For All Mankind/ The Right Stuff and Magnificent Desolation Wikipedia pages

For All Mankind
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search



 This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2011)

For All Mankind
For all mankind dvd.jpg
DVD cover

Directed by
Al Reinert
Produced by
Betsy Broyles Breier
Al Reinert
Ben Young Mason
Fred Miller
Music by
Brian Eno
Edited by
Susan Korda
Distributed by
Apollo Associates
Release date(s)
1 November 1989 (United States)
Running time
80 min
Language
English
For All Mankind is a 1989 documentary film documenting the Apollo missions of NASA. It was directed by Al Reinert with music by Brian Eno.
The film provides 80 minutes of real NASA footage, mostly taken on the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s. The focus of the documentary is on the human views of the space flights, and the original mission footage is provided along with the voices of the astronauts, from interviews and from the actual mission recordings. Among those providing narration are Jim Lovell, Michael Collins, Charles Conrad, Jack Swigert, and Ken Mattingly. The film concentrates on the beauty of the earth as seen from space.
For All Mankind was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary in 1990.[1]


Contents  [hide]
1 Specific Views
2 Source material
3 Release
4 References
5 External links

Specific Views[edit]
Several unusual or memorable views are included:-
The fires of the Bedouin tribes in the Sahara desert, seen as dots of light in the extreme darkness.
Sunrise over the edge of the earth.
A space-walk floating in silence over the earth, despite travelling at 25,000 miles per hour.
A floating tape recorder providing music to the astronauts during periods of weightlessness... in particular when playing the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
The first picture of the earth seen as a whole circle from space...as a live television transmission... a blue planet "floating in a blackness beyond perception".
Trying to prevent food from floating off during meals.
The first close-up pictures of the moon.
Travelling around the dark side of the moon, including the "earth-rise" as our planet came back into view.
The lunar module calmly drifting down at a low angle to the surface of the moon, then burning its engines for a more vertical landing.
Touchdown in the Sea of Tranquility: "The Eagle has landed."
The first footstep onto the moon by Neil Armstrong.
Dropping a feather and a hammer together to prove Galileo correct, that both hit the ground together if there is no atmosphere.
Erecting the Stars and Stripes on the surface of the moon.
Gathering rocks and soil samples from the surface of the moon.
An astronaut tripping and speculating on his vulnerability should the suit be ruptured.
Source material[edit]
In the DVD commentary, Reinert explains that he made the film after learning that huge amounts of footage shot by astronauts had been archived by NASA without ever being seen by the public. Al Reinert and editor Susan Korda sifted through six million feet of film footage, and 80 hours of NASA interviews to create the documentary.
Reinert also explains that although the documentary purports to show a single moon mission, it is in fact a collage of footage from all six successful Apollo lunar landing missions. Furthermore, some images are presented out of context: the images of rocket stage separation are test footage shot during earlier missions; a shot used to represent Trans Lunar Injection is in fact footage of a Gemini mission re-entry; and some images of a spacewalk are from an earlier Gemini mission, not Apollo.
Release[edit]
For All Mankind has been released by The Criterion Collection on a Region 1 DVD-video disc and on a Blu-ray Disc. The title features a commentary track by director Al Reinert and Eugene A. Cernan, commander of Apollo 17. The Blu-ray Disc version also has "behind the scenes" footage, explaining the artistic concept and how original NASA footage was being selected for the film.
The title has two subtitle tracks. The first shows the name of a mission and the name of a person shown on the screen. The second subtitle track contains traditional subtitles for the hard-of-hearing, specifying the name of the person doing the narration.
The film's score, originally composed in 1983 by Brian Eno, was released as an album entitled Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks. By the time of the film's release in 1989, some of the album tracks had been replaced by other pieces by Eno and other artists. These additional tracks can be found on the album Music for Films III.
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "NY Times: For All Mankind". NY Times. Retrieved 2008-11-18.
External links[edit]
For All Mankind at the Internet Movie Database
For All Mankind at AllMovie
Criterion Collection essay by Al Reinert
Interview with Al Reinert in The Austin Chronicle
Preceded by
Beirut: The Last Home Movie Sundance Grand Jury Prize: Documentary
 1989 Succeeded by
H-2 Worker
 


Categories: 1989 films
English-language films
American documentary films
Sundance Film Festival award winners
Films about the Apollo program
Documentary films about United States space exploration
1980s documentary films





Navigation menu



Create account
Log in



Article

Talk









Read

Edit

View history

















Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikimedia Shop

Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page

Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page

Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version

Languages
Français
Русский
Edit links
This page was last modified on 17 July 2014 at 19:00.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Mobile view
Wikimedia Foundation
Powered by MediaWiki
   
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_All_Mankind










Magnificent Desolation (book)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search



 This article appears to be written like an advertisement. Please help improve it by rewriting promotional content from a neutral point of view and removing any inappropriate external links. (August 2010)

Magnificent Desolation: The Long Journey Home from the Moon is the second of two autobiographical books written by Buzz Aldrin, former Apollo 11 astronaut, which author Ken Abraham transcribed for him, and which Crown Publishing Group published in June 2009.[citation needed] It is a follow-up to his previous autobiographical book, Return to Earth, which Wayne Warga had transcribed for him.
Both a first-person and first-hand account of landing on the Moon - a landing that came within seconds of failure, and a description of Aldrin's personal trials, and eventual triumphs, on Earth - Magnificent Desolation describes a major descent on his part. From the glory of participating in the mission, which fulfilled President John Kennedy's challenge to reach the moon before the decade ended, Aldrin plummeted in his career with the Air Force, having lost both his purpose and his direction, while additionally becoming a public-relations tool for NASA and their seemingly relentless and endless world tour.
Already struggling with clinical depression, Aldrin also began battling the disease of alcoholism. Though he publicly confronted his clinical depression shortly after its onset, he continued to deny his disease of alcoholism until it nearly killed him. Both conditions caused problems with his first two marriages, his career with the Air Force fell into inglorious ruins, and he found himself selling cars for a living, that is, when he was not wrecking them in drunken stupors. Aldrin recounted to Abraham that his redemption came when he finally embraced sobriety, gained the love of his wife, Lois, who in turn became the great joy of his life, and dedicated himself to the tireless advocacy of the future of space exploration, both as a thriving commercial enterprise and a scientific endeavor.
The ISBN number of Magnificent Desolation is ISBN 978-0-307-46345-6.



Stub icon 2 This article about a biographical or autobiographical book whose subject was born in the United States is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.




Stub icon This article about a book on outer space or spaceflight is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.




 


Categories: 2009 books
Apollo program
United States biography book stubs
Space stubs
Astronomy book stubs








Navigation menu



Create account
Log in



Article

Talk









Read

Edit

View history

















Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikimedia Shop

Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page

Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page

Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version

Languages

Edit links
This page was last modified on 13 April 2014 at 17:42.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Mobile view
Wikimedia Foundation
Powered by MediaWiki
   
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnificent_Desolation_(book)










Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search


Magnificent Desolation:
 Walking on the Moon 3D
Magnificent Desolation.jpg
Directed by
Mark Cowen
Produced by
Mark Cowen
Tom Hanks
Gary Goetzman
 Mark Herzog
Written by
Mark Cowen
 Tom Hanks
 Christopher G. Cowen
Starring
Tom Hanks
 Paul Newman
 Morgan Freeman
 Scott Glenn
 Matt Damon
 Gary Sinise
Music by
Blake Neely
Cinematography
Sean MacLeod Phillips
Edited by
Billy Shinski
Production
   company
Playtone
Distributed by
IMAX
Release date(s)
September 23, 2005
Running time
40 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D is a 2005 IMAX 3D documentary film about the first humans on the Moon, the twelve astronauts in the Apollo program.
It is co-written, produced and directed by Mark Cowen, and co-written, produced by and starring Tom Hanks.


