-pressed to find me without goosebumps during the "Claire de Lune" sequence, and Yeager as he walks away from the wreckage at the end. Even if I'm just catching up with the last 10 or so minutes of it.

tojoed wrote: Nothing at all. I also like "Henry and June", but I might be alone there.

I like that film a lot, too. More for Fred Ward as an actor along with the decor and photography, though. And of course Maria de Medeiros!

MyNameCriterionForum wrote:It's a fantastic film, I think.

Howard's Apollo 13 is pretty shallow, simplistic stuff -- rahrah, teamwork, go America, typical suspense, etc. and of course directed with all the panache of a TV Movie.

Kaufman's film on the other hand really captures both the reality of the era and circumstances, the absurdity and genuine daring of what these men were doing, as well as the poetic symbolism of what the space race meant to several generations of observers. And it's beautifully made. I find it very moving.

Hah, yeah, I completely agree with the TV movie style of Apollo 13. I do like that film but it is just not in the same league as Kaufman's film, which, as you right point out, is very moving. I always get goosebumps during that scene where Yeager finally breaks the sound barrier. Kaufman conveys a triumphant vibe but without being too preachy about it.

I keep coming back to the cast as well. The casting was top notch with all of the actors picked as the astronauts to be perfect-o. And even though he doesn't look like Yeager, Sam Shepard still manages to embody the spirit of the guy.

Jeez, Kaufman's had some real career bumps there! Was it really five years between THE RIGHT STUFF and UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS? And seven between RISING SUN and QUILLS? That's Kubrick level longueurs! The early years I can understand but his staggered filmography is as fractured as Boorman's.

I too rather liked HENRY AND JUNE (saw it twice theatrically as I did the two previous features) and for much the same reason as Luc Garbo. RISING SUN felt like treading water (or running for cover) and QUILLS wasn't around long enough for me to catch. TWISTED sounded awful and probably deserves Tex's relegation to the crapper but overall it's a pretty good body of work. Just much thinner than I had previously been aware.

Props, you should get the DVD of "Quills". Not historically accurate, but a cracker, with a wonderful performance by Geoffrey Rush.

tojoed wrote:Props, you should get the DVD of "Quills". Not historically accurate, but a cracker, with a wonderful performance by Geoffrey Rush.

I second that post. Rush gives his best performance in that film. I was particularly impressed with the script because I thought it'd be a Sade hagiography. Instead Rush and Caine really get put in their place.

Thanks for the recommendation. I'll put it in the netflix cue. In the meantime I'm taking advantage of the DDD sale to pick up one of my favorite '70s westerns for a mere 6.58!

Fletch F. Fletch wrote:Crashed & Burned: The legacy of The Right Stuff

Very interesting article; thanks. If the book has a problem in style and tone because it talks about the early 1960's, written and published in 1979, and out of tune with todays thinking .... then it is my strong opinion that the movie has none of these problems and is a tour de force from start to finish.
Great Stuff

Belmondo wrote:If the book has a problem in style and tone because it talks about the early 1960's, written and published in 1979, and out of tune with todays thinking .... then it is my strong opinion that the movie has none of these problems and is a tour de force from start to finish.
Great Stuff

I agree. I haven't read the book in years (and am now curious to read it again) but the film is pretty amazing all the way through. Interestingly, Wolfe isn't a big fan of the film.

The thing to remember about Apollo 13 is that it really doesn't have enough time in it to cover that dichotomy between reverential hero worship and taking them down a notch, like Fletch pointed out in relation to The Right Stuff. Those kinds of subtleties would be hard-pressed to fit in a disaster-movie situation, which the meat of Apollo is.

That said, I'll take Kaufman's film over it, but for it's time Apollo 13 was a good popcorn movie which Ron can do in his sleep, IMO.