The Right Stuff (1983)

Directed by Philip Kaufman. Starring Sam Shepard, Dennis Quaid, Ed Harris, Fred Ward, Scott Glenn, Pamela Reed, Barbara Hershey, Veronica Cartwright, Levon Helm, Scott Paulin, Charles Frank, Lance Henriksen, Harry Shearer, Jeff Goldblum, Mary Jo Deschanel, Kathy Baker, Kim Stanley, Jane Dornacker, Donald Moffat. [PG]

Spectacular saga examining the mythology of America’s reach toward the future during the space race (breaking the sound barrier, manned spaceflight in NASA’s Program Mercury, etc.), and the pioneering test pilots that made it all happen. Based on the Tom Wolfe book, the scope that iconoclastic writer/director Kaufman strives for seems almost unfathomable for a feature film, supported by an exhilarating visual canvas and window-rattling sound mixing/editing for an immersive experience when those rockets roar and supersonic planes soar. But ambitions to parallel those of aeronautical history and scintillating visceral pleasures aren’t what put this one over the top; it’s the combined sheer accessibility and walloping entertainment value that does. No matter how much jargon or hardware gets tossed around, the pic never once becomes confusing or overwhelming or bogs down in dry technical detail. Nor does the awesome size of the film dwarf the humanity and personalities of the characters, as each of the main pilots—Chuck Yeager (Shepard), John Glenn (Harris), Alan Shepard (Glenn), etc.—gets drawn with finely-tuned characteristics, and the supporting players are given broad strokes to be supportive, eccentric, clownish, etc. Alternates among gripping, breathtaking, hysterical, and inspiring with tremendous ease, and manages to be the rare three-hour-plus epic that begs for even more. Blends thrills with poetry, jocular satire with grand romance, all while achieving a grandeur so rarely attempted—it’s a truly special film, despite those reasonable-but-grouchy reservations that it sometimes makes a mockery of black-and-white historical record. Won Academy Awards for the editing, sound, and sound effects teams, plus one for Bill Conti’s triumphant score. The real-life Yeager cameos; President Eisenhower’s voice is provided by an uncredited Kevin Pollak.

97/100