Contents  [hide]
1 Production
2 Origins of title
3 Cast
4 Awards
5 References
6 External links

Production[edit]
The film includes historical NASA footage as well as re-enactments and computer-generated imagery. Tom Hanks is the narrator, co-writer and co-producer. Magnificent Desolation is the third Apollo-related project for Hanks: he was previously involved in the film Apollo 13 and the miniseries From the Earth to the Moon. The cast includes Andrew Husmann, Aaron White, Brandy Blackledge, Gary Hershberger, and Scott Wilder. The voice cast includes Morgan Freeman, John Travolta, Paul Newman, Matt Damon, Matthew McConaughey. Bryan Cranston and Peter Scolari reprised their From the Earth to the Moon roles as Buzz Aldrin and Pete Conrad, respectively; many of the other actors had previously portrayed different people depicted in the film, in From the Earth to the Moon, The Right Stuff, and/or Apollo 13.
Score by James Newton Howard[1] and Blake Neely.[2]
The film was released in IMAX theaters on September 23, 2005. It was released on DVD on November 6, 2007.
Origins of title[edit]
The title comes from Buzz Aldrin's description[3] of the lunar landscape:
Aldrin: Beautiful view!Armstrong: Isn't that something! Magnificent sight out here.Aldrin: Magnificent desolation.[4]
Dr. Aldrin's statement was substantially predicted nineteen years earlier in the film, Destination Moon, in which Dr. Charles Cargraves, the fictional second man on the moon, states "The first impression is one of utter barrenness and desolation."[5]
Cast[edit]
Tom Hanks as Narrator (voice) [portrayed Jim Lovell in Apollo 13 and hosted From the Earth to the Moon eps. 1-11]
John Corbett as Harrison Schmitt (voice)
Andrew Husmann as David Scott
Bryan Cranston as Buzz Aldrin (voice) [reprised From the Earth to the Moon role, portrayed Gus Grissom in That Thing You Do]
Aaron White as James Irwin
Matt Damon as Alan Shepard (voice)
Gary Hershberger as Astronaut Grace
Morgan Freeman as Neil Armstrong (voice)
Scott Wilder as Astronaut Wallace
Brandy Blackledge as Future Astronaut
Scott Glenn as Charles Duke (voice) [portrayed Alan Shepard in The Right Stuff]
Rick Gomez as Alpha Station Commander (voice)
Colin Hanks as Conspiracy Neil Armstrong
Bo Stevenson as Conspiracy Grip
Frank John Hughes as Future Houston Capcom (voice)
Tim Matheson as Houston Capcom (voice)
Matthew McConaughey as Alan Bean (voice)
Neal McDonough as Reservoir Commander (voice)
Paul Newman as David Scott (voice)
Bill Paxton as Edgar Mitchell (voice) [portrayed Fred Haise in Apollo 13]
Barry Pepper as John Young (voice)
Kevin Pollak as Director (voice) [portrayed Joe Shea in From the Earth to the Moon and the voice of Pres. Eisenhower in The Right Stuff]
Julie Shimer as Future Astronaut (voice)
Gary Sinise as Eugene Cernan (voice) [portrayed Ken Mattingly in Apollo 13]
Peter Scolari as Pete Conrad (voice) [reprised From the Earth to the Moon ep. 1 role]
John Travolta as James Irwin (voice)
Donnie Wahlberg as Helium 3 Commander (voice)
Rita Wilson as Beta Station Commander (voice) [portrayed Susan Borman in From the Earth to the Moon]
Awards[edit]
On February 16, 2006, Jack Geist, Johnathan Banta, and Jerome Morin received the award for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Film from the Visual Effects Society for their work on the film.
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ James Newton Howard at Internet Movie Database
2.Jump up ^ Blake Neely at Internet Movie Database
3.Jump up ^ In George Pal's 1950 film, Destination Moon, the moonwalkers are asked, "Can you give us your first impressions of the moon?". Dr. Cargraves (Warner Anderson) replies, "Well, I'll try. The first impression is one of utter barrenness and desolation." The movie was loosely based on Rocket Ship Galileo by Robert A. Heinlein, who also helped write the script. In the book Heinlein describes the moon as "a scene of blistering desert desolation".
4.Jump up ^ Apollo 11 Lunar Surface Journal "One Small Step"
5.Jump up ^ Destination Moon, 1950, at 1:07:24
External links[edit]
Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D official web site
Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D at the Internet Movie Database
Preview: Magnificent Desolation by Jeff Foust, The Space Review, August 1, 2005
Review: Magnificent Desolation by Jeff Foust, The Space Review, September 26, 2005
Review: Magnificent Desolation by Robert Pearlman, collectSPACE, September 20, 2005


[hide]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Tom Hanks


Director
That Thing You Do! (1996) ·
 Larry Crowne (2011)
 

Screenwriter
That Thing You Do! (1996) ·
 From the Earth to the Moon (1998, 4 episodes) ·
 Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D (2005) ·
 Larry Crowne (2011)
 

Producer
Cast Away (2000) ·
 My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) ·
 Connie and Carla (2004) ·
 Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D (2005) ·
 Neil Young: Heart of Gold (2006) ·
 The Ant Bully (2006) ·
 Starter for 10 (2006) ·
 Charlie Wilson's War (2007) ·
 The Great Buck Howard (2008) ·
 City of Ember (2008) ·
 Where the Wild Things Are (2009) ·
 Larry Crowne (2011) ·
 American Idiot (TBA)
 

Executive producer
The Polar Express (2004) ·
 Evan Almighty (2007) ·
 Mamma Mia! (2008) ·
 My Life in Ruins (2009)
 

Television
From the Earth to the Moon (1998) ·
 Band of Brothers (2001) ·
 My Big Fat Greek Life (2003) ·
 The Pacific (2010) ·
 Big Love (2006–2011) ·
 Game Change (2012)
 

Related
Filmography ·
 Playtone ·
 Awards and nominations ·
 Colin Hanks ·
 Rita Wilson
 

 


Categories: English-language films
2005 films
2000s documentary films
IMAX short films
Films about the Apollo program
Playtone films
American documentary films
Documentary films about United States space exploration
2000s 3D films
American 3D films
The Moon in film
3D short films
2000s short films
Short documentary films


Navigation menu



Create account
Log in



Article

Talk









Read

Edit

View history

















Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikimedia Shop

Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page

Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page

Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version

Languages
Polski
Edit links
This page was last modified on 23 July 2014 at 04:12.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Mobile view
Wikimedia Foundation
Powered by MediaWiki
   
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnificent_Desolation:_Walking_on_the_Moon_3D










