April 23rd: THE RIGHT STUFF (Philip Kaufman, 1983)

The birth of America's space program, contrasting the men selected for the Mercury Project with the equally talented, non-spacebound test pilots.



The Right Stuff is a non-fiction book by writer Tom Wolfe (The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, Bonfire Of The Vanities), a member of the "New Journalism" movement alongside Norman Mailer, Truman Capote, Joan Didion, and Hunter S. Thompson. Wolfe's main interest was in finding out what kind of men were chosen to participate, and what they endured in training as well as during the actual space missions.



Independent producers that bought the film rights wanted a screenplay centered only around the astronauts and eschewing the major role played by pilot Chuck Yeager (the first man to break the sound barrier), and enlisted Academy Award-winning writer William Goldman (The Princess Bride, All The President's Men). Director Philip Kaufman (Invasion Of The Body Snatchers) came onboard and caused the departure of Goldman. Kaufman toned down the patriotism of the script, added in political commentary and restored Yeager to a prominent place in the story.



The cast includes a number of lesser-known actors who went on to have successful careers, including Ed Harris, Scott Glenn, Dennis Quaid, Fred Ward, Barbara Hershey, Kathy Baker, Jeff Goldblum, Spinal Tap's Harry Shearer, and award-winning playwright Sam Shepard as Yeager. Levon Helm, drummer for The Band, provided the folksy narration, and in a surreal touch, an improvisational comedy troupe plays the ever-present press corps.



The film was shot primarily in San Francisco, with the exception of location shooting at renowned Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert. Yeager served as a technical consultant, assisting the production with continuity as well as helping train the actors for their roles. Extensive in-camera special effects were mixed with uncovered stock footage from NASA and the Air Force, and a wide range of vintage aircraft were collected to appear on camera.



While the amount of profanity in the film made it a sure candidate for an "R" rating, an appeal based on its historical importance managed to secure "PG" instead. Goldman and Wolfe took issue with changes made to the script and the differences from the source material.



Reviews for the film were overwhelmingly positive, with Roger Ebert selecting it as the best film of the year (he would later place it at #2 for the entire 1980's decade). It failed to make its money back in the theatres, but was nominated for eight Oscars including Best Picture, Supporting Actor (Shepard), cinematography, and won for its Film Editing, Sound Effects Editing, Original Score, and Sound Recording. The real-life astronaut John Glenn ran an unsuccessful campaign for president in the wake of the film's release.



Running time is approx. 3 hours.