The Right Stuff (30th Anniversary Edition)

Pretty much a classic space bio-pic. It's a good dramatization of the early NASA program. Totally accurate? Close enough and with truly engaging storytelling. Science, intrigue, cold war politics, Sputnik panic, and a very human look at the amazing history of early space flight and the trailblazers who made it happen. Good family show. Don't tell the kids but they'll learn some important history and likely have fun doing it.

The best all-around movie depicting Fighter Pilots after WWII and the changes to America's succcessful astronaut/space program 1947 to 1969. Love it.

Excellent movie!

Ton of actors, laughs, bit of the standard U.S. propaganda, well acted and written, pretty good movie

Nothing short of spectacular. All star cast, biting and hilarious script that doesn’t shy from the truth. Truly, a must see.

I can remember seeing The Right Stuff in the theatre when I was a kid, great movie about the space program. The writing is excellent as well as the acting. As far as the Blu-ray is concerned the picture is pretty good for an early 80's release. There are no "extras" such as outtakes or interviews and the packaging is bare bones but works fine. Highly recommended.

This movie tells the story about how we got into the space race.

Epic films have a tendency to collapse under their own weight. The directors have a tendency to concentrate on visual style and production value so much they neglect the screenplay and character development. Epics like Ben-Hur, Lawrence of Arabia and Patton are rare. All too often, epic films turn into a bloated critical and financial disaster.Philip Kaufman's The Right Stuff avoids all of these pitfalls and tells the stories of the very human figures involved in the birth of the U.S. space program. Covering the period from Chuck Yeager's historic, but, at the time, overlooked breaking of the sound barrier in 1947 to the end of the Mercury program in 1963, The Right Stuff inspires awe through its stunning visual effects and scope while still maintaining its characters' humanity. The recreations of the early space flights are stunning with visual effects that still hold up well today. In addition, Kaufman obtained permission to film many sequences at AMES-NASA in California, adding realism and scope that no set designer would likely be able to match. Kaufman recreates the era perfectly -- clothes, cars, etc. feel just right. And Bill Conti's musical score, one of the most memorable in film history, is exhilirating. It's a flawless production that doesn't miss a single technical step.All of this, however, would be meaningless if Kaufman had cardboard characters to work with. But he instead portrays the characters as human beings with human flaws. Chuck Yeager is racked with self-doubt and regret over his non-participation in the space program. The astronauts are not Charlton Heston types -- clean cut cardboard cutouts with impeccable moral values. These astronauts womanize, drink heavily and sometimes behave as if NASA is a big frat party. Showing these flaws, however, does not alienate the audience and instead makes us identify with and sympathize with them. The astronauts' wives are each given their own identity with their own insecurities and fears. The film, however, is not a soap opera. In fact, The Right Stuff is very funny in some sections. The film has the confidence in its vision and doesn't fall into the trap of solemn sobriety that bogs down so many other epics.The cast includes Scott Glenn as Alan Sheperd, Ed Harris as John Glenn (a dead ringer if I ever saw one), Sam Sheperd as Chuck Yeager, Barbara Hershey as Glynnis Yeager, Dennis Quaid as Gordon Cooper, Fred Ward as Gus Grissom, Veronia Cartwright as Betty Grissom, Pamela Reed as Trudy Cooper and cameos by Kim Stanley, Eric Sevareid and Chuck Yeager himself. Each part is perfectly cast.The Right Stuff is three hours and 13 minutes long, but doesn't feel like it's that long at all. It's one of the most memorable films of all time and makes you proud to be an American. It's certainly the most human epic I've ever seen. It's a shame that the film didn't win more recognition from either the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences or the American Film Institute (I would certainly rank this film higher than Dr. Zhivago). Like Roger Ebert said, The Right Stuff is a great American film.The DVD is clear, with great sound. My only complaint is that halfway through the film, the viewer has to turn over the DVD to side B. This, however, is probably made necessary by the film's length. Otherwise, however, it's a fine DVD.

