Dennis Quaid is smokin' in this movie. ROWR.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 28 July 2008 17:43 (fifteen years ago) link
RIDLEY, MAKE ANOTHER NOTE, WOULD YOU? MY NAME... JOSE JIMENEZ I JUST THANK GOD I LIVE IN A COUNTRY WHERE THE BEST IN A MAN CAN BE BROUGHT OUT. I MEAN THAT. WHO'S THE BEST PILOT YOU EVER SAW? FUCKIN'-A, BUBBA ... YOU WERE PROBABLY JUST GETTING WARMED UP, JOHN. NEXT TIME, I'D DOUBT I'D WIN [Σ]
― gabbneb, Monday, 28 July 2008 18:50 (fifteen years ago) link
I have never seen this movie
― Shakey Mo Collier, Monday, 28 July 2008 18:58 (fifteen years ago) link
which is kinda odd considering how into the space program I am
no Shearer & Goldblum, no cred
― Dr Morbius, Monday, 28 July 2008 19:13 (fifteen years ago) link
Need a parallel poll for the wives.
― Pancakes Hackman, Monday, 28 July 2008 19:16 (fifteen years ago) link
so is this actually any good?
― Shakey Mo Collier, Monday, 28 July 2008 19:17 (fifteen years ago) link
more reverential than the book, but worth seeing
― Dr Morbius, Monday, 28 July 2008 19:17 (fifteen years ago) link
Shakey Mo, you should go ahead and rent it this weekend. It's all kinds of good.
Fred Ward as Gus pwnz.
― Johnny Fever, Monday, 28 July 2008 19:18 (fifteen years ago) link
no Hershey, Cartwright, Reed, Deschanel, no credibility no Stanley, Helm, Dano, no credibility no Moffat, Beach, no credibility
― gabbneb, Monday, 28 July 2008 19:18 (fifteen years ago) link
I didn't like Moffat too much, although I guess you can't underplay LBJ.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 28 July 2008 19:20 (fifteen years ago) link
more reverential than the book
eh, i dunno about that
i don't unreservedly like it - some of the politics of the original material/figures even moreso than the movie are not mine - but it's basically my favorite movie of all time
― gabbneb, Monday, 28 July 2008 19:21 (fifteen years ago) link
I'm thinking John Glenn never asked the wife if he was a Harry Hairshirt either
― Dr Morbius, Monday, 28 July 2008 19:23 (fifteen years ago) link
Hershey should be in the 2nd list, actually
― gabbneb, Monday, 28 July 2008 19:24 (fifteen years ago) link
Only arestronuts and test pilus have ritw stuff, nrz!!!!!!!
― Oilyrags, Monday, 28 July 2008 19:28 (fifteen years ago) link
But yeah, there are a ton of great performances here that don't really fit in the poll.
like these?
"Southwestern Waltz" Performed by Bob Wills "Faraway Places" Performed by Margaret Whiting "I Got A Rocket In My Pocket" Performed by Jimmy Lloyd "Wheels Of Fortune" Performed by Kay Starr "Tennessee Waltz" Performed by Patti Page "Yablochka" Performed by the Andreyev Balalaika Ensemble "The Wayward Wind" Performed by Gogi Grant "Good Golly Miss Molly" Performed by Little Richard "Hallelujah Chorus" Performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra "La Bamba" Performed by Chubby Checker "I Only Have Eyes For You" Performed by The Flamingos "Taiko Drums" Performed by Seiichi Tanaka "Anchors Aweigh" Performed by Banda Taurina "The Marines' Hymn" ['Performed' by Ed Harris] "The U.S. Air Force" ['Performed' by Dennis Quaid] "White Dawn" Performed by The London Symphony Orchestra "Mars, Jupiter & Neptune" Performed by The Boston Symphony Orchestra "Wake Up Little Susie" Performed by The Everly Brothers "Claire de Lune" (uncredited) "Breaking The Sound Barrier" Performed by The London Symphony Orchestra "Almost Ready" Performed by The London Symphony Orchestra "The Training" Performed by The London Symphony Orchestra "Glenn's Flight" Performed by The London Symphony Orchestra "Yeager's Flight" Performed by The London Symphony Orchestra
― gabbneb, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 06:02 (fifteen years ago) link
Ebert's original review
of Yeager, this is probably true. of the others, not so much.
while the movie deals in interesting themes that weren't really present in the book, it's no journalistic enterprise. the whole Schirra storyline, which gets a not unimportant chapter in the book, was excised presumably because it wasn't sexy or funny enough - the best he gets other than the introduction is a cheap gag in the background.