The Right Stuff (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search


The Right Stuff
Right stuff ver1.jpg
Theatrical release poster

Directed by
Philip Kaufman
Produced by
Irwin Winkler
Screenplay by
Philip Kaufman
Based on
The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe
Starring
Fred Ward
Dennis Quaid
Ed Harris
Scott Glenn
Sam Shepard
Barbara Hershey
Lance Henriksen
Veronica Cartwright
Jane Dornacker
Harry Shearer
Jeff Goldblum
Kim Stanley
Eric Sevareid
Narrated by
Levon Helm
Music by
Bill Conti
Cinematography
Caleb Deschanel
Edited by
Glenn Farr
Lisa Fruchtman
Stephen A. Rotter
Douglas Stewart
 Tom Rolf
Production
   company
The Ladd Company
Distributed by
Warner Bros.
Release date(s)
October 21, 1983 (Limited)
February 17, 1984 (Wide)

Running time
192 minutes[1]
Country
United States
Language
English
 Russian
Budget
$19-27 million
Box office
$21,192,102[2]
The Right Stuff is a 1983 American drama film that was adapted from Tom Wolfe's best-selling 1979 book of the same name about the Navy, Marine and Air Force test pilots who were involved in aeronautical research at Edwards Air Force Base, California, as well as the seven military pilots who were selected to be the astronauts for Project Mercury, the first attempt at manned spaceflight by the United States. The Right Stuff stars Ed Harris, Scott Glenn, Sam Shepard, Fred Ward, Dennis Quaid and Barbara Hershey. Levon Helm is the narrator in the introduction and elsewhere in the film, as well as having a co-starring role as Air Force test pilot Jack Ridley. In 2013 the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[3]