This is a review of the excellent 2013 All Region Blu-ray from Warner Home Video.This wonderful film concentrates on two groups of American military fliers, both of whom prove themselves to really have ‘the Right Stuff’, the determination, dedication, persistence, bravery and skill, to ‘push the outside of the envelope’. The first, largely US Air Force pilots, initially with experience in WW2, worked in California to push flying speeds supersonic, and break the Sound Barrier. The second group, a mixture of Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps pilots, worked in the early Space Programme to go into space on the top of a rocket, and then to orbit the earth. The film ends as planning begins for the Lunar Programme. The irony, brought out in the film, is that even the very best of the first group were not eligible for the second task, because they did not have college degrees.The film, based on Tom Wolfe’s influential book from 1979, is long, leisurely, and pretty detailed about the problems, disasters and enormous successes of both programmes. It takes time to highlight the characters of the quite varied men involved, their motivation and weaknesses, and also to look at their wives, who back them but constantly fear the consequences of this most dangerous employment.Among the large number of excellent performances in the big ensemble cast, Ed Harris stands out as the thoughtful and patriotic John Glenn, and Dennis Quaid is excellent as the joker in the pack, Gordon Cooper. Sam Shephard, who won an OSCAR nomination, is superb as the USAF test pilot Chuck Yeager, the first man to fly beyond Mach 1, but who was not seen as suitable for NASA; he is dignified, daring and totally driven.The film was a box office failure upon release, but won huge critical acclaim. It is not 100% historically accurate, though it is largely the technical details that have been tweaked. But what the film really does, often with humour and with irony, is paint a rich picture of the era (especially the social aspects ~ the role of women, of family and of patriotism), of the technical limitations these programmes overcame, of the groups of people involved in the programmes, of the political climate of the time, and of the huge geo-political drivers behind, particularly, the Space Programme. The involvement of politicians, and their attempts to exploit the pilots, is quite nauseating, as is the constant press intrusion. The 7 original Astronauts and their families found themselves, sometimes reluctantly, at the centre of a media and flag-waving storm of epic proportions, and this is brilliantly conveyed.We loved this film. It is big, interesting, funny, touching and uplifting. And what is more, it is true!

It had been some years since I last saw this film and I was struck by just how impressively it captures the excitement and danger surrounding the early Space Program. I seem to have missed this the first time round, possibly because I was too young at the time to appreciate the subject quite as much. The cameo appearances by the real Chuck Yeager (serving behind the bar at Pancho's) are fun, but the most inspiring scene for my part comes quite early on in the film. Seeing Sam Shepard's Chuck Yeager climb into the comparatively primitive X-1, closing the hatch with the end of a broomstick handle (due to his having fractured his ribs in a riding accident previously) and subsequently breaking the sound barrier in a machine that looks for all intents and purposes like a souped-up, pre-war go-kart with wings and a rocket is to take a white-knuckle ride on the mother-of-all rollercoasters and then return to earth punching the air in triumph. Historical inaccuracies aside, this is a great film worthy of anyone's collection.

The early story of the American space program is told here with humans at the heart, not scientific or technical problems (like how to design spacecraft). The film focusses on the period before Project Apollo, and in that sense is a good prequel to Apollo 13. It can be recommended for anyone whose view of the American Space program is confined to the latter film. An inspired touch, in my view, is the inclusion of Henry Mancini's theme from The White Dawn used to express the awe of John Glenn when orbiting the earth (and the rest of us humans marvelling at the achievement). Good as the film is, it would also be good to have the mini-series Space (based on the novel by James A. Michener) released on DVD, for a more comprehensive and alternative, albeit fictional, view.

This is the phrase Mr Yeager wrote on my copy of his autobiography: it was fun to realise he was also present in person in the movie itself (you have to see the specials on the DVD to recognise him). The movie is a milestone. I loved the flight sequences, and the way the atmosphere was created about the test pilots and their hide-out in the desert. The photography is excellent and the way the story is build up is very well made: the Austronauts are depicted in very realistic ways, and the Cast is really Super, and almost all of them just at the beginning of their careers...Beside the typical American retoric about heroic 'missions', which at times I find quite childish, the true value of the individual human beings are a plus one cannot oversee and forget.This commemorative edition is well done, and contains new interviews with many of the people involved in the movie, including Mr. Yeager himself, and a nice documentary on John Glenn produced by PBS.

A history of pioneering from breaking the sound barrier to flights to the moon and a picture of people involved in this. Pilots from the grounds. Other films usually show a part of the whole story focusing on a particular space mission. Documentaries show the scientific side of flights. This film shows the staff and never forgets neither about the first ones nor the last ones.Worth watching. Worth having, so I bought it. And watched it again, and again, ...