― gabbneb, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 06:18 (fifteen years ago) link
It's *very* good, and even if it wasn't, you'd still have to see it to remain a citizen of the US. They passed that law in the late 80's, iirc.
― kenan, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 07:54 (fifteen years ago) link
The Bill Conti score is his fonest moment. Yeah, no shit -- better than Rocky.
― kenan, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 07:58 (fifteen years ago) link
fInest
Totally otm. I refuse to vote in this poll on the grounds that it has no women in it, and the wives are as important as the badasses and daredevils. The movie spends a lot of time on that point, actually. How could you leave out the women, fer chrissakes? I'm not trying to be all cap'n save-an-astronaut-wife, but come on... Barbara Hershey didn't even cross your mind?
― kenan, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 08:05 (fifteen years ago) link
And I will totally defend Moffat's LBJ against anyone who think's it's way over the top. It's maybe a *little* over the top. And if LBJ can't be comic relief, who can?
― kenan, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 08:07 (fifteen years ago) link
(I love this movie, in case you can't tell.)
― kenan, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 08:12 (fifteen years ago) link
no, really?
I did think about opening it up a bit, but there's no chixxors or Feddzors on the DVD box, so...
― Oilyrags, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 12:43 (fifteen years ago) link
Also: TRS STRK poll is v good idea.
― Oilyrags, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 12:44 (fifteen years ago) link
this thread could go on for 2 weeks without even mentioning Philip Kaufman's name, cuz he's not a Spike/Quentin-style self-promoter?
His Invasion of the Body Snatchers '78 is better than this, though.
― Dr Morbius, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 13:31 (fifteen years ago) link
although I recently watched The Unbearable Lightness of Being again, and you'd have no idea why anyone thought it should be 3 hrs long if you haven't read the book.
Strangely haven't seen any of his others besides those 3:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0442241/
― Dr Morbius, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 13:33 (fifteen years ago) link
I (barely) remember Henry and June as being kind of yawnsome. Rising Sun sure looked like crap, but I never saw that either.
― Oilyrags, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 13:38 (fifteen years ago) link
you've never seen Quills?
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 13:38 (fifteen years ago) link
Kaufman was on a roll for a while: Anthony Minghella with an impish gleam.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 13:39 (fifteen years ago) link
xp: no, I saw the French movie about Marquis de Sade (D Auteuil) that came out around then instead.
― Dr Morbius, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 13:44 (fifteen years ago) link
we apologize for not being as with-it as you. who do you propose to poll him against? caleb d? brooks? bergman? beatty?
quite obviously kaufman is not as bandied-about because he has far less discernable style, his movies by and large have little to do with youth culture let alone the present, and because he's an old man
― gabbneb, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 14:51 (fifteen years ago) link
with-it, klassik
― Dr Morbius, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 15:44 (fifteen years ago) link
i thot i shd use old-man terms
― gabbneb, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 15:52 (fifteen years ago) link
Is the William Goldman bit about Kaufman and the screenplay online anywhere? Google is unhelpful.
― Pancakes Hackman, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 15:57 (fifteen years ago) link
Can't believe no one has mentioned Scott Glenn yet. Dude is James Coburn with even more attitude.
I voted Scott Glenn.
― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 16:18 (fifteen years ago) link
So did I.
― Millsner, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 16:23 (fifteen years ago) link
gobb, you shd use old-man suppositories
― Dr Morbius, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 16:27 (fifteen years ago) link
witty!
Dave Kehr, who didn't really get the movie (shocker), said the performances "range from the merely excellent (Scott Glenn) to the sublime (Ed Harris)"
― gabbneb, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 16:31 (fifteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― ILX System, Wednesday, 30 July 2008 23:01 (fifteen years ago) link
I voted Fred Ward cuz I love Fred Ward.
― Alex in SF, Wednesday, 30 July 2008 23:07 (fifteen years ago) link
fuckin a, bubba.
― kenan, Wednesday, 30 July 2008 23:29 (fifteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― ILX System, Thursday, 31 July 2008 23:01 (fifteen years ago) link
Yay Fred Ward!