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production


4 Reception

5 Awards and nominations
6 Media
7 Soundtrack
8 See also
9 References


10 External links
Plot[edit]
At the start of the film, a theme is introduced in the format of a black and white 35 mm stock footage of test flights. In this small segment, Helm tells the audience, "There's a demon...that lives in the air. And they say whoever challenged him ... would die." The story contrasts the lives of the "Mercury Seven" and their families with rocket-powered aircraft test pilots like Chuck Yeager. In spite of the fact that he was never selected as an astronaut, Colonel (later Brigadier General) Yeager was considered by many test pilots to be the best of them all.
The story begins in 1947 at Muroc Army Air Field, an arid California military base where test pilots often die flying high-speed aircraft such as the rocket-powered Bell X-1. After a civilian pilot working for Bell Aircraft, Slick Goodlin, demands $150,000 to attempt to break the sound barrier, then-Captain Chuck Yeager receives the chance to fly the X-1...receiving only his standard active duty pay at the time, $283 a month. While on a horseback ride the day before the flight with his wife, Glennis, Yeager collides with a tree branch and breaks his ribs, which inhibits him from leaning over and locking the entry hatch to the X-1. Worried that his injury might become known, Yeager confides in friend and fellow test pilot then-Captain Jack Ridley. Ridley cuts off part of a broomstick and shows Yeager how to use it as a lever to help seal the hatch to the X-1. Yeager becomes the first man to fly at supersonic speed, defeating the "demon in the air".
In 1953, Muroc AAF, now Edwards Air Force Base, still attracts the best test pilots. Yeager (now a colonel) and friendly rival Scott Crossfield repeatedly break the other's speed records. They often visit the Happy Bottom Riding Club run by Pancho Barnes, who classifies the pilots at Edwards as either "prime" (such as Yeager and Crossfield) that fly the best equipment or newer "pudknockers" who only dream about it. Gordon Cooper, Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, and Donald K. "Deke" Slayton, all then-captains in the U.S. Air Force, are among the pilots who hope to prove also that they have "The Right Stuff". The tests are no longer secret, as the military soon recognizes that it needs good publicity for funding, summarized by, "no bucks, no Buck Rogers". Cooper's wife, Trudy, and other wives were afraid of becoming widows, but they cannot change their husbands' ambitions and desire for success and fame.
In 1957, the launch of the Russian Sputnik satellite alarms the United States government. Politicians such as President Dwight D. Eisenhower and then-Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, as well as U.S. military leaders, demand that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) help America defeat the Soviets in the new Space Race. The search for the first Americans in space excludes Yeager, because he lacks a college degree. Grueling physical and mental tests select the Mercury Seven astronauts, including John Glenn of the United States Marine Corps, Scott Carpenter, Alan Shepard, and Walter Schirra of the United States Navy, as well as Cooper, Grissom and Slayton of the United States Air Force. These men immediately became national heroes. Although many early NASA rockets explode during launch, the ambitious astronauts all hope to be the first in space as part of Project Mercury. Although engineers see the men as passengers, the pilots insist that the Mercury spacecraft have a window, a hatch with explosive bolts, and pitch-yaw-roll controls. However, Russia beats them on April 12, 1961 with the launch of Vostok 1 carrying Yuri Gagarin into space. The seven astronauts then decide they've been waiting long enough, and to "get the show on the road".
Shepard is the first American to reach space on the 15-minute sub-orbital spaceflight of Mercury-Redstone 3 on May 5. After Grissom's similar flight of Mercury-Redstone 4 on July 21, the capsule's hatch blows open and quickly fills with water. Grissom escapes, but the spacecraft, overweight with seawater, sinks. Many criticize Grissom for possibly panicking and opening the hatch prematurely. When Glenn's first flight attempt is scrubbed, the head of the program, John P. Ryan, wants Glenn's wife Annie to allow Vice President Lyndon Johnson to "console" her, despite her fear of public speaking due to a stutter. The astronauts back Glenn up, when he refuses to let Johnson and the TV cameras to "so much as set one toe inside (our) house." Glenn eventually became the first American to orbit the Earth on Mercury-Atlas 6 on February 20, 1962, surviving a possibly loose heat shield, and receives a ticker-tape parade. He, his colleagues, and their families become celebrities, including a gigantic celebration, sponsored and emceed by Vice President Johnson, in the Sam Houston Coliseum to announce the opening of the Manned Space Center in Houston, where astronauts from all over the world now train.
Although test pilots at Edwards AFB mock the Mercury program for sending "spam in a can" into space, they recognize that they are no longer the fastest men on Earth, and Yeager states that, "It takes a special kind of man to volunteer for a suicide mission, especially when it's on national TV." While testing the new Lockheed NF-104A, Yeager attempts to set a new altitude record at the edge of space, but is nearly killed in a high-speed ejection when his engine ran out of air at altitude and failed to restart, causing the airplane to go into a flat spin.
According to Yeager the actual failure was in hydrogen peroxide thrusters intended to control attitude for main engine restart. Although badly burned, after reaching the ground Yeager gathered up his parachute and walked to the ambulance, proving that he still has "the right stuff".[4]
Cooper's successful launch on May 15, 1963 on Mercury-Atlas 9, ends the Mercury program. As the last American to fly into space alone, he "went higher, farther, and faster than any other American ... for a brief moment, Gordon Cooper became the greatest pilot anyone had ever seen."
Cast[edit]
Fred Ward as Gus Grissom, USAF
Dennis Quaid as Gordon Cooper, USAF
Ed Harris as John Glenn, USMC
Scott Glenn as Alan Shepard, USN
Sam Shepard as Chuck Yeager, Colonel, USAF
Barbara Hershey as Glennis Yeager
Lance Henriksen as Walter Schirra, USN
Veronica Cartwright as Betty Grissom
Jane Dornacker as Nurse Murch
Harry Shearer and Jeff Goldblum as the NASA recruiters sent to find astronaut candidates
Kim Stanley as Pancho Barnes
Pamela Reed as Trudy Cooper
Scott Paulin as Donald K. Slayton, USAF
Charles Frank as Scott Carpenter, USN
Donald Moffat as U.S. Senator and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson
Levon Helm as Jack Ridley, USAF and the narrator
Mary Jo Deschanel as Annie Glenn
Scott Wilson as Scott Crossfield, a civilian test pilot for the North American Aviation Company
Kathy Baker as Louise Shepard
Mickey Crocker as Marge Slayton
Susan Kase as Rene Carpenter
Mittie Smith as Jo Schirra
Royal Dano as a Minister
David Clennon as a Liaison Man
John P. Ryan as the Head of the Manned Space Program
Eric Sevareid as himself
William Russ as Slick Goodlin
Robert Beer as President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Peggy Davis as Sally Rand
John Dehner as Henry Luce
Royce Grones as the first X-1 pilot, who was Jack Woolams
Brigadier General Chuck Yeager, USAF (Ret) as Fred, the bartender at Pancho's saloon
Anthony Munoz as Gonzales
The following real people also appeared in archive footage in uncredited cameos: Ed Sullivan with Bill Dana (playing his character José Jiménez). Yuri Gagarin and Nikita Khrushchev are seen embracing at a review, along with Georgi Malenkov, Nikolai Bulganin, Kliment Voroshilov, and Anastas Mikoyan in attendance. Lyndon B. Johnson and John F. Kennedy are also seen.
Production[edit]
In 1979, independent producers Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler outbid Universal Pictures for the movie rights to Tom Wolfe's book,[5] hiring William Goldman to write the screenplay. At Winkler's suggestion, Goldman's adaptation focused on the astronauts, entirely ignoring Chuck Yeager.[6] Goldman was inspired to accept the job because he wanted to say something patriotic about America in the wake of the Iran hostage crisis.
In June 1980, United Artists agreed to finance the film up to $20 million and the producers began looking for a director. Michael Ritchie and John Avildsen were originally attached but both fell through.[7] They approached director Philip Kaufman who agreed to make the film but did not like Goldman's script, disliking the emphasis on patriotism and wanting Yeager put back in the film.[8] Eventually Goldman quit the project in August 1980 and United Artists pulled out.
When Wolfe showed no interest in adapting his own book, Kaufman wrote a draft in eight weeks.[5] His draft restored Yeager to the story because "if you're tracing how the future began, the future in space travel, it began really with Yeager and the world of the test pilots. The astronauts descended from them".[9]
After the financial failure of Heaven's Gate, the studio put The Right Stuff in turnaround and The Ladd Company stepped in with an estimated $17 million.
Actor Ed Harris auditioned twice in 1981 for the role of John Glenn. Originally, Kaufman wanted to use a troupe of contortionists to portray the press corps, but settled on the improvisational comedy troupe Fratelli Bologna, known for its sponsorship of "St. Stupid's Day" in San Francisco.[10] The director created a snake-like hiss to accompany the press corps whenever they appear, which was achieved through a sound combination of (among other things) motorized Nikon cameras and clicking beetles.[10]
Shot between March and October 1982, with additional filming continuing into January 1983, most of the film was shot in and around San Francisco, where a waterfront warehouse was transformed into a studio.[5][N 1] Location shooting took place primarily at the abandoned Hamilton Air Force Base north of San Francisco which was converted into a sound stage for the numerous interior sets.[11] No location could substitute for the distinctive Edwards Air Force Base landscape which necessitated the entire production crew move to the Mojave Desert for the opening sequences that framed the story of the test pilots at Muroc Army Air Field, later Edwards AFB.[12]
Yeager was hired as a technical consultant on the film. He took the actors flying, studied the storyboards and special effects, and pointed out the errors. To prepare for their roles, Kaufman gave the actors playing the seven astronauts an extensive videotape collection to study.[5]
The efforts at making an authentic feature led to the use of many full size aircraft, scale models and special effects to replicate the scenes at Edwards Air Force Base and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.[13] According to special visual effects supervisor Gary Gutierrez, the first special effects were too clean and they wanted a "dirty, funky, early NASA look."[5] K Gutierrez and his team started from scratch, employing unconventional techniques—like going up a hill with model airplanes on wires and fog machines to create clouds, or shooting model F-104s from a crossbow device and capturing their flight with up to four cameras.[5] Avant garde filmmaker Jordan Belson created the background of the Earth as seen from high-flying planes and from orbiting spacecraft.[9]
Kaufman gave his five editors a list of documentary images the film required and they searched the country for film from NASA, the Air Force, and Bell Aircraft vaults.[5] They also discovered Russian stock footage not viewed in 30 years. During the course of the production, Kaufman met with resistance from the Ladd Company and threatened to quit several times.[5] In December 1982, 8,000 feet of film portraying John Glenn's trip in orbit and return to Earth disappeared or was stolen from Kaufman's editing facility in Berkeley, California. The missing footage was never found but the footage was reconstructed from copies.[10]
Historical accuracy[edit]
Although The Right Stuff was based on historical events and real people, as chronicled in Wolfe's book, some substantial dramatic liberties were taken. Neither Yeager's flight in the X-1 to break the sound barrier early in the film or his later, nearly-fatal flight in the NF-104A were spur-of-moment, capriciously decided events, as the film seems to imply - they actually were part of the routine testing program for both aircraft. Yeager had already test-flown both aircraft a number of times previously and was very familiar with them.[14][15] Jack Ridley had actually died in 1957,[16] even though his character appears in several key scenes taking place after that, most notably including Yeager's 1963 flight of the NF-104A.
The Right Stuff depicts Cooper arriving at Edwards in 1953, reminiscing with Grissom there about the two of them having supposedly flown together at the Langley Air Force Base and then hanging out with Grissom and Slayton, including all three supposedly being present at Edwards when Scott Crossfield flew at Mach 2 in November 1953.[17] They talk about being recruited together there for the astronaut program in late 1957, with Grissom supposedly expressing keen interest in becoming a "star-voyager". According to their respective NASA biographies, none of the three was posted to Edwards before 1955 (Slayton)[18] or 1956 (Grissom and Cooper),[19][20] and neither of the latter two had previously trained at Langley. By the time astronaut recruitment began in late 1957 after the Soviets had orbited Sputnik, Grissom had already left Edwards and returned to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, where he had served previously and was happy with his new assignment there. Grissom did not even know he was under consideration for the astronaut program until he received mysterious orders "out of the blue" to report to Washington in civilian clothing for what turned out to be a recruitment session for NASA.[19]
Film models[edit]



