Review of The Right Stuff (1983) by Marco F — 01 Jun 2014

Entralling, unnaturally ambitious and very funny, THE RIGHT STUFF is one of the great and original films of modern times, and certainly one of the best films made over the last 40 years. It succeeds and works on every level it aspires to. There is not one false note in acting, directing or writing here- this is a beautiful piece of filmmaking right on through.

The movie is set from 1947-1963, and it is about the transitional period of American heroes, from the lone, mysterious warrior to a group of corporation-type team players. It first starts with the lone hero, who is Air Force test pilot Chuck Yeager, (played by playwright Sam Shepard) who was the first man to fly a plane faster than the speed of sound. Then, it moves on to team players, and they are the original 7 Mercury astronauts, who were part of NASA's first ever manned space machine program in the early 1960's. The connection between these two rather different stories is that the space program's astronauts were originally test pilots- that's where they came from, that's where they developed their skills. Yeager is important here because he is by his own nature a lone warrior in a different era of heroes- that is what makes him interesting.

This is a movie I have never really been able to put my finger on in terms of what kind of a movie it is. When you see a movie, most movies announce their main genre type straight away- not this one, however. It's many things, really- it's part satire, part human story, part biopic, part drama, part action/adventure, part comedy. It's really a unique movie- but what writer-director Phillip Kaufman has achieved here is really astonishing. The fact that he was able to not only do a great job with, but organize all these creative and logistical challenges into one of the great films of modern times is an incredible achievement.

This film serves as an example to what every film should be, to a degree- ambitious with its scope; and this film has one of the most ambitious storytelling scopes of any movie I've ever seen. It is an awesome and boldly visionary movie-going experience that does what about 90-95% of filmmakers are too afraid to do- it takes chances, a lot of chances. And it comes out as a great, great time.

I love movies that start off in a period of time and a place with one scenario, and then end with an almost completely different scenario with a set of totally different characters. I love movies that make me feel like I went on an amazing journey with real life characters, and after it is all over, my head is still spinning from all the excitement. And that is what this movie does. THE RIGHT STUFF has become one of my personal favorite films- and what is even more amazing about this movie, is that more than 30 years on, it hasn't aged a bit.