Review of The Right Stuff (1983) by Phil H — 31 Oct 2011

Based on the book by Wolfe and not liked by the author due to changes made for the film, despite this one cannot look away from this epic adventure following the space race and the many efforts of the US to beat those pesky Russians.

First up the cast, its pretty epic in itself, Quaid, Shepard, Glenn, Harris, Ward, Cartwright, Henriksen, Goldblum, Shearer, Moffat, Hershey and a cameo from Yeager. All perform well but personally I thought Ed Harris was the standout here and really captured that wholesome, heroic, 50's family man of the USA that the public lapped up at the time.

The plot follows the space program and the recruitment of young test pilots to undergo rigorous training to become astronauts for Project Mercury. At the same time the story also follows Chuck Yeager, his high-speed aeronautical flights which included breaking the sound barrier and the snub he got from NASA not being selected for the Mercury programme.

Everything about this film is epic due to the fact its about epic events in our human history, the film is extremely 'God Bless America' of course, the films cover design is bold in red, white and blue, but you can't blame the director for that, this is the US's proud history lets be honest. Most of the film is pretty accurate and does include real footage of actual failed rocket launches and news reel archives/interviews/ceremonies but of course Hollywood being Hollywood there is also much artistic license involved. This doesn't deter from the film as most regular folk won't know the difference but if you read up on the real events you will find issues.

Even though this film was made in 83 the effects are still perfect for the present day, they all hold up extremely well and show what can be done without cgi. Of course you don't see as much as you could with cgi but less is more and what you get with model work, minatures, full size sets and simple lighting tricks works wonders here. The sequences of the astronauts in their capsules orbiting the earth are absolutely perfect and with very little SFX. This too goes for all the inflight sequences with Shepard/Yeager when he flies, the cockpit effects are clearly simple lighting tricks with allot of movement but it looks so real so effective.

Allot of time is spend with the training programme for the Mercury seven before we start to see the missions go ahead, it does build excitement as you watch, like the men portrayed, you wanna see them fly and touch the heavens. All this is interspersed with sequences of Yeager's story and his calm frustration on being left out but his continual push to reach higher attitudes. Shepard's performance here is probably his best as the cool clear headed Yeager, no ego and no over the top 'Top Gun' nonsense.

There are some slow moments yes but anyone should find enjoyment here despite some historical inaccuracies (were the NASA engineers really Germans?) and downplaying. The story of man's efforts and dedication to break barriers, reach new limits, continually to push further and achieve is a proud one, a history lesson, a very important one at that.