 A replica of the Glamorous Glennis which was used in filming The Right Stuff. Now on display at the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center in Hutchinson, Kansas.
A large number of film models were assembled for the production; for the more than 80 aircraft appearing in the film, static mock-ups and models were used as well as authentic aircraft of the period.[21] Lieutenant Colonel Duncan Wilmore, USAF (Ret) acted as the United States Air Force liaison to the production, beginning his role as a technical consultant in 1980 when the pre-production planning had begun. The first draft of the script in 1980 had concentrated only on the Mercury 7 but as subsequent revisions developed the treatment into more of the original story that Wolfe had envisioned, the aircraft of late-1940s that would have been seen at Edwards AFB were required. Wilmore gathered World War II era "prop" aircraft including:
Douglas A-26 Invader
North American P-51 Mustang
North American T-6 Texan and
Boeing B-29 Superfortress
The first group were mainly "set dressing" on the ramp while the Confederate Air Force (now renamed the Commemorative Air Force) B-29 "Fifi" was modified to act as the B-29 "mothership" to carry the Bell X-1 and X-1A rocket-powered record-breakers.[22]
Other "real" aircraft included the early jet fighters and trainers as well as current USAF and United States Navy examples. These flying aircraft and helicopters included:
Douglas A-4 Skyhawk
LTV A-7 Corsair II
North American F-86 Sabre
Convair F-106 Delta Dart
McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II
Sikorsky H-34 Choctaw
Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King
Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star
Northrop T-38 Talon[23]
A number of aircraft significant to the story had to be recreated. The first was an essentially static X-1 that had to at least roll and even realistically "belch flame" which was accomplished by a simulated rocket blast from the exhaust pipes.[21] A series of wooden mock-up X-1s were used to depict interior shots of the cockpit, the mating up of the X-1 to a modified B-29 fuselage and bomb bay and ultimately to recreate flight in a combination of model work and live-action photography. The "follow-up" X-1A was also an all-wooden model.[22]
The U.S. Navy's Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket that Crossfield duelled with Yeager's X-1 and X-1A was recreated from a modified Hawker Hunter jet fighter. The climactic flight of Yeager in a Lockheed NF-104A was originally to be made with a modified Lockheed F-104 Starfighter but ultimately, Wilmore made the decision that the production had to make do with a repainted Luftwaffe F-104G, which lacks the rocket engine of the NF-104.[22]
Wooden mock-ups of the Mercury space capsules also realistically depicted the NASA spacecraft and were built from the original mold.[9]
For many of the flying sequences, scale models were produced by USFX Studios and filmed outdoors in natural sunlight against the sky. Even off-the-shelf plastic scale models were utilized for aerial scenes. The X-1, F-104 and B-29 models were built in large numbers as a number of the more than 40 scale models were destroyed in the process of filming.[24] The blending together of miniatures, full-scale mock-ups and actual aircraft was seamlessly integrated into the live-action footage. The addition of original newsreel footage was used sparingly but to effect to provide another layer of authenticity.[25]
MPAA Rating[edit]
The film was originally rated "R" (Restricted, which means no one under 17 admitted) by the Motion Picture Association of America because of some strong language (the word "fuck" is used 5 times, which meant a near-impossible chance of it not being rated "R") a scene of implied masturbation and other hard content; but it was given a "PG" rating on appeal (the PG-13 rating did not exist then; it was created the year after this film was released).[26]
Reception[edit]
Box office[edit]
The Right Stuff had its world premiere on October 16, 1983, at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., to benefit the American Film Institute.[27][28] It was given a limited release on October 21, 1983, in 229 theaters, grossing $1.6 million on its opening weekend. It went into wide release on February 17, 1984, in 627 theaters where it grossed an additional $1.6 million on that weekend.
As part of the promotion for the film, Veronica Cartwright, Chuck Yeager, Gordon Cooper, Scott Glenn and Dennis Quaid appeared in 1983 at ConStellation, the 41st World Science Fiction Convention in Baltimore.[29]
Reviews[edit]
The Right Stuff was well received by critics and currently holds a 97% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[30] Film critic Roger Ebert named The Right Stuff best film of 1983, and wrote, "it joins a short list of recent American movies that might be called experimental epics: movies that have an ambitious reach through time and subject matter, that spend freely for locations or special effects, but that consider each scene as intently as an art film".[31] He later named it one of the best films of the decade and wrote, "The Right Stuff is a greater film because it is not a straightforward historical account but pulls back to chronicle the transition from Yeager and other test pilots to a mighty public relations enterprise". He later put it at #2 on his 10 best of the 1980s, behind Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull.[32] Gene Siskel, Ebert's co-host of At the Movies, also named The Right Stuff the best film of 1983, and said "It's a great film, and I hope everyone sees it." Siskel also went on to include The Right Stuff at #3 on his list of the best films of the 1980s, behind Shoah and Raging Bull.[33]
In his review for Newsweek, David Ansen wrote, "When The Right Stuff takes to the skies, it can't be compared with any other movie, old or new: it's simply the most thrilling flight footage ever put on film".[5] Gary Arnold in his review for the Washington Post, wrote, "The movie is obviously so solid and appealing that it's bound to go through the roof commercially and keep on soaring for the next year of so".[28] In his review for The New York Times, Vincent Canby praised Shepard's performance: "Both as the character he plays and as an iconic screen presence, Mr. Shepard gives the film much well-needed heft. He is the center of gravity".[34] Pauline Kael wrote, "The movie has the happy, excited spirit of a fanfare, and it's astonishingly entertaining, considering what a screw-up it is".[35]
Yeager said of the film: "Sam [Shepard] is not a real flamboyant actor, and I'm not a real flamboyant-type individual ... he played his role the way I fly airplanes".[5] Deke Slayton said that none of the film "was all that accurate, but it was well done".[36] Slayton later described the film as being "as bad as the book was good, just a joke".[37] Walter Schirra said, "They insulted the lovely people who talked us through the program - the NASA engineers. They made them like bumbling Germans".[36] Scott Carpenter felt that it was a "great movie in all regards".[36]
Robert Osborne, who introduced showings of the film on Turner Classic Movies, was quite enthusiastic about the film. The cameo appearance by the real Chuck Yeager in the film was a particular "treat" which Osborne cited. The recounting of many of the legendary aspects of Yeager's life was left in place, including the naming of the X-1, "Glamorous Glennis" after his wife and his superstitious preflight ritual of asking for a stick of Beemans chewing gum from his best friend, Jack Ridley.[N 2]
When the film came out, the former (and future) astronaut and Senator John Glenn of Ohio was running for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States.
While the film took liberties with certain historical facts as part of "dramatic license", criticism focused on one: the portrayal of Gus Grissom panicking when his Liberty Bell 7 spacecraft sank following splashdown. Most historians, as well as engineers working for or with NASA and many of the related contractor agencies within the aerospace industry, are now convinced that the premature detonation of the spacecraft hatch's explosive bolts was caused by mechanical failure not associated with direct human error or deliberate detonation at the hands of Grissom.[N 3] This determination had, in fact, been made long before the film was completed,[38] and both Schirra and Gordon Cooper were critical of The Right Stuff for its treatment of Grissom.[39][40] However, Kaufman was closely following Tom Wolfe's book, which focused not on how or why the hatch actually blew, but how NASA engineers and some of Grissom's colleagues (and even his own wife) did perceive him to be the cause of the accident; much of the dialogue in this sequence was in fact, taken directly from Wolfe's prose.[41]
Awards and nominations[edit]
The Right Stuff won four Academy Awards: for Best Sound Effects Editing (Jay Boekelheide); for Best Film Editing; for Best Original Score; and for Best Sound (Mark Berger, Tom Scott, Randy Thom and David MacMillan).[42]
The film was also nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Sam Shepard), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (Geoffrey Kirkland, Richard Lawrence, W. Stewart Campbell, Peter R. Romero, Jim Poynter, George R. Nelson), Best Cinematography (Caleb Deschanel) and Best Picture.[43] The movie was also nominated for the Hugo Award in 1984 for Best Dramatic Presentation.[44]
Media[edit]
On June 23, 2003, Warner Bros. released a two-disc DVD Special Edition that featured scene-specific commentaries with key cast and crew members, deleted scenes, three documentaries on the making of The Right Stuff including interviews with Mercury astronauts and Chuck Yeager, and a feature-length PBS documentary, John Glenn: American Hero. These extras are also included in the Nov. 5, 2013 release of the 30th Anniversary edition, which also includes a 40-page book binding case, the film in Blu-ray format. The extras are in standard DVD format.
In addition, the British Film Institute published a book on The Right Stuff by Tom Charity in October 1997 that offered a detailed analysis and behind-the-scenes anecdotes.
Soundtrack[edit]
The soundtrack to The Right Stuff was released on September 20, 2013.