― Alex in SF, Thursday, 31 July 2008 23:04 (fifteen years ago) link
Those are five really good performances there that got votes.
the performances "range from the merely excellent (Scott Glenn) to the sublime (Ed Harris)"
this is very true
― omar little, Thursday, 31 July 2008 23:19 (fifteen years ago) link
i saw this twice in the theater when i was 7, this is a really great, super entertaining movie. kind of hard to believe it's almost as long as godfather II.
― omar little, Thursday, 31 July 2008 23:20 (fifteen years ago) link
and Terms of Endearment beat it for Best Picture!
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 31 July 2008 23:22 (fifteen years ago) link
probably because it was a relative financial disappointment, which is also totally hard to believe because this is exactly the type of epic movie that you'd think would scare up 70-80 mill
― omar little, Thursday, 31 July 2008 23:23 (fifteen years ago) link
the special fx hold up pretty good too!
― omar little, Thursday, 31 July 2008 23:24 (fifteen years ago) link
Patriotic as fuck, too, which seldom hurts.
― Oilyrags, Thursday, 31 July 2008 23:26 (fifteen years ago) link
it's a complicated, ironic patriotism, which wasn't too in vogue at the time
i didn't vote, but i think i'd say ward edges harris edges maybe scott glenn, though it's a little hard to see the actor apart from the character in hindsight given that the characters defined the actors for me. shepard does a whole lot without saying a word, but his line readings seem kinda off in the early part of the movie - maybe it's intentional that he becomes more fluent as time passes. and if i'm ranking quaid 4th or 5th am i underselling fun?
hershey's character blows the other wives off the screen, but i think cartwright is the best female performance.
― gabbneb, Friday, 1 August 2008 04:18 (fifteen years ago) link
"Ironic patriotism" or "ironic reverence" is a good description (except for the Yeager bits). I can't think of another big budget American film from the time that didn't take itself too seriously and was crazy-entertaining.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Sunday, 28 December 2008 22:33 (fifteen years ago) link
i still find that last flight of yeager pretty terrifying
― shook pwns (omar little), Friday, 9 January 2009 16:48 (fifteen years ago) link
That wasn't a parachute dragging behind him at the end; it was his poop.
― •--• --- --- •--• (Pleasant Plains), Friday, 9 January 2009 17:03 (fifteen years ago) link
man what a great fuckin movie. i think this might be my favorite cast ever - you put any 2 of those five main guys in a movie and i'll watch it, but all of em? yowie zowie!!! even the guy who plays yeager's mechanic is awesome. the women are great too - veronica cartwright, barbara hershey, mary jo deschanel, and pamela reed most of all - kim stanley's sorta wasted, but so is lance henriksen. im sure if they knew what they had on their hands in ol' lance they would've cooked up more for him to do~
― maghrib is back (Hungry4Ass), Thursday, 19 January 2012 21:35 (twelve years ago) link
terms of fuckin endearment won best pic, that movie had only one astronaut
― omar little, Thursday, 19 January 2012 21:43 (twelve years ago) link
re: the poll its gotta be ed harris. fred ward (who is one of my favorite dudes in the world) has his share of great scenes, especially panicking in the capsule and the aftermath with his wife, but harris has pretty much all the best bits - the tender scenes with his wife, the phone scene, the press conference, "those... darn russians!"
something i never realized: that's hall of fame left tackle anthony munoz playing gonzalez!
― maghrib is back (Hungry4Ass), Thursday, 19 January 2012 21:58 (twelve years ago) link
last time i saw this movie i noticed how ripped scott glenn was
― omar little, Thursday, 19 January 2012 22:01 (twelve years ago) link
haha same. i guess he's always been pretty sinewy. also was realizing how joker-like dennis quaid's smile is
― maghrib is back (Hungry4Ass), Thursday, 19 January 2012 22:05 (twelve years ago) link
i kinda like the vv subtle and maybe unintended implication about grissom kinda being a star-crossed (lol) astronaut, i mean of course that event did occur but to me it kind of foreshadows a bit.
― omar little, Thursday, 19 January 2012 22:08 (twelve years ago) link
Whatever happened to Oilyrags, anyway?
