The Right Stuff Poll

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.

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.

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.

but was Dennis Quaid smoking', ROWR?

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.

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.

that score too, my god. a truly great film that i've seen in full maybe once, but in parts dozens of times

theme song by NKOTB not bad either

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

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

Big ol' new interview with Kaufman on it

https://www.vulture.com/article/how-philip-kaufman-made-the-right-stuff-movie.html