No.
Title
Artist
Length

1. "Breaking The Sound Barrier"   Bill Conti 4:46
2. "Mach I"   Bill Conti 1:23
3. "Training Hard / Russian Moon"   Bill Conti 2:17
4. "Tango"   Bill Conti 2:20
5. "Mach II"   Bill Conti 1:58
6. "The Eyes Of Texas Are Upon You / The Yellow Rose Of Texas / Deep In The Heart Of Texas / Dixie"   Bill Conti 2:50
7. "Yeager and the F104"   Bill Conti 2:26
8. "Light This Candle"   Bill Conti 2:45
9. "Glenn's Flight"   Bill Conti 5:08
10. "Daybreak in Space"   Bill Conti 2:48
11. "Yeager's Triumph"   Bill Conti 5:39
12. "The Right Stuff (Single)"   Bill Conti 3:11
Total length:
 37:31[45] 
See also[edit]
Astronaut
Flight airspeed record
Test pilot
References[edit]
Notes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Downtown San Francisco doubled for Lower Manhattan in the ticker-tape parade scene after John Glenn's return to Earth. The scene was shot at the intersection of California and Montgomery Streets in the Financial District, and the Pacific Stock Exchange on the corner of Sansome and Pine Streets can be spotted doubling for the New York Stock Exchange in the final part of the scene.[5]
2.Jump up ^ This allusion to Beemans chewing gum was later included in The Rocketeer (1991).
3.Jump up ^ Schirra proved that activating the hatch explosives would have left a large welt on any part of the body that came in contact with the trigger. He proved this on his Mercury flight when he intentionally blew the hatch on October 3, 1962 when his spacecraft was on the deck of the recovery carrier.[38]
Citations[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "Columbia-EMI Warner: The Right Stuff". British Board of Film Classification, November 29, 1983, Retrieved: October 16, 2013.
2.Jump up ^ The Right Stuff at Box Office Mojo
3.Jump up ^ "Library of Congress announces 2013 National Film Registry selections" (Press release). Washington Post, December 18, 2013. Retrieved: December 18, 2013.
4.Jump up ^ "The Crash of Yeager's NF-104." Check-Six.com . Retrieved: August 22, 2013.
5.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k Ansen, David and Katrine Ames. "A Movie with All 'The Right Stuff'." Newsweek, October 3, 1983, p. 38.
6.Jump up ^ Goldman 2001, p. 254.
7.Jump up ^ Goldman 2001, p 257.
8.Jump up ^ Goldman 2001, p. 258.
9.^ Jump up to: a b c Wilford, John Noble. "'The Right Stuff': From Space to Screen." The New York Times, October 16, 1983. Retrieved: December 29, 2008.
10.^ Jump up to: a b c Williams, Christian. "A Story that Pledges Allegiance to Drama and Entertainment." Washington Post, October 20, 1983, A18.
11.Jump up ^ Farmer 1984, p. 34.
12.Jump up ^ Farmer 1984, p. 41.
13.Jump up ^ Farmer 1983, p. 47.
14.Jump up ^ Young, Dr. James.. "Mach Buster." Air Force Flight Test Center History Office, 2014. Retrieved: July 14, 2014.
15.Jump up ^ "Chuck Yeager, in his our words, regarding his experience with the NF-104." Check-six.com, April 23, 2014. Retrieved: July 14, 2014.
16.Jump up ^ "Jack Ridley." Nasa September 18, 1997. Retrieved: July 14, 2014.
17.Jump up ^ "Famed aviator Scott Crossfield dies in plane crash." The Seattle Times, April 19, 2006.
18.Jump up ^ Gray, Tara. "Donald K. 'Deke' Slayton". NASA. Retrieved: July 14, 2014.
19.^ Jump up to: a b Zornio, Mary C. Virgil Ivan 'Gus' Grissom." NASA. Retrieved: July 14, 2014.
20.Jump up ^ Gray, Tara. "L. Gordon Cooper, Jr." NASA. Retrieved: July 14, 2014.
21.^ Jump up to: a b Farmer 1983, p. 49.
22.^ Jump up to: a b c Farmer 1983, pp. 50–51.
23.Jump up ^ Farmer 1983, p. 51.
24.Jump up ^ Farmer 1984, pp. 72–73.
25.Jump up ^ Farmer 1984, p. 66.
26.Jump up ^ "Parent's Gude to 'The Right Stuff' (1983)." IMDb. Retrieved: August 22, 2013.
27.Jump up ^ Morganthau, Tom and Richard Manning. "Glenn Meets the Dream Machine." Newsweek, October 3, 1983, p. 36.
28.^ Jump up to: a b Arnold, Gary. "The Stuff of Dreams." Washington Post, October 16, 1983, p. G1.
29.Jump up ^ "1983 World Science Fiction Convention." fanac.org, 2012. Retrieved: September 5, 2012.
30.Jump up ^ "The Right Stuff." rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved: February 22, 2010.
31.Jump up ^ Ebert, Roger. "'The Right Stuff'." Chicago Sun-Times, October 21, 1983. Retrieved: December 29, 2008.
32.Jump up ^ Ebert, Roger. "'The Right Stuff': Great Movies." Chicago Sun-Times, March 16, 2002. Retrieved: December 29, 2008.
33.Jump up ^ "At the Movies-Best of 1983." Youtube. Retrieved: May 14, 2013.
34.Jump up ^ Canby, Vincent. "'Right Stuff', On Astronauts." The New York Times, October 21, 1983. Retrieved: December 29, 2008
35.Jump up ^ Kael, Pauline. "The Sevens". The New Yorker, October 17, 1983.
36.^ Jump up to: a b c Bumiller, Elisabeth and Phil McCombs. "The Premiere: A Weekend Full of American Heroes and American Hype." Washington Post, October 17, 1983, p. B1.
37.Jump up ^ Slayton 1994, p. 317.
38.^ Jump up to: a b Buckbee and Schirra 2005, pp. 72–73.
39.Jump up ^ Buckbee and Schirra 2005, p. 72.
40.Jump up ^ Cooper 2000, p. 33.
41.Jump up ^ Wolfe 1983, chapter 10 "The Unscrewable Pooch".
42.Jump up ^ "The 56th Academy Awards (1984) Nominees and Winners." oscars.org. Retrieved: October 10, 2011.
43.Jump up ^ "'The Right Stuff'." The New York Times. Retrieved: January 1, 2009.
44.Jump up ^ "1984 Hugo Awards." thehugoawards.org. Retrieved: September 5, 2012.
45.Jump up ^ The Right Stuff Soundtrack AllMusic. Retrieved February 2, 2014
Bibliography[edit]
Buckbee, Ed and Walter Schirra. The Real Space Cowboys. Burlington, Ontario: Apogee Books, 2005. ISBN 1-894959-21-3.
Charity, Tom. The Right Stuff (BFI Modern Classics). London: British Film Institute, 1991. ISBN 0-85170-624-X.
Conti, Bill (with London Symphony Orchestra). The Right Stuff: Symphonic Suite; North and South: Symphonic Suite. North Hollywood, California: Varèse Sarabande, 1986 (WorldCat).
Cooper, Gordon. Leap of Faith. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 2000. ISBN 0-06-019416-2.
Farmer, Jim. "Filming the Right Stuff." Air Classics, Part One: Vol. 19, No. 12, December 1983, Part Two: Vol. 20, No. 1, January 1984.
Glenn, John. John Glenn: A Memoir. New York: Bantam, 1999. ISBN 0-553-11074-8.
Goldman, William. Which Lie Did I Tell?: More Adventures in the Screen Trade. New York: Vintage Books USA, 2001. ISBN 0-375-70319-5.
Hansen, James R. First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005. ISBN 0-7432-5631-X.
Wolfe, Tom. The Right Stuff. New York: Bantam, 2001. ISBN 0-553-38135-0.
Slayton, Deke and Michael Cassutt. Deke! U.S. Manned Space: From Mercury to the Shuttle. New York: Tom Doherty Associates, 1994. ISBN 0-312-85503-6
External links[edit]
The Right Stuff at the Internet Movie Database
The Right Stuff at the TCM Movie Database
The Right Stuff at Box Office Mojo
The Right Stuff at Rotten Tomatoes