― Put another Juggle in, in the Juggalodeon (kingfish), Thursday, 19 January 2012 22:09 (twelve years ago) link
final post:
50 Great Neil Young Covers
― omar little, Thursday, 19 January 2012 22:10 (twelve years ago) link
This was great. Yeah maybe reverential or whatever but had a great sense of humor, like those repeated shots of Jeff Goldblum's super serious and always late g-man running to that office. And the scene where the dude has to pee and they keep cutting to, like, people drinking water, pouring tea, talking about how much coffee they drank, etc.
I mainly saw this cos i got into Jordan Belson a few years ago and heard he did some visual effects stuff for this. It was pretty impressive!
― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Sunday, 9 September 2012 19:48 (eleven years ago) link
This sucks so far when is it going to not suck
― Daithi Bowsie (darraghmac), Saturday, 23 April 2016 20:15 (seven years ago) link
The Shite Stuff
― I never wanted to be your weekend lover (snoball), Saturday, 23 April 2016 20:22 (seven years ago) link
Ok president office scene goldblum shearer it got great
― Daithi Bowsie (darraghmac), Saturday, 23 April 2016 20:29 (seven years ago) link
man what a great fuckin movie. i think this might be my favorite cast ever - you put any 2 of those five main guys in a movie and i'll watch it, but all of em? yowie zowie!!! even the guy who plays yeager's mechanic is awesome.
yeager's mechanic is played by Levon Helm! yeah great role, perfect choice of a narrator for the film too.
― nomar, Saturday, 23 April 2016 20:32 (seven years ago) link
The longer ed Harris goes without killing his wife the worse the tension gets
― Daithi Bowsie (darraghmac), Saturday, 23 April 2016 21:11 (seven years ago) link
Jeff Goldblum Is Watching You Puke (off the side of an aircraft carrier)
― I never wanted to be your weekend lover (snoball), Saturday, 23 April 2016 21:17 (seven years ago) link
SPEC-I-MEN
― kevin smith what a bro (Myonga Vön Bontee), Saturday, 23 April 2016 21:31 (seven years ago) link
Best movie
― nomar, Monday, 31 July 2017 18:07 (six years ago) link
it's very entertaining but the tone is a bit have-yr-cake-and-eat-it
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Monday, 31 July 2017 18:11 (six years ago) link
mmm a right stuff cake would be great. "Let's light this candle!"
― nomar, Monday, 31 July 2017 18:12 (six years ago) link
Weird that Yeager is the only guy to outlive the actor who played him.
― to fly across the city and find Aerosmith's car (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, 31 July 2017 18:18 (six years ago) link
test pilot in character
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Monday, 31 July 2017 18:20 (six years ago) link
Yeager in 1983 looked like an elderly guy next to Shepard, who was only 38 or 39 when they filmed it.
― nomar, Monday, 31 July 2017 18:21 (six years ago) link
that film was made 24 years after the selection of the astronauts, and is now 34 years old.
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Monday, 31 July 2017 18:22 (six years ago) link
NYers, showing in 70mm at MOMI tonight
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Friday, 1 September 2017 16:05 (six years ago) link
Pamela Reed sorely missing from this poll.
Scott Glenn is still ripped... he's a 78-yo martial arts nut.
Dennis Quaid, if you're lurking, i would still eat you out anytime.
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 2 September 2017 09:21 (six years ago) link
most of these guys aged into real charismatic weathered-leather ruggedness huh
god i love this movie, i'd kill to see it in 70mm
― pizzarro gizzarda (bizarro gazzara), Saturday, 2 September 2017 10:01 (six years ago) link
It's loud! But it has to be.
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 2 September 2017 15:24 (six years ago) link
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius),
fight you
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 2 September 2017 15:29 (six years ago) link
guys, guys, there's enough ass for everyone, just be chill
― pizzarro gizzarda (bizarro gazzara), Saturday, 2 September 2017 18:48 (six years ago) link
good news fellas, there probably *is* a Quaid brother lurking here
― nomar, Saturday, 2 September 2017 18:50 (six years ago) link
i hope it's doug
― pizzarro gizzarda (bizarro gazzara), Saturday, 2 September 2017 18:53 (six years ago) link
put em up, Herbert Pocket
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 2 September 2017 19:04 (six years ago) link
Until last week, I would not have been able to name the iconic but little-remembered character actor who appeared in this and the original Twin Peaks series.
