Review of The Right Stuff (1983) by Brandon W — 16 Aug 2010

Philip Kaufman best known up till this point for directing the last 70s horror film Invasion of the Body Snatchers and as early as 1980 had replaced William Goldman to work on an adaption of Tom Wolfe's book on the space race from the first pilot to break the sound barrier to the first to orbit the Earth. Kaufman unlike his predecessor was determined to also focus on the test pilots like Chuck Yeager and finally filming began in 1982 for the Oscar nominated underrated classic. You would think from the sound of it the film would either boring, awkward or too documentary like but on all accounts you'd be wrong the film works and very fluidly in the narrative style and for the most part is rather interesting even in some of the less exciting and space exploring scenes. The film also features some pretty good acting even from people who are most definitely not good actors and at times kind of gets a cool modern tall tale feel too it most notably in the beginning when it discusses the sound barrier as a kind of sky monster...yeah it's cooler when they do it watch the movie.

The film starts in the desert in Muroc Army Air Field 1947 where such legendary jets as the X-1 are being tested in attempts to break the sound barrier. Chuck Yeager (Sam Sheperd in a great but brief performance) an old war hero is contracted to fly the jet. He's met with some difficulty when he breaks some ribs horseback riding but ironically enough seeing as he's now crippled Yeager fastens a broom handle to help him close the door of the jet and becomes the first pilot to break the sound barrier and conquer the mythical demon in the sky me and the introduction were talking about. Six years later the same base though rennamed Edwards is still a prime spot for pilots. It remains pretty much the same thanks to the Happy Bottom Riding club ran and operated by the humorously named Pancho Barnes and is a gathering place for pilots with the titular "right stuff" including Scott Crossfield (Scott Wilson) who has a friendly rivalry with Yeager. New pilots are referred to as "pudknockers" until they prove their worth, including Gus Grissom (Fred Ward) and Gordo Cooper (Dennis Quaid in an actually GOOD role go figure) I mention them because they will come into play later. At this point much theorizing is made as to the source of this behavior and many of the wives seem to believe it's thrill seeking mixed with desire for fame.

Flash to '57, you history buffs should see the significance, the Russian Sputnik is launched. The government turns to NASA to combat the Russians in the you guessed it "Space Race." Jeff Goldblum and some other guys are sent out to find pilots among them Yeager, who is decided against due to lack of college degree. Out of them all during a vicious competition to see who will be the Mercury 7 arise the famed John Glenn (Ed Harris always excellent and in an early role) and Alan Sheperd (Scott Glenn in a much more resigned role). The two have an amusing competition including one where they're taking a dump and respectively whistling the Marines and Navy songs. As I'm sure you could guess Cooper and Grissom are two of the other selected pilots. Some complications arise during the attempts to build a rocket including multiple explosions and this leads to the film's heavy theme in how reckless and insane the desire to beat Russia into Space was. Juxtaposed we see Yeager and others still experimenting with Jets including one Jet/Rocket hybrid Yeager's badly burned and almost dies ejecting from.

After some conflict in the ranks Sheperd is elected to be the first American into space and his successful and nerve racking mission is met with national laud and the group meeting the President (suck it Gump), Grissom follows suit but almost dies in reentry and crashes in the middle of the ocean. The film like reality is muddied as to whether Grissom opened the hatch prematurely or as he maintained the technology malfunctioned. More theorizing is made back at Edwards about how the astronauts are basically passengers not real pilots and chimps could do their jobs but Yeager maintains they're still brave as to all the number of things that could go wrong and kill them all. The films descends into it's final throes with the tale of John Glenn the first man to orbit the Earth. The boys are sent around the world including Australia to respond with transmissions to Glenn and the journey begins. It all gets kind of loopy and stonerish here especially when as he's passing Australia (where Cooper is witnessing some Aborigines doing a strange tribal dance near the satellite) he sees yellow swirls outside the ship later believed to be sparks and endangering his life. But Glenn makes it back OK and we have a triumphant banquet hall scene reminiscent of Star Wars.

The Last thing I'd like to comment on is how the Director handles flight scenes. He seems to know we'd be bored just watching the jets and rockets take off and fly and such so he goes back and forth between that, the pilot or astronaut in the cockpit and where it gets cool a kind of blurry strange attempt to recreate what the pilots would have actually seen from inside the aircraft. This is in my opinion the coolest part of the film that makes up for some of the cheesier scenes and dialogue he made a gamble and lord knows in 1983 he could have screwed it up but in my opinion he succeeded admirably in my opinion. What a great film, not to forceful in it's convictions not to sappy but just involved enough that you can enjoy it and feel the characters. It truly has "The Right Stuff"....sorry for that.