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Works by Tom Wolfe














































[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Films directed by Philip Kaufman

















 


Categories: 1983 films
1980s drama films
American films
American drama films
English-language films
Russian-language films
Films directed by Philip Kaufman
American aviation films
Films that won the Best Original Score Academy Award
Cold War films
Films about space programs
Films based on non-fiction books
Films set in the 1940s
Films set in 1947
Films set in the 1950s
Films set in 1953
Films set in 1957
Films set in the 1960s
Films shot in California
Films shot in San Francisco, California
Films that won the Best Sound Mixing Academy Award
Films whose editor won the Best Film Editing Academy Award
Levon Helm
Project Mercury
Tom Wolfe
Warner Bros. films
United States National Film Registry films
Films that won the Best Sound Editing Academy Award
Space adventure films




Navigation menu



Create account
Log in



Article

Talk









Read

Edit

View history

















Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikimedia Shop

Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page

Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page

Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version

Languages
العربية
Català
Dansk
Deutsch
Español
Français
Hrvatski
Bahasa Indonesia
Italiano
Македонски
Bahasa Melayu
Nederlands
日本語
Norsk bokmål
Polski
Português
Русский
Simple English
中文
Edit links
This page was last modified on 3 August 2014 at 14:05.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Mobile view
Wikimedia Foundation
Powered by MediaWiki
   
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Right_Stuff_(film)









The Right Stuff (book)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

This article is about the book by Tom Wolfe. For other uses, see The Right Stuff.
The Right Stuff
The Right Stuff (book).jpg
First edition

Author
Tom Wolfe
Country
United States
Language
English
Genre
New Journalism
Non-fiction
Publisher
Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Publication date
 1979
Media type
Print (hardcover & paperback)
Pages
436 pages
ISBN
0-374-25032-4
OCLC
5007334

Dewey Decimal
 629.4/0973 19
LC Class
TL789.8.U5 W64 1979
The Right Stuff is a 1979 book by Tom Wolfe about the pilots engaged in U.S. postwar experiments with experimental rocket-powered, high-speed aircraft as well as documenting the stories of the first Project Mercury astronauts selected for the NASA space program. The Right Stuff is based on extensive research by Wolfe, who interviewed test pilots, the astronauts and their wives, among others. The story contrasts the "Mercury Seven"[1] and their families with test pilots such as Chuck Yeager, who was considered by many contemporaries as the best of them all, but who was never selected as an astronaut.
Wolfe wrote that the book was inspired by the desire to find out why the astronauts accepted the danger of space flight. He recounts the enormous risks that test pilots were already taking, and the mental and physical characteristics—the titular "right stuff"—required for and reinforced by their jobs. Wolfe likens the astronauts to "single combat warriors" from an earlier era who received the honor and adoration of their people before going forth to fight on their behalf.
The 1983 film, The Right Stuff, is adapted from the book.


Contents  [hide]
1 Writing and publication
2 Book
3 Film adaptation
4 References 4.1 Notes
5 External links

Writing and publication[edit]



First-state dust jacket, showing initial design never released in a public edition[2]
In 1972 Jann Wenner, the editor of Rolling Stone assigned Wolfe to cover the launch of NASA's last moon mission, Apollo 17. Wolfe became fascinated with the astronauts, and his competitive spirit compelled him to try to outdo Norman Mailer's nonfiction novel about the first moon mission, Of a Fire on the Moon. He published a four-part series for Rolling Stone in 1973 titled "Post-Orbital Remorse", about the depression that some astronauts experienced after having been in space. After the series, Wolfe began researching the whole of the space program, in what became a seven-year project from which he took time to write The Painted Word, a book on art, and to complete Mauve Gloves & Madmen, Clutter & Vine, a collection of shorter pieces.[3]
In 1977 he returned to his astronaut book full-time. Wolfe originally planned to write a complete history of the space program, though after writing through the Mercury program, he felt that his work was complete and that it captured the astronauts' ethos — the "right stuff" that astronauts and test pilots of the 1940s and 1950s shared — the unspoken code of bravery and machismo that compelled these men to ride on top of dangerous rockets. While conducting research, he consulted with General Chuck Yeager and, after receiving a comprehensive review of his manuscript, was convinced that test pilots like Yeager should form the backdrop of the period. In the end, Yeager becomes a personification of the many postwar test pilots and their "right stuff."[4]
The Right Stuff was published in 1979 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux and became Wolfe's best selling book yet. It was praised by most critics, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and won the National Book Award for Nonfiction.[5][6]
In the foreword to a new edition, published in 1983 when the film adaptation was released, Wolfe wrote that his "book grew out of some ordinary curiosity" about what "makes a man willing to sit up on top of an enormous Roman candle… and wait for someone to light the fuse."[7]
Book[edit]