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 5 September 2017 14:35 (six years ago) link
yes, it was '50s western fixture Royal Dano, who played the Minister aka Death in TRS and Judge Sternwood in TP.
He was also the Disney park voice of Lincoln for many years, after playing him on TV.
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 6 September 2017 02:57 (six years ago) link
Saw this when it came out, again a few years later, and not since till today (70mm screening at the Lightbox). Really good. Trying to think of a comparable film in scale from the past 35 years--not Apollo 13, which I remember as a much lesser version, not even necessarily space-related--something big and historical and free-wheeling...Carlos comes to mind, not much else. A reminder of how great Veronica Cartwright and Pamela Reed were. (The film's treatment of the women and the Hispanic NASA guy--the one who recoils from Scott Glenn's Bill Dana impression--felt pretty current.) Watching Ed Harris play a Boy Scout was extra funny--every time I see him nowadays he's like a George Kennedy caricature, growling "goddammit" and "son of a bitch" way too often. Goldblum and Harry Shearer and Donald Moffat as LBJ were funny. I don't really remember how this was received in 1983. I mean the tone--I know it got great reviews. Was it talked about as a film Reagan would love, a straightforward celebration of old-fashioned heroism? It seems a lot subtler than that.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 3 January 2018 08:39 (six years ago) link
i was thinking about this movie today due to First Man's recent release, and it's really a perfect flick. a couple other favorite elements i don't think were commented on: John P. Ryan as this character representing the publicly avuncular/occasionally duplicitous face of NASA, and the insect swarming sounds accompanying every appearance by the press and photographers as they chase down quotes and shots of the astronauts and their wives.
― omar little, Wednesday, 17 October 2018 23:19 (five years ago) link
this was ... pretty bad? baffled at the near universal praise in this thread. Alternated between reverential, ponderously slow recreations of events and then a bunch of corny "comical" sequences involving enema bags, urinating in space suits, and how much of an uptight jerk John Glenn was. I made it to Shepherd's launch and then bailed.
― Οὖτις, Monday, 4 February 2019 21:57 (five years ago) link
maybe it's the source material (I wouldn't know, you couldn't pay me to read Tom Wolfe. Seeing this after reading Oriana Falacci just made it seem juvenile and clumsy.
― Οὖτις, Monday, 4 February 2019 21:58 (five years ago) link
but was Dennis Quaid smoking', ROWR?
― ( ͡☉ ͜ʖ ͡☉) (jim in vancouver), Monday, 4 February 2019 21:59 (five years ago) link
Harris and his wife, Fred Ward's squirming, LBJ in the limo -- it switches from irreverent to affection quite well. The Shepard scenes are the most ponderous, the ones in the cafe the silliest -- the men waiting for news about who died remind me of the vultures in Splash Mountain.
― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 4 February 2019 22:01 (five years ago) link
it has that tricky balance of respecting the main characters while poking a bit of fun at them, regarding them as outsized heroes and then bringing them down to size in a way that is empathetic and understanding, and not cutting them down. the absurdities really work so well, i think as a satire of sorts it's very well-crafted and smart and of course super entertaining.
― omar little, Monday, 4 February 2019 22:10 (five years ago) link
that score too, my god. a truly great film that i've seen in full maybe once, but in parts dozens of times
― simmy simmy ya, simmy yam simmy yay (voodoo chili), Monday, 4 February 2019 23:00 (five years ago) link
theme song by NKOTB not bad either
― ( ͡☉ ͜ʖ ͡☉) (jim in vancouver), Monday, 4 February 2019 23:05 (five years ago) link
per an Apollo book, Chasing the Moon, reviewed in last Sunday's NYTBR, Chuck Yeager told other candidates in an aerospace trainee program not to speak to the sole black candidate, Air Force pilot Edward Dwight. Dwight was essentially forced out of the program by Yeager.
movies is movies
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 25 June 2019 23:38 (four years ago) link
Edwards AFB released the complete film of Yeager's crash in the NF-104. 56 years ago today. (also, it's terrifying!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e32CPRXEZ7s
― Elvis Telecom, Tuesday, 10 December 2019 22:08 (four years ago) link
Big ol' new interview with Kaufman on it
https://www.vulture.com/article/how-philip-kaufman-made-the-right-stuff-movie.html
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 20 November 2023 16:52 (four months ago) link