 The Mercury Seven: (left to right, back row) Alan Shepard, Virgil "Gus" Grissom and L. Gordon Cooper; (front row) Walter Schirra, Donald "Deke" Slayton, John Glenn and Scott Carpenter.
The story is more about the space race than space exploration in general. The Soviet Union's early space efforts are mentioned only as background, focusing entirely on an early portion of the U.S. space program. Only Project Mercury, the first operational manned space-flight program, is covered. The Mercury Seven were Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard, and Deke Slayton. Emphasis is given to the personal stories of the astronauts and their wives rather than the technical aspects of space travel and the flights themselves.
The storyline also involves the political reasons for putting people into space, asserting that the Mercury astronauts were actually a burden to the program and were only sent up for promotional reasons. Reasons for including living beings in spacecraft are barely touched upon, but the first option considered was to use a chimpanzee (and, indeed, chimpanzees were sent up first).
Another option considered were athletes already accustomed to physical stress, such as circus trapeze artists. Wolfe states that President Dwight D. Eisenhower, however, insisted on pilots, even though the first crew members would not actually fly the spacecraft. When Gus Grissom lands at sea and exits his space capsule, saving the capsule seems more important to the recovery team than saving the pilot because of the value of the data.
Wolfe contrasts the Seven with the Edwards AFB test pilots, among whom was Chuck Yeager, who was shut out of the astronaut program after NASA officials decided to use college-degreed pilots, not ones who gained their commissions as enlisted men, such as participants in the USAAF Flying Sergeants Program in World War II. Chuck Yeager spent time with Tom Wolfe explaining accident reports "that Wolfe kept getting all wrong." Publishing insiders say these sessions between Wolfe and Yeager led Wolfe to highlight Yeager's character, presence, thoughts, and anecdotes throughout the book. As an example, Yeager prides his speech to the Society of Test Pilots that the first rider in the Mercury development program would be a monkey, not a real test pilot, and Wolfe plays this drama out on the angst felt by the Mercury Astronauts over those remarks. Yeager himself downplayed the theory of "the right stuff," attributing his survival of potential catastrophes to simply knowing his airplane thoroughly, along with some good luck.
Another test pilot highlighted in the book is Scott Crossfield. Crossfield and Yeager were fierce but friendly rivals for speed and altitude records.
Film adaptation[edit]
Main article: The Right Stuff (film)
A 3-hour, 13-minute film stars Sam Shepard, Scott Glenn, Ed Harris, Dennis Quaid, Fred Ward, Barbara Hershey, Kim Stanley, Levon Helm, Veronica Cartwright, Pamela Reed, Lance Henriksen, and the real Chuck Yeager in a cameo appearance. NFL Hall of Famer Anthony Muñoz also has a small role, playing "Gonzalez". It features a score by composer Bill Conti.
The screenplay was adapted by Philip Kaufman from the book, with some contributions from screenwriter William Goldman (Goldman dissociated himself with the film after quarrelling with Kaufman about the story). The film was also directed by Kaufman.
While the movie took liberties with certain historical facts as part of "dramatic license", criticism focused on one: the portrayal of Gus Grissom panicking when his Liberty Bell 7 spacecraft sank following splashdown. Most historians, as well as engineers working for or with NASA and many of the related contractor agencies within the aerospace industry, are now convinced that the premature detonation of the spacecraft hatch's explosive bolts was caused by failure not associated with direct human error or deliberate detonation at the hands of Grissom.[citation needed]
This determination had, in fact, been made long before the movie was filmed, and even Tom Wolfe's book only states that this possibility was considered, not that it was actually judged as being the cause of the accident. In fact, Grissom was assigned to command the first flights of both Gemini and Apollo. Ironically, Grissom died in the Apollo 1 fire because there was no quick-opening hatch on the Block 1 Apollo Command Module - a design choice made because NASA had determined that the explosion in the hatch on Grissom's Liberty Bell 7 had been most likely self-initiated.[citation needed]
Another fact that had been altered in the film was the statement by Trudy Cooper, who commented that she "wondered how they would've felt if every time their husband went in to make a deal, there was a one-in-four chance he wouldn't come out of that meeting." According to the book, this actually reflected the 23% chance of dying during a 20-year career as a normal pilot. For a test pilot, these odds were higher, at 53%, but were still considerably less than the movie implied. In addition, the movie merely used the fictional Mrs. Cooper as a vehicle for the statement; the real Mrs. Cooper is not known to have said this.[8]
Wolfe made no secret that he disliked the film, especially because of changes from his original book. William Goldman, involved in early drafts of the script, also disliked the choices made by Kaufman, saying in his book Adventures in the Screen Trade that "Phil [Kaufman]'s heart was with Yeager. And not only that, he felt the astronauts, rather than being heroic, were really minor leaguers, mechanical men of no particular quality, not great pilots at all, simply the product of hype.”[9] Critics, however, generally were favorable toward the film.
References[edit]
Notes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Wolfe 2001, p. 143. Note: Wolfe uses this term exactly once.
2.Jump up ^ "The Right Stuff." ABE books. Retrieved: 3 November 2009.
3.Jump up ^ Ragen 2001, pp. 22–26.
4.Jump up ^ Wolfe 1979, p. 368.
5.Jump up ^ Ragen 2001, p. 26–28.
6.Jump up ^ "National Book Awards – 1980". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-02-21.
 This was the award for General Nonfiction (hardcover) during a period in National Book Awards history when there were many nonfiction subcategories.
7.Jump up ^ Wolfe 2001, Foreword.
8.Jump up ^ Wolfe 1979, p. 22.
9.Jump up ^ Goldman 1983
Bibliography
Bryan, C.D.B. "The Right Stuff (review)." New York Times, 23 September 1979.
Charity, Tom. The Right Stuff (BFI Modern Classics). London: British Film Institute, 1991. ISBN 0-85170-624-X.
Goldman, William (1989). Adventures in the Screen Trade: A Personal View of Hollywood and Screenwriting (reissue ed.). Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 0-446-39117-4.
Ragen, Brian Abel, ed. Tom Wolfe: A Critical Companion. West Port, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2001. ISBN 0-313-31383-0.
Wolfe, Tom. The Right Stuff. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1979, ISBN 0-374-25032-4.
Wolfe, Tom. The Right Stuff. New York: Bantam, 1979, ISBN 0-553-24063-3.
Wolfe, Tom. The Right Stuff. New York: Bantam, 2001, 1979, ISBN 0-553-38135-0.
External links[edit]
Publisher's blurb for The Right Stuff
Tom Wolfe's 1983 foreword to The Right Stuff


[hide]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Works by Tom Wolfe


Novels
The Bonfire of the Vanities (1987) ·
 A Man in Full (1998) ·
 I Am Charlotte Simmons (2004) ·
 Back to Blood (2012)
 

Non-fiction
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968) ·
 Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers (1970) ·
 The New Journalism (1975) ·
 The Painted Word (1975) ·
 The Right Stuff (1979) ·
 In Our Time (1980) ·
 From Bauhaus to Our House (1981) ·
 The Purple Decades (1982)
 

Essay collections
The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby (1965) ·
 The Pump House Gang (1968) ·
 Mauve Gloves & Madmen, Clutter & Vine (1976) ·
 Hooking Up (2000)
 

Essays
Pornoviolence (1967) ·
 The "Me" Decade and the Third Great Awakening (1976) ·
 Stalking the Billion-Footed Beast (1989)
 

Film adaptations
The Last American Hero (1973) ·
 The Right Stuff (1983) ·
 The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990)
 

 


Categories: 1979 books
Books by Tom Wolfe
History books about the United States
Project Mercury
Aviation books
National Book Award for Nonfiction winning works
Farrar, Straus and Giroux books
Spaceflight books






Navigation menu



Create account
Log in



Article

Talk









Read

Edit

View history

















Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikimedia Shop

Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page

Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page

Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version

Languages
Nederlands
日本語
Polski
Português
Edit links
This page was last modified on 1 July 2014 at 10:13.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Mobile view
Wikimedia Foundation
Powered by MediaWiki
   
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Right_Stuff_(book)#Film_adaptation